Big sisters day out!

Saturday was a really fun and memorable day!

The hubs and I devised a plan to take the big sisters to see ELMO (live and in person) at an arena about 30 minutes outside of Seattle.

ELMO isn't their very, very favorite character -- but he ranks right up there so we thought (hoped) they would enjoy.

We started talking about seeing ELMO the night before -- and when they woke in the morning -- they popped right up and said "ELMO"!

It was so cute.

We had no fussing getting ready and they even agreed to a picture!

Looks like two little girls quite eager to see ELMO - if you ask me! ;-)

Thankfully our amazing neighbor girls agreed to take Ms. A for part of the day.  This seemed to make it even more special for us.  We were able to really focus on the big girls...kind of like old times!  I think they really liked that part, too.

We took a leap of faith -- and bought tickets for the 2pm show -- right at nap time!

But - we hoped all the fun would trump the naps and perhaps they would snooze in the car a little bit on the way home.

We set out for our big adventure about 11am.... grabbed some lunch and arrived at the arena about 1:15 for the pre-show festivities.

Before we entered the arena - the girls were greeted by Clifford the Big Red Dog!

And then .. inside they had a "play zone" set up for all the tykes to enjoy before the show!

The girls got to sit on "Big Birds" steps.

They were greeted by several characters!

 Oscar the grouch wasn't so grouchy after all!

They had fun coloring a picture...

And danced and jumped around to some fun music with daddy!

It was then time to enter the arena ... only a few minutes to spare before the show would start!

Look at my big girls waiting patiently for the fun to begin!! They have grown (matured) so much these past few months!

And - FINALLY .. the lights went dim and the characters came out!

Their sweet faces were PRICELESS!

Ms. R was like..... "Oh my gosh"!!

 And, Ms. K -- got right down to movin' and grovin'....

Their eyes lit up like they were seeing magic -- and the hubs and I just sat back and took it all in -- with big smiles on our faces, of course.

The DANCING was our favorite part! The girls (especially Ms. R) could not sit still.  She just had to get up and dance. It was to die for!!  Arms in the air!!

It was really neat to hear them sing along familiar songs like the ABC's.

They also incorporated counting into the show and the girls were proud to be able to count along with ELMO and crew!

All in all - it was a super fun day -- and the girls continue to talk about seeing ELMO!!

I am quite certain the hubs and I enjoyed ourselves just as much as they did.  It's amazing how your heart just swells when you see your kids having that much fun.

We'll definitely be planning on "meeting" more characters in the future....

I'd pay just about anything to see those smiles over and over again!  It's hard to put a price tag on these kind of memories.

Oh - and Ms. A had a really good day with the neighbor girls, too!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

With love,
Cuz I'm the mama!