Mark of Fridays: Sesame Street Live

Mark, Elmo'd up pre-show.

On a whim last weekend, Lynne and Matt decided to go see Sesame Street Live in Rosemont. Matt was a bit skeptical at first - mainly because he thought it was Elmo on Ice. Not so.

It actually was just about the greatest thing ever if you are between the ages of 2 and 5.
The show was pretty good. It was a standard Sesame Street plot with Super Grover losing his super powers and the other characters showing him how to get them back. (Get sleep, eat right, keep yourself clean, exercise - if you must know.) Not exactly Dickensian fare for the parents, but it was magical to hear the kids cheer when a new character walked out of the TV and onto the stage in front of them.

And look who else was there!

But before the show might have been even better. If you got there an hour early, you could stand in Oscar's garbage can, sit in Big Bird's nest, go to Hooper's Store and more. Basically this was awesome for the parents because everyone thought about how they would have loved to do this when they were kids and they would have treasured this moment. And so the parents made the kids stand for dozens of pictures when all the kids wanted to do was play around already!

But there was also a pre-show where several of the characters (including the infamous Murray) came out to do short songs like Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. The characters were really close to the kids and COOKIE MONSTER AND ZOE GAVE MARK A HIGH FIVE.

Mark looked he was going to throw up from excitement. Afterwards, he just jumped up and down in place because he couldn't believe he'd met his heroes. And this time he wasn't lumpy.

Anyhow, for those of you that have kids, we give it two big red fuzzy thumbs up.

Who are you calling a grouch?

Picking vegetables at Hooper's store.

Mark of Fridays: Cousins

If you should ever find yourself hanging out with two cool cousins - who both have weird parents - you can be sure it is only a matter of time before the children end up in a grain bin.

Hey, they liked it in there.

Mark and Elaina

Recently, Mark met his new friend, Elaina Lynn Burton.

Mark couldn't believe that he ever used to be that small. Mark looked like a giant!

Elaina is so beautiful and lucky to have great parents like Sara and Tripp.

And Mark has his first girl friend!