Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood at Idlewild

When I left off with our road trip recaps on Monday, we were en route to Pittsburgh from Philadelphia, via the Flight 93 Memorial. We made it to Pittsburgh that afternoon and stayed with my Aunt Rachel and Uncle Mark, who were excellent hosts! E.J. took a particular liking to their staircase (boy, did he master that quickly) and climbing onto their fireplace, because of course he did, and Ellie was thrilled with all the toys they had set out for her. They also really liked their dog Shelby! Ellie had so much fun that she spent the rest of our trip asking to go back to Pittsburgh! So thank you for your hospitality, Aunt Rachel and Uncle Mark!

Playing with Aunt Rachel and Uncle Mark

Weeeeee!

Thwarted!

On Thursday, July 30th, we had plans to go to Idlewild Amusement Park, which is about an hour and a half outside of Pittsburgh. Ellie was psyched about this day, because she has been asking to ride "Daniel's red trolley" since the beginning of time and now, she was about to be able to do so! You see, Idlewild used to be home to a Mister Rogers' Neighborhood ride, but they recently closed it and renovated it to reflect the new version of Mister Rogers: Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.

For any who may not know, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is an animated PBS show that is, essentially, the next generation of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood of Make Believe. For instance, the title character, Daniel Tiger, is the son of Daniel Striped Tiger from the original show. His best friends include Prince Wednesday (son of King Friday and Queen Sara Saturday, and little brother of Prince Tuesday); Katerina Kittycat (daughter of Henrietta Pussycat); O the Owl (nephew of X the Owl); and Miss Elaina (daughter of Lady Elaine Fairchilde and newcomer Music Man Stan). Each episode features a little jingle to help the viewer learn some sort of appropriate behavior (such as empathy, cleaning up, anger management, etc.), and kids eat it up. Seriously, Ellie adores this show and sings the jingles often in regular life.

Needless to say, Ellie was super excited to go ride the trolley and meet Daniel. She even dressed the part: I made her a red trolley tank top (my solution to keep her from asking to wear a red sweater in July heat, because she would absolutely do that), and she paired that with her tiger ears and tiger tail. She then referred to herself as Daniel Tiger for the entire day, because she's three years old and awesome. E.J. also had a "Daniel's red sweater" carrier cover, and a little tiger t-shirt. We were ready to go!

Her outfit is on point!

Naturally, upon arrival at Idlewild, we headed straight for Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.

We made it!

Right away we came upon the stage where they have a Daniel Tiger show, and had to take a picture in front of "Daniel's house."

Ellie is all, "Who needs to go to L.A. to see the stars' homes? THIS IS DANIEL TIGER'S HOUSE!"

Tourist shot!

Then, we got right down to business and rode that trolley. The ride was pretty cute—it took you through Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, with stops at all the main characters' homes. The trolley would pause at each scene and the ride operator would "talk with" the characters. I have to admit, I got a little teary-eyed on the ride because Ellie loved it SO MUCH. Every time we would turn a corner and spot a new character, she would yell out, "LOOK! It's Miss Elaina! Hiiiiiiiii, Miss Elaina!" and wave furiously. She was so thrilled, and it was so much fun to watch!

We're on the trolley and she's excited!

Ready to go!

Prince Wednesday's castle

The tree where Katerina Kittycat and O the Owl live

Miss Elaina in the Museum-Go-Round

Dad Tiger (or "Daniel Striped Tiger" all grown up, if you will) at the Clock Factory

Waving to Mr. McFeely

The big finish!

After the trolley ride we were trying to decide what to do next (Idlewild is a pretty big park and has lots of different "lands" to explore), but Ellie spotted a motorcycle kiddie ride and wanted to give it a try. We weren't sure how she'd like it, never having done something like that by herself before, but when it was over she hopped off and said, "That was GRRRRRR-rific!" (a la Daniel Tiger) and ran off to find more rides. And then she rode ALL THE RIDES.

Biker chick!

Running to find more rides

Too soon.

She loved riding this turtle "roller-coaster!"

Teacups

Ferris Wheel

Carts with her Daddy

By that time, we were hungry for lunch so we picked up some food and found a picnic bench near the stage for the Daniel show. We had just enough time to eat before the show began. Ellie loved the show. She was so excited to see Daniel and Katerina Kittycat!

Handsome boys before the show

It's Daniel and Katerina!

Watching intently

Participating!

After the show, the kids are allowed to meet Daniel and Katerina and take pictures. Naturally, we took advantage of that opportunity.

Like long lost friends!

Big hug for Daniel

Possibly the greatest moment of her life.

Great family fun!

After that, we rode the trolley again, just because, hey. We went all that way for that trolley, and we were going to ride it until we were sick of it, by golly.

The boys out for a walk while we waited for the trolley

All aboard!

So much fun!

Idlewild was also having "Princess Days" that week, so Ellie was able to meet both Snow White and "Beauty." I had to chuckle when Snow White asked her, "What's your name, Princess?" and Ellie replied, "I'm just Daniel Tiger." Oh, that kid.

Ellie and Snow White

Ellie and Beauty

We were pretty hot and tired by that point, so we took a break for some ice cream.

Yum!

Goofball.

Then, Ellie rode the carousel and met some more Idlewild characters.

She loves the carousel!

She also loves any and all costumed characters!

And then, we decided to call it a day. We made our way back to Pittsburgh, fearing the worst of rush hour traffic, but it really wasn't that bad. E.J., on the other hand, was SO OVER IT. He was exhausted and his very brief car catnap was not sufficient and he LOST IT. Of course, he's E.J., so he was back to normal as soon as we arrived in Pittsburgh, but it was a rough ride back.

My Aunt Rachel had already left for Cleveland to prepare for our family reunion starting the next day, so we had dinner with my Uncle Mark and shared some nice conversation before gathering our things a little bit and calling it a night. We had a long weekend of family fun ahead of us!

To see more pictures from our fun at Idlewild, click here.

Coming up next: The annual Hesterman Family Reunion in Cleveland!

Our Road Trip!

We're back from our trip! We were gone for a total of 14 days, drove over 2,500 miles and made (planned) stops in seven cities. We visited two amusement parks, met 12 PBS Kids celebrities, visited with four great friends and 18 family members, and nearly filled two 16-GB memory cards with photos. In short, we had a blast.

This trip was funny (but not unusual) because, as these things tend to do, we started out with a single destination in mind (my family reunion in Cleveland) and in thinking through our drive there, we found a number of stops to add, stretching the trip to its final lengthy duration. It was the sort of thing that, as we talked through it, we got more and more excited about all the fun things we could fit into one trip and marveled at how great this would be. We added stops in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia (and a visit to Sesame Place), Pittsburgh (and a visit to Idlewild amusement park, plus a pit stop at the Flight 93 Memorial), and Pinehurst, NC. Our itinerary was looking good!

Then, as the trip approached, our nerves picked up a little. All those stops stretched the reunion weekend into a full-on two-week road trip. We were spacing out the driving as much as possible, but still, that was going to be a lot of travel with a three-year-old and a one-year-old. When we shared our plans, people weren't really great at hiding that "OMG YOU ARE CRAZY" look on their faces, and we started to think they were probably right. Our itinerary looked a bit ambitious, and my mind started to fill with visions of sleepless night after sleepless night and car rides filled with the tortured screams of travel-weary children in the backseat. WHAT WERE WE THINKING.

In the end, though, everything was perfect. We only really had one minor child-related hiccup (a 4:00 a.m. wake-up from Ellie the morning we were driving from D.C. to Philadelphia), but for the rest of the trip, they were such troopers. They really slept pretty well, rolled with the punches when days ran long and naps got skipped, kept their happy demeanors and, most importantly, seemed to have lots of fun. Backseat screaming was even kept to a minimum and could usually be quieted with a new toy or container of Cheerios. Everything else went great, too—we only drove through rain a couple of times (at the start and end of our trip), and otherwise the weather was excellent (albeit hot) for every other part of the trip; we got where we were going in a timely manner; we saw what we wanted to see and made a lot of really great memories. Honestly, we could not have asked for better.

I am going to recap everything in depth (as if you would expect any different), but that's going to take some time because, as I mentioned, we took an absolutely ridiculous amount of pictures. So I have lots of editing and sorting and organizing to do. I may get started on recaps next week, or I may share some other things I've had in the works for a while next week and pick up the trip recaps the following week. We'll just wait and see how ambitious I feel over the weekend!

In the meantime, however, I'd like to give a brief synopsis of the great things we did. Consider this the Cliffs Notes version of our trip!

We left on Thursday, July 23rd and drove from Jacksonville to Raleigh, NC, where we stayed in a house (via AirBNB) for the night.

Here we go!

On Friday, July 24th, we drove the rest of the way to our first stop: Washington, D.C., where we stayed for 2.5 days with friends Jeff and Sarah. We were so excited about this stop, as it has been almost exactly 10 years since we moved to D.C. and seven since we left. I hadn't been back since we moved away, and I was excited to see it again and take the kids. The visit did not disappoint! We did lots of typical D.C. sightseeing and enjoyed time with our friends.

At Arlington National Cemetery

In front of the Lincoln Memorial, where Eric and I got engaged!

Eric and Ellie at the White House

On Monday, July 27th, we left D.C. and drove to Philadelphia, where we did some historical sightseeing and ran up the Art Museum steps Rocky-style (or, if you are a three-year-old girl, Elsa-style).

Family photo op in front of Independence Hall

My Elle-Belle and the Liberty Bell

Eye of the tiny toddler tiger!

VIDEO: Ellie on the Rocky Steps.

"Let it go! Let it go! Let it go! Let it go! Let it go!"

On Tuesday, July 28th we went to Sesame Place, where the kids especially enjoyed our breakfast with Elmo and friends. They had a blast and that meal experience in particular was probably my favorite part of the entire trip!

Ellie and Elmo

E.J. EXPLODED WITH JOY for Cookie Monster!

On the famous Sesame Street stoop!

On Wednesday, July 29th we left Philly and drove to Pittsburgh, making a stop at the Flight 93 Memorial along the way.

Looking out through the gate to the impact site

In Pittsburgh we stayed with my Aunt Rachel and Uncle Mark, and the kids loved playing both with them and with all the toys they put out for them. (E.J. was also particularly fond of the stairs and went up and down ad nauseam.)

E.J. playing with Uncle Mark! (And Ellie playing with all the zoo animal figurines, which were a big hit.)

On Thursday, July 30th we went to Idlewild amusement park specifically for the new Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood addition to the park. We rode the trolley, watched the Daniel Tiger show, and met Daniel and Katerina Kittycat. We also learned that Ellie LOVES to ride rides.

She's had her picture taken with the Vice President of the United States, but I'm pretty confident that this was Ellie's favorite celebrity sighting in her three years of life.

On Friday, July 31st we made the short drive to my Gramps's house in Cleveland, where Eric golfed, I visited with my friend Megan, and E.J. LEARNED TO WALK.

Getting into mischief at Great-Gramps's house! Stay tuned for a walking video!

The weekend was filled with reunion fun, and marked both my grandfather's 93rd birthday and the first reunion appearance for his three newest great-grandbabies. We had a great time together!

The Hesterman clan!

(We're missing the six members of the Idaho contingent and my sister Heather, who is still in Japan.)

The big girls helping their Great-Gramps blow out his birthday candles

"The Greats!"

Hesterman great-grandbabies, in age order: Zazi (3.5 years old), Ellie (3 years), Santiago (3 years), E.J. (1 year), Kinga (4 months) and Milena (also 4 months)!

The three big kids walking hand-in-hand through Memphis Kiddie Park

On Monday, August 3rd we left Cleveland and made the drive to Pinehurst, NC, where we spent the day on Tuesday with golf for Eric, a spa day for me, and some fun on the putting greens with the kids in the evening.

Eric and his kids on the 18th green of Pinehurst No. 2

Putting, with help from E.J.!

Ellie made her shot!

And then on Wednesday, August 5th, we packed up the car for the last time (thank goodness, because that was a chore) and made our way back to Jacksonville!

I think that's everything!

What a great trip with my wonderful little family!