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I took today off to take the family to Sesame Place.
Actually it was all Claudine's idea to go to Sesame Place. And we took her car. And everything went on her American Express. But I drove. So *I* took my family to Sesame Place. Anyway, we took our first real trip as a family. Since we had the whole family, we reserved a suite at the Sheraton Bucks County which is about 50 feet from the entrance to Sesame Place. One, because we have the money these days, and two we have three kids so it's nice to get a king size bed, have room for a bassinet for the baby and still have an entire other room (with a T.V.) to stick the boys in. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
 Looks angry, but really isn't. Looks angry again, but really isn't. Livin' large in the front seat.Jake is 6 years old now and pretty big, so we decided that we could put him on his booster seat in the front seat. That way Claudine could ride in the back seat next to Annabel. We are about an hour and a half away from beautiful Langhorne, PA. So it made sense to have that configuration. And it worked well for us, she was able to feed the baby easily while I drove. And I've been waiting for years (actually, 6 years) to be able to have Jake sit next to me in the car. I remember how cool it was to ride up front with my dad on his weekend errand trips.
 They'll take me seriously NOW. Bobby, looking at his feet, getting an idea. Sorry Bobby, no tippy toes.It was a little overcast and chilly in the morning. Sesame Place is a combination amusement/activity park and water park. It seems like that should make a big deal, but when you are dealing with three kids of varying ages, you need to plan some stategy to the day. First of all, the baby wasn't really going to do anything except sleep, eat and get pushed around in a stroller. So she would require a parent at all times. Bobby could do some stuff, but he's not big enough to go on all the rides. Jake is old enough and big enough to go on everything. So there's that to think about. Now with the weather, if either boy goes in the water, it was cold enough in the morning that they would need to change back into normal clothes so they wouldn't freeze. But I didn't want to be changing them back and forth, back and forth. So Claudine and I split up and tried to hit the highlights with each kid. I should say, each boy because Annie didn't care. At all. So I took Jake swimming in a giant wading pool first. Then I took him on a tubing ride around Big Bird's Wild River Ride. Which is just a big circular pool with a current that sweeps you around through various fountains, waterfalls, sprinklers and mild rapids. Then Claudine and I switched kids and I took Bobby back into the giant wading pool. Then we ate some bad amusement park food. Jake wanted to go on the roller coaster so off he and I went. I tried to prepare him for what it was like to ride a roller coaster and he said he couldn't wait. Well, as you can see, he hated it. "Never again", he said.
 Jake pulling negative G's.Right around 1 P.M., it started to rain. Claudine wanted to talk Annie to the hotel, so we packed up the kids and drove over to the hotel. If I was thinking, I would have realized that most hotels have a check-in time of 3 P.M., and I would have suggested that we seek out some type of indoor activity in the park. Rather than hang around in the hotel lobby for an hour and a half, we went to back to the park. I figured the boys were in raincoats, sandals and swimsuits, so how much better prepared for the rain could they be? Claudine and Annie stayed in the car. Annie was sleeping so it wasn't that bad for her. There is a great big sand box at Sesame Place. And when I say sand box, I mean an expanse of sand about the size of three basktball courts. They had a great time playing in the sand. After about 45 minutes, it stopped raining, the sun came out and it started to get really hot. Claudine called me cell phone to cell phone so we could locate each other in the park. We met up and did a bunch more activities, bouncing from spot to spot. At around 3:30 P.M., it was really hot and the kids were dragging. So it was back to the hotel for us. Just as we were leaving, Jake said that he wanted to go on the roller coaster again. ?!?! I was proud of him for even wanting to try it again. This time Claudine took him. Knowing what to expect this time made a big difference for him. I think he just needed that first time to be scared to death but get through and know that he wouldn't be killed on the thing. Armed with the knowledge that he would be tossed around but get through alive, he had a great time.
Back at the hotel, all the kids got a bath and laid around for a bit. Then we met up with Claudine's cousin Karl, his wife Kim and their baby girl Audra. We tried to go to Friday's but it was packed. So we went to another place that was local. Had a nice dinner, then it was back to hotel (again) and this time to put all our little rugrats to bed. And after a day like that, we were soon to bed ourselves.
 A giggling Bobby, and Jake with his hand apparently up his ass |
