USO Free Sesame Street Show

Sesame Street is a big supporter of the military and military families. Every year they offer 4 free tickets to Sesame Place for every military family and they have teamed up with the USO to create a special Sesame Street series, Talk, Listen, Connect, to helper younger kids deal with deployments and everything that comes with them.

May is the month of the Military Child and APG kicked it off with a free Sesame Street Live mini show here on post. It was only 45 mins long (which we thought was a perfect amount of time.) Cookie Monster, Grover, Rosetta, Zoe, and Elmo came and sang songs and played games for the kids. I was so nervous that they where going to do the Elmo's Daddy has to go away story line. For some reason (I blame pregnancy hormones) I was super emotional and started crying when they even mentioned it at the beginning. But thankfully it was just songs about being happy and making music.

Every kid that walked in the door was given one of these Elmo light up spiny toys, at the Sesame Street Live show they are at least $10 a piece. Johnny was very excited, especially after Mommy showed him how to make it work.

I think Daddy was excited too. Johnny is really starting to look even more like his Daddy!

We took Uncle Tommy, Aunt Natalie, Ella and Sammi. Sammi really enjoyed the show more then we thought she would. She watched the characters dance and smiled really big the entire time....and oh isn't she cute?

Ella sporting her USO bandanna and wishing that Abby Cadabby was part of the cast...sorry Ella.


As the characters came out everyone cheered for their favorite, of course we tried to get Johnny to yell and bounce for Elmo, but he tensed up, he was so excited and didn't know what to do with himself. Also it was near 90 degrees yesterday when we discovered that he has no short sleeve Elmo shirts! Aren't we bad parents!

He couldn't sit still, it was all so over whelming.

Sammi loved it when her Mommy made her dance.

Johnny loved it the most too when he was allowed to dance in the isle. But it didn't last long, since some parents started to rush the stage with their kids and where running frantically down the isles.

It was a nice experience that I think Johnny really enjoyed! I really love that Sesame Street and the USO went above and beyond to do this show here on our base. Makes you proud to be a military family.

Sesame Street Live

Thursday Johnny got to go to Sesame Street Live with Grams, Pops, and Ella. I got many phones calls that night from excited Papa telling me how great he was being and how sweet and excited he was. Everyone had a GREAT time.

Ahhhh dinner at Grams and Pops house, yummmmmmm!


On the way to PA for the show. Johnny and Ella sat in the back seat of the car talking to each other, Johnny was roaring.

Getting his suvernier...surprise a ball :)

The seats they got where four rows from the stage!

I love this picture, even though Johnny is looking away and Grams eyes are close, but Grams is smiling and she really looks happy!

A 90 min show, who would think that a 17 month old would have the attention span for that, when it is Elmo anything is possible! He sat with Papa the entire time and watched very attentively, not once did he want down or throw a fit. Just pointed and said "wow," a lot.

At this point in the show Johnny peed on Papa!!! All the way through his diaper and all the way through Papa's shorts!!!! So during intermission Johnny got a new set of cloths, and Papa was still cover in pee, but it was okay!

When Momma was a little older then Johnny she got to go to Sesame Street live with her Uncle Mark and cousins Michele and JR. I don't remember a lot about it. I remember having a really good time, I remember it was about aliens and I remember getting a balloon! So I asked Papa to get Johnny a balloon too...so they paid $10 for a big Elmo head balloon, when I picked up Johnny the next day the first thing he said to me was "balloon" and pointed to it, before even hello.

THANK YOU GRAMS AND POPS!!!!

See how his eyes never leave the stage even when eating cotton candy.

I am not quite sure what happened here, but it looks like it was fun....and still Johnny is undeterred from staring at the stage.

Going home, notice only one shoe, this is when it was learned that Johnny no longer wears a size size shoe!! His feet are super fat and the shoes kept falling off.

That night he and Ella stayed the night with Grams and Pops. When everyone woke up and went into Johnny's room he got really excited to see Ella!!! He squealed and jumped up and down and called out her name.

OH NO he dropped Elmo, whatever will he do? Who will come to his rescue?

Big cousin Ella, that's who :)


I really liked this picture as Johnny is playing with the fish mobile he used to when he was a baby.

Everyone had a really good time at Sesame Street Live!

Sesame Street is for Military Kids

I wanted to share this here since I think it fits our situations. When Shawn left for Iraq when I was 2 months pregnant, the day he left is when I started to get nauseous and all those other unpleasant pregnancy things. I was lucky enough to have my parents open their doors to me and walk me through the pregnancy and child birth and first few months of Johnny's life. Johnny will never remember Daddy being gone (god help us we will never do a third deployment) But what about those kids who are born when Daddy starts his year long deployment and Daddy comes back to walking, talking, stranger danger scared toddler? Or a 5 year old (Ella comes to mind) who all of a sudden a reserve parent living a civilian life is gone with only web cam to comfort. How do you explain to that child where and why Mommy or Daddy is gone? Or what if they don't come back? or come back with an injury? How even the "simple" process of adjusting back to normal life when that long gone parent comes home? Sesame Street can help!!!!! Talk, Listen, Connect is a Sesame Street program where Elmo tells kids in ways they can understand all of these difficult situations. I think it is amazing!!! We got the free DVD from the clinic, but anyone can watch it and download it from the website. This won't cure all problems or make it as if that parent isn't gone, but it can smooth out some rough spots. Johnny wanted to watch it this morning, Shawn said he couldn't get through it, being the Daddy missing life being born is hard too.
ps...having already been through this, watching the shows made us both a little emotional, Momma cried.