U2, me too, Monkey and Captain Awesome

This time last week I was struggling with being awake after staying out late the night before to see my favourite band. *thinks* yeah I think that's an accurate description. I like a lot of different bands; some a little, a song or two from some, some musicians I come back to often, but beneath behind beyond them all I always seem to come back to U2. 

I know there are those out there who think Bono is a pretentious posturing wanker and would-he-for-fucks-sake-take-those-shades-off! But to me, he sings from his heart, about things that are important to him, and he can laugh at himself. He knows that his image is not who he is as a man. He knows that fame is not all it's cracked up to be. He knows that it's not entirely healthy to love what he does the way he does, but at least he knows this. In his words - "I can't sing but I got soul" Also their music is the soundtrack of my life....it is intrinsically linked to my memories of growing up.


So, when I heard they were coming to Little Ole New Zealand it was a no-brainer that I was going to the concert. The logistics took a little more working out though.... Who would go to the concert with me, do both me and the captain travel up, do I fly away for 24 hours, would Monkey last that long without me??? In the end a friend (she is The AWESOMEST- yes you C!!) offered to watch Monkey for us, and Captain consented to go to the concert with me!!  Yay we had some time away!! Mostly without kids. WIN.

We just had to pack and leave.  I tend to pack with a "pack so I won't need it" philosophy....yay for parents who not only are willing to look after 5 kids, but also have big suitcases I can borrow!  ;OD

Right I have many little stories to share, so this isn't going to be a chronological storytelling thing. "thank fuck!" I hear you sigh.  :OP  

We went out for breakfast one of the mornings....we were only gone 3 nights, but it's already starting to blur together!! We kinds stayed around the Takapuna/Milford area, so things were repeated. ANYWAYS, the thing that made me laugh, was having breakfast of pancakes, bacon and maple syrup I was getting full, Captain said I didn't have to finish it.  I looked at him.  It was bacon.  you can't not finish bacon. weirdo.  So he suggested I could put the rest in my handbag for later.....  sound familiar? maybe I knew this day was coming.  breathe out there mum, I didn't actually pick it up and sneak it away. I just ate it real quick so we could go.  hmmm bacon. *sigh* 

When we arrived in our room Monkey was having an explore and quickly discovered he could get into the bathroom and with some delight the toilet paper....."wheeeeee" it spins off the roll real easy.  *sigh*   Let's just say we locked that door, and thank goodness there was a stiff sliding door access from the bedroom that he couldn't open!  
hmm, I have 10 minutes before I have to do the school pick up, so what else to tell today, and I will tell more later.....
We had a lovely couple of days hanging out with awesome friends, seeing some of the sights round the North Shore, and getting a few Christmas presents for the kids sussed - yay for sales!!  If you get the chance there is an amazing view from atop North Head.  Spectacular!  Totally worth going to Auckland for.  The weather was lovely too :OD


Oh, yeah and the concert.  gah, nearly forgot!!  *eye roll* I didn't really!!  We had hired a car (nice 2010 model - such a treat!!) and found a park near the venue. Pity really it was the wrong entrance so we had to walk pretty much all the way Mt Smart Stadium  before we found our seats.  And then I couldn't read the ticket, so was accusing, NICELY, strangers of being in our seats *facepalm* Good thing we weren't interested in the support act huh??  


U2 was as always AWESOMESAUCE.  They had a real touching tribute to the Pike River Miners - it did seem weird to be going out to party on that night - but I'm sorry I  wasn't NOT going!  They played a different mix of songs from last time (2006) but there were some of my favs in there, so that was cool with me!  Adam finished up in a sparkly shirt, with his sparkly guitar and guitar strap = too awesome, as only Adam can do!  The stage was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G...Captain took some shots on his phone, but they wouldn't do it justice. Let's just leave it at this: I had to stop dancing to watch the light show. The sky was lit up!  And cool cool cool when they first came on, everyone stood up, stamping their feet to the beat - the temporary stands we were on were shaking to the rhythm!! Captain was a little unsure about this and starting making his exit strategy, but to me it was a nice wee memory to store away - all of us there together enjoying the music. Cool. Too cool. 


needless to say that I didn't get this finished in the ten minutes I had.....Thanks tho Darling Girl and Dude for doing Monkey watch so Mama could come back later and finish her ramblin's  :O)

I'll apologise once again for not having the skills to set these across the page to save you having to scroll down through them. I took a "round the world" set of pics from atop North Head with Captain Awesome (obviously). I won't bore you with them all tho...just a select few. Nice tho huh?

Our Amazing Friend stayed in the car with the wee boys (ours and hers) singing and waving her arms around to entertain them....yeah we saw ya!!  ;OD

So, that's pretty much the majority of our trip away, it was for the most part a restful few days. Apart from the crazy impatient Auckland drivers - won't miss them. 

Glad to be back home in our own bed too....it's a niiiiiiiice bed! 










Have a lovely weekend, hope it is what you hope it to be. I will be crazy busy, have volunteered to be on the back on a ute in our local Christmas Parade, or Santa Parade as they are now called, with a bunch of Playcentre kids.  I'll be dressed in my LittleToastFairy tutu....should be, ah, interesting.  :OD