Sesame Place, Part 1

We had such a great 2 days at Sesame Place outside Philadelphia.  We started this leg of our vacation with a trip downtown to Philly for their famous Philly Steak Sandwiches....YUMM-O!  We then headed to our hotel for some swimming (which all parents know is a kid's FAVORITE part of a vacation).

The next morning, we were up bright and early and headed for Sesame Place!

"Sunny Days, Sweeping the Clouds Away, On our Way to Where the Sun is Bright..."

Miss Caitlin and Mommy waiting for Abigail and Daddy on a ride.  We did a lot of this, but we had a lot of fun (and ate our way through Sesame)

The first thing we saw when we walked in was the roller coaster.  Abigail and Daddy headed for this...which made me nervous because I thought she'd hate it and not go on any rides....but Daddy was right and she LOVED it!  I think she did it a total of 5 times on this trip.

Proud Riders of Vapor Trail (and yes, there is Grover's voice everytime they rode it...)

On the stairs of Sesame Street (very cute little road that looks like the show)

Waiting for a ride

Abigail jumping on Ernie's Bed (Caitlin was in there somewhere too)

Merry Go Round

Slides

Slides

Hugs with Ernie

and Bert

What a GREAT vacation!

Elmo Rock's Show (one of 3 shows we saw)

Dancing at the show

Kisses for Daddy...Caitlin had such a great time

Caitlin's favorite area...Big Bird's Nest

Sesame is so cute...even the bushes have Elmo in them!

Dancing at the Abby Cadabby Show

After a great morning and lunch (which Sesame is a GREAT place because they let you bring in coolers so we were able to bring food for the kids to eat (and of course stop and buy more food there...and of course we had to get an Elmo Soft Pretzel in the shape of Elmo's head) we decided to head back to our hotel for nap.  This really was the best thing we did for the kids because they were able to enjoy their evening (sort of...see below).

After naps, we headed back to Sesame for Dinner with Elmo and Friends.  Rob and I were so excited to take the kids to see all the characters and have a nice meal together.  See Below...this is right before the CHAOS began:

About 3 minutes after getting seated, Cookie Monster (who is HUGE and BLUE) came out of no where and scared Caitlin, which lead to her SCREAMING the entire meal...not crying, not whining...SCREAMING!!!!  That lead Abigail to crying...and the two of them continued to scream every time a character came within 20 feet of us.  So we never got a picture with Elmo which was supposed to be the highlight of the trip.  I am convinced that if Cookie Monster hadn't freaked out Caitlin, they would have been fine...but nevertheless, it was an "interesting" meal with lots of screaming!

I was able to convince bribe Abigail with cookies to see Abby Cadabby because I knew she really wanted to see her and would continue to talk about it after, which I was right. 

Abbi and Abby

WE DID IT (if pictures had sound, you would hear Caitlin screaming)

Screaming!

After a nice relaxing dinner, we headed out for more rides!  Swings, Elmo's Fish, more roller coaster, etc...

We found Dorothy (Elmo's fish)....that was exciting for these two!

There is a big electric parade at night, but we were having too much fun on rides to get a seat.  So we sort of "watched" as it passed, but promised the kids we'd watch it the next night!

(I am going to do a "tips" post about things that worked for us)

We brought the girls light up necklaces from the dollar store at home so they had lighted toys like the ones they were selling for ridiculous amounts of money!

Watching the Parade

Well....There's Day 1!  (Can you imagine our pictures when we go to Disney?)  We had such a great day..and were really looking forward to going back for Day 2.  We spent the day going into stores and deciding what "souvie" we wanted....so the girls were very excited to get back the next morning!!!!

Stay tuned for Day 2 and Tips for Sesame!

Oglebay, West Virginia

Wennerstrom Family Vacation  Part 1 of 2

We had a great time on vacation this year!  Our first half of our vacation was spent at Oglebay, West Virginia.  It's in the town my dad grew up in, and it's really one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  It has hills everywhere, and we were able to spend 3 days of pure fun!  It's a resort that has everything that a kid, or adult, would want!  In 3 days, we did all the following:  zoo, golf, par 3 golf, paddle boats, horses, watched World Cup comeback, swimming, more swimming, some more swimming, running, eating, drinking, bonfiring, laughing, and a family reunion!  I wish we could have stayed there a whole week, it was so fun!  In fact, it was so much fun that I don't have all of my pictures.  Let's just say there was one night of a firepit, car bombs, and a sketchy employee that resulted in us coming home with one less camera (luckily we still have our good camera for the rest of the trip)...so I stole a few pics from my sister!  ;)  I also realized there are none of Rob or Joe...they were there, but they must have been golfing during a lot of the pictures!  But we spent so much time all together, it was perfect!

Balash Family Reunion (my dad's mom's side of the family)

Train ride at the zoo

Rocking on the front porch while looking at the rolling hillls...beautiful and relaxing!

Butterfly Garden....missing the butterflies....but Grandpa improvised and Caitlin got to see the "Elmo Butterfly"  ;)

Lucy's 1st Paddleboat Ride

My dad and my paddleboat partner!

Abigail with my sister and mom....they sure got moving after they learned how to steer it!

Popsicles....what a fun vacation!

Lucy with the horse named Lucy

Loving swimming so much!  Abigail learned underwater swimming and was in heaven!

My cutie pie doing her "crab" walk in the water

Cousins!  It was so wonderful spending so much time with the family, but especially with Lucy!  The girls are going to be best of friends as they grow up!

I tried to capture the beauty as we were leaving, but it's impossible.  There were so many deers everywhere that literally come right up to you.  After a rain one night, we saw literally 30+ deer in one area, it was amazing!

Random picture, but this is the Chase Bank in Wheeling West Virginia.  You can just see the history of this mining town!

We had a great time on the first half of our vacation and wished we had another day or two to relax...but Elmo was calling our name!  So off to Philly we headed.....more to come soon!

Finding the Words

I have been trying to find the words to express the love and loss of my grandma this weekend....

while I'm still not able to find the right way to pay tribute to such a wonderful, generous, happy, meaningful person who was such a huge part of our lives, my sister said it perfectly!  So here is my sister's post....she said it beautifully!!!!!

This weekend, with very heavy hearts, we said goodbye to an amazing woman, friend and role model - our Grandma Fran. As her only grandchildren, our Granny Franny has been at my sisters' and my side through the most important moments of our lives and it was very meaningful to be by her side this weekend to say goodbye to someone who spent the past 97 years bringing happiness and humor to the lives of everyone who has been lucky to know her. Her smile was infectious (I hope I am this happy when I turn 97!!!) and with every passing year my grandma found a way to enjoy her life more than the year before. We are so grateful for the time we had to learn from and love such a special woman and I hope that I can be, even in the smallest way, as funny, generous and loving to my own children and grandchildren as my grandma has been to us.



Grandma, we love you!!!
-Julie Blandford

Thanks Jules for finding the right words to help explain the tremendous loss we all feel...and how grateful we all are for such an amazing life with such an amazing woman!

Baby You're a Firework

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine

Just own the night like the 4th of July

Cause baby you're a firework

Show em what your worth

Make em go Oh, Oh, Oh

As you shoot across the sky

Baby you're a firework

Let you colors burst!

We had another great 4th of July weekend!

We started it Friday with pizza with grandma and grandpa, fun times and drinks around the firepit, and a sleepover!

Early Saturday morning we headed to Bass Lake for the weekend.  In addition to Nana and Papa, Auntie Stina was there too...with lots of fun presents for the girls!

Saturday was a lot of swimming and a family cookout with Great Nani, Great Papa, Auntie Jam, Uncle Al, Auntie Chelsey, and Trevor.  WE did some small fireworks, mostly sparklers!  And of course, I NEVER would let Caitlin do the sparkler by herself so I could take a picture and then she would NEVER put the sparkler in her hair and then her hair would NEVER smell like burnt hair!

The next day we headed to Uncle Al and Auntie Jam's house for some swimming at their beach (and chillaxing from Miss Caitlin)!

We ended the nights with an amazing firework display thanks to Chelsey and Trevor...and the state of Indiana for making fireworks legal because it's really amazing to watch the fireworks around the lake.  Thousands and Thousands of dollars are spent on fireworks, and we were able to watch about 10 different shows!

The girls were EXHAUSTED after staying up late two nights in a row!   So tired Caitlin didn't even want to take off her lifejacket after our boatride home.

Monday we headed over to the Douglas' house for a BBQ with friends!  We brought our slip n slide and the kids had a great time...as did the adults!

It was a great 4th of July weekend with our family and friends!!!

And our countdown tells us it is 2 days till we leave for vacation!!!!  We are so excited and will try to update a picture or two throughout our trip!!! 

Our IPOD will be playing:

 "Country Road, Take Me Home, To The Place, I Belong, West Virginia, Mountain Mama, Take Me Home, Country Road"

followed by

"Sunny Days, Sweeping the Clouds Away, On My Way to Where the Air is Sweet, Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street!"

Always on our Mind

I will post our 4th of July pics this week, but today I wanted to take time out to think about my Granny Frannie, who has been sick for a few weeks!  I can not begin to explain how blessed I have been to have my grandma in my life (and now my kids) for 33 years!  Not many people get to watch their grandma hold their child, let alone 2 of their children. 

Here are a few of my fave pics:

I have so many stories about my grandma.  In fact, I was making the bed this weekend and it reminded me of how my grandma taught me to make a bed...and I was teaching Abigail to do it like great-grandma does it!  Or I could be at Woodfield and remember how she'd meet me at the mall and walk SO FAST that I couldn't keep up with her....and always bought me the best clothes (except maybe the time she bought me the leather outfit from Merry Go Round...my parents made me return it...apparently my grandma was cooler than my parents ;) ).  Or how we'd sleepover and watch Golden Girls and she'd make us the BEST eggs for breakfast!  Or when I worked a few blocks away from her for 6 years so I had my weekly visits with her and she'd always get Subway for us or we'd head to the corner restaurant where they had her favorite waffles!  She has been a HUGE part of my entire life. (And apparently we eat alot together too!)

My grandma has been having a few really rough weeks.  We are praying for her everyday, especially the days I can't see her!!!!  We are praying for peace, comfort, and for her to know she is loved more than anything!  

"Boom...Boom...Boom!"