Yo Gabba Gabba

On Friday we took Maggie to see the live action show: Yo Gabba Gabba, It's Time to Dance! and it was awesome! We all had so much fun, especially Maggie, and we are so glad we made the effort to go. Mags was in her glory, singing and dancing and screaming with the best of them. The band, Yacht, performed a song and Biz Markie performed for us too. So cool! Next time they come to Fresno we're taking Maggie, for sure.

Heading Downstairs

The last night we were in Park City Chad and I had dinner and then went to the club, Downstairs. I say club because that's what it was. An L.A., pretty people, dark room, loud music, dancing kind of club. And while it's been a long time since we've been to and enjoyed something like that, we wanted to hit up this place that night because Samantha Ronson was on the schedule. She started off the evening playing an acoustic set with Jimmy Messer. (I got brave and told him he was great and shook his hand. Go me!) Their set was somewhat pop-y and folk-y and the show was pretty decent. I'd say there were probably 30-40 people in the audience for the acoustic show and then, in typical club fashion, the young and beautifuls arrived fashionably late and ended up packing the house.  Samantha returned to center stage later that evening and spun records for the rest of the night.

Sesame Street Live

Wednesday I took Maggie to see the traveling live-action Sesame Street show. On our way there I explained to her what we were going to see, but I'm positive she didn't get it. Still too young to understand the concept of the theater or a live TV show, I suppose. She did, however, understand the fact that every child (and/or parent--even dads!) was wearing or holding something with Elmo or another character on it. Grown men in Elmo shirts. For real. Right when we got there the 15-minute warning from the voice of Big Bird told us it was time to find our seats. Maggie shouted Big Bird, Big Bird, Big Bird! and intently looked around at the empty stage and semi-full audience trying to find him. Big Bird!? Maggie has always been an Elmo girl so I have no idea where this Big Bird fascination came from. A new thing I guess. Or maybe, this just dawned on me, Big Bird's familiar voice from the loud speaker helped her realize we were somewhere special and about to see something fun? Anyway, once the show started Maggie lit up as each of the characters, particularly Elmo and Grover and Cookie Monster, arrived on stage.  Anyway, she did really well, smiling wide-eyed and dancing and jumping along with the cast for the first 45 minutes. Then came a quick 15-minute intermission before the last 30 minutes of the show. And that was when she started getting squirmy. Not squirmy enough to leave, but she couldn't decide if she wanted to sit on my lap, sit in her own chair (which I had to hold down because she wasn't strong enough to keep it from closing on her like a taco), or stand up and dance. Back and forth from one to the other for the last 30 minutes. She had a ball and was still talking about Big Bird and Elmo and Ernie on the way back to the car.

Dancing Queen

Untitled from Lyndsay Lou on Vimeo.

Our first night in Hawaii we listened to the band near the pool for awhile. We knew Maggie would love the music and immediately she got her groove on. I wish we had videoed her earlier in the evening because she was dancing so hard the entire crowd watched and laughed and smiled. There were even some onlookers taking photos of her. It was adorable. After each song she put her arms up and looked around making sure everyone clapped (for her) for the band and then took her turn to clap. Chad and I were laughing so hard I was crying. That 45 minutes was a highlight of my life for sure. I wish this video did that evening justice, but it doesn't come close. We had too much fun to think about taping her. I'm putting it up here more to remind me of how awesome that night was.

Legally Blonde

Wednesday night Chad and I went downtown to have dinner and see a live performance of Legally Blonde. It was a cute show with some hilarious parts and I had such a fun time watching it. The musical is a bit different than the movie but it's still super cute. The photos on the right are quick Blackberry shots we took at the theater. The photo on the left is of me and author Karen McCullough Lutz. She wrote the screenplay for the original awesomely fantastic Legally Blonde movie (not the musical). She came to speak at my library in Glendale in 2006 and I was thrilled to meet her. (The poster you see in the background is what hung on my apartment wall for awhile. I brought it to work with me and had her sign it. Yay!) Side note: apparently Legally Blonde brings out the red jacket wearer in me. Weird.

Thank you Mom and Dad for the tickets to the show and for watching Maggie while we were there!

Music Together

Maggie and I went with our friends to a little music class on Friday. We played with lots of instruments, sang songs, danced around the room and basically looked like dorks and had a blast for an hour. These photos are pretty candid snapshots. I was having too much fun with the instruments and dancing to take time out for great photos.

Fair

When there's a chance to hit up a local fair Chad and I are always there. San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles County, Tulare County, Paso Robles, Fresno, etc. --we've been to them all and most of them more than once. We love going mostly for the people watching, but then there's the home arts, the animals, the food and the photography exhibits that we like checking out too.

At last year's fair we saw part of the Jonas Brothers concert. This year we went for Gretchen Wilson and her show was great. We got there early, found a good place to stand and stayed for the entire show. She played all her hits, a handful of new songs from an upcoming album (they were catchy and fun) and a few rock and roll classics that the whole crowd knew. She put on a good party concert and we're definitely glad we went.