A Pratically Perfect Festival :)

My sweet little clown. Dressed up to visit a friend.
On the way over we stopped at the bakery and even
though we were parked right in front, Kangaroo insisted
on hopping out to show people and surprise them.

The real problem with not blogging regularly is that part of our story goes a little bit missing. It doesn't take long until some major happenings haven't been journalled and I find myself uploading a ridiculous amount of photo's to share and trying to figure on how best to tell our tale.

The longer I live in our little town the more I fall in love with it and the friends and connections we're making. It has an interesting history and it proudly lays claim to it's heritage and indulgently celebrates it, beauty and warts and all. The interesting thing about our town is that the author of Mary Poppins, PL Travers, was apparently born here which has led to our town laying claim to 'our Mary' and has turned this connection into a celebration and a festival, culminating in The Mary Poppin's Festival on the first weekend of July.

At the park our talented friends volunteered their time for a week before the festival to create stunningly, magical pavement art creations which awed and amazed crowds on the Sunday of the festival. There are more beautiful pictures below showing the end of all the artist's work.

Mary madness has permeated the air. In the lead up to the festival I'd been fortunate to participate in theater workshops, meaning that most weekends for the past two months were dedicated learning as much as we could in a short amount of time about theater craft and preparing for a play which was written by the director using ideas generated by the workshop participants. The plays' end result was pretty funny and featured a few slapstick elements and completely escaped reality - so well suited to the Mary Poppins festival.

We found some time for things other then Mary related last week. There was some exploration with collage materials trying a Matisse style artwork.

I found that Kookaburra needed encouragement to let go of preformed ideas of how his art should be structured. By having fun with tearing his papers randomly and letting his art work unfold was a little bit of challenge but he did well and we had some great discussions about Pompeii during our work together.

There were lines to learn for me for the play on the Sunday but I was also fortunate enough to learn lines for a commercial which was shot on Thursday. A strange and funny experience which I was lucky enough to share with a friend.

Do I look like a receptionist? That was my part so hopefully....

So many opportunities roll our way when I have my eyes open. Whilst waiting to have a dress rehearsal in our art galleries forecourt, my boys and I stumbled upon a basket weaving workshop run by Aboriginal ladies in preparation for NAIDOC week this week. They were open and patient and I really wish we had of had more time before our performance to do more weaving.

Nervously I waited with friends before our first performance in front of a live audience... well, we thought they were alive but apart from a few sniggers the reaction was definitely lifeless. We were a little concerned how this play we'd worked on was going to go over during the festival.

When Sunday arrived our boys were up before dawn I'm sure, dressed and ready to go. Our first sound check was at nine am. When we arrived and saw the set in a carpark I was really impressed by what our stage manager had procured for our backdrop and that there was even seating! Lots of seating!

By the time the workshops had come to a close, as always, I'd managed to involve my family to some degree. This was Kangaroo's first time on stage and all he had to do was cry on cue and follow direction. He did beautifully!

Hubby lent some know how and muscle where he could.

And as for Kookaburra...

there's a black box sitting on top of his satchel in this photo which contained a remote control for the animatronic parrot which during the plays he directed the parrots eyes and beak when it took it's turn to narrate our story.

The play went off well and people laughed in all the right places and I even remembered my lines well enough to enjoy the show. Such a relief! When I try to remember something like this I worry, panic and then my mind goes blank. Just terrible :O!

The rest of the festival was full of colour in the finished art works.

There is a great joy for us, hanging with our family doing something unusual and fun. I admittedly did get a bit stressed out, but the benefits of having everyone involved as opposed to not was worth the fraction or so of tetchiness that came from me.

A very happy Kangaroo after his performance.

One of the highlights of the Mary Poppins festival is the Great Nanny Challenge. Our director borrowed a skirt and dressed as a naughty nanny so he could give it a go. The Nanny Challenge is a race for Nanny's and their baby carriages. They compete against each other over a short course and the first to cross the finish line wins But! there are rules like no running, no elbowing or jostling each other and then they must change the baby too in order to win. Our Naughty Nanny lost and he was hilarious about it too. Jumping up and down on his hat, whilst gnashing his teeth and tossing his baby bundle from the pram (thankfully it was only a teddy bear) not mention the run/walk!

My niece in red had a go too.


This is me and a great lady, we're dressed as Mary Poppins and the Bird Lady.

After the plays were done we still had more to do , so much to see and do. Our favourite is always the Chimney Sweep Challenges but absolutely best of all this year was going to high tea attended by none other Australia's own Mary, the star of the Mary Poppins musical, Verity Hunt-Ballard.

Kookaburra described the occasion afterwards as being incredibly exciting because he had met his first real celebrity!

It's was a very busy and full week but the highlight was meeting Verity and listening to her speak of her life in the theater and her role as Mary in the Mary Poppins musical. She was well spoken and lovely and she claimed to love our town and it's baking too! It was pretty embarrassing when our compere asked our lovely guest if she'd like a doggy bag to take back with her. Sheesh! But honestly it was difficult to resist a spread like this one at the High Tea. As always, we were amongst the last to leave and we were fortunate to run into friends talking with Verity so we got to have a little up close and personal dose of this practically perfect gal.

So this entry was massive and I wonder if perhaps it may have been better as a dot point. Never mind. I'm so glad I got it up and haven't missed this opportunity to share. Can you see why I love our town? The longer we live here I see just how very a special place it is for our family to grow together in. It etches itself deeply in our hearts. and I think of it truly as our home town. We can't wait until next years festival and I know we're all wondering in what capacity we'll be attending, as visitors or volunteers?

As long as I'm with my family, it'll be just ace.

All Over and Where Do We Go?

So here we are on the other side of The Music Man! The musical performances wrapped Sunday before last, to a sold out crowd to the complete joy of all involved. For our little family being a part of the musical in varying capacities has been incredible fun and an invaluable education for all of us, especially in commitment.

Outside of rehearsals we spent our time working on backdrops and hanging out with a backstage crew who embraced my kiddo's and involved them wherever they could. Obviously these guys are very smart people as they could clearly see what I was doing taking so much time away from our lesson books. Not once in the three weeks that I was there was I questioned over why my children were not at school. Apart from a hands on education these guys realized that at our boys age is the right time to sow seeds for the future. If not for involvement in the theater world, I'm hoping that our boys will definitely see themselves as citizens who embrace actively and support their community from a young age.

Everyday that I rocked up with my boys in tow we were welcomed. Every time we left these guys encouraged us to be back. Towards the end when everything was at its busiest one special friend had prepared a surprise for Kookaburra and Kangaroo. Pre-cut timber off cuts were laid out for them to sand and when he was able they were shown how to drill these pieces together to make their own wooden trucks. My boys were so proud. Their little chests were swollen with happiness over their accomplishments. We took an enormous amount of off cuts home too and now they've become a valuable addition to my boys playtime.

Little boys need great male role models to look up too. They need their fathers to be positive examples of what it is to be a man. Little boys need their Uncles and Grandfathers and other men to show them the way - how to fix the lawn mower and work on the car. Men to model themselves on as they grow older. The problem our family faces is that our family unit is so small and our extended family lives too far away so this perfect scenario doesn't fit for us. What I'm discovering is that being involved in positive community activities with a peer age range outside our childrens' own age is a great and, we feel, the right way to help grow our little men.

But as for fall out from the musical and long days at the theater helping, well the consequences were small. We needed daytime naps to help make up for the extraordinarily late nights. And after the fact for me, trying to ground myself back at home has been a trial. Lets just say the cranky pants have been out a little too often but thankfully that too has passed.

Hmm... better climb down off my soap box and share some pic's from The Music Man :)

My little lad and I.

With his gigantic tuba!

An especially proud moment for me was seeing my boy thanked and commended for his outstanding conduct and contribution to the musical backstage in front of the cast and crew. He was so proud that night. Eleven pm he's walked in the door to his father, more pleased than I could possibly convey bursting to share this great moment in his little life.

'That's my brother'. Kangaroo loved opening night so much that he begged to go again to the matinee on the Sunday and I was only just able to get them tickets too as the theater had very nearly sold out on the Saturday.

My gorgeous and ever supportive, understanding husband. Without the many meals he cooked and logistics in Kangaroo handling I would not have been able to be so much a part of this amazing experience.

But here we are. The Music Man has finished and we're no longer needed on stage or back so where do we go from here? What new project shall we leap to now? I'll tell you.

This Friday night we have our first of hopefully many meetings with the Astronomy club. Next term we'll begin volunteering at the wildlife sanctuary I mentioned at the beginning of the year. Next term we begin with APEX - a long hoped for volunteering and community involvement opportunity . A family friendly group who we met through the theater. Violin lessons will also begin for our boys.

But the biggest, not yet confirmed, but hopefully, cannot see why it might not go ahead , opportunity to blow our way, will be the chance to perhaps assist an Arts teacher - visual, dance and drama - during her weekly grade 4/5 classes. So you see, Kookaburra will get to hang and participate with kids his own class age in an arts class at no cost to us.

Fingers crossed :D

So many passionate people who love their fields of knowledge to learn from. Next term is going to be busy, but 'funtastic'.

Why we do it :)

Lifting the 25 kilo weights which go onto the
fly-wires to move the stage curtains and props

A school tour came through the theater yesterday. There have been a few in our time there but I guess this one was a little more memorable than the others and not for good reasons. The children were rowdy and loud and their tour guide had to yell to be heard. Pretty standard stuff with a class I suppose but the difference between our world and that of these children is the immersion aspect.

Touring above the theater, on the left are are the
weights and to the right are the fly-wires

For two weeks now we feel that we have practically lived at the theater. My children and I have had enough but the task is not done, there is still more work and (apparently!) I'm still very much useful with the ol' paintbrush.

It's a long way down!

Unlike the school children who came through for a half hour tour my boys know this theater inside out and respect everyone and everything in it. I don't have to force them to write up an assignment about their experiences here because words like 'sets', 'flys', 'orchestra pit', 'gels' and 'gobo' have become a natural part of their language.

One to two ratio on a personal tour through the theater.

No shouting, competing or distractions and questions are answered directly in a conversation. Each of these power boxes have enough power to light three houses.

First hand they have observed and become a part of an enormous and hard working production team. When little Kangaroo takes his place in the audience on opening night he will understand that this is not just a 'show'. What he is watching is an accumulation of many months of work on behalf of a team who all need each other. He understands that there is a cast to perform and be the stars, an entire orchestra and a conductor in the orchestra pit complementing the singers, a director chewing his nails to the quick with excitement and hope, a music teacher who hasn't gone to bed before twelve for too long that is healthy, a dance teacher who works at her school by day bringing her art to the lives of children who also operates her own dance studio after hours and is now a new Mumma who is teaching choreography so our cast perform the best they can, a backstage crew who set the scene through clever lighting, the indispensable sound tech whose job encompasses the magic of creating effects like a train to ensuring that the mics are clear so our wonderful cast can be heard (I love that my boys know our visiting sound tech better than I do - they just casually walk up to him and start chatting :), the muscles who fly and push the scenery in and out and up and down the stage to create the perfect backdrop for the story, the wonderful people who created these backdrops - artists, cabinetmakers and numerous helping hands to follow direction, management - who without there simply is no show - and our incredible costume ladies who have been working since Christmas to get the (I think) 180 costumes and approximately 20 hats or more ready for next Thursday night. Little Kangaroo, my small five year old exuberant boy, will sit on opening night with his Dada and Grandma and enjoy a 'show' comprised of hundreds and even though he will only see on stage the sixty or so people who are performing Kangaroo knows that there truly is so much more than meets the eye.

Placing a 'gel' on the spot light to show how the lights are coloured on the stage. My boys even took some home to play theater with.

Operating the lights.

Flying in curtains on the stage.

Helping with the artwork backstage.

Learning a new skill and making friends.

Engaging with others.

I know I've raved a bit. But after so many years of doubt I can feel the passion and belief growing within me about how we chose to 'school'. I want to no longer make apologies for our differences or to make small talk with the negatively curious, who have no intention of opening their minds to understanding and who, through a simple conversation, have little hope of comprehending our choice to homeschool. I feel proud of our lifestyle and am overflowing with a desire to teach our children to live their life with two feet straight in it. Homeschooling and the school system both have their pros and cons and an argument for either can be fairly easily built with the right knowledge, background and passion but for now, we're squarely in the homeschooling camp. Who knows what our future holds but right now, at this moment, homeschooling is the right choice for us and I'm thrilled to feel so positive about it. So, for a little while, I've managed to burn away the second guessing and feel at peace.

We're all so very tired from our long days and late nights but I wanted to share my excitement that I believe in what we're doing. To homeschool and live our life beyond the bookwork is where we will be taking our family life increasingly in the future. The benefits are too numerous and comparably, my freaky little homeschool family, understand so much more about the real world and real people then if we were cocooned in a school, with classmates of all the same age. Where the motivation for learning is to satisfy something other than yourself and your curiosity. I want to bring my boys to the real world and this is how we have begun.