We planned a trip to Sesame Place for this summer. After trying to find the best time to go with great weather, we finally decided to spend 3 nights there during Emma's 4th birthday. It ended up raining the entire day we were at the park, and the weather did not get above 75, but we actually had a fantastic time!!
We drove to PA on Monday, arriving at the hotel that night and the kids were in heaven. We probably could have just brought them to the hotel for our "vacation" and that would have been enough! Emma is still playing pretend hotel at home :) I spent way too long trying to find a hotel for us when planning for the trip. Felix recommended this one, being the seasoned traveler that he is, and it was so awesome. It totally made our experience so much better! We scored a great deal on a 2 bedroom suite with a seperate kitchen & living room, an outdoor pool, basketball courts, and breakfast AND dinners included!
However....the best part was our special guest. Keep reading for the big surprise at the end of the blog :)
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| Dancing to the radio in the hotel |
Day 1, we arrived at Sesame Place in the drizzling rain. It was not crowded at all, but the rain was not a big deal either. We bundled up, and took advantage of the no lines. We went on all our favorite rides several times, saw all of the performance shows, met lots of Sesame St characters, and even got to join the parade!
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| watching our first show, "Elmo Rocks" |
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| clapping to the beat |
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| the stars of the show |
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| Levi was a little excited to meet Oscar |
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| Emma liked Oscar, but her real love is his little buddy Slimey |
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| sitting next to Slimey on the bench on the merry-go-round |
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| Felix was so good at spotting all the characters to say hello |
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| Dorothy!!!! oh yea, and elmo. |
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| riding the teacups. Levi, like his father, is not a fan of rides. he put his head in my lap and said "outta here!" |
We had a lot of fun. Emma had a few rides that she wanted to go on over & over- which was no problem because there were no lines! She spotted a roller coaster and asked to go on. I didnt even want to go on, so I thought I did my duty and explained that it goes really fast, etc., and had her watch it to see the dips, twists, and turns. She still wanted to go. Against Felix's advice and my shaky legs, I brought my brave little 4 year old. I held her so tight, knowing she was going to be scared after the first drop. She hated it and cried for about 5 minutes after we were done!
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| reaching for Elmo at yet another show! |
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| just wanted to document how crowded it was :) |
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| waiting for the parade to start |
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| Emma was asked to guest-star in the parade! |
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| It got a little chilly towards the end. After all, it IS the middle of June. arrrgh! |
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| Her 4th Birthday. And all she wanted to do was have us spin her around on this chair. |
The pictures are out of order a bit. After our first day at the rainy park, we decided to spend the next day at the Please Touch Museum in Philly and return to the park to do some of the water slides the following day before heading home, as the weather promised to be much warmer and sunnier.
So, the next morning was Emma's birthday. She did not seem excited about her birthday at all. The night before I was telling her it is her bday tomorrow....she barely broke a smile! All she wanted to do was watch the "cake boss" on TV in bed in the hotel room- told us she needs to learn how to make cakes. She did tell me that she wants Levi to help her blow out her candles because he is the best brother ever. Sometimes I wonder if she just tells me things she knows I want to hear.....seriously, I wouldn't put it past her!
The morning of her birthday, we surprised her by sticking a candle in her breakfast waffle and singing. She looks so big to me here! Then we drove out to Philly to play at the museum (but pictures are below)
After spending the day at the museum, we rushed back to the hotel to try and get into the pool while the sun was still out. It was quite cold, but the kids didn't seem to mind. We swam for a bit, gave them a quick bath and opened presents. Emma got a pair of roller skates and a mini tennis set (badminton). They provided hours of fun for the rest of the night :) Then, the hotel had a BBQ dinner that we just brought back to the room. Great birthday for little E- but she did ask where all her friends were. She said "I want my friends mommy! I don't just want a mommy, a daddy, and a baby for my birthday!".
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| poor kid has my athletic skills. |
She put on the skates and asked to go outside. So we did a lap or two around the courtyard, and she really tried and I think she had fun! I'm glad she says she wants to keep doing it. On our skate, little E found a penny on the floor and nearly broke her legs off trying to bend down and pick it up for Saba while on skates!
Levi put the skates on next, and was pretty good at it I must say! Eventually, we ended up in the basketball courts and Levi chased the ball while Emma was getting tips from a 5 year old little boy who was trying to teach her how to dribble the ball - cause he was older, and kept telling her she was still just too young.
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| Birthday Cake! |
The last day of our trip, we returned back to Sesame Place to go on all the water rides. Unfortunately, we ran into a few problems with this plan:
#1- it was a cloudy 73 degrees outside
#2- the water was freezing cold, like stick your foot into a bathtub filled with ice cubes cold.
#3- Emma is scared of the water! She swims in pools with her innertube, but that's about it. We couldn't even get her to touch the sprinkler pad.
#4- Levi is not scared of the water at all, but doesn't realize he can't swim, and didn't know how much he actually hates freezing cold water :)
So, we spent the majority of our time in "Big Birds Sandy Beach" playing in the sand! She did request to go on a few of her favorite rides from the other day, so we had fun doing that too. We tried the splash pad a bit, and did one lap in the lazy river, and called it a day!
It took us about 7 hours to drive back home! We had many potty-break stops and got stuck in CT traffic. And much to our surprise, Levi did not nap ONCE on this entire trip, and was a complete angel! We thought for sure he would pass out on the long car ride home. His eyes were rolling back, but he kept rubbing them and doing all he could to stay awake.
Here are the pictures from our day at the Please Touch Museum. I left my camera in the car by accident, so these were all taken with my phone.
We also learned that little Levi is a runner. This kid runs off like it is a game, looks back and waits for you to chase him! Felix basically spent most of the day chasing him all over the museum. Good thing the kid is so cute :)
Grocery shopping, and even check-out lanes. Then they had a little kitchen for you to bring home your groceries and "cook".
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| The grocery store was definitely a big hit! |
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| Taking x-rays at the doctor's office |
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| vacuuming in the house & garden center |
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| tried to get a cool shot in the alice in wonderland mirrors |
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| working the big digger truck. she worked the controls herself & picked up the balls! |
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| pressure shooting foam shapes |
And now....the big reveal! Look who was working in NJ the same time we happen to be there on vacation!!
again, please forgive the extremely annoying pitch of my voice. i think i was excited to see our visitor!
And upon our return home, Emma got her big 4-year old birthday present.
