A day of fun in the sun.....and some animals too

Hubby and I wanted to continue our "Summer of Cupcake" with a few more activities of outdoor fun. The summer is coming to an end, well, almost. We decided to take Cupcake to this outdoor playground/farm/corn maze and of course see some animals! The train we visited earlier this summer also choo choo's on by so we were able to see the trains again. Oh, the bonus of the day..........more animals. This time it wasn't too bad because it was a small pen and they weren't jumping on us for food (or spitting). We had a great afternoon but again, wasn't aware that we were visiting a small African country. Cupcake was even hot and bothered after awhile. We lasted a few hours but when high noon came we all started melting and decided to find a new activity to cool off.

I'm feeling great, I'm in my 2nd trimester already and if it wasn't for the heat I would be fine. I continue to pass out on the couch while Cupcake is napping but then again not sure if that has to do with the pregnancy or that we are usually up and at 'em at 5am. Either way, I'm great!!

Please Touch Museum

Hubby and I took Cupcake all the way into the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia to visit the famous kids museum, Please Touch! I was always on the fence about this place because it just breeds germs and 1) I'm pregnant 2) After last summer of sickness I am afraid of sick kids. I gave in and realized that Cupcake needs this experience. This place was AMAZING! So many hands on activities for Cupcake to do. I will break it down for you:


Septa Bus - this is where kids from the 'burbs can look to see what public transportation looks like. They can step up to board a real bus, board, pay the till and possibly drive the bus. I immediately channeled Sandra Bullock from Speed and screamed "stay above 60". Hubby did not find me funny.

CHOP - Children's Hospital of Philadelphia area. This is where Cupcake became a doctor. She was so intent on gathering all the babies, giving them check ups and tucking them into bed for the night. She is such an amazing care taker! I thought it was great expect for the sharing of lab coats and stethoscopes. I almost hurled.

The Grocery Store - Holy Hell. This place looked like the grocery store during Hurricane Katrina. I've never in all my life witnessed anything like this. This little tikes were relentless trying to gather all the goods with a shopping cart. Why does this have to be a room at Please Touch. Please Don't Touch and get the hell out of here. It was mayhem but shocking, Cupcake LOVED it. She ran around as if she was a contestant on Supermarket Sweep. She ran around the aisles and picked out products she recognized but when she hit the meat department all hell broke loose. It took us awhile to get out of there and before we knew it, oh yes, we have to check out. They have little check out areas and kids get to play check out girl while others get to play the disgruntled mom's trying to check out while mumbling about all the crap in the cart. It was so much and you have to do this if you go (why should you be sparred the experience).

The rest of the day was exhausting. We visited some fairy tale areas, Alice in Wonderland (I hate her), the piano from the movie "Big" and the big carousel! We had a great day, on the way out stopped for cheesesteaks and fell asleep on the way home. It was a success!

Let's ride the trains!

Remember when I told you that we were going to have fun this summer and have more Cupcake things to do. Well, since I am "with child" we decided to make this........The Summer of Cupcake! We wanted to make sure that we fill so many wonderful, kiddie things into our summer that Cupcake is going to have a belly full of activities.

Cupcake Activity #35 (being dramatic) - Strasburg Railroad!

Since I ride the trains on a weekly basis I wanted Hubs and Cupcake to experience my ride. Well, not really the same experience but hey, it's a train ride. We boarded the open train and had so much fun. (I did feel like Shirley Maclaine from Terms of Endearment during the beach scene again). Cupcake had so much fun looking at all the animals and farms in the countryside. It really was such a fun day. They offer a "Day with Thomas the Train" a few times during the year. Who knows, maybe we will brave the crowds at a later date to see Thomas.

After the train ride we went to visit the Train Museum. Oh for the love......please don't make me do this. I tried playing the pregnancy card to avoid this experience but no, Hubby wanted to see all the trains in the museum. WTF, what is there to look at. Its like looking at sky scrapers, old cars and whores. They all look the same and you have no idea how any of them work so why the field trip? We eventually left and visited a creamery near by for some delicious ice cream. I don't like ice cream but it beats the train. Mazel!

The zoo where the homeless animals go.

Well, maybe that is a bit of a stretch and I'm not sure why I keep trying the whole zoo experience but we do! We found a local zoo that is great for small kids, local and inexpensive. We did join since it is something to do and I love to join things/places/groups.

We walked around the zoo and found your typical animals; peacocks, squirrels, turtles and a few other homely guys. Some were missing feathers, hair, limbs (kidding) but all in all it was a great day. We did come across a bunch of alpacas, they are scary little critters. They pretend to be nice and cute however they will spit at you if you do not hand over the food. I was that mom following my daughter with Purel constantly screaming "not in your mouth, keep your hands away, don't eat that". I was sick of myself, when can we go home.

I was ready to leave when out of the corner of my lazy eye I saw a camel and giraffe in the distance. Seriously??? Was my bum eye playing tricks on me. My camera died so I wasn't able to capture all the wildlife but it was amazing. So many animals living in a hole in the wall. This isn't a well known zoo, it is a small place to hang out and be one with the animals. It was great that Cupcake was able to get so close to the animals and it was overly packed. They had god damn porta potties so we held it until our kidneys leaked but since some of the trails were questionable our leakage blended. I will probably find out 10 years from now that it was in some guys backyard and they are all illegal after they jump the fence and are found in the local WalMart.

Good times! What's up next?

Summer fun with JT

Cupcake had a few outings with JT this summer. Not only did they pick berries together but they also got together for a pizza making day as well as an outing to a botanical garden with tree houses. They have so much fun together and it's nice since the moms can get together and talk/laugh/joke all day too.

Pizza Making at the Smiths
They calmly made their pizzas. No pushing, shoving, nothing but sharing! They did a great job and it was even good enough to eat!

The Gardens

The kids LOVED the tree houses, looking for insects, running in the grass as well as the indoor kids water garden. Thank god it was a nice, hot day outside because they were drenched! At the end of the day they walked hand in hand, it was a good day!