Mosaic with Two Young Kids - Not Recommended

First of all, I love Mosaic and everything about it from the lovely traditional clothing to the delicious authentic international cuisine to the entertaining music and dancing.  We like to go every year and I feel like we really connect with the whole event since Jeremy and I both lived abroad back in our young and carefree days...also known as our twenties.  Jeremy lived in Uruguay for a few months and I lived in Australia for a year and in Taiwan for four years.  Now that we've hit our thirties and have two young kids, things aren't quite as easy.  We can't just drive from one pavilion to another and squeeze in and out of the crowds at will.

We started the evening at the South America pavilion where things started off just fine.  We took a look around, observed the various booths with South American products and watched some of their traditional dances.  Both Aleena and Connor were happy to look around and curious about what we were doing.  We didn't stay too long before we headed to the Exhibition grounds to hit a few pavilions all in the same location.

Next up was the Phillipines!  I always enjoy this one and often see some of my students working or visiting there but didn't see anyone I knew this year.  We bought a plate full of local favourites and sat down for a few minutes to eat.  We had some rice, noodles, egg rolls, and kebabs.  Connor refused to eat anything and Aleena gulped down a lot of rice!  We watched the fantastic bamboo dancing which I always love to watch and then managed to squeeze our way out.  It's really just too crowded at these pavilions for a stroller or a two year old racing around.

Onto pavilion number three..the Ukranian Kiev pavilion.  I was still pretty hungry so we lined up for food.  Well, I lined up and we were happy to find a table for kids so Connor played with some play dough and Jeremy tried to keep an increasingly cranky baby happy.  Aleena wasn't very happy about the wait.  It took about fifteen minutes to get the food and then we spent another ten minutes trying to find somewhere to sit.  It's a bit frustrating trying to find somewhere to sit when there are hundreds of people NOT eating but taking up all the tables and chairs and not giving them up.  I felt like we looked kind of pathetic with Jeremy pushing a stroller and holding onto Connor while I carried a tray of food and drinks around.  I sent out my ..."please give us a break and give up your table look" but it didn't work and we finally managed to squeeze in at the end of a table.  Not exactly fun or entertaining at that point.  Connor still didn't want to eat anything and Aleena was starting to scream and cry.  

My mantra at the start of the day was "If we can do Disney World, we can do Mosaic".  I was dead wrong.  Disney World = Child-Friendly.  Mosaic = NOT Child-Friendly.  I realize that it's unrealistic to ask for high chairs or any understanding for people like us that attempt to attend an event that's not accomodating for young children but it's also kind of upsetting sometimes.  I want to go out with our family and not be cooped up so we'll continue to try attending these events from time to time.  We will be getting a babysitter for Mosaic next year, however.

We made three pavilions before Aleena experienced a total melt down.   Connor was also totally exhausted and not co-operating at that point either.  Aleena cried the whole way home...

I still love Mosaic...but not with a one year old and two year old. 

In much happier news, I've got everything ready to go for another review and giveaway.  I just need to write it up so I'll try to do it tomorrow night if all goes well.  There will even be some super cute video of Connor as he discovered something new just for him.  The giveaway itself is for boys or girls of any age.  Oh, and give a quick click to Top Mommy Blogs for me if you could!  Thanks!