BLD

He crawled into bed as he usually did, it was probably an ungodly hour...not too sure. I was half asleep, wanting desperately to drift back, and he was excitedly whispering to me about this "really cool" thing he found online. I vaguely heard....Disco...Hazel...healthy...snacks...awesome..."ok love, that's really cool"...."night night love"...and went back to sleep. The idea of Baby Loves Disco was born and boy did Joe want to take Hazel!!

I have to give major accolades to my husband, Joe. He is a genius at finding things to do. He found this event called, "Baby Loves Disco" and they are held in most metro areas. It is an event for kids, held in a "club", usually on sat or Sunday in the afternoon. They have a DJ, a dance floor, juice boxes, yummy snacks, and not to forget that luminescent wonder known as "the disco ball". To say that Joe was excited to take Hazel to BLD was an understatement. We have been wanting to go since we lived in Laguna but with Joe's schedule we were never able to go. So fast forward to Philly, Joe has weekends off, they had it at a club called "shampoo" in center city Philly, and yeah we were so there.

**Just a side note: If you have ever been held hostage by the dancing Nazi that is Hazel Rei then you would understand how she loves to dance. She can do it for hours, long after you have begged her to sit down because yeah your old, and tired...she's still there going. Mostly just running in a circle...so yeah BLD was made for kids like Hazey!!!

Ok so we head out via subway for Shampoo. We arrive at the club (and as I have never actually been "clubbing" before I was a bit anxious to see what awaited us). Shampoo was complete with bouncers outside, we go in, pay our $10 each (yes that's all it cost for 3 hours of gettin' down), and are ushered into the BLD. We are excited, but wait...Hazel is asleep! The subway and walk to the place have lulled her to sleep. We gently wake up sleeping beauty thinking she was gonna jump up and dance, when oh...sensory overload...tons of people, disco ball, Micheal J blasting...she began to cry :( OH, not quite what we expected...she slowly woke up and regained her composure...and started to dance.

This place was amazing, there was of course the main dance floor, a kiddie bar complete with organic carrot/apple juice, veggie chips, pirates booty, oranges, pears, and other yummy snacks, a crawl space for kids, a chill out area with mini cool couches and ultra chic toys, table with books...it was amazing. If you have young kids, please check it out...you have to go...so fun. We danced to "girls just wanna have fun", the "macarena", and other music reminiscent of our vacation in Jamaica...Hazel twirled with sheer fabrics as if she were a baby Stevie Nicks, danced with little eggs filled with pennies, a mini tambourine..and majorly danced the afternoon away...it was amazing...please, please check it out....

http://www.babylovesdisco.com/

Me & my girls at da club...Holler!!

Getting Down on the dance floor!

Jade likes to get down too!!!

Jade in the "For Crawlers Only" section...VIP!

Hazel & Jade in the "Chill Out" area...complete with chic mini furniture....so cute!

On the way home we stopped at Starbucks and Hazel met this little girl who was vacationing with her family from Italy...Why anyone would leave amazing Italy and vacation in Philly is beyond me...but they seemed like a lovely family...hopefully they made it out safely!

Camping with Ney Ney!

When you put a toddler and mud together...interesting things happen!

But things take an even more interesting turn when the muddy clothes come off....

I've said it once, and I'll say it again....my little Hazel is a free-spirited little firecracker! I don't know what is more exhilarating for her...her muddy escapades or her diaper fire dancing/singing sesh.

Gotta love her!!!!!!!!

Community Night at the Franklin Institute!!!!!

As we are majorly cheap bargain seekers...we found out that the Franklin Institute in Philly was having a community night last week. We had stopped by the science museum last month to take a peek and find out prices...and I (Monie) had the foresight to ask, "Do you have any free days", to which the lady replied, "Why Yes!!!!". Once a month they allow you to visit the museum for free from 5:00 pm to closing. It was awesome because we really wanted to see the "Real Pirates" exhibit, which was quite pricey!!!



So we showed up and had to wait in line to get tickets. Let me tell you, when things are free, yeah let's just say interesting people come a calling. Anyhow, we were able to get tickets to an Imax movie on the Swiss Alps (very good), and tickets to the Real Pirates exhibit (yipee)...all for $0. The pirate exhibit was especially awesome because it was the items from an actually sunken pirate ship...oh my goodness it so interesting to learn about it and see the real "pirates booty"...yeah totally awesome!!!!!!!!!!



We watched the movie, saw the exhibit, and played around...it was a completely awesome night...even more so because it didn't cost us a cent...gotta love it. Walking to the subway at like 9:00 pm was nice. The city was beautifully lit, not a hobo in sight, and it there was a lovely breeze....it was a great night!

Little Helper pt 2

My little helper

My birthday part 2.

And so we woke super early to get to the big suprise.... We were all goin to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Well, jus a little problem.... WE DIDNT NEED TO GET UP SO EARLY!! ( thanks mom! hahahhaah), but it was nice to go to those places from the Jersey side. It was way less crowded. My sister Heather and boyfriend Josh met us down there. We ate breakfast at the Liberty Diner. Pretty tasty grub.



We got back to the ferry and headed over to Ellis Island. This place was really cool. It is simply amazing to see how America really got started as far as immigrants go... maybe my relatives came through here... Alot of information to take in, but well worth it!



Next we headed over to the Copper Lady, really cool, and alot of stairs but ya can't go up in her anymore. When I was about 10 or so we went up all the way to the crown. It is definitely one of those places you have to visit at least once in your life.

After this, it was time to head back to the city. We said our goodbyes to Head and Josh, and made one last stop before catching our bus back to Philly. Im a big lover of the BBQ so, NYC had a chef claim of a great award winning place in the upper west side. Daisy May's is the name. It was okay, take it or leave it I say. Some stuff was good, like the chicken and the beans, other stuff was jus normal. I guess I was expecting alot more. The biggest deal for me though was they didnt have any ice! Are ya kiddin me? Sorry I get off on a wild tangent. It was a great day and a good way to end a beautiful birthday weekend. Thank you so much to all my family making it a birthday to remember. I love you all so much! More than you will probably ever know.....