In our pre-summer planning, we had wanted to take plenty of trips. While we took some local trips, one of our most-anticipated trips to visit friends in Massachusetts fell through, with Hadman coming down with a cough and fever. It ended up lasting quite awhile and turning into pneumonia, so we're glad that the week prior we were able to take at least one kid-centric trip.
(And we fully plan on attempting a quick day trip back to Mass this fall...SOMETIME! Pre-baby, is my guess. *wink*)
Planned well in advance, we had decided on taking the little guy to Sesame Place. We had plenty of reasons for heading here, but the most important was to do something that we could all enjoy together before becoming a family of 4 (7, including cats...which we do). Goodness knows if/what we'll be doing next year!
Dave took a 3-day weekend and we left for Pennsylvania. I'll admit, the driving took longer than expected and both adults were rather beat by all the driving of the weekend. But, along our way, we saw what, to my guys, can only be described as a mirage on the road...
Wait, what?! Yup. The 1960s Batmobile. (Not THE original, but still...a perfect replica. Not kidding.) Sitting in front of a bar, in a field. Like, seriously.
Can you feel the excitement? I know I can. We already knew it would be a memorable weekend.
So, after numerous hours of driving, a Thomas DVD on a borrowed portable player (we've become those parents, apparently), and zero naps, we reached our hotel. This part of the trip worked perfectly: the hotel had a shuttle service that ran quite frequently to bring us back and forth to the park. So, since we had tickets for two days (BOGO, for the win!), we got ready for the dry rides and headed over.
Let's just say that Dave wins the award for the fact that I couldn't go on a vast majority of the rides with a baby bump. So, he had to ride with the little guy. Did I mention that he has issues with certain rides? Like, with the height and spinning and...stuff. So, clearly he gets the "Best Dad" badge for not only hitting up numerous rides but for keeping his cool and smiling while doing it. *starts a slow clap*
Anyhoo, we stayed for a few hours and enjoyed the Sesame-ness of the place (it really is awesome), then headed back to the hotel. We used the hotel pool, which was a hit for a non-swimming kiddo like ours, then hit the hay.
The next day, we had our complimentary breakfast and struck out for the far longer lines of a Saturday. I highly suggest renting a locker in advance; it worked out great for our changes and general ease of movement.
Okay, this is totally my favorite picture ever. My beach bums (who both HATE the heat). I'm the embarrassing spouse/mom, clearly.
So, we spent a long, very hot morning there doing water stuff, getting splashed, and generally enjoying the place. But, with how long the lunch lines were, we quickly decided to buy any souvenirs we wanted, then head back to the hotel. We actually ended up ordering a quick lunch and eating at the hotel, then ALL took naps (my first clue that our systems weren't adjusting well to travel). When we finally came to, we got ready and went to Hadley's favorite place - Barnes and Noble - to play with the Thomas train and look at books before going out to a crappy dinner then back to try the pool again.
Between the food that our systems weren't used to, being rundown from the trip itself, and any kid germs we came in touch with, we were all feeling pretty blah and ready to come home Sunday. On our way, we happened upon a "Taste of New York" boutique at a rest stop and, I've gotta say, it was the best meal we had the whole weekend. Some of the fruit I brought along mixed with a bunch of local, fresh snacks from around the state (and super local grassfed Greek yogurt and cheese curds), and we were able to make it home feeling a little more like ourselves.
But, by the end of the week, 2/3 of us were sick. I've definitely learned that I need to try to up our immune system protection before we take trips. Big-time.
All in all, though, the trip was SO worth it. Hadman is way more into Sesame Street lately, so he LOVED "meeting" several of the characters (namely, Count, even if the Count's splash area upset him, hee hee). It was fun to see the diversity of people visiting and thinking, "Wow, this is what Sesame Street has promoted from the beginning!" It was also interesting to hear people in one of our shuttle vans say that their daughter isn't really a fan of Sesame and wondering, "Wait, why are you spending all this money to...nevermind." ;-) Eh, no judging. Anyone could have a blast there.
So, after numerous hours of driving, a Thomas DVD on a borrowed portable player (we've become those parents, apparently), and zero naps, we reached our hotel. This part of the trip worked perfectly: the hotel had a shuttle service that ran quite frequently to bring us back and forth to the park. So, since we had tickets for two days (BOGO, for the win!), we got ready for the dry rides and headed over.
Let's just say that Dave wins the award for the fact that I couldn't go on a vast majority of the rides with a baby bump. So, he had to ride with the little guy. Did I mention that he has issues with certain rides? Like, with the height and spinning and...stuff. So, clearly he gets the "Best Dad" badge for not only hitting up numerous rides but for keeping his cool and smiling while doing it. *starts a slow clap*
The next day, we had our complimentary breakfast and struck out for the far longer lines of a Saturday. I highly suggest renting a locker in advance; it worked out great for our changes and general ease of movement.
Okay, this is totally my favorite picture ever. My beach bums (who both HATE the heat). I'm the embarrassing spouse/mom, clearly.
Between the food that our systems weren't used to, being rundown from the trip itself, and any kid germs we came in touch with, we were all feeling pretty blah and ready to come home Sunday. On our way, we happened upon a "Taste of New York" boutique at a rest stop and, I've gotta say, it was the best meal we had the whole weekend. Some of the fruit I brought along mixed with a bunch of local, fresh snacks from around the state (and super local grassfed Greek yogurt and cheese curds), and we were able to make it home feeling a little more like ourselves.
But, by the end of the week, 2/3 of us were sick. I've definitely learned that I need to try to up our immune system protection before we take trips. Big-time.
All in all, though, the trip was SO worth it. Hadman is way more into Sesame Street lately, so he LOVED "meeting" several of the characters (namely, Count, even if the Count's splash area upset him, hee hee). It was fun to see the diversity of people visiting and thinking, "Wow, this is what Sesame Street has promoted from the beginning!" It was also interesting to hear people in one of our shuttle vans say that their daughter isn't really a fan of Sesame and wondering, "Wait, why are you spending all this money to...nevermind." ;-) Eh, no judging. Anyone could have a blast there.
Gotta say, we all had a great time. And Mama got a new "cookie mug" for my milk and organic cookies...win-win! Three guesses which character mug the Dorky Daddy got.
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