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!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An open letter to my almost two year old

To Colton on your 2^nd birthday,

Hi Bubs, it’s Mama. 

I have to be honest I’m having a bit of a hard time. Today is the day before your second birthday. I know that I’m supposed to be excited and thrilled for you, but a big part of me is very sad.  I’m sad because tomorrow you will officially become a “little boy” and that might be more than I can handle. You’ll always be my baby boy. You’ll always be my mister smiley. You’ll also always be the one who taught me that babies are not easy. Your sister, you see, was what they call an “angel” baby. Some might even call her a “trick” baby because she led us to believe that having an infant was super-duper easy. Because of that we decided that having a second child was something we wanted. How hard could it be?? Haha! So naïve.

And that’s not to say that once you were here you were a difficult baby, but you certainly did not make things as easy on us as Chaela did. You were given the nickname mister smiley early on because you hit the milestone of smiling before we expected you to hit it.  You also loved to sleep just like your sister.  But boy, when you wanted something did you let us know by SCREAMING.  You had this ear piercing scream that I will never forget and sometimes you still use those lungs when you’re upset!  I hope you know that’s what makes you special. Although I am sad that you are losing your baby chubs and growing into a little boy, I am so impressed with your strong opinions and how you’re never afraid to express them.  You know what you want, when you want it and you have no problem letting anyone know. You’re a strong willed person with a twisted sense of humor (I’d like to think you get that from me, but I suppose we can thank daddy, too.) You can also be quite shy at times when we go somewhere new. I guess that’s the Gemini in you. You have two definite sides to you. One that terrifies me, yet impresses me because you are so bold and so brave and the other side that I adore because you can be so sensitive, sweet and loving.

Let’s talk about Elmo. In case we forget to tell you someday, because believe me it’s hard to remember everything the second child does with as much detail as we did with the first, let me tell you that you LOVE Elmo. And I don’t just mean love like a child loves ice cream or cake. You have affection towards Elmo unlike anything I’ve ever seen. He goes with us everywhere. You sleep with him. He eats with you. He goes on car rides with you. You get snot on him. He gives you hugs when you need them. You watch him on TV. He gets you through dinners when we eat at restaurants. You guys have a real connection.  I hope that you continue this sort of affection with the friends you gain at school and throughout your life. It shows me that you understand what loyalty is at such a young age. Elmo is your homie now, but whoever gets you as a friend later in life - they are truly the lucky ones and they will have that gross booger covered Elmo to thank. 

I love you so much, buddy. Sometimes I have more sympathy than most would with you because I know you want to talk to me clearly, SO badly.  Lately you are a little tongue tied with your words and that is very difficult for you. It is, however, very funny because Daddy and I know what you mean to say, but sometimes it’s like talking to a foreign exchange student. I am so excited and also a little scared for the day that you figure out how to open your mouth and pronounce words correctly. We will be in so much trouble when that day comes. 

Some other things I want to share with you before my memory fades away...

You may look innocent and cute, but you are also VERY into wrestling and rough housing lately. You pounced on me like a cat the other day, and while I was in shock and screaming "ouch" with laughter, your daddy said “Welcome to having a boy, honey.” You have so much passion with everything you do. Whether it’s singing a song or hugging me so hard that it turns into choking and pinching me, you put your full heart into everything you do. You even put passion into your food. We know if you love something because you will hum quite loudly as you eat it. And of course if you don’t like something you will gag, scream and say “NO!” very clearly too. Your main food groups are: Pancakes, waffles, chicken, fish, ritz crackers, apple sauce and cookies. And all of these can change depending on what mood you are in and hopefully someday you'll expand from being so picky. 

Did you know you have the most amazing big sister in the world? She love you so much! She's been your number one fan since day one. Sometimes you make her crazy because she doesn't remember what it was like to be a little guy with no way of communicating too clearly, but she also has an incredible amount of patience with you. She loves to give you hugs, sometimes a little too tight, but you also give that love back to her ten fold with your random hugs and kisses that surprise us. It amazes me how you can be enemies and the best of friends all in one day. She'll sing to you when you cry, she'll level with you when you're being unreasonable and she'll even take baths with you despite her better judgement. There's few things that make me so happy as seeing the two of you together, even the times when you make each other crazy. I hope you know that she will always have your back. She is one tough chick.

Can I tell you my favorite thing we do lately? When I put you to bed at night, you’ve been letting me rock you like a baby in my arms just like you used to when you were a newborn. It’s so special to me because I know you don’t like it, but somehow you understand

that I need it and allow it. It melts my heart to look down at you smiling at what a dork I am.  And once you’ve grown tired of the rocking you reach for your crib, and I swear I’ve never met a child who loves to crawl into their crib as much as you do.  Anyway, after you’ve gotten in your crib, I sit down by the side of it and you give me kisses through the railing of your crib and we giggle about it. I’ll whisper to you “I love you bubs” and you’ll say back to me “I wuv oo mama” and my heart explodes.  Someday it won’t be so cool to kiss me as much as I love to kiss you. I love this new little routine we’ve created. It makes me feel so special because most of the time you want Daddy at night. And while I get it, because Daddy is pretty great, I secretly wish that you would only want me forever and ever because that’s what crazy mamas want.

My wish for you as you turn two years old is very simple. I wish for you that you continue to live your life with such outright passion. I hope that you never stop expressing yourself, even if it seems impossible to get your point across. And may you always remember that Mama will always be there to give you big hugs and kisses – even when you become too cool for it someday - I’ll still be the weirdo who will give you a million kisses all over your face because your my bubs, buddy and little mister smiley always and forever!!!

Love,

Mama

P.S. Someday you'll find out about those videos we did each month of your sister's first year of life and also about her 1 year old photo shoot. Pay no attention to that. Someday if you have kids of your own you'll understand that once you have two kids lots of things get trickier to do!! I hope this heartfelt blog and collection of pics from the last 2 years somewhat makes up for that!! XOXOXO