Meeting Barney

A few weeks ago we went to Stonebriar Mall in Frisco. The Sprout Network was doing a mall tour with two of their most popular characters: Barney and Chica. When Harper used to be home with Daddy a couple days a week, they would watch the Sprout Network (aka PBS kids) and Harper fell in love with Chica, the chicken puppet who co-hosts the show (along with one of three rotating human hosts). Much to my dismay, she also fell in love with Barney, the lovable (to most) purple dinosaur. I am not a Barney fan. He has always annoyed me and I had hoped that I could manage to avoid him while my kids were growing up. Unfortunately Daddy discovered that Barney was a great distraction for Harper while he was trying to get things done... and sometimes Daddy would watch too. ;)

When we heard about the mall tour, we decided we would try to go, but not get our hopes up about what it might be like, or if the crowds were too big to really do anything. After we participated in a work gathering early in the morning in downtown Dallas, we headed up to Frisco and went to the mall to try and figure out where this thing was happening. When we finally got there, Harper saw the cardboard signs with Barney and Chica and was very excited to see their pictures. Little did she know what was ahead! We saw the line, decided it was do-able and proceeded to wait to meet the Big Purple Guy. We were very fortunate to get there when we did since the line quickly stretched past many, many storefronts. I videotaped Harper's reaction upon first seeing Barney. She still hadn't known exactly what we were doing there, and it has given me a glimpse into what our future might look like when the Justin Bieber of her time comes around. oy. Sheer excitement.

Jasper was a little less excited than Harper was.

As we got closer, the line kind of wound around in a funny way and the last little leg actually led us away from Barney before we turned around and got to him. Explaining this to a 2 year old is very challenging, but eventually we worked our way closer, and she was so excited, she actually tried to break the barriers a few times to run up to him before it was her turn. We managed to keep her held back, fixed her hair, and got her all ready for her big moment. They gave each kid a "backstage pass" which had a barcode that they scanned to identify each child as they took their picture. The parents could then download the official Sprout picture a couple days later.

Here she is with her cute pass (before I had fixed her hair)

Here is Harper waiting (patiently) for her turn.

We had actually joked that it would be funny if Harper was terrified of him. But "nah - she's way too excited to get scared". Ha!! Well, we shouldn't have been surprised. She is wary of new situations and people. The following series of pictures tells the whole story. She was terrified from the moment it was her turn. She didn't walk up by herself, so Daddy had to carry her up there. She then wouldn't be put down for a picture, but instead held on for dear life.

As you can see, the official Sprout picture turned out a little less than stellar! Here she is a few minutes later when we walked around the other side of where Barney was to see Chica. She was much happier. 1 - to see Chica, and 2 - to have a safe distance between she and the puppet!

After the Barney fiasco, we wisely decided not to wait in line for Chica. Though I think Jon would have not minded if we had. The human host there at Stonebriar was Kelly, who is Jon's favorite. :)

Harper waving bye bye to Chica.

The excitement wore her out, and she was crashed out on the way home.


Despite my lack of adoration for Barney, I'm glad we went and it was so fun to see her get so excited. And it's yet another thing we will be able to talk about to her friends (and boyfriends!)