The Bub in the Belly

After our wonderful day at Sesame Place, we planned to spend the next day at the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia. We woke up in the wee hours of the morning, having succumbed to happy exhaustion the evening before and while we waited for a decent hour to venture out, we caught up on the news and Ryan played with his quiet book.

At 6 am, it was breakfast at Burger King again. Two new travelling companions joined us.


Ryan picked them up at one of the shops in Sesame Place and, although I asked him to pick one, he wouldn't let go of both. Back at home now, they sleep together with us in our king-sized bed and Ryan tucks them in at night.

When we finished our meal and stepped outside, we met these ladies and gentlemen crossing the street with their little ones. What a treat!


The route to the Please Touch Museum seemed straightforward so we decided to rent a car and drive there. We made some calls from our hotel and the rental company came to pick us up. We were offered the classic American car - a Chevrolet!

It was huge inside - three of us could sit comfortably abreast in front!


If that photo looked a little strange to you in Singapore, that's because the driver is on the left! We got an automatic gear shift so it wasn't a problem but it was a little tricky when we got to the turns. Fortunately, we were on the straight interstate expressway (I-95) for most of the drive. We got to Philadelphia (and back) safe and sound.

So, back to Sesame Place and Sesame Street. We spent some time hanging out on Sesame Street taking photos and poking around the place. After a while, who should make an appearance but ... Super Grover! He and Rosita came to the courtyard to pose for photographs and sign autographs.

Ryan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets! He froze on the spot, oblivious to everything else, his eyes transfixed on the two of them. I think it was at that moment that he realised he was actually in the home of his beloved monsters and that, yes, they actually exist!

Here's Ryan watching the monsters' every move. The man in yellow is the staff photographer.

A queue quickly formed but Ryan refused to join in the queue because he couldn't see the monsters from the queue. He stood right in front of them - he didn't realise that people were posing for photographs (or maybe he didn't care?) . He kept wanting to go up to the monsters, just as the other people who had reached the front of the queue were doing. We had to pick him up to keep him from getting in their photos. The line was pretty efficient so we didn't have to wait long - people walked up, got into position, the photographer snapped the shot, quick hugs and the people were off. The monsters gesticulated, waved and bopped about.


When it came to our turn, we let Ryan loose. Never taking his eyes off Super Grover, he walked straight up, held his arms wide open and fused himself to that blue furry body. He didn't care in the least about posing for a photo. He just refused to let go.

Hugging Super Grover tight, oblivious to Richard who is asking him to look at the photographer.

In that magic moment, the world stopped. Everybody around stopped what they were doing to watch Ryan. Everyone realised that they were witnessing something truly special. Here was a boy who believed, with his body and soul, that this was Super Grover in the flesh - how many people (adult or child) truly believed that?

The photographer paused and put down his camera and the people in the queue looked up from their conversations to watch this little boy so overcome with wonder and adoration. Rosita and Super Grover stopped their antics and Super Grover hugged him just a little tighter than he did the other children. Nothing more was necessary, no waving, no acting, no dancing - Ryan was a true believer and he was living his dream.

Still holding on tight.

Seeing Ryan like that, my breath caught in my throat and my heart exploded with happiness. I had no words, there were actually tears on my cheeks and I couldn't stop grinning. I felt as though that moment was the climax of everything we had gone through in the past few weeks - all the planning, all the travelling, all the time on the plane, all the research. Everything led up to that magical, priceless hug and seeing Ryan in his heaven on earth made everything more than worthwhile.

Hug for Rosita too.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally persuaded Ryan to pose for the camera, and the queue started moving again.


After we were done, Ryan still refused to walk away, so we had to hang about until the end of the queue (the staff cuts the queue off after a while), then we went up again so that Ryan could get another hug.


After that, Super Grover and Rosita went off, waving to everyone. Bert and Ernie came out to take their place and we got some photos with them too. I will post about that, and the other characters that we met, in my next post.