SESAME PLACE!!!

On Friday we went to Sesame Place. I got the kids up early and we left around 6:30AM for the 3 hour drive. It went pretty quickly. I thought there would be traffic for the holiday weekend, but it wasn't busy at all.

We arrived before the gates opened and went right to the gate since we had printed our tickets online. Online ticketing is awesome! I always like to get places right when they open since the lines aren't so long for the rides and stuff during that first hour.

When the gates opened, Laurie ran straight for the Vapor Trail roller coaster. Since it's just me and the kids, I'm glad that Laurie is tall enough and old enough to ride the rides by herself now. It makes me a little nervous to send her out on her own like that, so the rule is that I have to be able to see her in the line and on the ride most of the time for her to ride by herself.

She rode the roller coaster twice and then wanted to head for the nets.

On our way to the nets, we ran into Renee, all the Special Ks, and family! Whoo-hoo! I was so happy to finally meet them. They were waiting to see the Elmo's World show, but since Kayla won't sit through shows (and Laurie was still begging to go to the nets -- once Laurie gets something in her mind she gets a bit compulsive about it!) we decided to meet up after the show.

Laurie went off into the nets and I took Kayla off to the Big Bird's Balloon Race. She was petrified and clung to me for dear life. Weird, because we went on a similar ride at Rye Playland last year and she loved it. Sigh. No more rides for Kayla. Poor kid was miserable.

So I took Kayla to Big Bird's Court, a little toddler play mat area, and she just LOVED that.

She always does. I could probably leave her here all day and she would be perfectly content. And she kept tackling random Daddies who were playing with their kids. She'd just tackle them from out of nowhere with a big hug. Eeeesh. No one seemed to mind, but still....

Laurie finished the nets and did a few attractions on her own in the area. It still wasn't very crowded so she didn't have to wait in lines. Now I'm getting a little more comfortable with her running around on her own. Not much, tho!

Met back up with Renee and crew, and also ran into Marlene, her husband, and her daughter Aleena from the Downsyn boards ! we missed you Bethany :-( We all went over to get photos with some characters, except Kayla who decided to make a giant pee and was soaking wet!

I was so happy the Laurie got along so well with Kassidy and Kameron. Usually she's so shy. A couple years ago we had a Downsyn meetup and she wouldn't play with anyone. But Laurie just jumped right in and had a great time hanging out with them. Wish they could have spent more time together, they were having so much fun!

(Laurie and Kameron)

We split up again, since Laurie wanted to go to Splash Castle. Since the whole structure is contained, I let her run in there by herself. Kayla was yelling EAT! so I went to find her something but could only find a chocolate chip cookie in the general area. After Kayla finished eating, I thought maybe Kayla would like to go in there, too. Changed Kayla into her bathing suit, but by the time we got back there was a HUGE line to get in. So I went to find a place to park the stroller so I could attempt to keep an eye on Laurie. We ended up close to the big giant bucket that dumps water. And every time it dumped, a spray of water would come through the air and hit Kayla and she'd cry. Probably a good idea we didn't go in there! We drank slushies while Laurie played in there for over an hour.

After that we went to Ernie's Waterworks, which is geared towards toddlers. Laurie didn't want to go there, so I left her nearby at one of the sand pits. Kayla wanted to play in the sand, too, but she kept eating it, so I took her away from there! Kayla didn't care for the Waterworks. She pretty much stayed out of the water and hated water spraying on her.

Laurie stopped by and said she wanted to do Big Bird's Rambling River, a mild innertube ride. I noticed a lot of people riding with very young children, so thought maybe I could do that with Kayla. But alas, she was so uncontrollable just standing in line, I couldn't imagine trying to control her in water (which she hates) with my big butt stuck in an innertube, so I let Laurie go on by herself.

After that we went to grab a late lunch (it was nearly 4PM by now -- day was just flying by!) because Kayla was saying EAT! EAT! EAT! over and over again. We found seats and I left Laurie with Kayla to go get some food. I really hate leaving them alone like that, but it's just so hard to manage sometimes. I got the kids pizza and fries (not very good and expensive!) and just ate the fries.

Next we went to some fun wading pools . I was surprised that Kayla really LOVED this!

And we got to meet back up with Renee and family! Kayla kept running away from Kennedy when I tried to get a picture of them together, but I just had to get a pic of Kennedy since she's such a cutie!

Laurie had fun running around with Kass and Kam.

We all went back to Splash Castle and the big kids ran around in there for a while.

While we were waiting for the big kids, a woman came up and asked how old our girls were. I said they were five and she said she had a nine year old. I'm looking totally confused until she starts talking about the Buddy Walk since I was wearing my Buddy Walk shirt. Oh! She has a daughter with Down syndrome! So we all did the "Down syndrome chat" thing. She went to get her daughter to meet us. Her daughter spoke very well and was really sweet. Then they went back into Splash Castle and I watch her running around and going down the slides and having a wonderful time. Great to see!

Next we all went souvenier shopping. I wasn't planning on getting anything, since this was our third trip to Sesame Place. But of course that never happens and I ended up getting the kids Tshirts, Kayla a new lunch box and nice stimmy magic wand toy, and Laurie a journal. $65. I'm a sucker for touristy junk!

Met back up with Marlene & her husband & Aleena and the whole lot of us went to T.G.I. Friday's to meet up with Stephanie and her family. Unfortunately by now Kayla was getting visibly tired and cranky. I was thinking we'd just get our obligatory photos and then head home.

So here's the obligatory photo shoot! Aleena, Megan, Kennedy & Kayla!

I wanted to leave after the pics since Kayla was so miserable, but Laurie wanted to eat dinner (actually, I think she just wanted to hang out with Kassidy a bit more!) so we stayed. And Kayla cried nearly the whole time and I had to hold her on my lap. Every time I tried to take a drink she'd take a swat at the glass. And I had to eat with just one hand. Renee's mom even had to cut up my chicken for me so I could eat it! I was sitting next to Kameron and it was too funny. He was telling me these jokes which I think only made sense to him! It was like sitting next to Laurie, LOL.

As soon as Laurie finished her dinner, we hit the restrooms, said our goodbyes and headed on out. Wish I could have spent more time with everyone, especially Stephanie who I only managed to say hello and goodbye to, LOL! By now it was 8:30PM.

Kayla fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car. She was certainly exhausted! And Laurie fell asleep within 30 minutes. So I got to play my 80s music instead of Radio Disney on the way home! Traffic was busier going home! Couldn't find anywhere to conveniently stop and get coffee (no drive thru) so I was sipping the leftover melted slushie to stay awake. Sugar rush!!

We got home at 11:30PM. Laurie sleepwalked up the stairs and fell back asleep. I carried Kayla up, lay her in her bed and covered her with her blanket. And then Kayla popped up like a Jack in the Box, and ran into the living room to play!!! Are you kidding me????

Kayla stayed up until about 1AM! Boy, was I tired when we finally went to bed! We didn't get up until 9AM the next morning.

Laurie mentioned in the car that she's happy that Kayla has Down syndrome because we get to meet so many wonderful friends. I wholeheartedly agree with her on that!!!