First Half of Our Summer Break, Part 4 - Sesame Place Trip 1VJust

 Here are some pics from our first trip to Sesame Place this year.  This is the first time I've been to Sesame Place during season (those who follow might recall the Christmas season photos from last year), and, I have to say, I was impressed with how quickly and fluidly things went...and it wasn't over-sized and ridiculous as I thought it might be given the trendy and tourist nature of these sorts of theme parks.  It was a nice trip for both boys.  Matthew got to get out and play even though he seemed less than interested in many of the rides and such things that were appropriate for his age and size.  He was more interested in the small playground and padded building block play area there.  He was very content with those two areas.  

 There is an actual replica of the Sesame Street set...Christopher absolutely has to make it to the fire engine every time we go.  

at Cookie Mountain

at the mist machine

Vapor Trail

Chillin' ...very content just to hang out...until we got to Big Bird's Court.  Here he really let it loose!

Christopher at Snuffy's Slides.  I just thought this ended up being a pretty cool picture

First Half of Our Summer Break, Part 3 - Playing with Instagram during our many trips to local parks

First Half of Our Summer Break, Part 2 - Lahaska/ Peddler's Village & Ella's Birthday Party

Boys watching the goldfish in one of the Peddler's Village ponds in Lahaska, PA

 Throwing stones in a fishing pond in Bear, DE

At our friend's, Mike and Annette, daughter, Ella's birthday party...park, fishing pond to throw rocks in, and water ice....I don't think it could have been better





Although, a water gun fight to end the day definitely would qualify as a party-picker-upper!

First Half of Our Summer Break, Part 1, Kid's Castle, Doylestown, PA

 In Doylestown, PA, there is a very cool playground called "Kids' Castle".  It is quite possibly the largest playground and playground structure I've ever seen.  The grounds itself has to be at least half the size of a football field completely filled to the hilt with monkey bars, swings, slides, zip lines, etc.  On top of that is the magnificent castle itself, a 3-story structure with two towers and is as deep as it is wide.  The ground level a composed of a maze that goes completely throughout with many exits out.  The level above, with the steps that lead to the castle.  This is an amazing structure that is a labyrinth of tunnels, net floors, gated windows, and more.  The two major features being the two slides.  The slide in the right tower is a winding spiraled slide that goes from the top level (below the right-side tower) to the ground, and on the left is a winding wooden slide that goes from the top of the left tower all the way to the ground...and, by the way, is the only way I was able to figure out a way to exit the structure. 

Both boys had a blast at the park even though the temperature that day was north of 95o with high humidity. Matthew climbed everything we would let him climb (there was a pretty large section designed specifically for toddlers, but, of course, Matthew wanted none of that aside from the swings).  He just climbed up and down some stairs repeatedly for the most part, but he seemed to have had a good time.

Christopher was completely beside himself...ran like a complete nut all over the playground and castle.  He even navigated the labyrinth castle without issue.  I tried to go in the castle and play with him, but many of the parts weren't made for adults...especially adults my size.  So I eventually had to leave him to his own fun with a periodic check-in.  

And not to worry, we made sure that both boys remained good and hydrated in this high heat.

....and thus starts Summer

School's out for summer out here in the Pennsylvania/New Jersey area....and was welcomed with open arms.  Colleen is fortunate enough to be able to take the summer off from school, but she is picking up some extra shifts in Philadelphia for some supplementary cash.  I, unfortunately, am working the ESY (Extended School Year), but, as a whole, it really isn't that bad at all.  I'm still off for almost 5 weeks this summer so I can't complain.  Since we both have some quality time off, we're trying to spend as much family time as possible.

Trains

Christopher and Matthew playing trains together...it was pretty cool to see.  The whole play-session lasted about an hour, but it was pretty much like this the whole time.  Good stuff