Sunny Day, Sweeping the Clouds Away: Sesame Place

Well, it was indeed a sunny day.  But it was a FREEZING afternoon that mom and dad chose to hit up Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA (just outside of Philly).  In an effort to keep down the number of presents that pile up at the holidays (and with limited success), the 'rents thought Nona and D-Rock could take us all to Sesame Place for our Christmas present this year.  We've heard Sesame Place is a mob scene in the summer (it has all kinds of rides and water play then), but they do have a "Very Fury Christmas Parade" during the holidays (and it looks like a very similar neighborhood parade during other times of the year).  And there is also a live "Elmo's World" show, a carousel, some rides, a giant net climbing structure, and more during the rest of the year.  It really was frigidly cold and windy (especially since we'd been having such mild weather in D.C. and especially for mom who forgot her gloves -- she jammed her hands into a pair of mine), but we still had a good time.  We loved the carousel (Cami's first time), had mixed feelings on the parade (although mom and dad seemed to have a ball heckling, in a good natured manner, the various characters to dance and wave for us), and still made out like bandits in the gift shop.  Cam's Elmo phone is a BIG HIT.  And it was much less crowded than we hear it gets in the summer, so mom and dad still think this was worth the winter trip.  (And unless they add some booze to all of those snack carts, it's probably the last time we go!)

You can pay extra to dine with the characters and there are several other on-property dining options, but we chose to leave the park and go up the street where there is strip after strip of Applebee's type restaurants -- a little less crowded and easier to get us to focus on eating, I imagine.  Although we of course threw a serious tantrum over mom's attempt to sit and eat in peace at the other end of the table from us.  Not even guac would persuade us to keep it together.