A Wiggly Saturday!

There weren’t a whole lot of options for family fun activities in Greensboro this weekend, excluding the two events at the Coliseum on Saturday afternoon. There was the Greensboro Gun and Knife show and The Wiggles. We chose to go see The Wiggles.

For those of you out there who have not procreated in the last 5 -7 years, The Wiggles are a “band” of four guys from Australia who dance and sing and play instruments. They have a couple of Friends who join them in the show, Captain Feathersword, who wields a, well you guessed it, a tickly pink and purple feather sword, there is Dorothy the Dinosaur, a buck toothed green with yellow spots dinosaur that loves red roses, Henry the Octopus, and Wags the Dog.

When Dan mentioned that The Wiggles were coming to Greensboro, I didn’t really think that we would actually buy tickets. I was surprised when he asked me which show we should attend. My first thought was, “what kind of parents takes their kids to this kind of thing. Do I want to be around those kinds of people?” My second thought was, “What the hell, it might actually be fun.” Dan purchased the tickets, $98 dollars?!, and we started getting the kids excited for the “big surprise!”

When we got the coliseum an hour before the show, it was pretty easy to figure out which way to go. Follow the stream of parents with 2-5 years olds. I did have to stop at a counter and ask for directions to the Will Call counter. It was then that I noticed the man walking towards me with three, could they be muskets? in his arms. It was also at that moment when I noticed the sign, “Do not keep live ammo or clips in guns.” Well that’s a relief. I hadn’t know there was a gun and knife show going on at the Coliseum until that moment and as we walked by the guarded open door, I was strangely drawn to the room. But that is a story for another time. Back to The Wiggles!

We found our seats and made ourselves sick on popcorn and fake nachos (I love that fake cheese wiz stuff!) until the show started. I had joked with Dan about them having an opening act, speculating what other kids band would open for this show. But as the lights began to dim, two clowns, dressed in the traditional French clown outfits, white hat with three black poms, white long tunic and white tights, came out to greet the crowd. They had those athletics whistles and they got us to clap and cheer to get ready for the main event. At the start of the clown show I turned to look at Bronwen to see if she was having fun. She looked stricken, and as I started to talk to her about the clowns she began to cry and grabbed me around the neck and would not look up at the stage until the ballerinas come on. She was fine after that. See, clowns are scary!

The show was great. They sang some of their hot hits. Maybe you’ve heard some; Hot Potato, Isty Bitsy Spider, and Twinkle Little Star. Fruit Salad is my personal favorite which they performed with giant pieces of blow up fruit that they tossed around the stage until the song was over.

Truthfully, I think we had more fun than the kids. There is something to be said about being allowed to act silly, clap, cheer, laugh and sing along with the excuse that it is for your kid, but knowing deep down that you are actually having a great time. I experienced a brief moment a self consciousness when the show first started as I clapped and cheered maybe a little too loudly. I looked around at all of the parents around us. They were having the same fun, experiencing the joy through and with their children. It was great.