The Best Day Ever!

Saturday, May 5th, 2012, has been declared THE BEST DAY EVER by the (verbal) children in the Schmitt home!  I must admit, it was an awesome day for me as well!  The day started with Abbie scoring her first goal in a soccer game and ended with dinner and fun at Mimi and Bebe’s house.  The middle was pretty amazing too!

Way back in November the kids started seeing commercials on Nick Jr. for The Fresh Beat Band tour.  The Fresh Beat Band is a kids show on Nick that features a musical group.  The group just recently started touring the country.  We would see the commercial repeatedly on TV and the kids would beg to go to the concert.  For the longest time the tour dates were only in other areas of the country so it was easy to tell them why we couldn’t go see the concert.  Once the commercial started listing tour dates in Texas that the kids knew of, there was no turning back.  Abbie and Carter (and secretly me as well) were SO excited when they finally announced a concert in Houston!  I made sure to mark my calendar for the date in January when tickets went on sale.

The tickets went on sale on a Tuesday, which is ballet and swimming day.  I dropped Abbie off at ballet at 9:30 and then Carter and I raced home so I could be on the computer at 10:00 to buy tickets when they first went on sale.  (Crazy I know, but many parents must have felt the same way because the entire show was sold out in two days!)  I wasn’t planning to buy just any ticket.  For extra money, you could buy a VIP ticket in one of the front rows and meet The Fresh Beat Band in person.  Of course the commercial mentioned this as well, so Abbie and Carter just assumed they were going to meet their favorite people on TV.  Stephen and I talked about it, and although the tickets were ridiculously expensive, we agreed that we would buy the special tickets as birthday presents for the kids.  Can you imagine getting to meet one of your favorite TV stars you see on TV all the time?!  I thought it would be an amazing experience for the kids and was worth the price.  I was logged in to Ticketmaster right at 10:00 and tried multiple times to get through to buy tickets.  I was starting to get worried when 10 minutes later I still could not get through.  Finally, by some miracle, the screen actually popped up with three seats for the VIP ticket!  I quickly entered all of my information and bought the tickets.  I was SO excited!  Again, crazy, but you would be surprised by what is exciting for a stay at home mom of three small children!  I was too excited not to, and told the kids right away that we were going to meet them!  Sadly for them, the concert was still 4 long months away.

During the next 4 months, the kids would occasionally ask how much longer it was until the concert.  Fortunately, a lot of exciting things happened during those 4 months with birthdays and Elisabeth’s arrival.  Since the tickets were Abbie’s birthday present, we didn’t get her any gifts.  The only thing we gave her was The Fresh Beat Band CD.  She loved it and was able to learn all of the songs before the big concert!

The week before the concert we were in full countdown mode.  Abbie insisted that we listen to the CD on repeat in the car.  The entire thing is only 45 minutes long and we spend a lot of time in the car, so we all heard each song about a million times.  Even I know all the words now (and secretly like some of the songs)!  Knowing all the words to the songs made the concert even more fun because we could sing along!

Abbie and Carter were so excited when Saturday morning finally arrived!  We had a fun time at Abbie’s soccer game and then raced home to take a bath and eat a quick lunch.  Then it was time to drive downtown for the big concert which started at 2:00!  Abbie drew a picture for The Fresh Beat Band on the drive down while Carter took a little nap. 

Once we arrived at the theater, we checked in for our VIP tickets and got a backstage pass and poster.  Then we made a quick potty stop and found our seats.  Our seats were perfect, 4th row – center!  We had some time to wait until the concert started, so the kids people-watched and ate a snack.  After what felt like an eternity with two children asking every minute “How much longer?”, the concert finally began!

I asked them for their super-excited smile and this is what I got!

Abbie had a blast from the moment the concert started until the moment it ended!  She sang and danced her little heart out the entire time!  She was by far the most enthusiastic child I could see.  In fact, at different times throughout the concert, three of the  band members looked right at her and smiled because she was having so much fun and dancing and singing!  It was so cool!  She absolutely loved that they saw her!  It was truly magical for her.

Carter was more reserved at first with his excitement.  He wasn’t quite sure what to think of everything.  He quickly warmed up to the fun and started dancing and singing, too.  Abbie’s excitement was contagious.  Carter and I couldn’t help but join in the fun!

Countdown to FBB

The end of the concert was marked with a huge confetti drop.  The kids loved trying to catch the confetti!

Once the concert was over, we headed to the special lounge area where we waited to meet them and have our picture taken.  Abbie was SO excited when it was their turn.  She gave them the picture she drew and smiled brightly for the picture.  Carter was not sure he wanted to meet them while we were waiting in line but thankfully changed his mind and joined in for the picture.  Such a fun moment!

After the concert, we drove down to Mimi and Bebe’s house to play and have dinner before heading home for bed.  The kids had a great day from start to finish!

The next morning, Abbie came in to our room early and was crying.  She said she was sad that the concert was over and she wouldn’t get to see them again.  I can imagine it was sad to have something that you had been looking forward to for 6 months be over.  It made me think of the quote “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”  That is a hard life lesson for a five-year old.  It was kind of a rough day, but she survived and was so excited when we printed off the picture of her with the band.  Now whenever we watch the show we all get excited that we met them in person. 

It was such a magical day experienced with two of my favorite little people.  It is truly a gift as a parent to be able to experience things with your children that make them so happy.  It is an amazing feeling when you can have pure joy solely through being happy for someone else.  I would have to agree that it was THE BEST DAY EVER!