Sesame Place

We took a family trip to Sesame Place in PA and had a fantastic time -- we ALL LOVE Sesame Place and cannot wait to go back!  The best part?  It's FREE for military!  THANK YOU Anheuser Busch! Here are a few photos from our big adventure...

Daddy getting our tickets to dinner with Elmo -- in reality, begging for forgiveness because we bought tickets for Thursday and it was actually Friday when we arrived.  The folks at Sesame Place were great though and exchanged our tickets with no problem!

The girls waiting for Daddy. 

Not a great start to the day -- a little cranky and not wanting their picture taken.

We're in!  Here, Daddy and the girls (Katie in pink; Ella in blue)

are in front of the "tree" sculptures of Big Bird, Elmo, and Snuffy.

First stop? The carousel. 

I think they rode it about 4 times before they were ready to move on.

Then off to Elmo's Big Bouncy Bed

Katie is in the all pink swim suit and Ella has the green top.  We discovered after arriving that Sesame Place is more of a water park than a dry park, which put a damper on the picture taking.

The girls climbing this huge pile of bouncy balls to get to the top of a slide.

They made it to the top!

Hurricane Bill (honest, that was the name of the hurricane that came through) stopped by to water the flowers for a bit, but it worked out to be perfect timing... the girls took a little stroller snooze while Mommy and Daddy people-watched.

The girls woke up just in time to have dinner with Elmo and friends.  Elmo's giving the girls a big ol' hug.

They are showing him the prizes they won earlier that day.

One more photo op before he heads off to visit the other children.

Then Cookie Monster came for a visit!

And a hug.

And Grover!

And Rosita!

And Abby Cadaby!

After dinner we were just in time for the parade and because of Hurricane Bill, we were just about the only people in the park -- the girls had a front row view of the parade!

Zoe stopped by the say hello...

As did Cookie Monster!  It was cute because Cookie came up behind the girls while they were watching the parade and tapped them on the shoulder -- they were so surprised when they turned around to see GIANT Cookie Monster standing there!

All day Daddy had been wanting to ride the roller coaster, but he couldn't get any of us to ride with him.  Before leaving the park, however, he decided he HAD to ride, even if it meant riding it all alone.  The girls and I scouted out a good spot where we could see him when he came by, but before he even got on the ride (and much to my surprise), Ella said, "I want to go too!"  We had to wait for Daddy to finish his ride (snap shot above - he's in the next to the last car waiving - that's Super Grover topiary in the foreground), but then we ALL decided to ride -- mommy and Katie included!  And, if you know Mommy, you know roller coasters are NOT her favorite, but if Katie was willing to try, then so was I!  So, we all hopped on board..  Ella was a little scared at first, but LOVED it -- she giggled the entire way.  Katie hardly said a word the entire time and her eyes were as big a saucers when the ride came to a stop -- she said, "I don't think I want to do that again.", which sounds A-Okay with me!

The girls' first (and possibly Katie's ONLY) roller coaster ride!

The end of a wonderful day at Sesame Place -- this time we're all smiles!

Ella was so excited about her brave roller coaster ride, she wanted to call Grandma and Mimi and tell them.  I can't remember who she's talking to here (Mimi maybe?), but you can see how proud she is of herself for riding that roller coaster.