New York, New York - That Concrete Jungle

I've always wanted to go to the Big Apple, or as we say now, the Concrete Jungle. I love big cities, lights, tons of people and New York was definitely all of that put together. Family of mine were planning on driving down for the weekend from Maryland. I literally made up my mind the night before and of course took my little Princess with me.

We drove down for about four hours and as soon as we got there, we hit the crazy traffic over in Brooklyn. So this was New York, yay! Ok, all my life I wanted to visit this city, please excuse my excitement. As we got there, we joined in at a friends party, had some great food, drinks and then we went over to Time Square to get a glimpse of the night lights. The energy in New York was just so vibrant.

When we all got tired, we went over for the biggest sleep over at a friends place in Manhattan. I could see all the lights and fun from my window and I was excited for the next morning.

I got up the next day and knowing I had just a few hours in NY, I decided to take myself and my daughter on a tour of the city. I jumped in the famous yellow taxi, I can't whistle so had to stick that hand out like we non-whistlers do. We went straight to Time Square to jump on a tour bus heading to Downtown NY. It was AMAZING, everything i'd been looking forward to.

We didn't miss out on those famous hot dogs, had to stop over for a bite. 

We sat in front of the tour bus, on the top seater of the double decker bus, greatest view ever.

So I literally had just a few hours, didn't get to finish our tour because we were heading back that same day to Maryland. Got back in a Taxi to Manhattan and we were off to Maryland. I knew I had to be back soon, so you know what, I went back for another weekend. I had this crazy research paper due that weekend but nothing was coming in between me and this ride down to NY. My sister opted to drive while I typed up my assignment in the car. We got to New York and stayed over at a Holiday Inn in Manhattan. It was a few blocks away from Time square so of course what did I do?

 I continued my tour. Back on the tour bus it was for me and my crew. Still excited as ever, this time we did the tour of Uptown NY.

It was a long day, after my little one slept off, I went down to the bar by the lobby of the hotel and had some drinks with good friends of mine. We ladies enjoyed our evening, I was leaving early the next morning back to Maryland so this was a perfect end to my trip.

Happy Halloween!!!! King Farm Village Center in Rockville Maryland.

Good ol Halloween. Why do you come around just once a year? Sigh! So for weeks, my daughter and I had been discussing what princess she would be for Halloween. She is completely obsessed with Aurora aka sleeping beauty but I was a bit disappointed in some of the options I saw for Princess Aurora, so she ended up being Cinderella instead. I literally did some last minute shopping to get her outfit. My friend and I went over to a couple of stores but to our surprise the perfect costume was over at Burlington.

So last year when I came over for holidays, I took my daughter over to Westfield Wheaton Mall for Trick or Treating. It was great fun with different stores participating and handing out candy to the kids. She dressed up as Princess Sophia while at the mall and then later that evening we were out and about in a community over in Glenmont as Doc Mcstuffins.

So back to this year, we had to step up our candy/chocolate game and head over to one of the best Trick or treat neighborhoods. King Farm in Rockville Maryland is definitely a go to area for Halloween. With roads like Crooked Creek Drive, you know you are in the right place for trick or treating. So families parked over at the Safeway and walked across to the homes right opposite. The majority here literally sit out to hand candy, chocolate and some houses even had gifts laid out for the kids. It was perfect evening fun. The decorations were like something from a set in Hollywood with lights, smokey cauldrons and I remember my daughter asking "Mommy is that fog", they had that also.

There was this one guy who had dressed up as Deadmau5, the famous house music artist. He had the music up so loud, all the kids were literally gravitating towards his porch to get the candy. With that mask, who knows, maybe it was him :). He let us take a quick pic and we were back on our way to filling up our candy basket.

When we were done being spookified (my new word for spooked), we decided to call it a day. We got home, my little Princess counted her candy and in a matter of minutes she was tucked up in bed allowing mommy to watch her classic movie Ghost. The perfect end to a spooky day. Happy Halloween.

Walker Mill Regional Park, Woodland Wonderland, District Heights Maryland.

So I know I said goodbye to summer and outdoor fun but surprisingly the sun came out to play a little. A best friend of mine told me to join her and her son at the park one evening. She's mentioned this place several times but I really had no idea how awesome this park would be. It felt like finding a little treasure.

I parked over at the parking lot, there's a huge parking lot so don't worry about space. This park had great space for the kids and the best part for parents was it was absolutely no fee.

The park had several slides everywhere with creative designs. It literally looked like something out of snow white and the seven dwarfs.

The kids weren't getting tired anytime soon so luckily there were chairs stationed all over the place and a bathroom just incase. 

Tip: There was a map with different sorts of animals you could find all over the park. The kids can enjoy a scavenger hunt searching for the animals displayed on the map.

Tip: The kids can cool off after running around, the park has several hidden fountains. Look for the wooden stands with knobs to find this surprise. Watch this

Of course we mommy's had to do some exploring so we walked the entire park. There was a section for Basketball, Skate boarding, American football, Tennis, Soccer and Baseball. Im not kidding, this was all in one park. There was a little league team playing that evening so everyone was pumped for fun. 

Basket Ball Field

Skating Ring

There was also a trail for the hikers at heart and a cool space for picnics. 

 Picnic Stand

A perfect end to the evening. Definitely looking forward to more fun here in the summer.