hanging out in gabba land

i don't know who was more excited for the yo gabba gabba live show, the bean or me and the teen.  heh.

we got downtown pretty quickly, since it was a saturday and the traffic was nowhere near what it usually is.  the auto show was going on at the nearby convention center, though, so we saw weird stuff like this:

finding a parking spot in the underground garage was a little difficult, but we finally found one.  the bean had fallen asleep, but was excited when she woke up and realized that not only had we picked up her sister (who was at her dad's for the weekend), but we were finally there.

and she rocked her new kicks with pride.

i was super bitter when i realized that, unlike other concerts and live shows we've been to, my DSLR would have been perfectly okay to bring along.  instead, i had to settle for shitty camera pictures.  so. bitter.  oh, well.

as we stood in line to get inside, this crazy woman bounced through the crowd.

yeah.

my friends kelley and dailygluttony found me in the crowd, and we giggled as we watched her jiggling and dancing and posing for pictures.  the fourth musketeer in this group, nanette, was already inside and chatting with another friend she'd managed to find in the cluster of excited kids and parents.  DG and i elbowed our way through to the concession stand, where i sweated like mad as i waited for my turn to buy reasonably-priced tour tees.

we decided to go and find our seats, which turned out to be pretty good.  i was pleased to find that although we weren't exactly close to the stage, we had a great view of it.

and there was a little surprise waiting for us on one of our seats, too.  the bean was delighted.

having promised her popcorn to munch on during the show, i made my way back out to stand in a long ass line at another concession stand.

i was super amused at this dude, who came dressed as DJ lance rock.

what i thought i'd saved on show tees, i shelled out for snacks.  good gracious.

but it was worth it as the bean lit up at the sight of her popcorn and the teen happily munched on red vines.

to pass the time, we made silly faces (yes, including my patented stupid face) for the camera.  we got those glasses when we checked in with the ushers.  they're cardboard, but held up surprisingly well - even as i continued to sweat it out.

and then it was showtime!

nanette's em is a huge fan.  i loved watching her dance and sing along to all of the songs.

this woman in front of us was an even bigger fan.

i bought the bean her very first concert glow stick.

this was our special musical guest - ok go.

there were several huge balloon drops over our heads, and there was lots of squealing when they opened up.

during intermission, the bean enjoyed a bit of cotton candy.  hey, we were at a fun show, there were snacks galore.

i was a little stoked over my shirt.

after the dancey dance segment (which featured leslie hall instead of ashley & pete wentz, as we'd originally thought), it was time for biz's beat of the day.  and after a brief video appearance, biz markie himself strolled out on stage.

a plethora of kids ran up to imitate his beat boxing, and one adorable tow-headed little boy came up and announced that his name was "kingston."  oh mah gah...GWEN STEFANI was in the audience!  i don't know where, but she was somewhere in this mess.

and then the bean turned to me and said "mommy, i gotta go potty."  poop.  i was hoping she'd be able to hold it until the end of the show, but i didn't want to risk her peeing her pants.  and wouldn't you know it - as soon as we got out the door, we heard the opening bars of the very best YGG song there is:  "party in my tummy."  sonofa...

and as we made our way back to our seats, they were already singing the "goodbye" song.  the bean turned to me with tear-filled eyes, and in the saddest little voice i've ever heard, "i missed the party in my tummy?!?"

i wanted to kick myself so hard for not just risking the wet pants.  LOOK at that face.  "see, mommy, i have tears!  i missed the party in my tummy!"  every time i think of it, i want to cry.  the teen had captured it on my flip cam, but the bean was not satisfied and refused to watch.

outside, the teen practically wet herself when she saw the DJ lance rock shirt, long-sleeved and in adult size medium.  i ended up standing in line for it while she and rock-ell took the bean to watch the trains set up for the holidays.

she swore she'd wear it to school on the first day back from thanksgiving break.

oh!  i managed to "borrow" this awesome photo from nanette (thanks, dude):

and these, too.

such a good time!  i can't wait till next year.  oh yeah, i'm already planning on going again.