We started off bright and early... in our happening Nissan Cube in lovely chocolate... small & niffy.. it was fun and plastic-ky!
Sesame Place at Langhorne, just 30 minutes north of Philadelphia.
I got excited looking at the Elmo flowerbeds... Paul just rolled his eyes... It seems this is MY childhood place, more so than both Kaylen & Paul combined. Entry to the park was amazing. It was bright and cheery and everything looked like on set (minus the hot and sunny weather)...
We started off with the Elmo Fish ride... she was a little apprehensive at first but got a hang of it... this is Kaylen's first time at an amusement park (not counting carousel rides @ resorts and shopping centres)..
Then took a ride on Grover's World Twirl in the colorful themed teacups!
We quickly went for the timed Elmo's World Live showtimes... where we were introduced to Mr. Noodle and Dorothy proper. She also tried the imaginery piano and was really amused.. that it didn't work.
Then it was time for Rock Around the Block Parade! According to the Sesame Plc website, this parade debuted in 1997 and will officially retire on 31 Oct, 2010. Luckily we caught it then because we really thought it was joyous and fun for the little children with its loud music and colorful, bigger than ever imagined characters!
'Oh boy, oh boy! It's Telly Monster!
Big Bird - obviously.
And then we took a break for lunch. I probably got the order all wrong (haha, since this happened in June and my update is in Sept.. ) We got a keepsake for her - the Elmo plate. Food was alright and wasn't as exorbitant as we had expected. Just USD9 or twice the usual price of kid's meal you find at one of those chain restaurants (eg. TGIFs, Chilli's, Chick-A-Fils) outside the park.
Tummy tums tums all filled up and ready to go...
Queuing up for a photo opportunity..
With our favourite Cookie Monster 'Om nom nom nom nom'!
At the grocer's.
Check out her balancing act upon entry to the bouncy inflatable!
The happy fall..
Spent but satisfied.
At the gift shop.. haha but she was a good girl - we already had a big bird soft toy at home (still unpacked in one of the many boxes in the garage) so we got some lil souvenirs and headed out... Am rather proud of her that she didn't bug us to get her things. Perhaps not at her age @ 2yo 8 mths and hopefully in the near future? *cross fingers*
Finally, a family pic!
With Abby Caddaby! Not my most favourite characters but oh yeah, might as well
since she was in our way out.. ;p
Just a quick overview of the place... Doesn't look big but we didn't even get to cover the wet park!
Tiring day indeed.. Kaylen slept all the way back to the hotel and I think I did too... too much excitement for one day.. We headed back to the hotel, had a long bath and went to Chilli's - just a stone's throw away - for dinner. Shortly after we returned to the room - I think just about then, I realised I didn't bring my camera charger, spare camera battery NOR a travel adapter for my iphone. Paul rolls his eyes at me and went out to the convenience store yet again to get the latter since it serves dual purpose of making me contactable & getting the photos taken.
I think times like these - these occasional mental lapses - (which is rare) allows him the chance to be able to rescue the damsel in distress, which of course, makes him pretty happy. LOL *my blog, my opinions - so there!*
As I put my lil one to bed after the usual hoolabooha of nighttime shower, milkfeed, storytime, brushing of teeth and final pee-run, I kissed her goodnight and said "I love you, Kaylen".
She replied with such maturity and absolute sure-rity (is there such a word?) in her still childish, girly voice, "I lurb u too, mummy". With that, she hugged her doggy softtoy and snuggled up in her blanket.
I laid down next to her and felt my heart swelling up and absolutely brimming with happiness. I thought about our trip today to the halfprice bookstore after making the decision to remove all stories about princesses falling in love with princes and awaiting salvation or marriage. She made a new friend and shared a book with her. Suddenly she tapped her friend and pointed at me. "That's MY mummy." She grinned her toothy smile and went back to her book.
This is the first time I am having such a strong feeling of pride for this little one. For sure, I had experienced more moments of realization of the lil one's burgeoning capacity to experience life and connecting with her as a mother and playmate since spending nearly all of my waking hours with her since our move to Dallas. I have never laughed nor danced nor made so much funny faces in my life compared to this period of being a full-time mummy.
Seven months later and the culmination of love and sacrifice has come to this milestone for me as a mother.
Of course who is to say that if I were still working full-time and may not hv spent such time with her but she will most definitely say these words to me?
But for me, I'm happy to have taken this step and even if I were to lament about my lack of opportunities or the "could have", "would have" after I head back to work, I would like to come back to this post and remind myself that nothing in life could have, would have, been as happy as this feeling I felt today.
Oh yes, first trip outside of Dallas/Fortworth in the US of A and the first place I wanted to go was the Sesame Place in Philadelphia. The Sesame Street characters reminded me of wonderful Sunday mornings with the family tucking into homemade pancakes (my papa made them) with honey and blueberry peanut butter/jello but I never really was too crazy about them (nopes, no Sesame St shrine at home). But the ivory key strains of Rainbow Connection, Elmo's song and that inane 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 song with the pinballs never got out of my head after all these years.
The sweet memories of those days got me wanting to share this fabulous tv programme with my lil one. One of the first songs she can sing along to is Elmo's song. So we've got 3 days in Philadelphia with a day just for Sesame Place and then we trudge on to New York (any city girl's mecca in the face of mass media consumerism and popular culture) after watching reruns of Devil Wears Prada, Sex and the City, Friends (even though it was never filmed on location) and oh yeah, Gossip Girls. Woohoo!
In any case, here are some pics of our first journey together as a little family unit - believe it or not - as the hubs' working hours never bode well for long family holidays with the kiddo.
Here are the pics of our first day of travel. Daddy's first holiday with K and it was nothing like the last time with me 6 mths back where she screamed and kicked for 10 mins before takeoff. This time, it was all toothy grins and goofy faces. The man got it easy I say, too easy.
'We’re going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship
Zooming through the sky, Little Einsteins
Climb aboard, get ready to explore
There’s so much to find, Little Einsteins
We’re going on a mission, start the countdown
5, 4, 321
Everyone to rocket, rev it up now
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Wrong airport - hahah - thanks to mummy moi. And off we got on a train to Philadelphia! Small booboo - more sightseeing opportunities!
K was great - colouring away with her Crayola mess-free ColorWonder crayons. This was a godsend for us as it was pretty much her favourite in-stroller activity plus it makes her sleepy. ;)
While the kiddos slept, I met a kindly, old lady of African-American descent, dressed in her Sunday best, who just attended the graduation of her grandson in New York. She said she is 75 years old and has been living in Philadelphia all her life. She started naming her grandchildren's names and where they live in the USA and around the globe. That conversation lasted for nearly an hour.
Finally we reached Philadelphia's iconic 34th street Station. It was huge and cavenous but it was a welcoming sight after having to circumvent a new route here with a delay of almost 3 hours!
The skyline. I see alot of new buildings - nothing of the old historic ones in sight from here.
We got a hotel just besides the Reading Terminal Market (RTM)- best location really because it is central and walking distance to almost everywhere and of course, child-friendly and near the convenience store for milk top-ups, fresh fruits, snacks. Being Singapore-trained foodies, we simultaneously agreed to grab some notable grub from the market. High on our list of famous Philly eats was Dinic's. But, we were too late as at 4pm, they were sold out on roast beef. All they had left was some pulled pork - which we had. Not too bad but it was nothing like we expected.
Passed by a random guy playing some boogie woogie.jazz riffs and breaking into a song. Nice.
Just to get a feel of what I heard ... except this boy is kinda exceptional.
And we moved to a quiet nook of the RTM where we found a really really old rare book store. We found books on black magic, alegbra and plays. I discovered an early 1900s edition of the 1894 play 'Salome' by Oscar Wilde, with illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley. Amazing. There was even a few cubbyholes for children.
With a couple hours of sunlight left, we took a stroll down the historial area of Philadelphia, starting with the Independence Hall. Oh man, birth place of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution from the 1800s.
In real life. Not that much different to my untrained eye. Ok the 1800s visual is covered by trees but at least the clock tower looks similar.
We walked through the historic district and managed to visit the Liberty Bell just before closing. A not-so-heavily guarded cracked bell and a few murals on the side. I would recommend giving this a miss. We were in and out in 3 mins. It was easy to take in the sights of the historic district as the area wasn't as big as we had expected it to. With still more sunlight, a light breeze and a map ripped out from our hotel's magazine, we made our way to Penn's Landing where it is supposedly where one of the first settlers, William Penn, made his name in Philly. Of course, history states that it was a busy port for a century in the 1700s and by the 1900s, it looked gross and they decided to revitalize it to make it somewhat more presentable and of course marketable.. Kinda same story as our Boat Quay and more recently Vivocity. So big scale events are to be the focus and unfortunately, none were what we saw. There was a fair of sorts but it was so out of sorts that we were again, in and out in 5mins. We knew that there was a navy museum nearby but we weren't so keen on that kind of history and decided to roam around a little more.
Dinner plans were to be this well-reviewed establishment which serves the best philly cheesesteak and with my helpful iphone, we located it just 10mins' walk from Penn's. It was packed indeed.
What best way to match the favours of the cheesesteak but with beer.
Even K thinks so.. while she don't enjoy the drink like we do - she cools down too by touching the cold cold bottle.
It was also yummz.
Some random moments of mummy & daughter.
With more than 6 hours in transit and 4 hours of sightseeing, we decided to call it a day and end the day with a nice hot bath and trips to the convenience store to stock up on water, juices and snacks and get enough sleep to ready ourselves for Sesame Place the following day.
Oh yes, at bedtime, the ever-zealous mummy moi took out a can of milk powder (fortified with loads of Omega-3 DHA, iron and etc etc.) and upon opening it, found out it was brown in color. No it has not gone bad but that I had bought chocolate milk powder. Not sure how I managed this feat - from buying it from a store, packing the can into the luggage and all the while, not realising it was chocolate. The tyrant resisted it even though Paul and I valiantly took a few swigs of it and declared it drinkable!
So yet another trip to the convenience store to buy a bottle of milk. Very eventful first day.
As of 11 July 2010, we have an addition to the Loke family! A beautiful lil angel called Nicole, brought to this world by my sis & BIL. Congrats to the newly minted parents!
The new parents
I remember much of my childhood being the 2nd eldest grandchild on my mum's side of the family, and since I was the first to have a lil one, I am mighty glad that lil K now has a lil cousin to play with when she goes back to sunny Singapore!
Good on ya', sis!
Here are some pics that I'd nabbed from their baby blog!
I absolutely adore this pic with her lil tongue sticking out!
Of course, to inaugurate this wonderful occasion, I've selected beautiful items from my latest and 'favoritest' online shop which carries wonderful brands from Helmut Lang, Marc Jacobs, Rebecca Minkoff amongst others. I have bought Bodum double-walled french press, Clu pants, Elephantino Infants, Little Marc Jacobs, Seda France L'Argent candles amongst others at hugely discounted prices. Quality and return policy however, are fantabulous.
I've seen Herve Leger, Christian Lacroix RTW being sold as well as luxurious stays similar to those featured in Relais & Chateaux and lifestyle/furniture items from Lladro and Ligne Roset! I have been a loyal follower since I came to the USA from Day 1 and words cannot describe how much I lurrve them! Much control is needed to NOT click.
Drop me an email at mlokie@yahoo.com so I can refer you. Please! Let me refer you so I can get some referral credits to fuel my shopping habit here. ;p
Since K only goes for her 3-hr school on 3 days and goes for gym & art class on another, the remaining morning we have together just mummy and her, I will try to stay at home and play. I find it rather amusing when she asked to write or colour.
Since she started school the Montessori (Singapore) way at 20-month-old, she has been good with her motor skills as she often come home with sheets of coloring and creative artwork. The reason why I had specified 'Singapore' was because this was obviously not what is being encouraged here in many of the Montessori schools I had visited because they leave the kids to 'explore' and 'decide what they want to do'. Which is pretty what montessori's decree BUT... oh yes.. BUT not if the teachers decide to sit in the playground TWICE in the 3 hours they are in school. Oh. I have much to say about the education here but this will take a post by itself.
Paul and I had decided from a long time ago that our parenting style is to have our kid/s (future tense) enjoy their early childhoods for as long as they can with loads of play and to never traumatise them for something that will eventually come naturally and when they want to do it for themselves.However this doesn't mean that we can't equip them with the tools for exploration.
Here is a short video of lil K doing a spot of writing. ;)
So I decided for us that we are staying home, turn up the airconditioning and vegetate.
I was contemplating whether to bake a cake, make an ice-cream or blend some chilli paste and asked my resident tyrant. She decided for me. 'Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes..' chanted the tyrant.
With a recipe I got online, it was for 30 cupcakes. Seeing that I only had 12 holes in my muffin tray, I decided to halve all the ingredients. Obviously the recipe was written by an amateur, as I followed the receipe dutifully from top to bottom AND flipped a tablespoon of brown sugar into my sifted flour and baking powder. Only to realise that the sugar needs to be mixed in with the butter a few lines down.
So I scooped up the sugar from the mixture and along with it, an unidentifiable amount of baking powder along with it.
Oh, I also have only one measuring cup (which already held the milk on standby) so instead of using 1 3/4 cups of sugar, I 'arga-arga' put in about 6 tablespoons of sugar. Which I also wrote down on the recipe just in case it turns out well and I should need want to recreate this intricate operation.
Oh, thank god I did. It was quite yummy. By the hubby's standards and of course, my cupcake snob or aka tyrant in pink.
My lil helper
While it may seem like she's doing all the work - please. She only had to dirty her fingers and nagged me to clean her fingers.
Oh yes, for some strange reason, even though Paul and I were not the sort of panicky parents, she really dislikes having her fingers dirty. This only dawned on me when she started her artclass and got paint on her fingers. She would not even continue painting until someone cleans the paint off that ONE finger. I am happy to say that this lil particularity has evolved. She now finishes painting before having to clean up.
It took quite a bit of persuasion and I needed to lead by example for her to clean off the muffin mixture. Of course, the moment she had a taste of it, she never looked back.
Needless to say, the choc buttercream icing didn't need cajoling.
Oh yeah...she was pleased.
The final product.
Of course, I will only share nice things with my friends.
** Please, my friends, if you are reading this, please return me my tupperware containers. Either you are container-napping them so that I won't be able to give you sinful food, or you have forgotten.
