Winter Jam 2014

So the Knight family started Spring Break with a night at Winter Jam 2014.  Top to bottom, it had the best line-up of any of these types of concerts we've been to.  The nights favorites included Thousand Foot Krutch (check out their video below), who's songs Lexi sang with them; Lecrae, who brought rap and preaching and mixed them together (check out his video below, too); The Newsboys, who still put on a just as good of a show as when I saw them 20 years ago (the drum kit went vertical, then horizontal, and then spun during their cover of Jesus Freak).  Special mention goes to Tenth Avenue North, who were freshmen while Trisha was in grad school at PBA, and Colton Dixon (a former American Idol contestant), who's poster Lexi is now a proud owner of. 

If you like concerts and great deals, I highly recommend both Winter Jam and Rock and Worship Roadshow.  We sure have a great time at them.

Rockin' at Winter Jam

This is "Let the Sparks Fly", by Thousand Foot Krutch.

This is "I Know", by Lecrae.

House of Heroes Concert

Yesterday we picked Lexi up from church camp, "Princess Camp" edition.  She learned a lot about how much God loves her, how she needs to choose a "prince" (Jesus or Satan), why to dress modestly (boys fill in the picture, gasp!), and other valuable lessons about being a daughter of God.  She had a blast.

We also took the kids to a free concert on the way home, headlined by House of Heroes.  They are Christian guys with several albums out, and they rock.  Lexi in particular enjoys their music.  The concert was in a small lodge in a park in Anderson. After a cool opening act, Curt Anderson, we heard Come Wind.  They really weren't very good, some kind of experimental prog-rock, sung mostly in falsetto.  Also, they didn't have much interaction with the audience. 

Finally, House of Heroes came on.  They played for about an hour and a half.  They mostly played songs from their new B-Side album, which included a cover of "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" by the Beatles (they did a good job).  They also played some from several of their other albums, including one of my favorites "Remember the Empire".  Check out the video below.  The twins were asleep with about 20-30 minutes left in the show; I'm not sure how, as it was so loud we needed ear plugs.

We enjoyed the show and are glad to have Lexi home.  Now we are gearing up for VBS next week.  Oh, and Griffin went to basketball camp last week as well.  It was fun watching him improve his skills.

Spring Break and Lexi's 8th Birthday

Well, tomorrow we all go back to school.  It's been a fun week, filled with lots of relaxation and family time.  We took a couple of family walks along the Pensey Trail and enjoyed the outdoors.  I got the trampoline up for the spring and summer (and a sunburned head).  We did a little shopping, getting ready for the summer.  Thursday night we ate dinner with our friends, the Van Osdols, and Griffin climbed his first tree.  He was probably 25 feet up in a big pine.  Fortunately, he was able to navigate his way down without falling.  Friday, Trisha and I took the kids to the Winter Jam concert, where we met Dianna and her friend David.  It was 10 bands for 10 bucks.  I wasn't as interested in as many bands as the Rock and Worship Road Show, but there were some memorable moments.  The kids really enjoyed Group 1 Crew again, with Cami and Lexi singing along.  But the kicker was Skillet, a Christian hard (and I mean hard) rock band.  The show was big, loud, and explodey.  One of the best performances I've seen.  They played for around an hour and never let up.  My favorite moment (other than the fact that Griffin managed to sleep through nearly the whole thing) was during the song "Hero".  The drummer and her kit were on hydraulics and were moved to the end of the stage.  The rest of the band joined her, and the drums and two guitar players were lifted up into the air on platforms.  The drummer not only went up, but started going around in a circle, like a carousel, all the while singing.  It was pretty cool.  Lexi got a little scared during the song "Monster" because the stage had huge red eyes that glowed in the dark and then were revealed to be the eyes of a monster-looking prop that shot smoke out of its ears.  I thought it was awesome. Oh, and Cami wanted to know if she could have pink hair (both girls in Skillet had colored hair, one red and one blue).  She said they were her favorite part.  I think I've got a little rocker chick.



Saturday, Lexi turned 8 and she wanted to have a family birthday party.  Tom, Donna, half the Reddys (some were sick), and Dianna came over for dinner, cake, and ice cream.  Lexi had a great time, and got a lot of gifts and a lot of love.