OUR VISIT TO SESAME STREET

What a fun day! We took the kids downtown to the PBS Let's Meet in the Park Day.

They LOVED it! The weather was beautiful and the girls surprised us by going right up to all the meet and greet characters that were there to get their photos taken and chat. They didn't seem scared at all and gave them all high-fives and hugs.

We took some photos of them before we left home because they looked so cute in their little summer dresses and Crocs! :) Here are some of the cute ones! They kept telling us they were going to go see Elmo.

Unfortunately, the girls were disappointed to find out he wasn't there...I told them he might be sick and taking a nap today.

But, we did see lots of his friends, and that turned those frowns upside down! They especially LOVED Rosita! They talked to her the most.

Hollyn pointed out that she had a yellow bow and they both said "Hola!" really loud when they went up to meet her. Then Hollyn kept saying over and over, "Bye Bye Sweeta! Bye Bye Sweeta!" So, so cute! :) Then it was off to meet Clifford, everyone's favorite Big Red Dog!

Andrew was a super great big brother and helped us with the girls and really had a great attitude about the whole day which was obviously more for the girls this time then for him. On the way home, he actually said, "Mom, I actually did have some fun today too."

I think he liked jumping in the bounce house the most. He helped the little girls get up when they fell down and they seemed to get the hang of it. They also liked the live music acts and the story time too.

The girls chose their own balloons. Hollyn picked a pink one and Jessa purple. Funny, how they match their Crocs! :) The lady gave AJ a purple one too. Hollyn's broke away and I tried to tell her she was sharing it with Hayden and it would float up to heaven to him. Ummm...she was not in the sharing mood today. :(

Anyway, she was getting ready to cry really hard when Andrew stepped in and saved her day! He told Hollyn she could have his balloon to keep. He is such a great kid and big brother!

When I was taking this photo below, the driver of the Wiener Mobile yelled out over a PA system, "Hey guys! Say CHEEESE and WIENIES!!!" Hilarious!

It was fun seeing them light up at Curious George! They really like sitting and watching the Curious George DVD we own especially the part where he blows bubbles! :) Jessa is sure acting like a monkey in this photo. She even started making monkey sounds. :)

We stopped by a tent that was advertising a Chinese summer camp at one of the local colleges. It was fun to talk to the professors and find out that they had spent several months in China in Beijing and the Hunan province. We also learned that in September they are going to have a Chinese festival downtown. We were excited to find that out and hope to come back with the kids. There was a craft table there and Andrew tried to wait in line but kids kept running up and cutting in front of him, I commented to David that we should come back when the line is less crowded. The professor laughed and said, "There really isn't a line...or if there is, it's more like Chinese style!" LOL! That cracked me up! David and I totally remember confronting that while loading the plane on the tar mat headed to Jessa's province. It was like a herd of sheep trying to all cram on to the steps leading up to the airplane at once. I hadn't thought of that in months...it will be nice to bring Jessa back for the festival and make more memories with her.

So we ended the afternoon with some Lemon Ices to cool us all off! Yummo!!! It was really hot again today, so we found a cool spot in the shade to enjoy our treat.

While we were there, a wedding party came from the nearby Scottish Rite Cathedral to have some of their portraits taken outside. It was funny to see the bride's face when she noticed the kid's PBS day in the park. David and I instantly thought about all the bridal parties taking photos all over Shamian Island in China when we were there. Anyway, this bride was none to happy to have so many onlookers, but the photographer tried to salvage a few shots without Sesame Street banners in the background or the random cute faces of kiddos they don't know...

kinda like this one here...

or this one...

or this silly goof...

Andrew overheard Dave comment on how the groom wasn't smiling to much for the photos. Andrew asked David, "Dad did you smile when you got married?" David said, "YAH! It was the best day of my life! I smiled really big that day and I haven't stopped smiling for 14 years!" Okay - Maybe I'm getting old (pshaw, never! why the very idea of it!) or I'm just turning into a total sap, because he totally brought tears to my eyes! My hubby still loves me! And that has got to be the sweetest thing he has ever spontaneously said (and not just in a Hallmark Card) about us!

When we got home, the girls went down for a nap and woke up to play outside some more on their swing set with Daddy. Hollyn decided to take her Hippo for a swing too! He is her constant companion!

I just love my sweet Hollyn! I think she had a really fun and full day!

And Andrew came through! He definitely made me proud!

Don't you just love the long, lazy days of summer?! :)