Our first family trip!

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Bare with me on my first ever blog post! I am hoping to create a sort of a journal for myself and also list our experiences in the chance of helping others plan their vacations! So here we go....

Our first trip since our son was born, and thus our family complete, is to Philadelphia and the surrounding area. We have 4 yr old and 2 year old daughters and a 1 yr old son. We dont have a whole lot of money so we have to do things as cheaply as we can, and with a family of 5 that isnt easy! We choose Philadelphia due to it being close to Sesame place, the highlight of our trip. I searched all over the internet to try and find things to do, which I found enough for a month there and we only have a few days. Since we cant afford my husband to take much time off work we decided to leave very early on a friday morning and return on a monday. So we planned one day for Sesame. I narrowed the other places down to a place called giggleberry fair, the crayola factory, the adventure aquarium, the please touch museum, and the insectarium. The aquarium was a second for sure, and after seeing the please touch museum on a tv show that was our third definate. Last we choose the insectarium and left out the crayola factory and giggleberry fair. We choose a hotel a little farther out from philly and our destinations so to save some money. I also booked one with a full kitchen so we wouldnt have to eat out much. A week or so prior I printed our directions to and from each place. I did some last minute shopping amd we were off on our first vacation.

So we left home at 2am. I had packed the car full of clothes, gear, food and drinks. Our plan was that the kids would sleep most of the trip and we would stop at the please touch museum before going to the hotel. I thought that might be a nice place for the kids to burn off their built up energy and we couldnt check in untill 3 anyways. I was expecting the museum to be small and kinda cheap to be honest. by cheap I mean cheaply set up, not cheaply priced. I was mistaken. I thought 2 hours would be more then enough time there, turns out my kids could have spent 2 days there and not gotten bored. They loved it! LOVED it. Our oldest is a few days shy of 5 and our youngest 1 and they all had a blast. There was lots to do and see. I rate it 5 stars. It wasnt cheap but wasnt too over priced either. Once we were inside I wasnt arguing the price at all, it was worth every penny. I only wish we had had more time to spend there and hopefully we will be back!!

Onto the hotel, we stayed at a candlewood suites and it was very nice, clean, quiet, they staff was friendly and helpful. After unloading and eating we looked on our map and decided to try and find a nearby park, valley forge national park. It wasnt too hard to find and was worth the drive. We saw literally thousands of deer and went for a short hike, the kids loved it, was a good choice on our part!

Saturday we were headed to sesame. We ate breakfast at the hotel and headed out. We had purchased our tickets online and planned to stay one whole day there. Parking was 15-18$. A lot for our small budget. Once in the park I was overwhelmed and felt unprepared! i tried so hard to do so much planning and it all went out the window! For one, we needed to buy a locker, another 20.00, since we had money and our cameras and they were no use in the mostly water park. Second I should have went with the reccomendation and gotten us all water shoes, the walkway in between water rides was unbelievably hot and we couldnt walk on it. The next bad thing we noticed was the lines. They were pretty long. Now if it was just my husband and I it wouldnt have been bad, but our kids are so young they dont get the whole line thing and it was a no go for most of the rides. Not to mention the water was FREEZING, and it was a 90 degree day! Next we wanted to eat there, this was going to be our only eating out on the trip. Well once we saw the line and the prices we decided to go hungry, finish up, and leave! Between the food and souvenier pics and stuff I just couldnt believe the prices, I mean we already paid over 250. to get in and park and for us to eat a lunch would have been over 50.00. Had I known the food would have been so expensive and such limited choices I would have went ahead and bought the character lunches. Then there wouldnt have been a line and it wasnt a whole lot more expensive. But since the kids werent doing the line thing, and the park was a lot smaller then I thought, we played in elmos world and called it a day. I feel like we spent a whole lot of driving and money one Sesame and we would have had a LOT more fun going to cedar point in our own back yard. After all that is the reason we choose this vacation spot. I rate it a 2 stars. After Sesame we went to the hotel and ate and too the kids to a playground near the hotel. It turned out to be the most awesome playground we had ever seen and they loved it! I think we all would have had more fun just spending the day there! Live and learn I guess...

Sunday was aquarium day. Again we ate breakfast and headed out. We did learn that its harder then heck to get around philly. We had a heck of a time following roads. But we found our way to the aquarium, not easy as there was a festival and road closings also but we made it. Adventure Aquarium was very crowded but everything I had hoped. The kids had so much fun, there was lots to do and see, it was a great place for all their ages. Again we didnt eat here, the prices were a little better but 3 hours was more then enough time there with the crowd and our 3 kids. They needed a nap so we headed to the hotel to eat and sleep. Did I mention we even got to pet sharks and star fish? So cool! I rate the Aquarium a good 4 stars. After our naps and lunch we promised to take the kids back to the playground (Dresher Park to be exact) and so we did, and again they had a blast. Back at the hotel I packed up and we ate and slept.

Monday morning we loaded up, ate, and headed to the Insectarium for our last stop. I was expecting a little more... I dont know umm.... more I guess. I just thought it would be more a museum then a building someone turned into a large bug collection more or less. Despite that it was pretty neat. There were tons of bugs and neat displays and some interactive stuff for the kids. This place was well worth the money and I would go again. The gift shop was sadly small but the people very nice and friendly. The kids had a great time, I give it 3 to 4 stars. After this stop we were on our way home, and to avoid the PA tolls we decided to try and find our own way home...

We happened upon a cabelas store and stopped for an hour or so. This was in Hamburg, PA. It was pretty cool, my husband is a big hunter and outdoors person but even if you arent you would enjoy the visit just seeing the mounts. The kids thought it was awesome and it was a great place to stretch our legs. Heck it was almost better then Sesame! A great end to a pretty good trip. A long 10 hour trip later and we were home safe and sound!

My learnings........ We did save a bundle eating in our hotel. We managed to only eat out twice!! I had packed stuff like mini pizzas to make with the kids for dinner and fun so it turned into memories as well. I also packed popcorn for movie nights! Will definately be doing that again. Driving at night is better but flying would be much nicer! I need to research packing lunches more! I think next time we will fly or plan a slow drive with lots of stops and pick hotels along the way to stop in for one night. All in all not a bad trip... Oh I did lose my camera, but luckily I had just changed my memory card so I still have our pictures. God was with me there!

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