Sunny Days at Sesame Place

Fall may be in full swing but at our house we're still re-living the memories from our recent summer holiday. We packed up our bags along with two other families and headed south to Lake George.

What was intended as a pitstop on a longer drive (with just one of the families) to Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA turned out to be too long of a stop. Call me a bit of a snob but I'm one for ocean beaches and non-chain restaurants so the small lake beach and less-than-healthy food options will likely keep us from returning to this Adirondack town.

So after three days in Lake George, we re-packed the car and made the long drive to Sesame Place. We arrived at the Sheraton Bucks County, a lovely hotel just across the street from the park. As it turns out Langhorne does not have any sidewalks so while we were in close walking distance to Sesame Place we had to rely on the hotel's shuttle to get us to and from the park. Considering that the shuttle made trips every half hour this was actually quite convenient.

So, what is Sesame Place all about? It's a theme park for the younger set, essentially. Rides that smaller kids can go on, a huge water park, a variety of shows performed throughout the day and parades twice daily. Best of all, it is entirely walkable in one day. Unlike other Florida theme parks that completely exhaust you with the walking alone, Sesame Place is manageable. And with restrooms, restaurants (with themed free tableware) and snack shops everywhere you don't have to walk too far to get anywhere.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of photos we snapped during our two days at Sesame Place. They speak for themselves about how much fun a family can have at one of the friendliest neighborhoods around.

Entering the gates at Sesame Place 

 A photo opp with Elmo during our Breakfast with Elmo & Friends

 Hannah going for a spin on the Sunny Day Carousel

Alex playing around in the soft pit, perfect for the younger set 

Our favourite characters on stage for the Elmo Rocks! show 

 Trash talk with Oscar the Grouch in Sesame Neighborhood

The iconic street 

 Big bird walking in the Neighborhood Street Party Parade

Gifts to Grow

When Hannah was born I briefly toyed with the idea of using re-usable diapers. But because of what seemed like a huge start up cost and a rather stinky solution to global warming, I opted for disposable diapers.

In retrospect, we probably would have saved a lot of money with clothe diapers but at least Pampers has come up with a way to make the $38/box every few weeks a bit more palatable.

I just placed our first order for a Pampers Gifts to Grow free set of Sesame Street board books. At 100 points (shipping included) these books will make a nice edition to our library, even if they took about six months worth of diapers to redeem.

There are tons of other great rewards if you are able to wait it out while you collect 300+ points. Gifts change every so often but I have spotted some Melissa & Doug toys and other book sets.

So might as well take advantage of the few free things left in this world. With the holidays right around the corner, these rewards certainly are great last minute (free) gifts.