Dani's Family Visit to Sesame Place!! PLUS Complimentary and Discount Ticket Giveaway!!!!

You've all heard by now that my son is OBSESSED with Elmo.  So once we knew that we were travelling back east for my brother's wedding festivities, we also knew that we would have to squeeze in some time for a day trip to Sesame Place.  Following many of my friends on social media who have been there recently, it seemed like they had made a lot of changes since I was last there over (gulp!) 20 years ago. And, wow, what a difference 20 (or maybe more, okay?!) can make!

Let's start with the car ride. Our family resides in Southern New Jersey. We left around 9am to head out to Langhorne, PA and it only took us about an hour to get there! Not too bad with two little kids. We were a bit nervous because there were a LOT of clouds out that morning.  That being said, there was also a forecast saying the sun was going to come through.  My gut told me to just risk it, so we went and we were so glad we did!

Once we arrived Colton immediately started yelling out the characters he could see on the drive in alone. Sooooo cute. I totally die at the sound of his little voice shouting out his favorite characters on TV. As I mentioned in our YouTube video description, we were also gifted with the same package we are giving away. We received one (1) complimentary ticket and four (4) 50% off coupons.  Since there was only 4 of us, we used up 1 comp ticket and 3 discount tickets. A savings of approximately $180 for our family! That helped us out SO MUCH!! The line to wait to redeem our tickets was short and the customer service people were so friendly, giving our children some stickers before we went in.

We made our way into the park to find the lockers.  For $20 you can lock up your stuff all day and come back as you please through out the day.  Since Sesame Place is both an amusement park as well as a water park, these lockers came in SUPER handy.  Another tip: Don't forget your umbrella stroller! It was great for my little guy to stay in and not have to walk around the whole park and we also used it to hold our diaper bag when we went onto various rides.

Once we had our water gear, placed other items in the locker and were properly sun screened up, we made our way to the dry side of the park.  And what do you know? The sun started to make it's way out!! We were so happy to see that!  We started out on the carousel to sort of ease Colton into the rides. Michaela is always fine with these sort of things, so she was of no concern for us, but Colton is a wild card.  I am happy to report that he LOVED that ride and he went on to go on the swings, the flyin' fish ride and many more. We were blown away at how both of our kids were never scared and just completely enjoyed themselves.

After we went on all the dry rides, we made our way over to Elmo's Eatery and the kids enjoyed some Chicken Nuggets, Mac N Cheese, French fries and apple sauce. They have a decent selection for adults, too.  There were three salad choices, a few sandwiches and they even offer Gluten Free Pizza! The kids meals came with souvenir cups and plates which are featured in our YouTube episode. The kids still love to use those cups even now and it's been a few weeks since we were there.

Next up: The water park!  Unfortunately we do not have a water friendly camera, so we do not have any pictures of our time on that side of the park, but I can tell you we had so much fun!! The water rides all come with vests at each one for your child to put on before they enter the ride.  They have three sizes so that you can make sure your nugget is properly protected.  And the tubes you ride on are great. The kids sit in front and mom/dad sit in back.  Michaela particularly loved the Count's Splash Castle.  It is a big water play area for the kids and every couple of minutes a giant bucket of water gets dumped on the kids.  There are also some easier slides for the littlest ones in your family at this section of the park!

Overall we had a wonderful time!  Bonus: The kids were exhausted and slept the entire 1 hour and 15 minutes ride home.  And double bonus: We have memories to last us a life time.  Do you want to take your family to Sesame Place, but maybe don't want to splurge on $70 a ticket right now?  Check out our giveaway! We'd love to help you get there before summer is over!! And don't forget they are open year round and have tons of awesome events out side of summer time!! And of course, don't forget to watch the photo and video collage of our visit on our YouTube Channel!!

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Baby Skincare: Which Brands are Right for You?

When our little balls of joy make their exits from the womb, one of the last things you want to worry about is what products you are using on your baby's skin.  It often goes like this in real life: You enter Target. You're exhausted. You're down tot the last diaper. You baby has a ridiculous rash that you can't seem to fix. And just when you thought your baby was comfortably sleeping in the stroller, your little cherub is now screaming quite loudly at you because they've had ANOTHER BLOW OUT!!! AHHHH!!! Sweat drips from your exhausted and furrowed brow as you stare blankly at the ENDLESS amounts of infant skincare on display.

So how do you choose what's best for your baby?? We already have the incredibly daunting task of figuring out how to feed these tiny humans while also sorting out their sleep patterns - and our new lack of sleep pattern for that matter! If that isn't bad enough, we then have to sort through endless brands of diapers, wipes, butt creams, baby wash, baby lotion, and children's sun screen too.  Babies and Toddlers have the softest skin on the planet and the goal for all parents is to keep it that way. But what do we do when there are so many potentially threatening chemicals in our children's skincare products??

Check out the latest episode of Mamalogues to get all of our thoughts on Skincare products that we like and use for our babies! We will also give you a coupon code from Happy Little Camper! We also will tell you what we think about these wonderful and chemical free wipes that we are sniffing!!

Why Grocery Shopping is THE WORST!!

This week on Mamalogues we are discussing every Mama's favorite topic:

GROCERY SHOPPING WITH YOUR wonderful CHILDREN!!! 

(....and why you should have just left them at home.)

                     

Here is our detailed list of why we - and by "we" we mostly mean Dani - can't stand Grocery Shopping with children:

Taking my kids grocery shopping always seems like a good idea at first.  Because sometimes they are not that awful...Exhibit A:

And because of times like the above, I'll tell my husband, "I don't mind, I'll take them with me." Sounds harmless, right??? Careful what you wish for, Mama, because the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And this may come as a surprise, but there is actually no one at the grocery store who hands out awards to the best behaved child or most patient mama...because SPOILER ALERT: None of those two things exists. (At least not all of the time.)

The drama always starts in the car. One kid dropped Elmo on the floor and is having a tantrum because he can't reach it. The other has announced that they "have to pee" after being told 500 times to go before we left! Nothing makes me crazier than having to take two children into the disgusting bathrooms at the grocery store. Call me crazy, but can't I have ONE trip to the grocery store with out visiting the nauseating bathroom? Is that too much to ask????

Somehow I always find the shopping cart with the busted wheel. I don't know how or why, but I have a knack for not only finding the world's crappiest cart, but because I'm in such a rush to get out of there as fast as I got in there, I have lowered my standards to the squeaky and unruly carts.  And then the fight about who gets to sit where in the cart begins. Is it not bad enough that I have to dance with this shopping cart because it can't move in a straight line? You think I also want to explain to you for the 20,000th time why two children can't fit in the top of the cart? But I digress....

It's super annoying that no one can keep their hands to themselves. Never did I ever think I'd have to do a "hand check" before the teen years, but my children can't seem to control their little hands in the store. I'm pretty sure that before we enter the store, they've made some sort of "let's drive mom crazy" agreement in the back seat of my car. "I'll grab the candy, and while I'm doing that, you throw the waffles on the floor as a distraction. It will be epic! She'll never see it coming!" And then everyone is laughing but mommy.

Why is it that strangers just don't get it that I have no desire to engage in conversation while also trying to keep my toddler who acts like a drunk frat boy inside the shopping cart?? It's not a coincidence that in the last aisle I dodged your smile as you passed me.  It's because if I look away from this boy for one second to talk to you, in the next few seconds he will be standing up and about to do his next trust fall to his older sister down below who, by the way, has yet to catch him. 

Also, can we do away with stickers at the check out line? Because let me tell you something. I feel like I just escaped a battle ground from fighting with these two, and your're rewarding them with stickers because???? Why?? Remind me again?? Because you enjoy seeing me peel them off of the back of my seats? Because you find it amusing that they've placed them on their clothing where I won't see it before it goes in the washer and then after that find them in my dryer in a million pieces? Enough already!!

And of course it never fails that it's 1,000 degrees outside when we have to re-enter the car after a long grocery shopping battle royale.  I'm already sweating from the circus that just happened inside the store. And now I've got my youngest fighting me to get into his car seat and the other one whining about how it is "too hot"! Every. Single. Time. Getting them in the car, along with the groceries, is my own personal hell.  And once we are in the car the grand inquisition begins about when they can have their treats. They have the incredible ability of forgetting the torture they just put me through, and act shocked and surprised when I reveal to them that no treats are being offered after the nightmare that has just occurred.

So in conclusion, Mama, may we suggest you just leave the kids behind next time? Trust us, eye brow dreams do not come true. We know this first hand. Watch the episode featured in this blog post to laugh (and maybe cry) along with us!!