Sesame Place take two!

On June 8, 2013 we made our first trip to Sesame Place. If we lived closer, I would definitely buy season passes, but since it's three hours away, one trip a year is enough for Paul and I (the kids want to return more often). Last year the high was 77 degrees on the day we went, and this year the high was 88 degrees. The water temperature was just as cold, but since it was so hot out, the cold water actually felt good as long as one stayed in the sun (not the shade or inside) when wet.

We the house a little after 7am and picked Pop Pop up at 7:45am. We arrived at the park about 15 minutes after it opened, but we had a snafu with our group tickets that took 45 minutes to sort out (someone from our church had bought the group's tickets and someone redeemed ours on Saturday). We stayed until 7:30pm (30 minutes before the park closed). After getting a picture with Zoe, we went to the dry rides first, but we only stayed in that area for about an hour (didn't ride all the dry rides) because the kids were hot and wanted on a wet ride. I was amazed at how many new rides were in the dry ride area compared to our visit last year. After doing wet rides for a couple of hours, we saw the new show "Elmo the Musical" at 2:30pm. After the show we had lunch. Oliver napped while we ate. After lunch we rode the carousel and then secured a spot to watch the 4:00 parade.

The kids were not as interested in pictures with the characters as they were last year. Ian wanted pictures with Cookie Monster (yes) and Super Grover (nope). Nadia wanted pictures with Zoe (yes) and Abby Cadabby (nope). They passed on an opportunity to get a picture with Bert and Ernie. We had virtually no wait for any of the pictures. The longest wait all day for any ride was about 15 minutes, and sometimes there wasn't any wait at all. Ian's favorite ride was the big "rubber duck" slide. Paul and the kids did that one five times. One of the times I was also in the raft, and one of the times Pop Pop joined them. We did the lazy river ride twice. At 6:30 we watched the "Let's Play Together" show, which the kids really enjoyed although some of the monsters got a little too close to Oliver (like Cookie Monster). He isn't in any of the character pictures because he was terrified if he got too close (even when in Paul's arms). He liked waving to them, but he didn't want to get too close. Cookie Monster scared him the most, and he liked Bert and Ernie the best.

Last year just the five of us went. It was very nice having Pop Pop join us because there were some rides that both Nadia and Ian could only ride with an adult (such as the kiddie roller coaster). Pop Pop stayed with Oliver while we rode the rides. Other times he took the pictures and guarded our belongings. Once Ian is 42 inches tall (probably next summer), there will be many more rides and slides he can do alone (although certainly not all of them). Oliver was able to do many more rides and slides this year than he was able to do last year. Oliver's most commonly used word yesterday was definitely "Pop Pop." I'll share more pictures later this week!