I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on Sunday with a few of my knitting group buddies. We had a blast! The weather was beautiful and the festival was not crowded! I had never gone on a Sunday before, but I think this may be the day I go in the future. We saw lots of sheep, alpaca, and even some bunnies. There was tons of yarn and fiber everywhere. I really didn't need any more yarn, so I limited my purchases to one skien of lace weight alpaca yarn from Tess' Designer Yarns in a pretty saphire blue and one mini skein of super wash merino in purple for my bee keepers quilt. I also found a really pretty shawl pin. My son wants to join me next year to see the sheep and eat fair food. We'll see....
For at least a year and a half now, my five year old son has been asking to visit New York City. He knows about it from a.) Curious George lives there and b.) his daddy works there about once a week. Christmas 2012 I gave him a book for kids about visiting NYC, but we delayed going because it just seemed so overwhelming. Back in March, I had the chance to go to NYC with my husband for a fun night out to celebrate a friend's graduation and move at Café Boulud, near Central Park West. It was a fun night and I realized how easy it would be to get to the city via NJ Transit, as long as the kiddo was ok with taking a very long train ride.
Since being a train conductor is one of his life goals, we decided it was a great time to try a day trip to the big apple. Plus, the weather has been BEAUTIFUL for walking around a city. We surprised the little guy on Thursday night and told him that we would be getting up early the next day and heading to the train for our day in New York. He was so excited! (OK, he still says he really thought he'd get to ride on an Amtrak train, but I promised that will happen some day...)
After a quick taxi ride, we made our first stop at the Central Park Zoo, which despite the movie, does not have the same animals that appeared in the Madagascar movies! We brought a picnic lunch with us from home and enjoyed our lunch watching the Sea Lions kiss! The penguins put on quite a show, while the polar bear was snoozing in the shade. The zoo was really tiny and completely manageable. We saw every exhibit, including the children's zoo that was a block away, in about two hours.
We spent the rest of the day visiting toy stores. First up, the Apple Store on 5th Avenue. The store is that glass structure. There is a round elevator and a circular staircase that goes down to the actual store. It was mobbed. Then we headed to FAO Schwartz, which was in the building behind the Apple Store. In my memory it was much more amazing. I forgot that Toys R Us owns it. They did have a massive amount of toys for sale, along with some unique things, like live superheros available for photos. I let my kiddo pick out a toy as his souvenir. He chose an NYPD car set and a model Taxi car.
We walked many many many blocks that day. We visited M & M World, which was an overpriced candy store that played too loud music and was too crowded (I felt so old there...it was so annoying!) We had dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp in Time's Square, which was really good and had great views of the Good Morning America building. Time's Square itself was packed. It was about 4:30 on Friday afternoon and the area was filled with so many people and sights. It was overwhelming. The digital ad displays are amazing and overly abundant. We didn't know where to look first.
We concluded our trip with a ride on the ginormous, 60-foot high ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us in Times Square. That toy store was really impressive! Needless to say, the kiddo found even more NYPD cars that he wanted. (Other than train conductors, he loves police and firefighters!) The ferris wheel made be feel queasy, but I survived! We got to ride in a taxi made out of Megablocks. My favorite one was the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe gondola! Isn't it cute?
Someone also got to meet the "real" Geoffrey! The kid's favorite animal is the giraffe. The zoo didn't have any, but I think this one made him just as happy!
It was a great first trip to NYC for the kiddo. He can't wait until we go back! Next time we'll have to visit the Empire State Building.
After stumbling upon info about a Lego exhibit in Reading, I decided to take advantage of a family day to visit the Reading Public Museum last Monday in West Reading, PA. It's a bit over an hour drive for us, but an easy drive, and the weather was bright and sunny. Many years ago, prior to parenthood, my husband and I went to this museum to see a traveling Post Secret exhibit there. This time, the temporary exhibts featured Legos and Jelly Belly jelly beans, two favorites in our house now!
That ant sculpture is one of two ants in front of the museum. What was fun was the arboretum surrounding the musuem building, which would have been fun to explore if it weren't so windy that afternoon. Inside the museum we checked out the jelly bean art work....classic art crafted out of Jelly Belly beans! They were enclosed in glass because some visitors at past exhibits had been caught licking the jelly beans!
The close up of the jelly beans with the white cluster is a close up of the Girl with a Pearl Earring's pearl earring. It was a really fun exhibit filled with some of my favorite art work copies.
The main exhibit we went to see was the Lego Castle Adventure. This was a hands-on exhibit featuring castles and Legos, covering the design and building of castles. There were many Lego building stations for the regular little bricks as well as tables of the bigger Lego Duplo bricks for younger kids. It was a really cool exhibit that included an interactive catapult game and a jousting area. There were lots of Lego castle structures on display...they were really cool!
It was a fun visit! These two exhibits end May 5th, so go see them while they are still there!
This week's challenge in the 52 Week Challenge was using the panoramic setting on my phone. I have an iPhone and just recently discovered that there was an option to take panoramic photos. I am still a bit shaky when panning, so I tend to get a black blobish line on the top of some photos. I also didn't do all that much that was exiciting...no snow, no fun daytrips...that is until the weekend, which is why this post is not on Friday.
So on Saturday of this past weekend we took a day trip to the beach. Not only was the beach a perfect place to take some panoramic shots, but we also caught the sunsetting over the bay near Barnegat Lighthouse! Here are my shots for this week:
Ship Bottom Beach, at 25th St., LBI NJ, 1/19/13
Sunset over the bay, Barnegat Lighthouse, LBI, NJ 1/19/13
It was fun to head out to the beach in January! We were also happy to see the island coming along nicely with the clean up efforts from Hurricane Sandy. We checked out the bungalow we rent each summer and were releived to see it still standing. We know it had water damage, but the owners assured us it would be ready for the summer.
We drove the entire length of the island. In the winter with no traffic lights it was remarkably fast to drive. We were saddened to see that so many businesses suffered and appeared to be out of business. We are hoping that some do come back by summertime. We drove all the way to the most southern end of the island, as far as we were allowed to go, to Holgate, the part of Long Beach Island that seems to have suffered the most from the destruction of the storm. Having seen so many photos of the destruction, I though I'd be prepared, but seeing the damage in person was still shocking. Even after several months of clean up work, there was still so much sand everywhere. It looked like piles of snow in some places, instead of sand. Then there were the homes....so many were ruined. Big beach houses missing the entire first floor, with just the pilings showing where the garages and stairs once were. Several homes were literally washed off their foundations by the waves and sand. The trailer park is in the process of being closed permanently since there was so much damage to the infactructure. The mobile homes looked like someone had knocked over a row of dominos.
I had wanted to park and walk around to see everything, but there was no where to park with all the sand everywhere. I took some photos out my window as I drove slowly down the street. Here are some that I took:
I hope that those homes were just vacation homes, and not leaving anyone truly homeless. I think it will be a few years until Holgate returns to some sort of normal.
The rest of the island, while certainly suffering from storm damage, appeared ok. There was lots of sand on the end of the streets, but when we took a walk up to the beach in Ship Bottom, we were happy to see how much sand was on the beach. I had feared that the beach would have been washed away. It definitely seemed somewhat "shorter" than last summer, but it looks like they have worked hard at replacing fencing and moving the sand from the streets back onto the beach. The kiddo had a blast running around on the beach. He is our little beach boy.
We ended the day with a visit to the Northern end of the island, near Barnegat Lighthouse. We got there after the park and lighthouse had closed, but there is a small park area across the street that we were able to explore and watch the sunset over the bay.
We recently returned from a long planned trip to Disney World! It was delightful to be in Florida during December! We joked about how we could get used to seeing snowmen decorations while it was 80 degrees out and balmy.
This trip was a birthday present for my son who turned five a few months ago. We decided to go at Christmastime so that we could enjoy the decorations and go at a less busy time of year. The parks were just beautiful and we had a blast. The kiddo was a great traveler and enjoyed his first plane ride. He loved everything we did and outlasted us every day! While the parents' feet were dragging, he was ready to do something else!
I took almost 1000 photos. CRAZY! I need to start working on an album so we can actually enjoy looking at them. I like to use Picaboo to make photo albums....much easier than printing photos and putting them in a book! I made a calendar for our family using our Disney photos and it turned out great!
We were able to capture some great family shots while there and my son had the chance to visit with Santa in the Magic Kingdom. My son is shy and has posed with Santa reluctantly in the past. The Disney Santa was amazing with him...spent about 10 minutes with him, chatting, getting him to laugh and hugging him. The photographer captured some amazing shots. It was such a nice memory to have.
While we were at the Magic Kingdom we even had the chance to see some of the ABC Disney Christmas parade being filmed. It made part of the park really crowded, but then other parts were empty so we got to ride many rides with no wait. We are looking forward to watching the parade on Christmas day to see it all again!
The decorations at the parks and resorts were incredible! From enourmous gingerbread houses to twinkling lights everywhere, it was quite a spectacle.
The Osborne Family lights in Hollywood Studios was crazy. It was very popular and hard to walk through since there were so many people there. It was fun to see.
The castle in the Magic Kingdom was beautiful at night, dripping with icicles! We saw the Electrical Light parade one night and the Wishes light show on the castle. It was really pretty.
I'll end with my favorite photo from the trip, one of my kiddo in EPCOT!
At the end of June we headed to Long Beach Island for a week of fun in the sun and sand. This is our second year renting a little beach bungalow on LBI and it was a blast! My kid is a beach bum and would be very happy to live by the sea. We daydreamed about living at the shore while we were there. We had almost perfect weather all week and only lost half a day on the beach due to some fierce thunderstorms.
Crabbing!
On Father's Day, while daddio enjoyed a much deserved nap in the hammock, the kiddo and I went for a walk over to the local fishing pier. He was fascinated by the teens who were crabbing with lots of traps. They showed him some of the crabs they had caught. He wanted to go fishing so much, but I know nothing about it. I remembered that the house we rented had crab traps, so we went back to the house to fetch some equipment. I wasn't sure what we would catch, but thought he'd have fun trying. One of the girls there gave us some bait for the trap and we did catch one tiny little baby crab, but he fell out of the trap when we were pulling it up. We ended up with nothing, but had fun. Later in the week he took his dad back over to try again.
fishing at sunset
The obsession with fishing continued through the week. I finally bought the kiddo a small fishing net to use on the beach. We went to the bay to watch the sunset and he tried to catch something! That night he didn't get anything, but the next day on the beach he caught a little jelly fish (that was probably already dead.) He still talks about owning a fishing rod. This might become a new hobby!
Barnegat Lighthouse
At the top of old Barney!
One morning we headed to the Barnegat Lighthouse. The kiddo and I climbed the 217 steps up to the top to see the view of the island. Apparently my kid has developed a fear of heights! It was really amazing to see the view of the coast. Looking down I managed to catch a shadow of the lighthouse on the water below.
Digging on the beach was a fun activity! We dug lots of holes and made a few sandcastles. At the end of the week the kiddo even made a friend on the beach and they dug in the sand together. It was a fun week!
Sunday morning we decided at the last moment to head to the beach for a day. It was cool, overcast and not beach weather, but it was fun to explore anyway. We headed to Ocean City, NJ and hit the boardwalk. The kiddo enjoyed eating his way up the boardwalk. We started with lunch at our favorite pizza shop, Manco & Manco's (formerly Mack & Manco's until some sort of legal dispute.) The kid that insists he doesn't like pizza because of the sauce had no problem eating it!
After playing on the beach a bit he asked for ice cream, so we hit Kohr Bros. for custard. We picked up some salt water taffy at Shrivers, but saved them for later!
It was overcast while on the beach, but that didn't stop the kiddo from running around the beach and running into the shallow breakers. He got a bit wet, but nothing too bad. He had a lot of fun and could easily become a beach boy.
Mussels and barnacles on pier posts by the ocean
the beach and Wonderland's Ferris wheel in the distance
A visit to OCNJ isn't complete without a visit to Wonderland Pier. It is ridiculously expensive for the rides, so he only went on the carousel. He wanted to go on the gigantic ferris wheel, but I nixed that!
Opening day at Sesame Place was this past Saturday. This was the second year in a row that we went to opening day and it was a lot of fun. My son was even more excited this year, as he has asked at least weekly since December when we can go back to Sesame Place. This summer, he is a lucky boy, as we have season passes for the first time to Sesame Place. I won a season pass from Philly Parent Circle, a great resource website if you are a parent in the Philadelphia area. I decided to buy two more passes so that the whole family could visit repeatedly this summer and lucked out in buying them during winter when they were discounted.
We have had the chance to visit Sesame Place several times over the past few years as guests of the park at blogger events. I had heard the spiel about buying passes if one plans to visit more than two times, as at that point it is cheaper than purchasing daily tickets. What I discovered was that having season passes really pays off in respect to the 30% discount on food and merchandise they provide for guests. Being local and pass holders means we can visit the park without the pressure to do EVERYTHING in one day. The rides or activities we missed doing or doing again this past weekend we can do the next time we are there. It made the day much more relaxing. I realized that if we didn't make it to the show we wanted, it was ok, as we have more opportunities to catch it this summer.
Murray!
What was fun about opening day? The characters were so fluffly looking! Fresh costumes, happy employees, and an ultra clean park all led to a fun day. We missed the morning arrival parade, but did have the chance to enjoy the Neighborhood Street Party Parade. This time we were along the beginning of the parade route and really had the chance to enjoy unobstructed views. My kiddo was even encouraged to join in on some dancing by a parade dancer, but Mr. Bashful swayed along on the side.
Pretzel dogs and apple slices for the kiddo
A big change I noticed this year was the menu changes. Honestly, the food there was nothing exciting last year. This year they added a completely new menu to one restaurant, Captain Ernie's Bistro, which featured a variety of paninis, pizza, and salads along with an updated kid's menu that included pretzel hot dogs and a turkey sandwich. My husband and I had paninis (Chipolte chicken and Turkey Florentine) and really enjoyed them. My son had the pretzel hot dogs and actually ate his lunch. The kids meal includes a fruit choice and drink. With our pass savings, lunch there was cheaper than what we usually pay locally. A tip: the map you can pick up at the entrance has the menus printed on the back for each restaurant. Each place serves different foods, so if you have a picky kid (or adult) who will only eat certain things, check to see which place serves the food they want. The family in front of us had to get out of line because their kid was upset that Captain Ernie's did not have chicken fingers.
It was really cold on Saturday, so we did not go on the water rides, although there were a few crazy people swimming. We actually have never been on any of the water rides. We are looking forward to trying them out this summer!
