***PM Edit to add some additional photos I forgot including one of The Bear as Gustafer. Oh and in case you can’t tell I haven’t the foggiest idea how to add a bunch of photos on Blogger without making the post look hideous.***
The Bear’s big 4th birthday gift, a weekend in NYC, took place this past Saturday night. We spent one evening and two glorious spring days in the Big Apple with our little lady.
On day one we grabbed some tasty pizza from PIE and soft serve courtesy of the 
Mr. Softee truck conveniently parked at the corner of 15th and Union Square (who knew those trucks still serve un-frozen ice cream?! they don’t in our neck of the woods) then sat in for the 2pm performance of Gustafer Yellowgold’s Mellow Sensation – the little yellow fella’s off-Broadway spectacular!
The Gusty show was great and the quaint DR2 Theater proved the perfect lil’ venue for the experience. This was the 4th time we’ve seen a Yellowgold live show put together by Morgan Taylor and band but it was still fresh and enjoyable – thanks to the addition of sound effects, expanded narrative and some extra “slides” including a small bit called “Falcon Pants” which might be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, goofy interaction with the audience and the hilarious “sponsor-ads” extracted from the Gustaferyellowgold.com website.
Even the Gusty merchandise offerings have been expanded! There are now snazzy tie-dyed shirts and gear featuring Slim and Forrest Applecrumby. Overall, the Mellow Sensation show is well worth your coin if you’re in and around NYC this spring (the show runs twice, 11am and 2pm, every Saturday until May 17th 2008 – get your tickets here)
That night, we ate outside at RED near the South St. Seaport, chosen mostly for it’s proximity to our hotel and for the fruit smoothies on the menu (the Bear loved the Banana/Strawberry), and then caught the end of a neat street performer’s act just down the block towards the East River. I was even involved in the show a bit when I was asked to give a couple young lads a dollar for helping with the act. The boys were brothers and their mom who was absolutely beside herself. It was almost as much fun watching the mom’s expression as her kids (ages 3 and 5, I think) became the stars of the show. The Bear was in awe of the finale from her front “row” spot on the cobblestone – a juggling effort involving a flaming torch, a knife and an apple while riding a unicycle…yikes! 
Walking back to the hotel, we spent too much money (all on The Mouse, oddly enough) in Firefly Boutique, a Park Slope original children’s store that recently launched it’s Manhattan wing in the Seaport district. While we shopped the Bear played with the over sized Melissa & Doug tree house/doll house that was on display. Then the Bear, who had already been singing aloud while walking through the crowds of people spilling out from local bars found a light pole to complete her performance of “Singin’ in the Rain” sans the precipitation and umbrella. A Kodak moment and me without my camera. Go figure.
