4th Day of our Pennsylvania Summer Vacation

Happy 4th of July! This 4th of July is extra special for us since it is Gabriella's first 4th of July home and as a US Citizen! We were so thankful to have her home with us on this 4th. Today is also Gabriella's 23 month "birthday".We opted out of the Sesame Place character breakfast that we had had planned. We decided that since Gabriella could not eat a decent dinner last night because she was so on edge because of the characters, we wanted her to be able to have a peaceful breakfast. It wasn't fair to bring her to the breakfast when we knew she wouldn't enjoy it. After all, we were doing it for her.

On our way out of the hotel we saw a panicked man and a woman in the lobby who had just realized that their six year old daughter was missing. We are staying at a Sheraton hotel, directly across the street from Sesame Place, and I was in awe of how terribly the hotel had handled the situation. There are no video cameras in the hotel, they did not put the hotel on lock-down, were allowing people to come and go from the hotel freely, and did not call the police right away. Luckily, they found the child about an hour later. The little girl had apparently boarded the hotel shuttle to Sesame Place without anybody noticing, including the shuttle driver, and they found her there. The situation was not handled appropriately and I was in shock. The scariness of the missing child completely rattled me, scared me, and made me so sad. Luckily this child was okay, but, of course, I started thinking about all of the sickos that are out there and how in a split second something can happen to a child if the parents are not vigilant. This definitely set the mood for the day and it was difficult to get back into fun, relaxed vacation mode.

It was pretty windy this morning and a bit cool, but it got hot as the day went on. We rode the restored 1920's New Hope and Ivyland steam engine train in New Hope, PA this morning.

Enjoying a snack onboard:

Along our train route we saw this house which was a station for the Underground Railroad:

Ken is a train fanatic and had the opportunity to ride in the cab of the train:

While we waited for Ken to return, Gabriella rode a mini carousel...

...and posed for a picture on every one of these steps. As she was walking down the steps, she would stop, sit, and say "cheese" for a picture! I guess that's what happens when you have a photo crazed mother!

After the train rides we went back to Sesame Place. Gabriella wouldn't go near the characters again today, but enjoyed seeing them from afar.

This car worked our wonderfully for this trip. It helped keep Gabriella "contained" without having to worry about her running off in the crowds and she loves riding in the car. She started doing a funny thing this week while she was sitting in the car and eating. She would break off pieces of food and drop them on the ground on the side of the car and call for our dog, Lola! It was pretty amusing.

Gabriella played in the rubber matted area again and had fun. This little boy took this block from her. We ignored it the first time, but after the second time Ken went up to him, took it from him, and gave it back to Gabriella! The boy began crying and ran to his mother! Ken and I were starting to lose our patience today with ill-behaved, obnoxious children!

While Gabriella was walking around she stopped at a few of the babies and patted them on their heads! It was very cute!

Taking a popcorn break!:

Of course, we went shopping again!:

We also had "name art" done for her name:

Gabriella is so precious and perfect to us in every way. It amazed me, though, how many people stopped us and commented on how cute and beautiful Gabriella is in a park filled with so many kids. It made me feel like such a proud mommy!

Gabriella has been napping since we arrived back to the hotel. We plan to watch Sesame Place's fireworks from our hotel room to avoid the crowds.

Tomorrow morning we are taking off early to meet my best friend, Daniela, in Philadelphia and then we will be heading home.

Happy 4th of July!