After our recent trip to Six Flags in Jackson, NJ we were on a bit of a theme park kick.  Another place we usually visit about one a year is Hershey Park over in Hershey Pennsylvania, but when thinking about visiting that park I remembered another place.  Over in Lancaster, PA there is a family friendly attraction called Dutch Wonderland.

On previous trips to Hershey on our way back home we always pass by this place but have never made a trip just to check it out.  I did some research online and this seemed like a great place to bring kids 5 and younger as everything is geared specifically for that age range.

The drive was about an hour and a half from our house, which gave Hanna a nice nap before an afternoon of walking, rides, and a small water park.  As we pulled into the parking lot and made our way to the front entrance we were greeted by the parks main castle.

The park was pretty crowded but there were enough things to do that most wait times were under 10 minutes.  One of the first things we did was ride a miniature steam train which takes you on a nice tour of the park.  Along the way I thought I saw something magical out of the corner of my eye but wasn’t sure so I had to wait until later in the day to confirm.  I won’t keep you guessing, but I bet you think it was a penny machine.  Well you would be … wrong!  Can you believe it.  This park does have a couple of penny machines and I’ll go over them shortly but what I thought I saw and did eventually indulge in was something I thought I wouldn’t be able to have again until I went back to Walt Disney World.

Dole Whip!  Holy cow I just couldn’t believe it.  For those of you that read my posts about our big Family Vacation back in April you will know that Pineapple Dole Whip is my new obsession.

There were a few people in line ahead of us but I didn’t care.  I would have waited over an hour for it.  Just like in Disney they had not just the regular Pineapple Dole Whip in a cup, but also offered my personal favorite the Dole Whip Float.  The cup is filled with pineapple juice and then topped off with Dole Whip.  It tastes exactly as I remembered and I was in heaven.  My wife and I refused to share with each other so we each got our own to enjoy.

Floating on a Dole Whip high we continued around the park and went on as many rides as Hanna wanted to go on.  As usually she couldn’t pass up the carousel ride which is her absolute favorite.

The park did have a small barnyard area that offered Pony rides for an additional cost.  Hanna wasn’t interested but I did manage to find the first penny machine located in the park.

This was a 4 design hand crank machine.  The designs included: Princess Brooke, Sir Brandon, Merlin and Duke the Dragon.

Eventually we made our way over to the small water park that is available as part of your park admission.  There were a couple large water slides for the big kids and adults, but we just stuck to the splash zone which allowed for a nice break and allowed us to cool off for a bit.

After about an hour, our fingers and toes were thoroughly pruned up.  Hanna wasn’t too happy when we started to dry off and change.  But with all the walking and the bright sun shining down all day she was starting to tired out.  We started to head towards the exit where the large gift shop was located.  While my wife and Hanna looked at the souvenirs I came across the second penny machine right by the exit door.

I always find these style machines a little strange.  The cabinet is made of some sort of plexiglass material, but there is no color or designs on them, just completely clear.  I always like being able to watch the coins going through the rollers but I always get a kick out of the unique themed cabinets I come across from time to time.

This machine also had 4 designs: Dutch Wonderland Logo, Duke the Dragon, PA, Dutch Country, and the Lord’s Prayer.  All the designs pressed really nicely and there were no issues with the machine.  I had checked online before our visit to see about the machine locations for this park and some previous visitors had mentioned a third machine, but I’m pretty sure we visited every nook and cranny and of this place and didn’t see it anywhere.

If the third machine does make another appearance it will just make for a great excuse to come back. Well that and of course the Dole Whip.  I may come back just for that!

This years cold and flu viruses have hit my family pretty hard the last few week.  It seems like we would just get over one cold and be infected with another.  My daughter was sick most of all and because of this she was house bound most of the time and lately had started to get cabin fever.  Finally the past few days she’s been feeling much better and we knew it was time to get out of the house and do something.

We are always trying to find new things to do, and with the winter weather finally hitting us in Jersey trying to do anything out side is just not an option.  With a quick google search we found a place we hadn’t been to before and thought it sounded like the perfect place to check out, and best of all it was just a short drive over the bridge in Philadelphia.

The place was called The Please Touch Museum located in Fairmount Park just outside of center city Philly near the zoo.  As soon as we walked in my daughter was off to the races checking everything out.  As the name of the museum suggests everything is geared towards kids and they can touch and play with everything inside.  There is a mock grocery story where the kids can get a small shopping card and pick up plastic groceries and even has a self check out they can use to “pay” for their items.  All throughout the museum there are different areas for the kids to pretend and play in scenarios like a kitchen, and even a restaurant.  Below is a picture of my daughter Hanna making dinner with some groceries she had picked out.

There was an Alice in Wonderland area with a hedge maze, and all the characters from the book helping us along the way.  The museum has a nice flow to the design that ensures you don’t miss any of the exhibits.  It was pretty busy when we went but it was so large that we didn’t feel we were crowded in, and the kids had lots of room to play with the exhibits.  There was even a public transit bus and trolley on display for the kids to explore.  Hanna enjoyed driving the trolley.

In the east end of the museum there is a large open area with an amazing carousel.  You have to pay for a ticket with your initial museum admission but it is well worth the small price to ride.  The carousel doesn’t have just horses, and it made Hanna’s decision a little harder with so many options of what she wanted to ride.  She ended up choosing a large rabbit.  As soon as the carousel started she was in heaven and the smile on her face only ended when we had to drag her off once the ride was over.

As we got off the carousel and headed back out to the museum something caught my eye.  There were a bunch of kids huddled around a penny machine trying to figure out how it worked and exactly what it did.

With my daughter by my side I walked up and grabbed some spare pennies and quarters I always make sure I have for just this type of situation.  Once we got to the machine the kids backed up bit to watch.  As I put the coins in the machine and started to turn the handle they were in hypnotized by the clicking noise of the gears pressing the pennies.  Each time a penny was pressed and it would drop into the cup at the bottom I held it out in my hand for everyone to check out.  With the 4 freshly pressed pennies in hand we walked away from the machine and I could hear the kids all running to their parents asking for spare change to use in the machine.

The four designs all said “Please Touch Museum” and had a picture of the Museum, the Statue of Liberty Torch, a Carousel Horse and Kids in the mock Grocery store.  We headed back into the museum and explored the remaining areas.  Hanna had such a great time she was nearly a sleeping zombie by the time we headed home.  She was asleep about 30 seconds after we got back in our car.  As I saw her sleeping but smiling face in my rear view mirror I knew this was a great little trip.  We would definitely be back, and now that I knew they had a penny machine it was truly a grace place to visit.

Who doesn’t love Sesame Street.  I know my daughter cannot get enough of it, and my wife and I have found that the show even has little segments that even we can enjoy.  Did you know that Cookie Monster now does movie spoofs?  We have seen James Bond, Lord of the Rings, Life of Pie and many more. They really do a great job of these.

There are even characters that I don’t remember from my childhood, Rosita is a little green Spanish speaking monster, and there is Hanna’s favorite Murray Monster.  He is kind of the MC of the show introducing the different segments and even having some adventures himself with his little sheep companion.  We have stuffed versions of these characters all over our house as I’m sure any one of you with small children do as well.

Luckily we have a theme park near by in Pennsylvania that is completed themed around the show and is called Sesame Place.  We have wanted to go for a while but figured it was best to wait until Hanna was old enough to actually go on some of the rides and interactive with the characters rather than just sit in her stroller and drool as they come by.  Her grandparents were nice enough to get the whole family tickets to try out the park and today was the day that we were all finally free to go together.

As soon as we entered the park there was a large souvenir shop called Finder’s Keepers that Hanna immediately wanted to check out.  As she moved around the store checking everything out I was a penny machine right near the exit of the shop.  With my wife close by Hanna to make sure she didn’t go to far, I decided to sneak out and use the machine.

As you would imaging the penny designs all consist of different Sesame Street characters and they really pressed nicely.  This first machine included: Elmo, Zoe, Ernie, and Bert.

Our plan was to visit the park in our swimwear so we could spend the first part of the day in the water ride section of the park.  We headed over to that area, picked our spot and started hitting up the rides.  There was a Rubber Ducky ride that sent up to 8 people down a huge slide in a large inflatable raft getting soaked the entire way down.  Next was a little wave pool and splash area with water spraying from ever different direction.  Lastly we checked out the lazy river which was anything but.  Hanna didn’t like the little raft she was on and we ended up carrying her most of the way through.  Not to mention that the river was packed with people and there were a lot of areas you got stuck in.

Once we had satisfied our water park needs we got changed and decided to head someplace for lunch.  Along the way we ran into a couple of character meet and greet locations.  First up was Zoe which Hanna also loves.  She took a little convincing but did get her picture taken without too much fuss.

We also ran into Bert and Bert, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster and of course Elmo.  Getting to one of the lunch areas took a little longer than we had originally thought but thought it was best to get our pictures with the characters now because their appearance schedules were always changing and you never knew when they would be back or who would be back.  We grabbed lunch at Cookie’s Cafe and upon leaving we headed directly into Mr. Hooper’s Emporium another gift shop.  Right outside the shop was the second penny machine.

The designs were: Grover, Big Bird, Abbey Caddaby, and Snufleupagus.  My only issue with this machine was it was right beside the bathrooms which as you could imagine was a busy location.  Some kids stopped by to watch and I made sure to show them how it worked and displayed the final designs for them.  I headed back into the gift shop and found my family which were ready to hit up some rides.

My wife and I are not huge ride fans but we the kids rides were just about our speed.  There was a tea-cup style spinning ride called The Monster Mix-up, we also tried the Flying Fish Elmo ride, Flying Cookie Jars, and Oscar’s Rotten Rusty Rockets.  Anything that moves or spins fast Hanna really enjoyed, mommy and me not so much.  By this time Hanna was starting to get grumpy as it had been a long day and not to mention all the excitement of meeting her favorite TV friends in person must have been exhausting.  We passed by the Sesame Street studio which has an Elmo the Musical show.  Hanna wasn’t going to make it through the line to get in let along the show so we figured it was something to try next time.  Right outside the Studio there was the third penny machine.

With Hanna nearly asleep in my arms I pressed the pennies and we headed towards the exit.  This last machine also had 4 designs include: Cookie Monster, The Count, Oscar the Grouch and Prairie Dawn.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to find Murray for Hanna to meet.  We had asked around and were told he was only in the parade and some special character meet and great meals.  Oh well just another excuse to come back, and maybe they will have some new pennies.  Hey I can always dream can’t I?

My daughter Hanna has gotten to the age where she loves coloring books.  She is completely fascinated by all the different colors and can’t get enough of the different mediums available.  We have more crayons than any one family should have, and somehow we seem to keep accumulating more.  Every restaurant we go to hands them out, birthday parts always have a pack in the goody bag.  Heck we even took a ferry ride from Lewes Delaware to Cape May New Jersey after our Washington, DC trip and the attendants on the ferry handed out coloring booklets and more crayons.

Always wanting to be the encouraging parents, my wife and I found that about an hour and a half away from our house was the Crayola Factory.  My parents wanted to come too so we picked a Saturday and headed over to Easton, PA.  Upon arrival we parked in a garage directly across from the factory and were greeted with the brightest yellow exterior to a building I had ever seen.  There was a large box of crayons attached to the top of the building with the crayons falling down towards the street.  This building definitely stood out.

Once inside while we were paying for our admission tickets we were informed numerous times that this wasn’t the actual Crayola Factory, but rather the Crayola Experience.  I factory is supposed to be nearby but not open to the public.  This location does include history of Crayola and even has some exhibits showing how the different products are created at the factory.

The Crayola Experience is a pretty large place.  It takes up about 4 floors of the building and there are many different rooms with lots of stuff going on.  When you pay your admission you get a few Crayola tokens which can be redeemed throughout the place for custom crayons, markers and even small boxes of crayons.  We did spend some time creating some custom labels for our crayons based on our daughter Hanna.  Our favorite was a red crayon labeled “Hanna’s Fury”.

There are stair cases to go up and down to the different floors or there is also an elevator which isn’t very fast.  On the second floor right beside the elevator door was the first penny machine.

The only issue with this machine was that it wasn’t leveled very well and would rock as you tried to turn the handle.  The pennies still came out fine but it was a little awkward to use.

This machine had 4 designs: Crayola logo, Crayola Easton PA, A Crayon upside down and a Crayon in a cup with other crayons.  Hanna loved this place.  There were different stations all over the place with lots of crafts and things to play with.  She was mesmerized by a large crayon that had water and bubbles inside of it.  If we had let her she probably would have started at it all afternoon.

We spent most of the day going from room to room creating our own crayons and markers and coming away with a pretty big bag of Hanna’s artwork for the wall once we got home.  By this time we had made it all the way up to the top floor and decided to take the elevator back down instead of 4 flights of stairs.  When we got off the elevator we went right into the Crayola store which appeared to have every Crayola product ever made.  Grandma went a little bonkers picking up all sorts of new things, and we did get a few things for Hanna to take home.  Remember, always trying to encourage the creative size.  After we checked out from the store I noticed another penny machine by the exit.  I was somehow unaware of this additional machine and quickly had to grab my emergency penny kit to grab some additional quarters and pennies to press these designs.

There were 4 designs in this machine as well.  They included: The Crayola Experience logo, the Box of falling crayons, I Heart Crayola and a Marker dancing.

Always a great feeling to find a new machine that I wasn’t previously aware of, and am certainly thankful I had my backup collecting kit with extra change stored inside.  You never know when your going to need it.

This was a fantastic place and Hanna really enjoyed it.  We will definitely be back.  It’s always nice to be able to partake in something you really enjoy.  My parents, wife and I loved seeing Hanna making her artwork, Hanna loved playing with all the colorful crayons.  Plus I got to collect some new pennies for my collection.  Keep your eyes open you never know where a new machine will pop up.

We live in central New Jersey which is a great place to be if you love Baseball.  Between New York and Philly we have a lot of options to see some great games.  Not to mention all the minor league teams that are also fantastic and I highly recommend you check them out.  The tickets are cheap, games are competitive and it’s always nice to support your local team.

My parents are huge New York Mets fans and they usually make the trek into Flushing, NY a few times a year to catch some games.  Since we are actually closer to Philly it does make a nice afternoon to head over to Citizens Bank Park and check out a Phillies game every so often.  We had taken our daughter Hanna to a Mets game when she was less than one year old, but she was now almost two and thought it would be fun to see a game with the entire family.

We headed into the stadium early to try and get some lunch prior to the game.  We got a table at a place called Harry the K’s Broadcast Bar & Grille.  This is a very popular spot to eat so we were lucky to get a table with such a large group.  As soon as the menu came I noticed something that only appears once in a while especially down in the states.  We are originally from Canada and this dish is served up almost everywhere (even McDonald’s).  Poutine, for those of you that don’t know it is a French-Canadian dish that basically is french fries, coverage with a rich brown gravy and cheese curds.  Basically a heart attach waiting to happen but damn is it good.  Harry The K’s had their own version available which had the usually ingredients but was also topped with crumbled bacon pieces.  How could I resist.

We finished our meals which consisted of cheese steaks (hey we’re in Philly), and burgers.  By this time the crowd was starting to pile into the stadium so we headed to our seats.  It was a beautiful day for a game and the Phillies were playing the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I had found out a few years ago that many baseball stadiums have penny machines.  Some stadiums really do a great job of having new designs each year which are updated with new players, or even recent milestones.  I had gone to a Phillies game in 2013 and got the penny designs then but was going to use this opportunity to see if there were new designs for 2014.  Never wanting to seem to anxious I wanted until about the 3rd inning before heading out to look around.  The machines are almost always inside or near the main gift shop.  By the time I made it to the store I had to squeeze my way through a massive number of people trying on jerseys and hats.  Finally by the checkout area I found the penny machine which was in the exact same spot as last year.  I was disappointed to see that the designs hadn’t change.  But being the glutton for pressed pennies that I am I pressed a new set anyways (never hurts to have extras).

All four designs pressed very nicely and looked great on the shiny pennies I had brought.  I liked these designs and think they are pretty creative:  Fightin’ Phils, Catch the Phillies Phever, #1 Fan and the Philly Phanatic.

The game was great, not so much for the Phillies but the L.A. Dodgers starting pitcher Josh Beckett ended up throwing a no-hitter which was amazing to watch.  I don’t think Hanna was overly excited by the game but she loved the Crab Fries (Thin crinkle cut fries with Old Bay Seasoning).

We’ll be back next year and hopefully there will be some new pennies to add to the collection.