My Little Pony

Friday night came at last! Surrounded with great anticipation in Joey and Jessamyn’s minds that was generated by daily influence from both my wife and I upon them in the form of statements guaranteeing a huge surprise at week’s end should they heed our instructions between now and Friday.

Jenny departed early Friday morning to the East Coast for a family visit at her nephew’s thirteenth birthday ceremony (aka: Bar Mitzvah), and was unable to partake in this event, so I will capture it here as I wordsmith this experience into the immortal ether.

Arriving home a little later than I had originally hoped (an unfortunate but routine habit that plagues my existence yet I am somehow unable to change), I rushed them into the car for the quick trip to the neighboring city that was hosting the show.

Having hoped to have around two hours to make the trip and get food, my tardiness had cost us a valuable half hour. Not wanting to push the speed limit (I know that speed limits are set for a reason and I’ve seen all too often what happens when they are not heeded), I prayed for clear roads and light traffic as I ran countless scenarios through my head about how to time a visit to my favorite hot dog restaurant in the world, ‘Yesterdog’, into the middle of this quickly diminishing window of opportunity.


As we took the exit off the highway onto Wealthy Street, the kids interest perked up as they sensed the destination approaching. My quick-witted son immediately recognized the route from previous trips.

“Daddy, we’re getting Hot Dogs!!! Is that our surprise?”

“Well, Joey, it’s part of your surprise.”

Two very happy children began singing various “Daddy is great” and “we love hot dogs” types of songs. Fortunately, they seem to love the hot dogs from this staple of Western Michigan as much as I do.

I had the timing for this event worked through down to the nearest minute in my mind: 10 minutes to get from the highway to Yesterdog, 20 minutes to eat 4 ‘Yesterdogs’ for me and two for the kids, 10 minutes back to the highway, 10 minutes to the Delta Plex, and 10 minutes to get to our seats. The problem was that it was already 6:07pm when we finally got off the highway. Fortunately, while listening to NPR as the kids watched a DVD episode of The Backyardagains, I had learned that the clock in my wife’s van was a little fast, leaving us a two minute leeway in my plan.

So, we took the risk and went for it.

The line to place orders at Yesterdog was, as always, long and protruding out the door but their service is fast, so any wait experienced ends up being much shorter than initially perceived.

Yesterdog is a very interesting eclectic dining experience that is unique and stands alone in every patron’s mind that steps foot inside. Immortalized in film as ‘Dog Years’ in the movie ‘American Pie’, this local icon is decorated in age old throwbacks stamped metallic advertising posters of popular products that dotted the past century of American culture.

Slogans depicting Coke-a-Cola’s medicinal use during the age where the now highly illegal additive of cocaine were used or Pepsi Cola’s use of scantly clad ladies dressed in popular styles seen in the 1930’s can be seen on every wall. Booths and tables are pelted with graffiti that would impress box cars left unattended for months in New York proud.

And the food?

Well, in that I guess I’m more gourmand than gourmet, but it really is something I’ve grown to love over many years and it is now more of an addiction than anything.

We rushed through dinner while still having time to enjoy it and departed through the backdoor. As we leave and head out onto the street, Jessamyn says.

“Thank you for our surprise Daddy.”

“Oh, honey, that was only part of your surprise. We have to hurry to the car to get to the other surprise.”

The time is 6:45pm and I realize that my time spending calculations made earlier were all too correct.

We rush up the highway (don’t worry, my rushing is still at or below the speed limit, I just try not to dawdle too much while looking at the sights in between) as I tell the kids to keep reading the signs to tell me when they see something for the ‘Delta Plex.’

Both Joey and Jess try pointing out various signs they think might be what I’m looking for.

Jess points to a “lane ending merge right” sign.

“Nope, keep looking.”

Joey points to a big overhead sign that announces an upcoming split in the highway with destinations towards Cadillac or Muskegon.

“Close buddy, but that’s still not it.”

They peer tentatively out their window and spot a small sign that states that the next exit has the ‘Grand Rapids Delta Plex’ at it.

“That’s it!!! You guys found it!!”

They scream with joy at their discovery.

As we approach the parking lot that surrounds the venue, traffic is backed up about fifty cars deep in the left lane that appears to be waiting to get in. We wait a few minutes, but by now, it is 6:58pm.

Jessamyn feels my frustration and loudly pronounces.

“Hurry up cars!!! Get out of our way for our surprise!!!”

After I wipe the tears from my eyes from the laugher she’s given me, I realize that she may have a point, and we leave the line that seems to be at a standstill and opt for another entrance which quickly gets us into the parking lot.

Next, we find a miracle parking spot right in front of the main entrance and speed inside.

It is at this point that both of them realize that they are going to a show with Daddy, yet neither of them has any idea what the show is about. Brooke has dressed them both up in very nice clothes with Jessamyn in a navy with white dotted dress and Joey in khaki slacks with a green and white sweater.

“Are we going to a show?”

“Yes. Yes we are!”

More exuberance from the two of them as they rush in to find our seats.

I had glanced momentarily at the tickets during the drive up, and noted the ‘Floor 2’ section with row ‘C’ on them, but having learned long ago not to get my hopes up too much in seating statements made on tickets, I figured we’d at least be on the floor.

The usher looked at our tickets and proclaimed “Oh wow, these are really good seats. Here, I’ll walk you to them.” We walked from the side of the auditorium to center floor, passing the seating groups at the wings and end right to the very center.

We were amazed at how good our seats were as our seats ended up being third row dead center.

Jenny and I have always tried to get good seats at anything we go to. In my mind, it really is worth the extra money to be closer. You see so much more detail and pick up on subtle nuances lost over great distances, you can see the movements, and for some reason to me, it just feels that much more real when you sit that close. With the kids, we have focused on getting them close as well so they can pick up on these feelings as well, and to help make it more real to them as well.

Looks of amazement fill both of my children’s faces at this point as the reality sets in about what they are about to see.

A female voice comes on over the loudspeaker: “My Little Pony will be starting in three minutes.”

Jessamyn has now realized the main subject of the show and appropriately associated it with some of her favorite toys.

“Are we going to see pony’s?” she asks very excitedly. I respond that she will.

“Yay!!!”

Over the next two hours the kids watch in amazement (and indeed myself as well) as actors dressed in pony like costumes maneuver around the stage acting out a pre-recorded skit about their little group of friends and a tea-party that invites the entire audience to participate.

During the fifteen minute intermission, we take a quick restroom break and grab some refreshments and show memorabilia. Jessamyn gets the ‘Pink’ pony (little surprise since it is her favorite color) and Joey opts for the battery powered ‘My Little Pony’ star-shaped wand. They also seem to have been enchanted by the possibility of a sugar based treat as Joey pointed out some Skittles, which in hindsight I should have taken his suggestion, but I opted for two gallon sized bags of cotton candy, one for each of them.

The next hour passes with the two of them watching the show all the while scarfing down handfuls of the sticky substance appropriately colored for each of their genders (pink for Jess and blue for Joey).

As the show finishes, I snap the picture that started this blog entry and we quickly make for the bathroom in an effort to remove the now glue like substance that thoroughly coats their hands and faces before heading to home.

On our return trip, I am serenaded with songs and praise for the evenings events.

Even though the roads were horrible going home (a thirty-eight degree day had dropped eight degrees with mild snowfall which created glare black ice conditions on the roadways) and we were only able to average about 25 mph, a very happy Pike family returned from an experience created by their mother and my wonderful wife.

Thanks Jenny.

jp