Shane and Dan had their second 'Daddy & Me' class and they are loving spending that time together! I am so lucky that Dan values his one on one bonding time with Shane so much! Dan has been calling Shane his "mini me" and it could not be more true! They are really best buddies! Here are some pictures Dan took at class.
Shane took some Father's Day pictures for Dan and they turned out sooo cute! I put him in one of Dan's shirts and a tie and brought along a pair of Dan's shoes. The pictures are so cute! If you have not gotten any yet, you will - I just haven't mailed them yet. I wanted to wait until I gave them to Dan on Father's Day before sending them out & we left on our trip right after Father's Day so I am behind! Here are a few of my favorites!
Shane also made a new friend - Ryan - who he met in his Rockin Tots class this spring. They had their first play date in June and will be having another this week!
On Dan's last day of school with the kids, he brought Shane. A lot of teacher's bring their kids on that day and Shane was so excited to go to school with his daddy! The students only attend for an hour that day and the teacher's only work a half day. I was thrilled to have the morning to myself so it was a win-win! Shane had breakfast in Dan's room, played a bit with his students, and then had a blast in the gym playing with the other teacher's kids!
Father's Day was great! Dan received his pictures, a shirt Shane made him with his hand prints on it, and a new trimmer for outside! Our parents & Jorie & Jason came over so we could celebrate with them as well! Shane is tremendously lucky to be surrounded by 4 grandparents who adore him!
After Father's Day, we rushed around like mad to get ready for our big trip! Shane was amazing on vacation! He truly is our son and can "go, go" with the best of them! While this was Shane's second airplane ride, it was his first where he was mobile (the first occurred when he was 5 months old.) He hated removing his shoes for security, but loved seeing all of the planes and the gate and could not wait to board! Here he is at the airport having some breakfast and watching the planes at the gate!
Once we got on the plane he did great! It helped that I had his best friend "EEE, EEE" in my purse! Shane did awesome on the plane until we brought out the IPad. Actually, he did fine until we had to take the IPad away as we landed. The poor woman sitting in front of him was kicked pretty hard by a very mad Shane - at least her seat was. Dan said she flew forward as if she was in a car accident! YIKES! The car seat installed on the plane lifted Shane up and tilted him forward making kicking easy! On the return flight we left the IPad in the backpack and Shane was perfect! He really watches very little TV and is happy with non electronic entertainment - I should've realized I would be OK on the plane without any electronics. Anyways, here is my baby on the plane!
When we landed we were picked up by my very dear friend Lisa, her husband Jeff, and their beautiful daughter Emily (who is just 10 days younger than Shane and another TAC - trans-abdominal cerclage - baby!) They were kind enough to let us use one of their cars for the week! We can't wait for them to come to Chicago to visit! We started out our trip with them with a ride into New York (we landed in Newark, NJ) where we had some delicious pizza on Staton Island at a place they love called 'Jimmy Max."
After lunch, we headed to Ralph's for some famous Italian Ice! I must say it was YUMMY! Dan had 2 and is now on an Italian Ice obsession! He keeps looking up places in Chicago to go! This place had a million flavors including peanut butter! I know it probably seems odd, but it was soooo good! Besides being terrific, I got the best picture from the trip of Shane and Emily there! I caught them right before they had their first kiss! Since we have already decided that Shane and Emily will marry, they will want to have this picture one day! We have it framed!
After Ralph's, it was time to hit the road and head to Freehold NJ. What is in Freehold you ask? It is the boyhood home of Bruce Springsteen! Lisa, Jeff, and Emily were real troopers to tag along for that one! Bruce lived in 2 homes in Freehold, both duplexes, one until 8th grade and one through high school. He also attended the local Catholic school there. We made stops at all three places! The first home's new owner was super friendly and chatted away with Dan and Jeff! Shane was asleep in the car so I stayed next to the car. Here are some pictures from the first house. Yes, Dan just sat right on the man's porch!
Apparently Springsteen shot a famous album picture at his first home and Dan recreated the shot while we were there! Here is the album shot & then Dan at the famous tree!
From the first house, we we headed down the street to the elementary school. Here is Dan in front of the school!
After the school, we headed to his second home. The current residents of this home do not speak English so Dan was trying to use his limited Spanish to explain why he wanted to take pictures of their house!
After our stop in Freehold, NJ, we headed to Langhorne, PA where we checked into our hotel (home of Sesame Place) and grabbed a quick bite to eat! We were all exhausted from the day and wanted to rest up for the next day! We had breakfast at the hotel the next morning and headed right over to Sesame Place as the park opened!It was an overcast, but warm day! Here is a picture Dan took of the sign and a picture of Dan and Jeff with Shane and Emily heading into the park. Can you tell Lisa and I are close? We were researching strollers at the same time and have the exact same one!
We did our research and learned that Sesame Place is part water park and part amusement park and that the two parts are intermixed. We dressed the kids in their suits for the first part of the day and headed right to some water attractions!
After playing in the water, it was time to visit Sesame Street's "Main Street" where we sat on the fire engine and met Bert!!!!
Next, we headed to the carousel!
After a fun ride, it was time for our character lunch with Elmo and his friends!!! We met up with Elmo first and while Shane was all about hugging him, he had no interest in posing for a nice picture with him! Emily did great and was happy to pose!
After meeting Elmo, it was time to say hi to Big Bird, The Count, Abby (who Shane fell in LOVE with - sorry Emily), Elmo again, and Cookie Monster! This was magical! Shane LOVED it and had so much fun! It was worth every overpriced penny that we paid for it!
After eating and mingling, it was time for the characters to dance with the kids! Shane LOVED this part!
After filling up on lunch and having a blast, we headed out to watch the parade! This was also somewhat interactive and I bet you can guess who got right into the middle of it!
After the parade, we headed back to the hotel for a late afternoon nap before returning to the park for dinner and more fun! Here is Lisa holding Emily and Shane as we entered the park.
Next, it was time for the rides! I could not go on any, but Shane, Dan, Emily, Jeff & Lisa had a blast! Unfortunately, it can be hard to see the kids on some of the rides so it looks like Dan and Jeff went on alone! I promise - Shane was there! In fact, this is where our favorite phrase of the vacation was coined - "More rides!!!!" You see, Shane loves rides while they are going, but hates it when they end. In order to not have a hysterical child after every ride, we started telling him that he had to leave that ride to go on other rides. Soon, he was saying, "more rides" as we would take him off one ride!
Next, it was time to meet Elmo again! The weird green backdrop is so if you buy their picture they can insert your child and Elmo into a Sesame Street scene. If you are wondering, yes, we did do this!
After meeting Elmo it was time for another ride and some bouncing fun!
We ended our first day at Sesame Place with a show - Elmo's World - LIVE! Shane loved it!
Before heading back to the hotel we hit the gift shop and Shane picked out an Abby stuffed animal. I was so surprised that Dan was so supportive of Shane getting Abby. In fact, it was me who kept saying, "Are you sure you don't want Big Bird?" Dan sure has evolved! He just wants Shane happy and if a purple and pink fairy doll made him happy then that is what we bought him! Abby really won his heart at the character lunch!
The next day was more Sesame Place for us, but Lisa, Jeff, & Emily headed home. We really missed them! We decided to make the second day about the shows so we started off with the "Elmo Rocks" show! It was sooo cute and Shane loved it so much that he tried to join Elmo and his crew on stage! You can actually see him trying to climb onto the stage!
After the Elmo show, we had a chance to meet both Ernie and Bert. The character area was not crowded so Shane had plenty of time to hug them and touch their faces, etc! He would hug Ernie and then say, "Bert too!" and run over to hug Bert. It was precious! Can you guess what stuffed animals we bought at the end of the second day?
After lunch it was time for some water fun! Unfortunately, that was also the time we got a little downpour!
Next, we headed to Main Street for some pictures of Shane on the famous Sesame Street steps and on the street where the magic happens!
Next it was time for Abby's Show! Shane's favorite pat was when Abby came over and touched him! Unfortunately, I was not quite ready with the camera and the picture is not great! You will have to trust me that he loved it!
After that we re-did some rides, did some shopping, and headed out. We drove to Hershey (Harrisburg to be exact) that evening so we would be ready to hit Hershey Park the next day! The park itself is HUGE and hilly! It is also really well kept up and adorable! It was much more crowded than Sesame Place, but we were also there over the weekend. Fortunately, we were there for Shane, not us, and there were really no lines for any kiddie rides. Here we are entering the park!
One of the most surprising things for me about Hershey was the vast amount of kids rides. I think there were over 20 that Shane could go on with a parent or alone! Yes, alone!!!! The rides were spread out over the entire park. He loves rides and had sooo much fun at Hershey! Here are some pictures of Shane enjoying the rides! There were even a few rides I could go on!
After some rides, it was time to meet some Hershey candy characters! Shane loved them even if he had no idea who they were!
After a lunch break, it was time for - you guessed it - more rides!!!! The amazing thing about Shane's happiness and willing to keep going at Hershey was that we were staying 15 minutes from the park and leaving for a mid afternoon nap was not an option. My little trooper went non-stop from 10 AM when the park opened until 7 PM when we left on both nights! He vacations like his parents! Here are some more ride shots! The second ride pictured was his favorite in the entire park! Over the two days we spent at Hershey he probably rode it 7 times!
Next, it was time to take a break from the rides and check out "Zoo America" the zoo within the park! It is a small zoo with only American animals, but Shane loves his animals and we all enjoyed it!
After the zoo, we headed to the chocolate factory tour! I told you, we just kept going! I wish I could share some amazing candy making fact with you now, but the truth is that I remember nothing from the tour! I guess I was just exhausted by then! Here are some pictures!
After the tour we ate dinner at Hershey and headed back to the hotel where Dan and Shane decided to take a dip in the indoor pool before bed!
The next day brought more Hershey Park! Hershey also has a HUGE water park with some sections that are great for kids! We decided to start our day there since it was one of the last sections of the park we had to see for the first time! We all started the day wearing our suits! Here is Shane bright eyed and ready for another day of Hershey fun!
On our way to the water park, we had to stop at the log ride since Shane loved it so much the day before! We also hit the railroad, which I was able to ride as well!
The water park was huge, but it was overcast and a bit cool for me! Shane, on the other hand, had no issues with the cool water and air! After an hour or so, I was frozen and so was Dan. We took a break for lunch and then I was ready to call it quits! Dan and Shane went back in and they climbed to the top of this giant water slide! Shane has no fear and loved climbing up there! Of course they could not go down the slide so then they climbed back down!
After drying off and changing back into regular clothes, it was time for - you guessed it - more rides! We did the tram, which I could ride, as well as a few new rides and many repeats. Near the end Shane was sooo tired, but he refused to stop riding! He looked catatonic on the rides, but kept begging for more! It was hysterical!
That night we had dinner is Harrisburg and rested up for our drive the next morning to Lisa and Jeff's house in Nazareth, PA. They were so sweet to host us for 2 nights! The first night they made homemade meatballs, marinara sauce, and some delicious raviolis! It was so good!!!! Shane loves Lisa, Jeff, & Emily! On our second day there, they took us to the Philadelphia Zoo (did you know it was America's first zoo?) and out for some Philly Cheese steak. Here Emily and Shane are hanging out at the back door waiting to go to the zoo!
The zoo reminds me of Lincoln Park zoo in that it is relatively small (42 acres - Lincoln park is 35 and Brookfield is 216) and houses about the same number of animals as LP. It was a nice and shaded zoo and they even offer pony and camel rides, though we did not get a chance to do those. Here are some pictures from the day!
The highlight of Shane's day at the zoo was the petting zoo! Our boy loves goats and sheep! He is always hugging them so it is so hard to get a good picture of him with the animals! Emily loved brushing them and it was easy to get a good shot of her with the goats.
After the petting zoo we had a chance to get up close with a bald eagle, the tigers, and the gorillas! Here are some pictures!
Leaving Lisa, Jeff, and Emily at the airport was sad! We had such an amazing trip!!!!
When we got home, the non-stop running has kept up! Shane had his last messy masterpieces class! It was truly the best class he has ever taken! How much more fun can plunger and fly swatter painting be? On the last day of class we did some car art where shane drove cars through paint on his paper, stamping, collages, sponge painting, and record player pictures! Daddy was able to come with and see how much fun the class is! Shane took this class with his buddy Alex and Alex's dad, Dan, also made the last class!
On the 4th of July we headed to Dan's parents for a swim and lunch! Shane loved hanging out in the water with Papa Carolyn, Mommy & Daddy!
After Papa's we met Cathy, Dan, & Alex for some ice cream (no pictures) and then Dan, Shane, & I headed out to the fireworks!
We watch them from a Joliet golf course which gives us plenty of room to spread out and allowed us an easy out in case Shane was afraid of the fireworks (he was not!) He was getting a bit impatient waiting for the show to start - he kept saying, "Fireworks soon? Fireworks in a minute?" He thinks everything is in a minute or soon! :-) Mommy must use those phrases too often! Thankfully we had raisinets to keep Shane happy until the show started!
OK, more of July coming soon!!!!
