Shakey Graves Concert!!

This past weekend, I had the most fun I have had in a long time....

I got to see Shakey Graves play at the Knitting Factory in Spokane, WA!! This also happens to be my first real concert! Whoop!! 

I know not many people (that I personally know) know about Shakey Graves, but he is gaining in popularity among the people who listen to his gener of music. Since discovering him almost 2 years ago now, I've been hooked. Thanks, YouTube. 

When I saw he was putting on a tour this year, and saw he was going to be playing in Spokane, just 4 hours from us, I knew I had to go. Eeekk! I purchased the tickets back in February, and since then I have been patiently waiting to go.

Sam and I headed to Spokane Saturday morning. Our hotel, The Hotel Ruby, was literally a two minute walk from the Knitting Factory. After checking in, we did some shopping, ate out, and relaxed in the hotel room. It was nice to get out of town, just the two of us, and have some down time. There was nothing we had to do, and nowhere we had to be. That was soooo nice.

Sunday morning we slept in, did a bit more shopping, walked around town a bit, drove around, ate out, hung out....so nice to have the whole day to chill before the concert. 

We had a bite to eat at the Sapphire Lounge, which is a bar connected to our hotel, right before walking the two minutes to the Knitting Factory doors for check in. Yay, concert time!!! 

Since the venue was open seating....or rather, limited seating, open standing.....you just got in there and had to find your own place to perch for the evening. We wanted to make sure we got a spot up in the balcony because I was nervous about not being able to see. It would have been soooo amazing to have been front and center in front of the stage, but there were already so many people down there, there was no way I would have been in the front and been able to see, and there was no way I could have stood for hours without my back killing me and subsequently getting a headache anyway. So we headed on up to the balcony area and thankfully were able to get a spot along one of the railings where I would be able to see. It definitely wouldn't have been my first choice of spots, but you get what you get in this type of situation. 

If I could do it all over again, I would have been outside the doors hours before hand, lol, the first in line, so I could have ran to a better spot to watch the concert. But, I'm just thankful I was able to see, and so so so thankful a kind gentleman gave up his stool for me so I could sit. His kindness saved my back and neck and I am so thankful to have gone the evening without getting a headache!! 

Before Shakey came on, we listened to a guy named Raymond Baxtor, and then to Jose Gonzales and The Brite Lites. They were great, and we wound up buying one of Jose's CD's.

When Shakey finally came out, the room exploded. I seriously haven't had that much fun in ages. It was so exciting to watch him perform live. There was a ton of energy in the room, everyone was just having a grand 'ol time! He played a good mix of newer songs off his new album, and old favorites that everybody knows. My favorites are always the ones where it's just him with his guitar and his sweet suitcase kick drum. I was so happy be had brought his suitcase kick drum! I was unsure of how he was going to play, since his style can vary. But his performance totally lived up to my expectations. 

The only way I could have been happier is if I had been front and center so I could have gotten far better photos than I did.....I could only do so much with my phone way up in the balcony.   

Pansy Waltz

Word of Mouth

Roll The Bones

 

Nobody's Fool

Dearly Departed

Late July

When we exited the concert at midnight, it was raining. It felt so refreshing. We ran back to our hotel, I changed into my Shakey T-shirt I had made, lol, then we headed back to the venue so I could get a photo of me standing in front of the marquee. When we got there, there was a gaggle of teens waiting for Shakey to come out of the venue (his bus was parked right there). I was torn between not wanting to be associated with a silly bunch of groupies waiting for Shakey to come out.....and wanting to be a groupie....hahahaha! In the end, Sam snapped my photo and we headed back to the hotel. By then it was close to 1 in the morning. The last time I stayed up til 1 in the morning was the night Timothy was born over 6 years ago, lol. I was tired, Shakey wasn't going to come out till the coast was clear, and I didn't want to be a silly groupie and ambush him. (But I really did want to....)

Best evening ever. Thank you, Sammy, for coming with me! I had so much fun and am so excited to have gotten that experience.  Hopefully, in the future, he'll be at an open venue we can take the kids too, since they all love his music as well. That would be amazing!! Yay, Shakey. 

With love,
Mama Huack

Timothy Lake Camping Aug 17th-Aug 19th

We took our last summer camping trip this past weekend! We were also able to have our friends tag along with us! We were glad for the company, and the kids were stoked to finally have some friends to play with while camping this summer.  I think everyone was a bit disappointed there was a fire ban, so we couldn't have a fire and thus couldn't have smores, but we all survived with a fire and still had a great time

This was a short trip, we were only there for two nights - Friday and Saturday night, so really only one full day, Saturday. Instead of trying to jam pack hikes and fishing and what-not all into one day, we decided to just take it easy and lounge by the lake the entire day. This was definitely a nice change for us!......except maybe I got too much sun? Or didn't keep up with my drinking as much as I should? Unfortunately I got a headache about 4ish on Saturday and was bed ridden the remainder of the evening. UGH!! 

Still, we all enjoyed ourselves and the kids had a blast in the water! It was so fun watching them all swim around. Even the adults, me included, had a good time swimming. We are just so, so proud of Timothy in particular! Not only did he get brave and start swimming out farther with the other kids, but he also took to the kayak all by himself like a pro! Yay!

I'm really excited, we still have two more camping trips planned this year, both in September. One we'll do with the kids, and the last one Sammy and I will be camping by ourselves. It'll be really great for him and I to just chill out! We haven't been camping by ourselves in 11 years, since Anthony was born! So this will be nice. I'm only hoping that the fire ban will be lifted by our next camping adventure so we can keep warm around a fire!   

With love,
Mama Hauck