Ooooh...I can tell you're all "a twitter" with anticipation...well, here we go....

1. I, too, am all a twitter (no people, that is NOT a noun!)...why you ask...ONE WEEK TO GENESIS!!! Can't you just hear it now...yes, you can actually! Turn up the volume on your speakers, close your eyes, sway and wave your lighters in unison...oh, sorry, I guess my age is showing..it's cell phones now (she writes while rolling her eyes). Actually the average age at this one might even be older than me...it may just be lighters after all! Did I mention it's ONE WEEK TO GENESIS!!!

2. This one's for Prison Break fans...VERY EXCITING...you can download the FIRST 17 MINUTES of the NEW SEASON! The Fox Network is showing it, unfortunately in Canada we have to find it elsewhere. I wasn't going to, I thought it would be worse to see a small portion and then have to wait two more weeks to see the rest but as some of you may already know..I'm rather...hmmm...let's say inquisitive...and curiosity got the better of me! I won't spoil anything but I will say that if the first 17 minutes are any indication, this season is going to be goooood!

It's a good thing I'm not one of those celebrity stalkers that can't separate actors from the characters they play...cause let me tell you, I'd be very concerned that things might be a whole lot different for my boyfriend Wentworth/Michael this season, especially if those prisoners in that awful prison he ended up in at the end of last season believe those nasty rumours that have been going around lately!

3. SHAME ON YOU SHERATON! As I mentioned in my vacation post, we stayed at a Sheraton hotel for most of the week. I could not believe the complete waste of hydro there. On each floor outside the elevators was one of those sofa tables along the wall and a lamp...turned on all day every day! Besides the lamp were those half moon wall sconces...at least 8 in and around the small area where the elevators were...all turned on all the time. I should mention that in this same area is a huge window, bringing in more than enough natural light during the day. Then, to top it off, the car port (or whatever you call that) area in front of the hotel of course has a lot of lighting underneath...again, on all day and totally unnecessary!

4. AND SHAME ON YOU TOO ANHEUSER-BUSCH! I just went to an Anheuser-Busch website and wow, do they ever pride themselves on their recycling efforts and their concern for the environment! This is a statement taken from there..."Recycling is good for the environment, but it's also smart business. By recycling used materials, we are able to reduce cost, while minimizing our impacts on the environment. To further business and environmental goals, Anheuser-Busch continually explores ways to reduce the materials we use and to recycle the byproducts of our business."
I find that extremely interesting considering that Sesame Place is an Anheuser-Busch owned park and throughout the ENTIRE park...I saw ONE RECYCLING BIN!!!

5. Ok everyone, hold onto your honey!!
NOVEMBER 2, THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED PREMIER of the BEE MOVIE...well, I know I'm anticipating it, I can't wait...it's going to bee un-bee-lievable!! Fine, I'll stop, no more bee or honey jokes (I stole the one right off the website!). Jerry Seinfeld wrote and produced it and is the "star bee voice". Some of the other voices belong to Chris Rock, Renee Zellweger, John Goodman, and Megan Mullally...it's sure to be a hit!




6. Things I learned on my vacation...
-- Murphy's law will take over and at the exact moment you're ready to leave, your daughter that NEVER falls or hurts herself, will of course fall in the driveway and hit her head on the brick wall...ouch! I also learned that the spot will turn into a "goose bump"...funny, I always called it a goose egg...silly me!
-- when my son says a van looks like someone's we know...I'll believe him. When we were sitting at the border to cross into the States, there was about 12 long lines of traffic waiting to cross and about 3 lines over Jesse saw a blue van that he said looked like our neighbour's (it's an unusual colour of blue). Of course we humoured him and said yes, it does...well, after doing a double-take we realized it WAS them!
-- you should NEVER tell your children anything too soon! My husband forgot that little gem of "Parenting 101" and told them that we'd be going through a tunnel under a mountain...about 4 hours too early! We couldn't get through that thing soon enough! You'd think they would get tired of asking when we'd be getting there, wouldn't you?
-- that your heart is not beating...according to Jesse it's "beeping"!
-- those potato chips that are folded over are called "wish chips"! Emily was explaining this to Jesse and told him to make a wish before he ate them. I never knew that!


HAVE A GREAT LABOUR DAY WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Check out the Queen's expression...priceless!!

This trip we decided to try a new tourist attraction. The last time we spent a day in Philadelphia and went to the Please Touch Children's Museum but this time we decided to go to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey.
This place was absolutely AMAZING! It was so interesting and educational. As well as displays, there are 3 different 4D rides, a seal show, huge viewing tanks and interactive spots where you could touch different "creatures". If you're brave enough you can even swim with sharks!

I'll explain the pictures...
#1 are types of anemones...I think. Don't quote me on that one.
#2 are called Shortnose Batfish. They prefer to "walk" along the bottom on their leg-like fins.
#3 is a Frogfish. It can "hide" in plain sight by mimicking a sponge or coral.
#4 is when we were in the Shark Tunnel. You're basically walking through a clear glass tunnel underwater while sharks are swimming all around. It was hard to get any good pictures in there because of all the glass and reflections. My picture makes it look very black and dark but the water was actually very clear and brilliant blue.
#5 is a Giant Spider Crab.
#6 is yes, Dory, officially known as a Blue Tang.
#7...my little guppies.
#8 was one of the stars of The Penguin March. Ok, I just made that up...but who knows, he could have been!
#9 & 10 are pictures of Jesse having a little fun in the gift shop with a stuffed penguin and a sharks head...should I be concerned?...lol!!
#11...behind us across the river is the Philadelphia skyline.
#12 is the Ben Franklin Bridge which we crossed to get from Philadelphia to New Jersey.
#13...in the background is the Battleship New Jersey.

There you have it...FINALLY...the end of my vacation posts! Well, that vacation at least. I still have many more posts to do about summer fun! Stay tuned, you won't want to miss one exciting moment...LOL!!!

Actually, it's days 2 & 4 combined. We spent both days at Sesame Place. I love this park, oh, and yes, the kids do too! There's so much to do. It's basically a water park with all the extras...rides, shows, parade and of course, the chance to meet all your favourite characters. I don't think it matters how old you are, how can you not love the Sesame characters! Even though my kids stopped watching Sesame Street years ago, they still have their favourites..Zoe and Elmo. I think my personal favourite this year was their newest character, Abby Cadabby...she's adorable!
Both days we were at the park when it opened and stayed until dinner time. It was sooo hot the first day! After dinner Jesse and I just hung out at the hotel pool while Tim and Emily decided to go back and stay until the park closed.
The second picture below is Emily with her "souvenir" from the park. All she wanted was to get a hair wrap. They take a small section of hair, they let you choose 3 different colours of thread and basically they wrap the hair, alternating colours and then go over that whole thing with another pattern of threads and then finish with beads at the bottom. My only mistake was not getting her hair trimmed before we left, it was quite a bit longer than the last time we went...and you pay by the inch..."ouch" is right...lol!!

WOW....25 YEARS...CONGRATULATIONS!!

Don't worry, it wasn't a 14 day vacation or anything like that! I'm condensing everything into 3...I think!
Blogger seems to be cooperating and my internet at home has been fixed (faulty phone jack) so I'm back in business!

Our vacation was now almost 2 weeks ago and began on a Sunday with an 8 hour drive (give or take an hour!), ending that night in Easton, Pennsylvania.
We had gone on this little excursion twice before. The first time was because I had heard about a Sesame Place park so we went with the intention of just going to do that for a couple days and coming home but we found all these other things to do once we got there and just went "willy-nilly" all over the place. The second year we went, we planned everything a lot better since we knew what we wanted to do and this year was much the same and everything went like clockwork.
Our first stop Monday morning was the spot Easton is most famous for...the Crayola Factory.
This place is very cool..you can learn about the history of Crayola, see how crayons are made and then as you go through there are different activity and craft stations...so much for the kids to do! It's not huge either so you can see and do everything in a few hours.
Some of the activities include working on a Crayola computer program, creating with Model Magic clay, making paper bag puppets, treasure maps and creating a "masterpiece" with different colours of hot wax (melted crayons).

Of course there was also a spot to just sit and do some old-fashioned colouring with regular old crayons!

The Crayola Factory is located in a building they call Two Rivers Landing and on the two floors above Crayola is the National Canal Museum. It's also very "hands-on" and educational. There are displays about how canals evolved, how bridges and cranes are built, and explanations of locks on waterways. Jesse really enjoyed it here.


Look what else Easton is famous for....the EASTON MUSEUM OF PEZ DISPENSERS!
I used to love Pez dispensers when I was a kid (ok, still do)! This place is so kitschy...basically it's a store full of Pez, some new, and some discontinued that are quite expensive. Then off to one side is a little archway with a curtain across and for $4 you can go through the "museum". Emily and I decided to go through it this time...so the teenager who is a cashier in the store then becomes the tour guide...struck me funny! The museum is basically one big room with all sorts of different collections of dispensers. Actually, it was quite interesting..the cashier/tour guide was very knowledgable. We learned that Pez were invented in Austria in 1928 and didn't come to the U.S. until 1952. They were originally invented to help people stop smoking. The first heads to be put on the dispensers were Casper, Mickey and Popeye.






Some other sights of Easton...

Yes, Jesse insisted we watch the local paving crew. It didn't matter that it was 104 degrees out, it was one of the highlights of his day! He also insisted I take lots of pictures, which the paving crew got quite a kick out of, waving and blowing kisses...how embarassing...oy...the things I do for my kids!

After leaving Easton, we headed to the "artsy" little town of New Hope for a train ride. According to Emily's notes (she brought her journal along..I was very proud of her efforts to learn things and record them) the steam engine that pulled the train was built in 1925 and the car we rode in was built in 1913.

We then carried on to our "home away from home" for the next 4 days...a Sheraton hotel in Langhorne, Pennsylvania.

Hey everybody, sorry I haven't posted lately. We were away on vacation last week and I had every intention of posting throughout but that obviously didn't happen! Tonight I worked really hard to get a vacation post on but Blogger decided it just wasn't going to happen. It's now very late so I'll do my best tomorrow. This is VERY frustrating!!!