Flat Stanley Takes on Coney Island

Today started like any other. We woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast & then head out for an adventure. First we stopped to get Stanley some new duds. What I was making just wasn't cutting the mustard. As we shopped around Toys R Us a strange theme started to emerge. There are no boy doll clothes. None! Flat Stanley was almost Flat Samantha for his visit here. But we made it work. He's now wearing jeans & a collared shirt. Thank goodness because it's pretty chilly in Coney Island.

As I was getting Stanley dressed, we had a mishap. Poor Stanley got a boo boo. :( Yesterday a friend was telling me that when Stanley visited her he went home with a bandaid because he fell & got a boo boo and I thought "How exactly does Flat Stanley have a mishap? How do you send the poor guy home with a bandaid?" And then sure as the sky is blue.... Stanley's foot almost came clean off. So I'm sorry Juan.... Stanley has a cast, but he also has a stylish boot to keep his cast dry. He's also got people signing his cast.

We got to the Aquarium quite quickly after clothes shopping. And of course Stanley couldn't have been more giddy to see the fish, seals, walruses, penguins, sharks, stingrays and turtles. He even got up close & personal with the sea life. He watched as a mommy & daddy seal discussed with such pride, that their baby was getting so big so fast. When he was visiting with the sharks, he had to think about what he'd eaten for breakfast that made him smell so tasty.

















Then Stanley noticed the snow. I don't know how he missed it before. We've got a lot of snow around here from all the storms. Stanley didn't know it snowed by the beach. He thought all beaches were sunny & hot. We had to tell Stanley that Coney Island beach does get sunny & hot. Just not in the winter. Stanley insisted on making a snow angel. How could we deny him?



When he saw the walrus he jumped for joy. He couldn't believe he was actually that close to the walrus & that the walrus was looking for him. He wondered how the walruses knew he'd be visiting today. Of course Sean & Meredith were excited too. Meredith told Stanley that she'd let everyone know Stanley was coming to visit. The walrus was so excited. He tried to have Stanley take a ride on his belly. The walrus & Stanley couldn't understand why the glass was in their way.











Here's the walrus looking for Stanley.







When we had finished our aquarium visit, we headed up to the famous Coney Island boardwalk. It was still covered with snow, but that didn't stop people from going there. There were people feeding the birds and even people at the Polar Bear Club. I told Stanley that if he had visited just a couple of weeks earlier he could've swam with them in the ocean. He told me it as way to cold. Brrrrrrrr



We trekked on and Stanley made believe he was in Alfred Hitchcock's movie "The Birds". He screamed, "aaaaaaaaahhhhh get me out of this telephone booth!"





We were all so hungry after our big adventure. Stanley mentioned that since we were in Coney Island, he'd love to make a pit stop at Nathan's. So that's what we did. We made our way to Nathan's. We each had a hot dog, fries and some lemonade. We read the place mat to Stanley and told him all about 5 cent hot dogs. Can you imagine that hot dogs used to cost 5 cents? We told him all about the Coney Island of yesteryear and how exciting it was for people to come from all over and goto the amusement parks.





After we ate we went back to the aquarium parking lot for the car. We walked a couple of blocks & saw many interesting things. We saw the building with the Coney Island museum & freak show. We told Stanley all about the mermaid parade and the sideshows. We told him how busy things get in Coney Island in the summer and pointed out all the exciting new attractions coming there.





We pointed out the old buildings and told him about the landmark businesses that had to close unexpectedly. We also told him that while we were sad to see them close, we know that good things are coming.

We saw the cyclone and we let Stanley know that if he'd have come in the summer, he would've had the thrill of a lifetime!





And then we went home. It was a big adventure for Stanley.

We went to Aunt Kelley's house to celebrate ema's birthday tonight. We celebrated with dinner & cake. Unfortunately we were so wrapped up in having fun that we forgot to take pictures.

When we came home, Stanley brushed his teeth, washed his face, put on pjs & then went to bed all snuggly.

More adventures to come!