Knitting Zeal

A day at the beach

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!   

The sun came out as we were leaving!

 

Season passes at Sesame Place

 

meeting our buddies

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! 

Twiddlebugs slides

 

Our annual December Hershey visit

Last week we did a very daring thing: we went away for three days before Christmas!  Yikes!  It meant I had to have almost everything ready for being Santa; all presents wrapped, food planned for the weekend and purchased, house cleaned up.  The last one didn't get completed until Saturday night, but I tried!  For the third year in a row we took a short trip out to Hershey, Pennsylvania to enjoy Christmas in Chocolate country.  We usually go around my husband's birthday, mid-month, but this year we waited until preschool was finished.  When we planned our trip it seemed like a good idea.

In reality, it turned out great.  We scored a great deal on a hotel room at the Comfort Inn at the Park, about two miles down the road from Hershey Park.  We stay there every year and saw they had a 50% off deal this fall, so the two night stay cost the same as one night.  While in years past the weather was frigid, this year it was practically balmy and wet with rain.  We managed to get through Candylane at Hershey Park without much rain and had a great time as the park was practically empty.  We had front row seats at the Christmas show, my son got to ride everything he wanted without waiting in lines, and we saw lots of pretty lights without freezing!  While we were there we witnessed an engagement; a man reserved the Kissing Tower for one private ride where he proposed to his girlfriend!  It was very sweet.  Riding the Kissing Tower for the first time in at least 32 years was fun, and it was amazing to see the surrounding area lit up at night with holiday decorations.  We also got to "drive" on the Turnpike cars with the kiddo at the wheel.  He loved that!  We concluded that night with a stop at the bakery in Chocolate World to pick up some decadent cupcakes for dessert.  

We also checked out the Hershey Sweet Lights.  They try to change it up a bit each year and it was fun to see it all, although both the kiddo and myself fell asleep midway through in the warm car listening to soft holiday music.  Very relaxing! (Thankfully the driver stayed awake!!)  

We went on the best trolley ride from the Hershey Trolley Works.  I had heard it was fun, but we were surprised by how great it was. Our driver Fred did a great job and our tour guides Susan and Jakey were an awesome team.  Santa even hopped on our trolley and delighted the kids by reading their names off of his "nice" list and giving them a special gift of an ornament.  The adults received holiday kazoos as gifts!  It was a great deal too, as they did not charge us for our son since he was able to ride on our lap.  

On our way home from Hershey we stopped at the Shady Maple grocery store to buy a few last minute ingredients for Christmas as well as a local ham for our second Christmas on Monday that we were hosting.  I love checking out their bakery and bulk items section.  My son picked out some sprinkles for ice cream and cookie decorating and we were able to get some dark chocolate hot cocoa mix. 

My son has developed quite the affection for mid-class level hotels.  His favorite hotel so far was the Holiday Inn Express we stayed at in Easton last summer.  I'm not sure why he loved it so much (it was really a great room for our family) but he talks about it constantly.  The Comfort Inn at the Park in Hershey is his second favorite hotel.  Personally, I have a really hard time sleeping in a hotel.  It is frustrating not having my own things there and I always forget to bring something.  My son was so excited to be in a hotel that he could not stop moving or singing all night.  Finally around 11:30pm he sang his last round of "Holly Jolly Christmas" and zonked out.  Both nights this happened!  He set up his own office at the hotel room desk and did his "work" there.  On the way home he was silent and tearful.  Once home he had a meltdown and admitted that he was sad that we left the hotel and wondered why we couldn't stay longer.  Even with the suggestion that Santa wouldn't be able to find us if we weren't home didn't work.  He still talks about missing the Comfort Inn and can't wait until we can go back.  He is even hoping that we will go during the summer too! 

One of the fun things about the hotel we stayed at is the duck pond.  The ducks that live there love people because they get fed, a lot!  We fed and "played" with the ducks often.  We have a special fondness for those duckies!

Christmas trip to Philly

Last week my little guy and I took a train trip into Philadelphia to check out some holiday sights and to attend his daddy-o's holiday party.  I often have trouble getting the little guy to "dress-up" in clothing that I would like him to wear.  However, something clicked in his head that day and he decided that he wanted to wear a tie and shirt like daddy, so that is what we went with for the trip.  He also refused to zip up his coat all day.  He later told me it was because he wanted everyone to see his tie!  He did get many compliments about his little tie and one woman even stopped me on the street to tell me how handsome he looked!  He was adorable.  

After our train ride we got off at Market Street East, which exits into the Gallery mall on Market Street.  Usually we get off at the next stop to go into his dad's office building, but I wanted to go check out Wanamakers Macy's light show. (When I was little, it was the John Wanamaker department store, which sadly went out of business a number of years ago.  I still call it Wanamakers, even though I know better.) Walking down Market Street to Macy's was exciting to him, as we passed the huge guitar outside of the Hard Rock Cafe, several hotels and the SEPTA building, which he recognized the logo on the window.  

Arriving at Macy's I tried to explain to him that my mom used to bring me to that store when I was little to see the decorations and shop. I also told him that the red rocket monorail car that is in his favorite Please Touch Museum now used to run around the ceiling of the toy department of Wanamakers on the 8th floor, a long time ago.  There was so much to see, I'm not sure he even heard me!  We got there just in time for the 3:00 pm light show, which hasn't changed much over the years, except for the absence of the water feature. The little guy loved it!  
Afterwards, he had the chance to check out the famous Eagle statue!   On the 3rd floor of Macy's was the Dickens Village display and Santa.  We quickly walked though Dicken's Village, as not only was it not very child-friendly, but also a bit boring.  My little guy wasn't bothered by the scary parts of the story, but he also wasn't all that interested in much of it and he definitely did not want to see Santa!  

 

We then headed over to LOVE park.  On our way we traveled through City Hall and past the Municipal Building that has HUGE game piece sculptures around it.  The iron from Monopoly was a favorite!  In LOVE Park, the holiday decorations must have been sponsored by Kraft Foods, as we stumbled upon the largest macaroni and cheese noodle ever! While my son thinks it is really a slide without a ladder, I think it's just advertising.  
We then headed over to the Comcast Center to see their holiday show and meet up with Daddy and attend the party.  The holiday party at his office is always spectacular.  In years past, they used to rent the Franklin Institute, which was a blast.  Since moving into their new building, they use it for the party each year, incorporating their holiday show into the festivities.  The food was great (lobster mac n' cheese, carving stations, dumpling bar, cheese bar, etc.) and served on the 43rd floor in their cafe.  The nightime views of the city were beatiful.  My little guy spent some time watching the city from above and decided it all looked like his toy parking garage and car collection.

There was a special floor just for kids, called the Polar Express, that had a build a bear workshop, story area, hot cocoa area, gingerbread cookie decorating, and Santa.  We made a Santa Monkey and someone ate candy canes, but would not see Santa!

We headed to the lobby to see the holiday show and enjoy dessert.  Desserts included cupcakes, cookies, pies, and a candy bar!  We came home with bag fulls of sweets that we used to decorate our gingerbread house.  

 

We ended the night enjoying some treats in daddy's office and the boys comparing ties. Our train trip home was fun too!

Haunted Dutch Wonderland!

Lucky for us we chose last weekend to visit Dutch Wonderland for their Halloween festivities.  The weather was ok, overcast, but not wet.  This weekend is a different story with SNOW anticipated!  Blech.

We had visited Dutch Wonderland last fall for Halloween and had a great time.  This time we met up with the monkey boy's best buddy and his parents to have fun.  It was great having a friend for the kids so they could go on rides together.  The boys had a blast!  The park does a really nice job decorating for the holiday with lots of lights and not too scary decorations.  We made sure to ride the train that circles the park both during the daytime and after it got dark.  What a difference! 

The kiddo and dad had fun riding the rides that make me queasy, so they did the Moaning Mansion and the Sky ride alone.  I went on the giant slide and the carousel with the kid, both which were fun!  

It was a fun afternoon and a great way to get into the Halloween Spirit!

Chocolate Walk in Lititz, PA

This past weekend my mom and I attended the most wonderful fundraising event...a Chocolate Walk! It was the tenth anniversary of the Chocolate Walk of Lititz, PA.  It is an event sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Lititz and Wibur Chocolates.  The money raised is donated to area organizations that benefit children, so you are consuming massive quantities of chocolate for a good cause!

Basically, you tour the town of Lititz with a Chocolate Walk map, a punch card, and a food storage container and collect all sorts of chocolate treats along the way!  Different stores were hosts to various chocolatiers who were giving out tastings and samples of their confections. We enjoyed a chocolate panini from Scooter's Restaurant and Bar, that was a favorite!  There were mini fudge sundaes, brownies, chocolate dipped cookies, truffles, buttercreams, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate coffee, molded chocolate, and so many!  We ate the things that could not be saved, like an amazing Chocolate Velvet Pot de Crème (scroll to the bottom of the linked page for the recipe!) and the ice cream treats.  The tupperware container I brought saved all the other treats so that I could share with the boys at home and enjoy more later.  We had so much fun that we never even photographed the actual chocolate!  

Part of the tour led us through the Lititz Farmers Market, where I was able to purchase some fresh raw milk cheese (smoked cheddar) and some goats milk soap to use as teachers gifts this holiday season.  We also got a sample of chocolate salsa.  

We also visited Whiff Roasters, which is who gave out the chocolate coffee samples.  They roast their own beans there and are the official supplier of the Wilbur chocolate coffee blend.  We purchased bags of beans so we could brew our own coffee at home. We also had the chance to explore the chocoalte museum in the Wilbur Chocolate Factory.  We viewed a beautiful Christmas display of Santa by a fireplace, all made out of candy!  There were lots of antique chocolate molds too.  Plus, we were able to buy some chocolate Wilbur buds there to take home, as if we needed more!  

It was such a fun day and the weather was beautiful.  We ended the day at the North Star of Lititz, a beautiful shop that specializes in art glass.  I bought myself an anniversary gift there of a beautiful glass "witch" ball that had a "family tree of life" pattern on it.  

This may become an annual tradition!  

 

Sunny Beach days...

Since all it seems to do is rain here, it is time to post about our wonderful week at the beach in between Hurricane Irene and the tail end of what ever system of rain is hitting us this past week in PA.  

We reserved a week at a little beach bungalow rental on Long Beach Island last winter with big plans to have fun on the beach.  While the hurricane prevented us from going to LBI on our planned Saturday, we were finally able to get on the island by Sunday night, giving us a full five days and one half day to spend on vacation.  We really had amazing weather the whole week. Temperatures were in the low 80s all week, the sky was clear blue with only a few puffy white clouds.  The water was chilly and rough, but not too bad.  It was great surfing weather, if we had been surfers!  We did get the chance to watch a bunch of surfers early on the beach Monday morning.  It was beautiful!  Our little beach house was on a section of the island that was only two blocks wide, so we could walk from the bay to the beach quickly.  We spent every day on the beach and dug lots of holes in the sand and built castles and forts in the sand.  The little guy had a blast and was looking like a true beach dude by the end of the week with even blonder hair!  We ate some great seafood and even got the little guy to eat some fish, although he prefered the "chips" part of the meal more.  

There is no boardwalk on LBI, which was fine by me.  There was a little area open at night in Beach Haven that had shops, restaurants, a bay side playground, and an amusement park.  We went there twice to the delight of the little guy.  We rode the ferris wheel as a family both nights and the little guy rode on a mini pumpkin ferris wheel ALL BY HIMSELF!  This was a big deal, since every time we go to amusement parks he has refused to ride anything without one of us.  He was so proud of himself!  

At the little guy's request, we went for a beach walk at night to see the "shapes in the stars."  He insisted he saw stars shaped like each of us.  We also had the chance to see the sun set over the bay several times.  It was a great get away for us and if I ever come into vast amounts of money, I am buying a beach house on LBI!

Here's a little photo montage of our trip:

Visiting Smith Kid's Play Place during an earthquake!

All summer I've wanted to take my son to check out the cool playground that is in Fairmount Park, called Smith Kid's Play Place, or Smith Playground.  I've been hearing about it for a while, but was a bit unsure about driving there alone, as it's in a section of Philadelphia that I'm not at all familiar.  Then, all summer it was HOT!  Today was just beautiful out, and it was our last week to get together with our buddy whose mommy works for a school, so we had our last official play date of the summer today at Smith Playground.  It was fantastic!  The boys had a blast playing all day and we had a great picnic for lunch in the middle of Fairmount Park that was just lovely. We had such a great time that we never even felt the earthquake that occurred this afternoon!  

The main house on the property was built specifically to be an indoor play house for kids, over 100 years ago (they just celebrated their 112th birthday!!)  Inside were three floors of play areas, including a library.
Outside, one of the fun features of Smith Playground is the wooden slide that is almost 40 feet high.  There is an intricate tree trail that leads to the top where kids (and adults!) can use a burlap sack to slide down the slick wooden slide.  They had waxed the slide yesterday, so it was super slippery today!  My monkey went down once with me, sitting on my lap.  Then he went two more times on his own with his buddy.  He had a hard time figuring out how to center his tush on the burlap and push himself off, so he ended up sliding on his tummy both times, but he had fun!

Behind the mansion, there are 6 and a half acres of an outdoor playground!  There were so many activities to choose from and we maybe did half of them.  There were lots of traditional swings, some tire swings, and this cool saucer swing that the boys had a blast riding on, as if they were surfing.  

There was a tot lot for kiddos ages 5 and under.  The boys had a blast looking for bad guys off the side of the pirate ship and driving the train and firetruck!  There were these cool spinner chairs that whipped them around one at a time until they were dizzy.  My little guy actually fell over after getting off!  He was laughing so hard!

The back of the mansion was just as beautiful as the front, and the perfect weather made the day great!  

My little guy had a blast playing on the indoor train, along with the little inside playhouse.  In the basement was a cool little road way area with little bikes and cars.  The playground is a non-profit, and does not charge a fee to use, but does accept donations.  It was beautifully maintained and well staffed.  It was so clean too!  A great resource for the kids of Philadelphia!

We ended the day around 3:00pm and headed to the car. By chance, I heard my cell phone ring.  It was my husband who asked if I got his text...no...because his high-rise office building in Philly was being evacuated due to the earthquake!  We had not felt the earthquake at all! (the playground surface is covered in very cushy material that is shock-absorbing.  Apparently it works very well!!) He did feel it, as he works on the 36th floor and felt the building sway much more than usual.  He usually takes the train home, but there were lots of delays due to potential structural damage, so instead of going home, we detoured into center city Philly to pick him up.  It was quite amazing to see so many office workers milling around outside in the middle of the afternoon.  The drive home was long, but it was better than him waiting for the train.  Thankfully we were relatively close to his office!

It was an exciting day!

Our Easton, PA trip concludes at the Crayola Factory!

Our final stop in Easton was at the Crayola Factory, where they make crayons, of course.  (Ok, not exactly there, but really close by...this is the "museum" factory!) Last summer our darling child was not yet three, so this year being not yet four made a huge difference.  Last year he was just learning/trying to cut with scissors.  This year he uses scissor well and loves to cut out shapes from scrap paper.  

It was a busy day at the Crayola Factory on Monday, with many camps visiting.  Despite that, we managed to complete all of the projects we wanted to do and see all the exhibits there too. It's always fun seeing the live crayon making demonstration and maker assembly, although this year the demonstrator wasn't as generous as last year...no free crayon this time!  
We also visited the National Canal Museum, which is on the 3rd and 4th floors of the building, TWICE.  I think my son loved the Canal Museum more this year, because he could play with water and see train displays.  This is the only museum in the country that explains the history of towpath canals and their importance in American history.  The National Canal Museum is included in the admission price of the Crayola Factory!

I love crayons, especially all the different varieties that Crayola offers now.  At one craft station in the factory you can sit and color with every type of crayon they make.   The craft theme this summer is the beach and ocean, so each craft station featured sea life.  At one place we had the chance to make seahorse puppets with popsicle sticks, paper, glue and colored pencils.  At another station we could work on under the sea collages using markers, crayons, glue, scissors and boxes of craft papers.  

Admission to the Crayola Factory includes three tokens per ticket that can be used to "purchase" crayons, markers and model magic clay from vending machines.  Since each ticket gets three tokens, my son ended up with quite a collection of little boxes of crayons, markers and clay.  He loved molding the clay into different things at the model magic stations, which included all sorts of clay toys like rolling pins and cookie cutters.  

There is a McDonald's Express inside the Crayola Factory (not sure what would make it "express??") but since we aren't fans of their food, we had to leave for lunch.  There were several nice restaurants in the area, but we really wanted to just get a quick meal and get back to playing before we had to head home.  We found a Subway shop nearby and were able to order relatively healthy meals off their menu.  Surprisingly the little guy ate part of a turkey sandwich, since PB and J or grilled cheese was not available.  He is slowly getting more adventurous with food, thankfully.  

We finished the day by re-visiting some of the more favorite exhibits and then concluded with a trip to the nearby factory store to buy some brand new chalk and glitter crayons!   And we had to check out the world's largest crayon!  Blue of course!

If you go, be sure to get there early and buy tickets ahead of time if you can.  Our hotel sold discounted tickets, so we didn't have to wait in line and just checked in to get our tokens and craft bags (to carry around any projects made during the visit.)  The Crayola Factory is located at 30 Centre Square, Easton PA.  

All in all it was a great mini-vacation, despite being non-stop!  And what did the wee one do when we got home?  Run to his room and cry.  When I asked him why he was sad he replied because he wanted to stay in the hotel for five days, not one and that he did not get a chance to watch the hotel tv, so we needed to go back!  Maybe next year!

 

Mini vacation to Easton, PA continued...

After our visit to the Lehigh Valley Zoo, we had some time before we could check into our hotel in Easton, so we headed over to the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley, a newer shopping complex that had a LL Bean store and a fun ice cream shop, Maggie Moos.  It was a nice break to cool off in some stores and do a bit of back to school shopping.  Old Navy had their great sale on kid's jeans, so I got the monkey boy some bigger sizes for this winter. I also found a cute Curious George tee there, which surprisingly we never owned a George shirt, so just had to get that too.  It was fun exploring the LL Bean store, since usually we shop out of a catolog or online from them.  My son picked out a new lunch bag for school, since this will be the first year he can stay for lunch bunch if we want.  Their lunch bags are made so well that I'm sure this one will last all of preschool and into elementary school!

We then headed over to Easton and check into the Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites.  What a great hotel!  So clean, updated and filled with extra amenities at a really low price.  We all loved playing in their pool, which we had to ourselves in the evening.  
The room was very comfy and my monkey child insisted on sleeping BY HIMSELF in a big queen sized bed.  This was the first time he ever did that and it was so nice to be able to sleep in a hotel bed without being kicked repeatedly by the child who does not stay still.  
He was so exhausted after our long day that when he fell out of the bed he didn't wake up.  I was nervous having him sleep alone in a bed without guard rails and kept waking up to check on him.  At some point in the night I realized he wasn't in the bed, but the room was so dark that I couldn't find him.  I heard him breathing and realized he was at my feet!  Thankfully I didn't step on him!  I managed to scoop him up and slide him back into bed, then assessed him to make sure he didn't get hurt.  He did not remember any of it the next morning!  At least I thought ahead enough to lay extra pillows on the floor next to the bed, so that was what he hit when he slid onto the floor.  The hotel included complimentary hot breakfast the next morning, which made it really easy to get ready to start our day's adventure.  We then headed to the Crayola Factory!