Houston Area Pumpkin Patches

Ever since my first October in 2012 my mommy has brought me to the pumpkin patch at Ganyard Hill Farm in North Carolina. It was our annual family fall outing.

Now that we are in Texas, mommy and I decided to see what Texas pumpkin patches have to offer. We visited three this month: Blessington Farms in Simonton, Texas; Dewberry Farms in Brookshire, Texas; and the Zoo Boo in Houston, Texas. Here is my review on them in the order we visited them:

Blessington Farms
Simonton, Texas
http://www.blessingtonfarms.com

This farm was $10/per person and that included all the rides. The only activity it did not include was fishing which I think was an additional $10/per person. The pumpkins were also additional. I believe the bigger ones are $0.50 per pound. We brought a cooler of snacks and drinks which I recommend. Drinks here were pretty pricey. My mommy said the only reasonable priced beverage or food was the water bottles which were $1.00. Everything else was your typical country fair type food and prices.

This photo op is one of the first things we saw after we paid our admission. My mom likes it because if we make this our yearly pumpkin patch destination we can see how much I've grown with the ruler!

One perk to this pumpkin patch is that they had quite a few hay bales, benches and pumpkin displays set up for mommies and daddies to plop their little ones in front of for cute pictures. Since there were so many to choose from no one had to wait in line forever and get antsy. My mom put me in front of each display to get a photo. Like I said she is over the top. There were about 8 places set up for pumpkin patch photo ops. Thats A LOT of fake smiling!

My favorite part were the slides. There were so many slide options. My friend C and I slid down the slides over and over and over again. It was so much fun! This was my favorite part of Blessington farms.

There was also a train ride that was pretty cool. The driver drove us so so fast and C and I giggled and laughed the whole ride. There is also a more traditional hayride available that takes you throughout the whole farm.

They had a small petting zoo with a ton of goats and lambs. There were even two camels. My mommy was happy that there were hand sanitizer stations at the entrance and exit of the petting zoo.

Some features of this pumpkin patch my mommy didn't get pictures of included the the bike racing track. There was a tandem bike that I rode with my mommy, but she wasn't going fast enough so I ditched her and got on one of the smaller bikes so I could race C around the track. We both kept bumping into the tires though so I guess it's a good thing we aren't allowed to get our drivers license till we turn 16! There was a hay maze, blowup pony rides, steer roping, barrel racing and sand box and more. All in all this was a nice patch with many activities that kept us busy from around 10am to 1pm. During that time I had to potty so I had my first experience with a  port a potty. I didn't like it. It was stinky but I guess it was clean as far as port a potties go....I noticed there were several birthday party tables set up under the trees for shade. This would be a perfect place for an October birthday party or even a school or playgroup field trip!

Dewberry Farms
Brookshire, Texas
http://dewberryfarm.com

Their pricing was a little more complicated than Blessington Farms. There were different packages from $12 to $48. We bought the $20 package. Tokens were an extra $3 each and the attractions were anywhere from 1-3 tokens. Things got pricey very fast. They also don't allow outside food and drinks so we couldn't have a picnic lunch like we did at Blessington Farms.

The biggest downer to our outing to Dewberry Farms was actually getting there. The last 5 miles of the journey took over an hour. It was painful but I then I fell asleep. My mom thought there was a car accident, but no it was just all the traffic from 3 different directions going to the farm on country roads that weren't built to handle all the traffic. It was terribly disorganized. Then when we finally got to the parking lot the line to get tickets was sooooooo long. It took another 30 minutes standing in line just to purchase our wristbands. My mom noticed the line for prepaid tickets was much much shorter so if you plan to come to Dewberry buy your tickets in advance so you can bypass the extremely long lines.

There was only one display of pumpkins meant for photo ops that we could find and to be honest I wasn't impressed. This farm is much bigger and has more attractions than Blessington, but it also had much longer wait times for each ride. I had to wait 10 minutes at the least and 45 minutes at the most for various rides. I got very antsy because I wasn't use to waiting so long for rides. There were so many people and it was extremely busy. It seemed more like a state fair than a pumpkin patch. Can you tell I wasn't a fan?

Pony rides were my favorite attraction

The lone pumpkin patch photo op station

The giant jumping pillow was quite popular

I felt like Jane from Tarzan. Swinging from ropes in a  barn is great fun!

They had actual restrooms so that was a plus since we did not have to use a portapotty like at the other farm. They also charged $0.50 per pound for pumpkins. Does any place in the Houston area come with a pumpkin for admission? It was standard in North Carolina to get one pumpkin with each admission. So we would always come home with a pumpkin for me, one for mommy and one for daddy. I guess this is how things are in the Big City...Dewberry would be amazing except for the traffic and the overwhelming crowds. I much prefer laid back and calm pumpkin patches... We won't be visiting again.

Houston Zoo
Houston, Texas
http://www.houstonzoo.org

The Zoo Boo

My mommy bought a year long family membership for $200 which will quickly pay for itself since we are allowed to bring a group of up to 10 people with us each time we visit. I foresee lots of playdates to the zoo in our future! On Halloween day it rained pretty much all morning so when we got to the zoo in the afternoon it was pretty empty which made for a very enjoyable experience for us! We didn't have to battle the crowds to see the animals and the workers at all the candy stations were literally putting fistfuls of candy in our candy baskets. Pretty much all the kids there were dressed up in the cutest costumes and quite a few adults were in costume too. The actual pumpkin patch was flooded from all the rain earlier in the day so we did not get any pictures in the pumpkin patch, but every child did get a free pumpkin courtesy of Fiesta grocery stores. I will definitely return to the zoo boo in the future.

Posing at the Zoo Boo sign at the entrance of the zoo with my cousins. Two little mermaids and one Evie.

One of the many candy stations. Renting the double stroller at the zoo entrance was one of the best decisions we made during our zoo visit because both mermaids can't walk!

Negril, Jamaica

I am so proud of my mommy. She has been in school for a LONG time and she took a test last week that is essentially the culmination of all her blood, sweat and tears for the past several years. In order to celebrate my daddy and I whisked her off to Jamaica immediately after the test. We stayed at Beaches, an all inclusive resort in Negril. My Aunt and Uncle went to the Beaches in Turks and Caicos and they say its wonderful so thats next on our to do list because we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Beaches in Negril.

The resort arranges transfers to and from the airport in Montego Bay which is about an hour and a half journey from Negril. While at the airport there is a courtesy lounge with refreshments that we munched on while waiting for our shuttle. Once we arrived at the resort we were greeted by cool towels and cold drinks then ushered to our rooms.

My daddy is a workaholic and actually worked from the hotel room during the mornings, made possible by the "free" wifi. While daddy was working, my mommy was relaxing pool side leisurely reading her kindle and I was having a blast in the kids camp under the watchful eye of the resort nannies. The kids camp at Beaches is unique in that they have classes for kids 0-17 years old. Many other resorts my parents looked at only had kids camp for children 4 and older. Since I'm 3 this ruled out those resorts. I'm glad they chose Beaches though because I made so many friends in the kids camp and there were so many fun activities. All the sesame street characters live at the resort so we had many activities planned with them.  Elmo-cise was an intense but fun work out, a tea party with Abby caddaby, drum lessons with Bert and Ernie, Cookie and Cake birthday party with Cookie Monster and the list goes on. The kids camp is open from 9am-9pm and I would have stayed the whole time, but mommy and daddy wanted to spend some time with me too.

Getting our nails done at Kids Camp. The girl in the gray shirt was my bestie for the week!

My mommy pried me out of kids camp one afternoon to go take a walk on the beach and while we were walking we saw Elmo and Zoe. They were jumping on the beach so we decided to join them! The resort photographers did an excellent job capturing the moment. Beaches has a photo shop where you can view your photos and purchase them ala carte.You can also sign up for a personal resort/beach photo session if you desire. It seems like a lot of families did this. My mom wasn't too happy that the photos are $16 PER PICTURE. Yikes. That's a lot of money, but my mommy is a sucker for photos and despite her annoyance with the price she still bought several photos. C'est la vie.

I jumped higher than my mommy. This photo is very deceiving!

In the afternoons when daddy wasn't working we enjoyed the pools and the beach. One afternoon we floated down the lazy river several times. When I grew tired of that I convinced mommy and daddy to go on the slides with me, then we swam around in the pool and when I got thirsty I swam up to the pool bar and ordered pretty drinks. My favorites were the Fairy Princess and Frozen Bob. They looked just like the pretty drinks my mommy had but were child friendly! Another afternoon we spent time on the beach. There were plenty of beach chairs to relax in unlike at some other resorts where the chairs are all taken by early morning. There is also an option to specially reserve cabanas but we didn't find this necessary as there were plenty of covered spaces that were comfortable. Throughout the beach there were several resort officers stationed to prevent hawkers from disturbing the resort guests by hawking their various wares. This made for a stress free experience because my daddy hates it when people try to sell him things he doesn't want or need.

Mommy and me, pretty in pink!

The large bucket and the top of the photo drops a ton of water on anyone sitting in this jumbo chair. I didn't realize that until shortly after mommy snapped this photo and I was NOT amused. I hate getting water on my face, so goggles are my best friends at the pool or beach.

Floating down the lazy river with my mommy and daddy!

The resort offers several water activities including diving, snorkeling, water skiing, boating etc. Word to the wise you need to sign up for these activities the day before because they fill up fast. My mommy wanted to go snorkeling our last day but the excursion was full and she couldn't go. She was very sad about it but we decided to go for a kayak ride instead. My mommy gets nervous on little boats in open water so watching daddy tease her was funny. I enjoyed being out on the open water and got to take a lot of picture with my waterproof camera mommy bought for me at the resort gift shop. She also bought post cards and stamps at the gift shop and mailed them out from the resort front desk to my grandparents, great grandma and one for myself. My mommy has started an album of postcards from all the places I visit. She told daddy it's more authentic to get a stamp from the country we are visiting and mail it to our home from that country's postal system so that it has a weathered look to it once it arrives. Daddy just laughed. My mommy can be quirky sometimes.

The world is my oyster!

In the evenings we went out to dinner at the different resort restaurants. Two of them were reservation only, Kimono the hibachi restaurant and Venetian the Italian restaurant. My favorite was Kimono, because the chef made our dinner right in front of us. He was funny and made the food do funny things. He turned the vegetables into a choo choo train and steam came out of the 'engine', he made the rice into a heart and tossed a carrot straight into my mouth!

I was captivated by the hibachi chef.

After dinner every night there was lots of entertainment. My favorite was the Sesame Street Carnival Parade. All the characters were there, a marching band, Carnival queens, stilt walkers, clowns and us guests made the tail end of the parade. We started at the front of the resort and ended up on the beach for a beach party! Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar the grouch, Zoe and Cookie Monster can DANCE. They were impressive doing all the latest dance moves. My mommy thought it was hilarious.

Contortionists.

This guy juggled and did a balancing act that was pretty cool.

I loved the carnival queen's outfit. I didn't want her to put me down. She was so pretty!

Some other evening resort entertainment included: jugglers, contortionists, fire dancers, caribbean bands, live music and game shows. For the late night crew there was an adult only party at the resorts Club Liquid. Mommies and daddies can go to this and if needed there is the option to hire resort nannies to watch the kiddos including putting them to bed for an extra fee. Also for an extra fee Sesame Street characters can tuck kids into bed or have a special breakfast with kids.

Our trip was the second week in October which is the rainiest month in Jamaica. It honestly wasn't bad. The majority of the day was sunshine with no rain. It rained heavily for about an hour every afternoon around 3-4pm. This was nap time for us so it worked perfectly. By the time naptime was over the rain was gone and it was back to fun in the sun. The staff at the resort are very welcoming, kind and fun loving. They all remembered my name and everywhere I went people were saying "Hello, Abigail!" I felt like a princess and can't wait for my next adventure!

Road Tripping

In August when my family relocated from North Carolina to Texas my mom thought it would be fun to go on a girls road trip with my Aunt and two cousins. My daddy was so gracious to do a separate trip to transport all our belongings in a Uhaul trailer while us girls took a leisurely one week trip full of fun adventures. Before I recap the places we visited let me let you in on some things that kept me happy and thus kept my mommy sane. First she brought a portable DVD player for me to watch Frozen and my other favorite DVDs on to my hearts delight. In addition there were three tablets and headphones, one for each kiddo. So my cousins and I could enjoy playing with the new apps my mom and aunt downloaded for us especially for the road trip. We also had the option of playing with our old apps but the new ones were more interesting to me. My momma had a ton of healthy snacks for us to munch on and a cooler with water, capri suns and juices. There were also old fashioned books to read, but my cousins and I preferred the tablets...Now on to the recap:

Lazy 5 Ranch- Mooresville, NC

www.lazy5ranch.com

This place is essentially a mini safari. You can either ride through in your own vehicle or take a wagon ride through. My mom did not care for the animals scratching up her new swagger-wagon so we opted to ride the ranch's wagon. Make sure you bring cash because this place does not accept any other form of payment. Once we started the tour I got to feed all kinds of animals. A hungry giraffe even licked my hand. My cousins were mortified, but I loved it! Our guide told us that we could feed any of the animals that came up to the wagon (ostrich, emus, bison, giraffes, etc) but we should not feed the zebras because they bite! My mom was watching me very closely because she knew I still wanted to feed the zebras, but I was a good girl and just looked at their pretty black and white stripes. When the safari was over we ate a picnic lunch. There is a nice picnic area with tables and benches to eat comfortably right next to a playground where I played after lunch. There is also a convenience stand by the benches that sold ice cream, popsicles and cold drinks.  The restrooms are relatively clean and there is ample hand washing stations to clean up before lunch! 

Boarding the wagon to head out on the safari

Feeding the giraffe was the highlight of my day!

Great Wolf Lodge Charlotte/Concord- Concord, NC

www.greatwolf.com

This indoor water park was extremely fun! My mom signed up to get their email promotions months before our trip and she kept watching the prices and analyzing their discounts in order to score the best deal. Our first day there we arrived around noon, much earlier than the published check in time. The front desk still gave us our wristbands and we got to play in the waterpark while we waited for our room to be ready. They also gave my cousins and I wolf ears that we loved and wore the whole weekend. Around the regular check in time our room was ready and as my mom and aunt went to the car to get our belongings they noticed the check in line was very very long. We were so glad we checked in early and beat the long lines! We stayed in a family suite big enough to comfortably sleep all 5 of us. We spent the majority of the first day in the water park enjoying the slides, rides, and pools. I went on the kiddie slide about 25 times in a row and when I got tired of it I wanted to ride the big kids slide with my cousins but I was too short. I was really sad, but my mom distracted me with a  fun game where I got to jump on a line of about 6 plastic lily pads that were anchored to the bottom of the pool in order to get across the pool. I pretended like I was a frog and had a blast doing it. After we were tired of the indoor water park we went to the arcade and played a lot of arcade games. Then we left the Lodge to eat dinner at a BBQ place nearby. When we came back there was a story time in the front lobby. I stayed and listened with my mommy but my cousins (age 8 and 9) felt like they were too old for story time and went to the arcade instead. 

We rode this kiddie slide over and over and over again!!

Georgia Aquarium & Centennial Park- Atlanta, GA

www.georgiaaquarium.org

This aquarium is truly amazing. The shows that are included in the admission make the pricey admission ticket worth the price. Oh and before you buy your tickets check with your employer to see if they offer discounted tickets. My mom bought our tickets through her employer in North Carolina and it offered a pretty good discount. I was enthralled by the dolphin show. My mom tells me its better than the dolphin shows she has seen at SeaWorld. The show was about an adventurer who gets shipwrecked and has to battle agains bad guys and pirates. The actors and dolphins did so many awesome jumps and flips. We sat in the "wet zone" so I got to get splashed by the dolphins jumping. I LOVED it. The other shows the aquarium offered were equally good. There were a lot of interactive side shows that kept my cousins and I entertained in addition to the typical aquarium stuff: i.e. looking at fish and sharks and other underwater creatures. 

I blended right in at the aquarium with my fish dress! It was a going away present from the neighbor at my old house in North Carolina. She always bought me the prettiest dresses. I'm going to miss her.

www.centennialpark.com

This park was built when the Olympics were held in Atlanta. Its a nice park in the middle of downtown. My favorite part was the spray grounds. My cousins and I put our swimsuits on and then ran around for about an hour getting soaking wet. Carefree childhood at its best. After we were finished playing in the water we dried off and headed to the playground in the park. There was a preschooler playground and a big kids playground. We spent a little time at both of them and it was nice. Very close to the playground there were a group of men who my mommy said probably didn't have a permanent home to live in. They were just standing about with large backpacks and shopping carts. I smiled at them and they smiled back. 

Splashing away at the spray grounds 

Rosa Parks Library and Museum- Montgomery, AL

http://www.troy.edu/rosaparks/

Here I received my first history lesson in Civil Rights. My mommy took me through a gallery with many pictures, timelines, videos and narratives about Rosa Parks and the bus boycotts. After going through the gallery we sat down in a replica of a Montgomery city bus and then the bus started shaking and lights started flashing! We actually time traveled! Video screens appeared at the front of the bus and out the side windows that took us back in time to the days of slavery and told us about how Jim Crow came to be Jim Crow and a multitude of other historical details that my mom and Aunt said they were never taught in school. The journey continued to the era of Rosa Parks and the bus boycott and walked us through the key moments in the civil rights movement. My cousins and I were very humbled to learn this part of American history.

I was very eager to learn about Rosa Parks

Pensacola Beach, FL

The ocean was beautiful. The beaches were nice and not too crowded, but I learned that I did NOT like sand. In fact I hated it and cried when I first had to step in it. I had been begging my mom to go to the beach for a long time and now that I was finally at the beach I realized that I want the beach but without the sand. My cousins were so nice and coaxed me into having a good time hunting for sea shells, splashing around in the water, chasing seagulls, building sand castles and yes burying our entire bodies in sand!

I wasn't too sure about the sand. For the first few minutes I preferred to lounge around in my chair with my water bottle filled with cold refreshing water while I surveyed the beach.

By the end of the afternoon I got over my dislike of sand and was covered in it. Literally!

New Orleans, LA

My mom says most people think of NOLA as a wonderland for adults, but she's the best mommy in the world and found that there are a lot of kid friendly activities to do in the crescent city. We spent an entire afternoon at Carousel Gardens Amusement Park located in City Park a short car ride away from the French Quarters. http://neworleanscitypark.com/in-the-park/carousel-gardens My mom got us wrist bands because if you plan on riding several rides its more cost effective than buying ride tickets. We went in the middle of the week and there was hardly anyone at the amusement park so my cousins and I got to ride the majority of the rides several times in a row. The bigger girls got to ride more rides than I could because I was too short for several of the rides including the roller coaster, but its ok because when I get taller I'm going back! My mom wanted us to go on Steamboat Natchez http://www.steamboatnatchez.com but unfortunately the timing of the cruise times did not work out for us. Instead we toured the french quarters and got a ton of photo ops in Jackson Square. We had breakfast at the famous Cafe Du Monde. The beignets were absolutely delicious. My mom had to order a second round of beignets for everyone because we all wanted more! Another fun thing to do is to take a horse drawn carriage tour around the french quarters. The horses are pretty but they leave poop everywhere. Yuck!

Riding the carousel at the amusement park

Our first visit to Cafe Du Monde and they gave us hats. Well actually my mom requested it and our waiter obliged. My mom is a totally mamarazzi!

Photo ops in Jackson Square. This is my signature hand on the hip and knee bent pose. You will see a LOT of it on my travel blog.

Lake Charles, LA

For anyone traveling on I-10 going through Louisiana, Steamboat Bill's is a must stop place to have lunch or dinner. The cajun food here is excellent. Well seasoned and oh so yummy in my tummy. You won't regret it. Any restaurant that has good reviews on yelp.com is a good restaurant in my book because those yelpers can be highly critical! http://www.steamboatbills.com

Buc-ee's

Another must stop place while traveling in Texas. Buc-ee's is a Texas road trip tradition. They say everything is bigger in Texas and this convenience store lives up to that saying. It's super large and has the cleanest bathrooms west of the Mississippi. Their food is also great. My mom loves their apple turn overs. I love their caramel and butter glazed corn puffs called Beaver nuggets. Yum Yum! 

And that folks is the end of my 1, 200 mile road trip saga with my mommy, my auntie and my two cousins. Girl Power!

Meet the Tiny Traveler

My name is Abigail, I'm three years old and my goal is to visit every country in the world. My wanderlust was passed down from my Grandpa Henry to my mommy, then to me. I boarded my first plane at the tender age of 5 weeks with my mommy and daddy to go to my dad's hometown for my baptism. Since then I've traveled extensively both domestically and internationally. When I was two years old I visited Germany, Botswana and South Africa. My favorite part of that trip was going on a safari at the Madikwe Game Reserve and seeing all the animals. I made a special effort to see all the Big 5 game: lion, elephant, cape buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros.

With Grandpa Henry and my Grandma at Buffalo Ridge Safari Lodge in South Africa. Two amazing world travelers that I admire!

Photo op with Babar the Elephant and my Uncle, another jet setter. Whenever he isn't country hopping he always takes me to Chuck E. Cheese!

Within the states I've been to New York once as a baby and again this past May. My Godmommy Nikki lived two blocks from Central Park so I spent her 32 birthday weekend celebrating with her and my mommy! My mommy wanted me to share some tips for anyone traveling to New York with a precocious preschooler like myself:

Exploring New York with kids is totally possible! I worked pretty diligently on a child friendly itinerary for our mother daughter trip to New York and I have only two regrets. The first is not bringing a stroller. Abby was 3 years old when we went and old enough to walk. We hadn't used her stroller in a long time so it never crossed my mind to bring it. When we were exploring Manhattan I noticed many children older than her being pushed around in strollers. In my head I laughed at them and thought those kids are way too big to be in strollers. Little did I know that just a short while later I would be desperately wishing I had a stroller too! After walking a few miles, Abby refused to walk another step. She said she was tired and straight up sat on the floor and demanded to be picked up. So what did I do? I picked her up and gave her the longest piggy back ride of my life. Word to the wise. Take a stroller for young kids who can't walk very long distances! The second regret was not taking Abby with myself and her God mother to see the Lion King on Broadway. The Broadway website suggests that children under 6 are not allowed in the theater so I did not buy a ticket for Abby and instead arranged for a babysitter. When Nikki and I got to the theater there were several families with children Abby's age and younger. I wish I brought her because she would have loved it!  The show was absolutely breathtaking. Here are some places I did take Abby to that she enjoyed: 

Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park was showcasing Jack and the Beanstalk all summer. $10 adult, $7 child. Buy your tickets in advance because it seems like the weekend times sell out fast! I wanted to see it on Saturday but when I tried to purchase my ticket a week before my trip it was sold out so we saw the Sunday 1pm show. Abby absolutely loved it and is still talking about it. It was a really cute show and I recommend getting there early so you can sit in the front. It’s harder to see from the back. West 79^th street entrance.

http://www.cityparksfoundation.org/arts/swedish-cottage-marionette-theatre/

Mariner Playground in Central Park. This was a cute playground within walking distance from where we were staying. It has a lot of standard playground equipment, plus a sprayground (bring a swimsuit and a towel) and a sand box. West 85^th street entrance

http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/mariners-playground.html

There were a lot of preschoolers in the Central Park playgrounds during the middle of the day

Central Park Zoo. Opens at 10am. $12 adult, $7 child. It is a small but quaint zoo with leopards, monkeys, sea lions, etc. They don’t have any larger animals (i.e lion, giraffe, elephant) but Abby still enjoyed it nonetheless. There is a petting zoo in the children’s portion of the zoo that you can pay 50 cents for pellets to feed the goats or lambs. Also a huge highlight for Abby!  East side of the park between 63^rd and 66^th street.

http://centralparkzoo.com/

Carousel in central park $3/ride (cash only). Midpark at 64^th street

FAO Schwarz. This is the oldest toy store in America. They might be closing in July after being open for over 150 years L Get a picture of your kids with the toy soldier that greets you in front of the store. I got one of Abby saluting with the solider and it makes for good memories. On the top floor there is a huge piano keyboard on the floor that the kids can dance on and make music. It’s been in several Hollywood movies so I would make sure the kiddos get to play on the piano.  We spent about 2 hours in the store. It is located close to the zoo so you can do the zoo first thing in the morning and then take a short walk to the store and have lunch in their little café and then check it out. Oh and there is a magical clock located on the escalators that go to the ground floor that sings a beautiful melody at the top of every hour. Abby was mesmerized and didn’t want to leave it!.  5^th avenue and 58^th street

http://www.fao.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3810526

Saluting with a real life toy soldier!

The great lawn in the center of the park was great to have a picnic on. Bring a big blanket and a portable lunch. We brought a hula hoop, bubbles and a Frisbee for entertainment. There was a waffle stand called wafles and dinges between the great lawn and the Shakespeare in the park theatre (delacorte theater) that sold the most amazing waffles. We bought some as a snack after playing on the great lawn for several hours. Midpark 79^th to 85^th street.

http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/great-lawn.html

Belvedere Castle and Vista Rock are right next to the Great Lawn and is a fun spot to check out while in the vicinity. 79^th street.

http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/vista-rock.html

My mommy told me that I am Princess Abby and that was my very own castle! I think she might have told me that just to get me to smile... 

Museum of Natural History has a dinosaur exhibit that’s quite impressive and African elephant exhibit amongst other things. $24/adult and $14.50/child. 79^thstreet and Central Park West

http://www.amnh.org/


I've also been to Iowa, Minnesota, Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. I recently took a road trip from North Carolina to Texas and that will be my next post. Right after that I'll post about my trip to the Caribbean that I'm taking next week!

~Abby the Tiny Traveler