The Land of Oz: The Best Birthday Surprise Ever!

I was mourning the fact that my baby girl, my BABY GIRL, was about to celebrate her 5th birthday. This baby girl with two very loose bottom teeth who thinks she will be going to Kindergarten in just a few short weeks is growing up so much faster than I ever thought possible. One day, in the midst of my struggle to let her grow up, even though she is such a delight and I am so excited for the possibilities that her future holds, I was on Facebook just randomly skimming through posts when one from The Laurie Berkner Band, one of my, I mean, one of Kaya's very favorite bands caught my eye. It said something to the effect of "Check out our new concert locations." So I clicked the link and saw that Laurie Berkner was not only coming to Michigan but that she would be here on the VERY DAY of Kaya's 5th birthday. I knew we had to do it. I thought it would be so much fun to surprise her on her birthday, so that's what we planned on.

It was so much fun in the days leading up to the big day because she knew that we were taking her somewhere special but had no idea where. So she kept trying to guess. Guesses included: the playground, Kids 'n' Stuff Museum, the library, McDonald's or Wendy's, the zoo, The Chelsea Treehouse, and Disneyland. (I was happy to know that, with the exception of Disneyland, all of her guesses were for the smaller things that we have done with her and that she felt any one of which would have been a special way to celebrate her day.)

We ended up buying a family four pack because it was like getting a free ticket if we did it that way. This event was actually a kids music festival where we would be hearing around five other bands before we got to see Laurie Berkner. Lynnsey and Spencer had the job of deciding which of them would take the extra ticket. We really would have loved to take the whole family (despite what Taylor says, we know he would have loved it too!) but it just wasn't in the budget. Finally after much debate, Lynnsey and Spencer decided that Spencer would come with us and Lynnsey would stay behind with the big brothers to get things ready for her party, including decorations that Lynnsey was taking charge of.

Kaya was so excited the day of the surprise. We decided not to tell her until we actually arrived. Once we got out of the car in the parking lot we explained what we were doing. Her initial reaction was a slightly puzzled "Yes!" but we think it didn't really sink in, until we were actually there watching the other bands and she realized that one of them was going to be her all-time favorite singer ever.

They had a fun (but crowded) instrument petting zoo.

We discovered some fun new bands, including Ralph's World.

Nice photo bomb Spencer!

Dan Zanes and Friends was a really fun musical discovery.

Meeting Ralph from Ralph's World

And finally the big event! Laurie Berkner in person!

Laurie has a pig on her head!

At one point they did a fun song where they tossed a bunch of beach balls out in to the crowd and we had to keep them going all around for the duration of the song. The kids got to keep any balls they had at the end of the song.

Wake up Laurie!

Meeting Dan Zanes.

We had hoped to be able to meet Laurie Berkner too, but she had to leave immediately to catch a flight so we didn't get to. I had also sent a message just asking if it would be possible for them to do a birthday wish to Kaya. I didn't expect that to actually happen but it never hurts to ask. I got a reply back saying that they actually can't do that because there would probably be 20 other kids there celebrating their birthdays who would feel awful if Laurie didn't wish them a happy birthday too. But they did take my information so that she could get an autographed birthday postcard in the mail.

After the concert we did end up taking Kaya to her favorite restaurant, Wendy's, for dinner. Then we journeyed home for phase two of the birthday celebration. The kids had made Kaya a cake and decorated the house.