What’s New at LEGOLAND

Tuesday night I had the opportunity to attend an event hosted by LEGOLAND on behalf of my sister blog Apple Tots in the Hudson Valley.   Representatives from LEGOLAND California, LEGOLAND Florida and LEGOLAND Discovery Center Westchester were present to talk about how LEGOLAND Parks have transformed into the ultimate family destination and about the rapid expansions taking place at LEGOLAND Discovery Centers throughout North America this year.  Master Model Builder, Gary McIntire, was also on-hand to build with those who attended and present the opportunity to view exclusive LEGO Legends of CHIMA models.

You might remember that last year around this time I took a trip to Florida with my son to visit my mom.  During that trip I took my son to LEGOLAND Florida.  We had a blast and I vowed that we would one day return for a full family trip (check out that post with pictures HERE).  What I didn't know at the time is that I was only a few months early of them opening up a brand new attraction titled “The World of Chima” that my son would have gone crazy for.  Last night at the event I got a chance to view this new attraction that opened in July 2013 both in video format and as a LEGO model (how cool!).  The World of Chima offers attractions for both old and younger kids but the centerpiece is “The Quest for Chi”, an interactive water ride that offers riders a chance to fire water cannons at targets that include LEGO characters (and others on and near the ride) ensuring no one leaves the area dry.

Also happening in LEGOLAND Florida later this year is the grand opening of the LEGOLAND Hotel!!  The LEGOLAND hotel in California has been such a great success in the short time that it’s been open (it opened April 2013) that the Florida hotel is going to be opening ahead of schedule!  It will be located at the front of the park and a perk of being a guest of the hotel is that you get access to the park a half hour early before regular guests (sweet!)

My sister and her husband took my nephew just a month ago to LEGOLAND California and from the pictures & video they sent back to us my son is now begging for us to take him to California.  Last night I got a glimpse into the new 3 acre water park that is going to be opening up Memorial Day weekend 2014 entitled “Legends of Chima”.  This water park will be in addition to the current water park that is already at LEGOLAND California.  With interactive water play, water cannons, a huge wave pool and more water slides than you can count, it looks like an incredible place for a family vacation!

For those that live in the NY Hudson Valley area, you don’t have to go very far for your own LEGO adventure.  The LEGOLAND Discovery Center Westchester is conveniently located in Ridge Hill (across from Stew Leonard’s).   At the Discovery Center you can experience the 4D Cinema, take a LEGO factory tour, view New York's top landmarks made out of LEGO bricks, build and race your own LEGO racecar, ride Merlin’s Apprentice Ride plus much more.  For younger kids there is a duplo soft play area, plus kids under 2 are admitted FREE!  They also hold birthday parties for the LEGO lover in your house ;)

Thank you again LEGOLAND for the fun night of food, drinks and fun and most importantly for information on all the new and exciting attractions that are coming soon to the LEGOLAND parks!

Just like Emmet says….”Everything is awesome!!”

When Good Deals Go Bad

Online group deals can be a fantastic way to both save money and obtain goods/services that you otherwise may not have either known about or been able to afford. I personally have purchased and used many of these deals offered through various sites - groupon, living social, mamasource - without issue. But there are times when good deals go bad. This is my story.

I’m very into photography - both taking pictures and having pictures taken. I get photos taken every year for my son’s birthday to capture him at each age. My budget in the past couple years hasn’t allowed me to do anything professional so I’ve just been going to Picture People at the mall. They’ve been fine pictures but I was looking to do something different this year and also get a new family photo. So off to the internet I went in search of an online deal. To my surprise I found a deal on living social (in my budget) for a professional photographer session at Studio 6 Photography in northern NJ.. I checked the photographer’s website and looked for reviews of his work and found nothing off about him. He sounded reputable and had a good portfolio of work. I thought to myself, “how fantasitic! Let’s give it a shot.” My sister had done the same thing with a groupon and gotten gorgeous pictures of her family. How could this go wrong?? yeah, um well…..it did.

What was Included in the deal               What I Got
1 hour in-studio session                            20 minutes in-studio session
1 - 8x10 portrait of any image                  1 - 8x10 portrait of an image
of MY choosing                                          that HE chose
1 CD of 24 edited images                         1 CD of all raw images
                                                                      (the only bonus)

Our session was on May 19th. My first sign of things to come was being shorted 40 minutes on our session. He didn’t listen to anything I wanted done during the session, had zero ideas of his own, barely varied any of the poses with us, and then hurried us out of the studio as if we were wasting HIS time. I immediately knew the pictures were going to turn out like crap and I had just flushed 60 bucks down the drain. We were told to call him one week later to discuss which picture we wanted for our 8x10 and to set up a time to pick up our print and CD.

I won’t bore you with the play by play of the exact details of what happened week by week, but the summary is that he avoided me and blew off my phone calls for 2 months!! I wasn’t allowed to pick the picture for the 8x10 that was included in the deal, HE chose it. And to add insult to injury he chose the WORST picture of all 3 of us for the print he ultimately gave us. How does a professional photographer pick the worst picture he took to be the one a customer gets as a take away?  I seriously don’t get it.

In the few phone calls that I actually did speak to him, he told me half way through this ordeal that he lost the (crappy) picture so I took the opportunity to tell him to order a pose that I knew was nicer. I explained it to him in great detail and he knew exactly what I was talking about – one was horizontal and one was vertical so it was very easy to distinguish.

About 2 weeks ago I phoned up Living Social to complain about him and that I hadn’t received my goods after a month and a half. Their vendor relations group called him up and he miraculously gave them a pick up date of 7/23/12…a MONDAY when I’m at work. He also told them this date as if we had just spoken and set up a time, which was so far from the truth. I had to chase him this entire past week to see if I could come and pick up my stuff this weekend. I finally flat out told him I would be there Saturday at 11 am so he better be there.

Well….when we showed up to pick up our picture and CD yesterday he comes out with the crappy picture that he supposedly “lost” a month ago!! My jaw nearly hit the floor. When I called him on it (in front of another customer) he had the nerve to reply “why would I say I lost it? That’s weird. I don’t know what other new picture you’re talking about.” I seriously could have slapped him. Since he knows I’ve already complained he tried to make good on it by saying he’ll order me a new picture of the correct pose and mail it to me. Mind you he already told me 3 weeks ago that he had ordered this for me to replace the one he lost. I left my name and address but I’m not holding my breath that it comes.

I then came home and spent the afternoon cropping and editing in Picasa to get a few good images from the crappy raw ones that he gave me. I’ve ended up with a few good ones out of this whole ordeal and I have the CD of all the ones he took and will be making my own prints, so all is not lost. However the aggravation of getting my products from this man was NOT worth it. Next time I’m going to the mall instead.

Moral of the story….
While these group deal sites are good and you can get great deals from them, it all depends on the vendor. I thought I had done my homework on this place but evidently not enough. DO NOT EVER GO FOR PHOTOS AT STUDIO 6 PHOTOGRAPHY in ENGLEWOOD, NJ. Awful service and in my opinion, not so great photography. But I guess I got what I paid for.... 

Here are the couple best pictures that I got out of the 93 that were taken. Note: one of them I cropped from other awful ones:

Can you tell me how to get?

….how to get to Sesame Place? 

Last weekend we took our first trip to Sesame Place.  I haven’t been there since I was a kid myself and with the exception of one area it is completely different from what I remember.  We went with my sister and her family and had a BLAST!!  At first A was a bit hesitant about going on rides and preferred to walk around & scope everything out.  But once he got up the courage to go on a few rides he loved it.  His favorite part was playing the carnival games.  He played well and we are now the proud owners of 5 new stuffed animals :-/  Sesame Place has water rides as well as dry rides, but the water was cooooold and the weather a little windy so we didn’t spend too much time on the water activities. 

We stayed overnight so were able to spend a few hours in the park the night before (when it was empty) and then the whole day on Saturday.  On Saturday morning we had tickets to eat breakfast with the characters.  Both A and my nephew were a bit afraid of the characters but we managed to get some pictures and have a fun breakfast.  The best part of the weekend (and something we didn’t know when we planned the trip) was that it was superhero weekend.  How perfect for us, right?!  Super Why was there to take pictures and of course my little superhero dressed up as one of his favorite superheros all weekend and got his picture with Super Why and Princess Presto.

If you are planning a trip to Sesame anytime soon here are a few tips that I recommend that we learned from our trip:

1. If you decide to stay overnight splurge for the little bit extra it is to stay in the hotel that is across the street from the hotel (Sheraton Bucks County).  It’s worth it to be able to go back & forth during the day with the kids to take naps, etc.  There’s also a hotel shuttle that will take you to/from the park. (FYI they are building a new hotel that is in the parking lot of the park.  It’s schedule to open in July/August 2012)
2. Sign up for “Discovery Dollars” at the beginning of the day.  You use your credit card to link to a spending account and you are issued a waterproof bracelet to wear all day.  You then use the bar code on the bracelet to scan all over the park to make purchases all day.  This way you can lock up your belongings in a locker & not worry about carrying them all day.
3. DO the character breakfast.  The park doesn’t open until 10 am.  I don’t know about you, but A is up at 6 am and there was no way I was going to be able to entertain a 4 year old for 4 hours before the park opens - especially when he’s looking out the window at the park.  Breakfast is at 8:45 and this gets you in early before the park opens (score!!)
4. DON’T bother with Preferred parking unless you have a season pass.  I have a season pass so preferred parking was free.  However, the rear of the preferred parking section is just as far as the regular parking lot so there’s no difference for the extra $$ you’re paying for preferred.
5. The park was much smaller than I expected.  My 4 year-old and my almost 3 year-old nephew walked the entire time and didn’t need a stroller.  We packed our things in backpacks and just went.  Was so much easier than trying to navigate with the stroller or worry about parking it, etc.  If you have slightly older kids it may be easier to ditch the stroller (or at least leave it in the car just in case).
6. Line up early for the parade.  It’s awesome and worth it to be front and center.
7. Download the iphone/android app.  You can even track where the characters are within the park to find your favorites!
8. Check out what’s in each of the restaurants before you dine.  The food is just okay, but check on the map (or your app) for what is served in each of the restaurants before you go.  Some have a better selection than others.

A Weekend Getaway

Last weekend we took a trip to Lancaster, PA and met up with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew.  On the agenda:  a day at the amusement park Dutch Wonderland and a stop at the Strasburg Railroad for A Day out with Thomas!  We didn’t tell A that we were doing the Thomas adventure until Sunday morning; otherwise I know he would have been bugging us about it for weeks before we left.

Getting out of the NYC area on a Friday night (during the summer) was NO fun at all. What should have been a 3-3.5 hrs car ride ended up taking us 5 hours!  Thank goodness for in car entertainment and dvds ;-)  A was a trooper and have to give him tons of credit for making it through the long car ride (with minimal complaints).

Saturday we hit Dutch Wonderland as soon as they opened.  SMART move.  No lines and the kids got to ride what they wanted.  We stayed until around 2 then went back to the hotel for a nap and came back at 6 & had dinner at the park.  Again, there were NO lines at that time so it was perfect.  We basically cut out the entire part of the afternoon when it got crowded.  I was surprised at how brave A was on all of the rides.  I had fears of him screaming his head off through all of the rides, but nope.  He LOVED all of them, especially the bumper cars and of course the train ride they had.   He must have ridden the train ride 4 or 5 times.  A and my nephew were like 2 peas in a pod all weekend.  They held hands everywhere we went and A was being a great older cousin by watching out for him….although he did almost walk my nephew into a door a couple times while they were holding hands.  LOL

Sunday morning after we had breakfast we told A the surprise that we were going to visit Thomas who had made a special stop at a nearby train station.  He could barely contain his excitement!!  It was so cute.   

Our tickets were for the first train ride of the day, and when we arrived they were still setting up a lot of the tent activities so we just wandered around and looked at the trains…and of course searched for Thomas.  He couldn’t wait to see Thomas and when we found him at the end of the rail yard, he yelled out  “THOMAS!!!”  After the train ride through the PA countryside, we went to visit Sir Topham Hatt in one of the tents.  I was fully expecting A to scream and cry when he saw this person dressed up as the character, but instead we got the complete opposite.  He ran right up to him and gave him a huge hug.  It was so adorable!    The event had so much to see and do – rides, music, food and of course TONS of Thomas things to buy.  We of course couldn’t leave without adding a new train or two three to our collection.

It was a great weekend and I highly recommend a visit if you’re looking for a fun weekend getaway with the kids.

Uninterrupted Sleep, and a Review

A quick update to our sleeping situation:  The last couple nights have been great and we’ve had uninterrupted sleep – yay!  A is still getting up early (6 am) but he’s able to play by himself or watch TV so that hubby and I get in a few extra winks.  Another big development has been that A asked stopped wearing an overnight diaper at night!  He’s officially 100% potty trained.  Woot Woot!!  I thought not wearing the diaper at night would result in more wake ups to use the potty, but it hasn’t.  He’s able to go the whole night without needing the potty.

On a separate note, I bought this magnetic responsibility chart made by Melissa & Doug a few months ago for A when it was on sale at amazon.  I love their toys, so when I saw this I just couldn’t pass it up.

I just recently opened it to start using it with him and I have to say it’s pretty cute.  It includes tasks that are applicable now, ones for the future plus a couple blank ones for us to write our own.  My favorite is the “no whining” one, which I doubt he’ll be earning a smiley for anytime soon. LOL  When he finally does earn a perfect weekly score, he’ll be allowed to pick a prize from the prize bag.  A gets so excited to earn a smiley face and in just the last week has been more interested in dressing himself and doing other things for himself.  So if you’re looking for something to motivate your preschooler I recommend giving this a try.

The Best Meal I Ever Had

While on one hand I could write about the cheeseburger I ate in recovery after having my son and how it was one of the best burgers I ever ate in my life, not because of the taste but because of the circumstances, but I won’t.  Instead I’m going to tell you about what I consider to be the best brunch.…hands down (and no, I’m not being compensated to write any of this).

A while back my husband and I went out with our family to Sunday brunch at Restaurant X located in Congers, NY.  It was a sit down brunch where the food was served tableside by waiters and included a large number of different entrée selections that ranged from eggs benedict to rack of lamb.  It was nice to be served for once rather than fighting with people in a buffet line.   We lost count around 12 courses and just when we thought we couldn’t possibly eat another bite they would bring something else irresistible out that we would just have to try.  Needless to say we left brunch stuffed and very satisfied.

I highly, highly recommend this place if you are looking for a special brunch. But keep in mind that if you decide to go, it’s a meal that is best enjoyed away from the kids.  If you must bring them the ones that still fit in the infant carriers would do just fine for the long meal, but toddlers probably not so much.

 

This week’s Working Mommy Wednesday prompt over on Work, Wife, Mom….Life! is to write about the best food I ever had.

It works, It works, It works!

 

I can’t believe it, but it actually worked!!  I am officially in love with the GoodNite Lite.  I know, I know, I sound like a commercial for it, but I am truly in awe of how it worked and how easily A has adapted.  I highly recommend it for anyone who is having bedtime/wake up problems with their little ones. We’ve successfully moved A from a 5:15/5:30 wake up to a 6:00 wake up time and in another couple days I’ll start moving him towards 6:30.

Today was Day 6 and our morning ran exactly as if you read it out of the instruction booklet:  A woke up at 5:30 (with a leaky diaper).  We changed him, walked him back to bed and told him to stay in bed until “Moona” changed into a sun.  Then to our surprise, he stayed in bed until 6:00 (a half hour is a loooong time for a toddler).  At 6:00 on the button I heard him say over the monitor, “Mommy, Moona is yellow.  Time to get up.”   

My husband better eat his words when the told me I was crazy for spending $40 on a night light.  Hmmm, it worked didn’t it?!  Best $40 I ever spent.

I am so proud of my little man. 

If you’d like to get your own you can order it directly from the company’s website: The GoodNite Lite

Success! (Day 4)

SCORE:

Goodnite Lite - 4

A - 0

I didn't need to set the clock for 5:45 because big boy slept all the way through until 6:00!!!  A record for our house recently.  (short backstory I should have given earlier:  A used to be a fabulous sleeper since 10 weeks old, but hasn't slept so great since we switched him to the toddler bed in August). 

Maybe it was the goodnite lite, or maybe it was the fact he didn't have a nap yesterday....I don't care, we got sleep!

Going to try for 6:00 tomorrow and see what happens.  Fingers crossed!!

GoodNite Lite - Day 3

SCORE:

Goodnite Lite - 3

A - 0

Well, A definitely has the concept of moon=bed and sun=get up, now it will just be a matter of consistency.

I'm happy to report that there were no 4am wake ups.  Yay!  That's at least a step in the right direction.  A woke up around 5:30 so I had to go in and explain that he needs to stay in bed until he sees the sun. He resisted at first, but then I put on the starlight turtle he has and told him to count the stars....and he did!  My husband and I were laughing in our room listening to him on the monitor count to 10 over and over.  He must have drifed back to sleep because he got quiet and then around 5:50 I heard him exclaim "it's yellow!!  Time to get up". 

So the goodnite lite sticks around for another day.  Tomorrow I'm keeping with the 5:45 time one more time before we move on.

GoodNite Lite - Day 2

The score is now:

Goodnite Lite - 2

A - 0

Last night when it was time for bed, A walked into his room, saw the light and said, "hi Moon-a!  The moon is blue Daddy which means it's time for bed!".  Now getting him to sleep is another story, but at least he knew that the light meant it was time for bed.  With the exception of A getting up at 4 and 5am again (for comforting & a diaper leak) I would say this morning was another win.  Both my husband and I were able to get him back to sleep at 4 and 5 am and when he woke up at 5:40 (5 minutes after I set the light for) he immediately yelled out "it's orange Mommy!!!"  Ok, so the sun is more of a yellow color than orange, but he knew what he meant.  When I got into his room I tried to be as excited as I could (for 5:30 am) and reinforce that yes the sun was on and he could now get out of bed.

I'm setting the clock for 5:45 tomorrow…..and hoping there are no 4 am wake ups again.

GoodNite Lite – Day 1

According to the book that came with this thing, the first day should be used for helping your child correspond his current waking up time with the sun.  So, I set the light to switch over to a sun at 5:30 am…..his current wake up time.  

Last night before bed, I introduced A to his new night light. At first he was a big apprehensive, but we gave the light a name (Moon-a, like Luna on Bear in the Big Blue House) and that seemed to help.  I set the timer, he helped me plug it in and he went to sleep….. 

….around 4:30 am he started.  For whatever reason, he woke up and wanted some comforting.  So I went in, rubbed his back for a minute and he went back to sleep.  Then at 5:00 am he did the same thing.  Replay:  go in, rub his back, go back to bed. All this time I’m thinking to myself, well at least he’s staying in his room and in his bed. 

AGAIN at 5:30 he wakes up and this time wants his diaper changed.  Since this is the time I set for the “sun” to come on I went in and showed him that the light had changed from a moon to a sun.  He immediately stopped crying, looked and said “Huh, look at the sun Mommy!”  Then while I changed his diaper I talked to him more about the sun meaning it’s time to get up and not getting out of bed until he sees it.  His reply was “so, blue means bed and yellow means up?”  I was like YES!!  Maybe he’s actually getting this after one day.

I'm considering today a win in my book.  We’ll see what happens tomorrow and the next day.  I already set the clock to go off at 5:35 tomorrow…..

It’s Heeeere!

Yesterday I received what I hope is going to be the best purchase ever.  My “GoodNite Lite” arrived….and with it, high hopes of it helping our early rising son.

What is the GoodNite Lite you ask?  Basically it is a night light that you put in your kids room. It has a built in clock so you program the night light for the moon to come on at bed time and stay on until you want the sun to come on in the morning. The purpose is that when your kid wakes up, they know if it is night or morning. And if they are waking up way to early, (like mine) you can try to change their internal clock by making the sun comes on 10 minutes later each day and eventually get them waking up at a normal time.

All of us Moms (and Dads) need our precious sleep.  But for working moms it’s much harder if your little one is getting up early….since we can’t nap in the afternoon.  Not only is it disruptive that A gets up at the crack of dawn, but it is disturbing his sleep cycle and not allowing him to get the full rest he needs. 

Tonight will be the first night we give this sucker a shot, so wish us luck!  More to come tomorrow on results…..