Singing Along at Barney's Birthday Bash

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Had it not been for the one fateful day that I had a craving for Little Caesar's pizza, I might not ever have known that Barney was coming to town. But there I was at the counter waiting for my medium pepperoni pizza when I noticed a flyer with a picture of the big purple dinosaur. He was coming live to Bismarck with his friends, BJ, Baby Bop and Riff - I couldn't wait to tell Faith.

Barney and friends appear live at the Bismarck Civic Center

I don't know how old Faith was when she saw Barney for the first time. A receptionist at pediatric therapy gave us a Barney VCR tape and Faith loved it. I started letting her watch Barney on PBS and then we started collecting the DVDs. 

All the while, I couldn't believe I was letting my daughter watch Barney - me and my friends made so much fun of him when he first came out on TV. But as I watched along with Faith, I discovered all of the cute songs and some of the good things that Barney had to share. I will admit though that for a while there, it did get a little tiring when all Faith sang was "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you..." over and over and over again.

Anyway, last night was the big night and it didn't start off so well. She kept saying she wanted to stay home, but I wasn't about to give up so soon - the tickets were already paid for and I really wanted to try to use them. 

When we got to the Big Building (what she calls the Civic Center) she was still apprehensive, but I just knew as soon as she heard Barney's voice she would want to go in and see him. Finally, we went over to the ticket guy, let him scan our tickets and made our way into the dark auditorium. Barney was already dancing and singing on stage and when Faith saw him, she couldn't quite believe it.

An usher came over to ask if he could help us find our seats, but I told him we wanted to hang out in the back a little longer until Faith got more comfortable. When she turned to me and yelled, "It's Barney!" I knew she was ready.

Barney and friends live!

Faith having fun and singing along!

I was so thankful and relieved that she overcame her nervousness and was able to relax and sing along to all of the songs. And when Barney's friends came on stage, she yelled out all of their names - I think she was the loudest kid there!

From an adult perspective, I was a little surprised at how boring the stage was - just one backdrop for the whole show. It was just the four dinosaurs onstage along with four accompanying singers/dancers - who were all adults. I thought it was strange they had adults and not kids. 

I was thankful we hadn't forked out the big bucks just to sit closer to the stage. But anyway, I did have fun singing along with Faith to all of the songs - there were only a few new ones we didn't know.

At the end, everyone got to sing Happy Birthday to Barney (not sure how old he turned) which was one of Faith's favorite parts. But then after that, Barney's three little friends sang a slow, mushy song to Barney and I could tell Faith was having a hard time trying not to cry. She is very sensitive to that kind of music and often will end up in tears. 

I figured I better get her coat on and start heading out before they broke into "I love you; you love me." I was a little late though, and when they started singing their traditional farewell song Faith was crying. We got out the door and into the van and all she could say was how she wanted to go back and see Barney again. She managed to calm down though and then got all excited to tell her dad about the great time she had at Barney's Birthday Bash.

Check out the little video below of Faith singing along to "Baby Bop Hop!"