Birthday, Part 2

For Harper's birthday gift, we thought we would take her to see her most favorite muppet on the planet.... Elmo.

We ordered tickets for her first ever concert, Sesame Street Live.  I thought we were done with kids concerts after the last one we had seen years ago..... The Wiggles.  We had taken Brannen to see the Wiggles with some friends when he was barely two.  Of course, he doesn't remember it a bit, but unfortunately, I do.

It seriously is my idea of hell.

But, here we are again, paying to sit through such torture.  Scott and Brannen were lucky enough not able to go because they were away at youth camp with our church.   Griffin was the unlucky lucky one and got to go along since no one else would be home.  My niece, who's two, and sister.n.law went along as well since they were in town for Harper's birthday.  If there is anyone who loves Elmo just as much as Harper, it's my niece.  We also drug along my mom because, well, we thought she should get to have fun right along with us!

Anyway, we were off to see Elmo, and Harper took the ground running once we made it to the parking lot....

We got there a little early, so we took in the sights of Sesame Street....

...and of course, there was a ton of merchandise calling their name.  Luckily, we got out of there with just a little soccer ball, and cotton candy for Harper and shaved ice for Grififn.

Griff sure was a good sport!

The girls still really didn't know what to expect.  We got to our seats and they saw the stage.....

 but it didn't really hit them until the characters started coming out on stage......

Of course they added a little suspense, and had Elmo be the last character to take the stage.  I had planned on videoing Harper's reaction when she saw him in person, but we were warned repeatedly that we were not allowed to take video.... not even of our kids.  My rebellious side thought about doing it for a second, but then realized it probably wouldn't look good to my kids if they had to bail me out of jail.  

Anyway, I really wish I would have gone with my rebellious side.  When Harper saw Elmo, she screamed at the top. of. her. lungs!!!   It was like the ear piercing screams the Beatles heard when they  first landed in the states.   That moment was worth all the hell we would sit through for the next hour and a half.    

Selfie of us right after she saw Elmo

She was so in awe, she tried to climb over me.  I asked what she was doing and she said, "I need to see Elmo".  She was about to rush the stage!  It was pretty hilarious.

I got her to sit back down, and she pulled out her own Elmo to show the Elmo on stage.  It was such a cute moment.

The ultimate mind blowing experience for Harper was when Elmo and Abby were on stage together by themselves...... her two favorite Sesame Street characters.

speechless at seeing their 'friends' on stage.

Sesame Street Live came to an end (darn) and we filed out of the theater.  We got in our car and Harper was out like a light before we even turned out of the parking lot.  I'm sure she won't remember anything about it by her next birthday.  Shoot, she may forget about it by next month, but that's ok.  She had pure joy in that moment of  seeing her beloved Elmo for the first time, and that was worth it to me.