Laurie Berkner Concert, Part 1

This post is just the narrative, without the photos. I will try to clean the photos up and post them tomorrow or in the very near future (the camera phone doesn't have a flash and the pictures are currently too dark -- I'm going to try to do some work with them in Photoshop).

The day started dangerously. The twins were up way too early (pre-5am). That means they (and Dad and I) were going to be tired early. But that's what we had to work with. Then we realized we couldn't find the leashes (oops, I mean harnesses) to keep them with us and prevent them from getting lost in a crowd. I thought to put signs on their backs, but they always managed to pull them off, so that wasn't going to work. So, we just had to hope.

We got in the car just a little later than we planned and found street parking a block away from the theater (translation, our luck is changing). Rachel fell asleep on the 45 minute drive and we allowed her to rest a little more (since she was up so early), then we gave everyone a small snack and headed to the theater (in the rain). Rachel was having so much fun in her "tap shoes" (new patten leather shoes). I go to the Will Call window and pick up our backstage passes, but the person at the ticket counter was confused -- it was just one piece of paper -- I explained that's all I needed, took the envelope and went to find the rest of the family. The kids were getting excited and restless. We found our tickets, headed to our seats to get settled in, and I pulled out the phone and started showing the twins videos to get them comfortable. A couple of Barefoot Books (Animal Boogie, Driving My Tractor) and a couple of Phineas and Ferb musical numbers, and the band comes on stage.

Simon covers his ears, but is quiet. The music is starting. Rachel and Daniel are standing and jumping up and down. The song is "Victor Vito". I start playing a game with Simon that we play in the car when this song comes on, and he starts to smile (but the hands stay up), with me turning my head back and forth with the responsive nature of the chorus. He's getting into it. He's watching me, rather than the stage, but we'll take it. When the song ends, he's into the concert. The next song doesn't really interest him, but again, he's NOT upset. But he keeps the hands up. The 3rd song, we notice he's watching the band on the stage. Then the 4th song is "Pig On Her Head". We pull out the stuffed animals we brought with us (Daniel already had Zebra and we had a lobster for Rachel and a bunny for Simon). That was the turning point. Simon couldn't hold the bunny AND keep his hands on his ears. Which one would he choose? He chose to HOLD THE BUNNY!!!!!!!! From then on, he was truly able to enjoy the show.

The funny part -- RACHEL was more of the problem. Every once in a while, a song would come up that she had no interest in listening to and she would start complaining and want to go wandering. Eventually, we allowed her to walk around the auditorium a bit and she ended up standing next to the stage for a brief period towards the end of the show. But she was a bit bipolar throughout the performance. When she was enjoying it, she was the happiest person there. But when something wasn't going the way SHE wanted it to, it was the end of the world.

After the performance, we waited to meet with the band. We waited with 5 other families and we were assigned an order to see the band. They came out onto the stage and sat there spending time with each family in turn. They signed photos, DVD covers, and a songbook for us. Rachel and Daniel each gave Laurie a HUGE hug. I mentioned that Simon enjoys singing her songs and she started singing some of her songs, just for him. We started with Moon Moon Moon, then Simon announced Victor Vito. So, she started singing Victor Vito. Then he said I'm Going to Catch You. She engaged him for a little while before Rachel's impatience was overriding our need to stick around. So, we got a couple of pictures, thanked them for everything, found my contact at Two Tomatoes, LLC to thank her again for all her help, and headed home.

Overall it was a great day, and such a HUGE success, especially compared with the same concert in Baltimore on May 1, 2010. YAY PROGRESS!!!!!