Hershey's Chocolate World

Steve had a conference in Hershey, PA. He suggested that I check the kids out of school early and meet him there so we could go to Chocolate World. I was a little hesitant to drive there by myself, but we made it! We had so much fun! As soon as we got close, we all really could smell chocolate in the air!

We went on the perfect day! Well, almost. The "create your own chocolate bar" was closed for cleaning, but there was hardly anyone there so that was nice.

The first thing the kids got to do when we arrived was to pretend they were Hershey Kiss factory workers.

I forgot my good camera so sorry about the poor pictures!

Getting on the free tour. See the long line? So nice! We went on this ride 3 times by request of all 3 kids! Every time you get off, they give you chocolate!

So much to look at

Ben thought the singing cows were funny

Dad's favorite candy bar, or so I thought! I learned today that his new favorite is dark chocolate with almonds! I'll have to remember that!

Kisses with kisses

We saw a 4D movie. I really screamed twice when the rats came! Ben was a little nervous. The girls thought it was hilarious!

I caught Ben in mid air!

We took a tour of Hershey city on the Hershey Trolley. We read the reviews that it was an entertaining ride geared toward kids, well not ours. It was interesting for Steve and me, but the kids were ready after a few minutes. It was the chocolate they kept passing around that kept them from complaining! When we got off, they gave us each a big hershey bar!

We learned that Hershey was actually a really neat person. He was a humble man that really helped out a lot in the community. The city is actually a beautiful place to live. I would live there!

World's largest chocolate bar!

It was such a fun day! Dad has the best ideas!

Penn's Cave

On Labor Day we went to Penn's Cave. The tour is by boat! 

The store before heading onto Penn's Cave was filled with thousands of fun things to look at. The kids loved all the different kinds of rocks the best! 

Not a great picture, but it gives you an idea of the boat and entrance to the cave.

Addi was nervous. She said Dad protected her.

At one point, the tour guide turned out all the lights to show us how dark it gets. The kids were nervous. They did not like that part.

They named a lot of the different stone formations. Alyssa liked the "gummy bear" and "shark fin" the best. We even got to see two bats, which Lys loved, but Addi did not! 

The kids favorite part was when the tour guide changed the lighting to different colors. They thought it was so beautiful, especially the rainbow lighting at the end.

This is the other side of the cave. We couldn't venture out there because it was pouring! The boat would have filled up with water! I wish we could have. It was really beautiful and peaceful.

On the way home, we past this a couple of times!

Fishing at Montour Preserve

Alyssa must have asked to go fishing every weekend for 4 weeks, so we finally planned a trip. We found a beautiful place to go and bought all the gear we needed to take the kids.

On the way, Ben fell asleep. So when we got there, I stayed in the car with Ben for over an hour while Steve and the girls fished. I stayed busy playing on my phone! Once Ben finally woke up, we met up with the girls and Steve. The weather was perfect. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day!

Here's our single catch. The girls were pretty excited. If you zoom in, you may be able to see it.

Ben is obsessed with throwing rocks in the water. He did this the whole time.

I can't help but smile when I see this. He's sportin' his new hat and spiderman sunglasses.

Summertime Projects

Our Summer schedule usually consisted of going to the gym, running an errand or a fun trip, snack and show (or lunch if it was late enough) and then nap time for Ben. During his nap, the girls and I would do "learning time," reading time and then we'd try to fit in a project. Here's a lot of the projects we did this summer here in Danville.

Tape Art Resist

Toothpick Towers

Tinkerbell Necklaces and Rings

Magic Beads

(They did this like 3 or 4 days in a row. This is what Addi stuck up her nose - to be posted later!)

Mind Blowing Science

(This was done many days in a row too. Very popular with Lys.)

Painting our own Olympic Rings

(While watching the Olympics, of course)

Felt Finger Puppets

Decorating Cookies

Fourth of July Fireworks

Rolling Hills Red Deer Farm

In the last post, if you guessed a groundhog,  a woodchuck, a land-beaver, or a whistle pig, you are right! They are all names for the same animal. Here's some trivia for ya...The groundhog is called a woodchuck because the native american called it a wuchak and eventually the settlers started saying "woodchuck." It's also called a whistle pig because when it senses danger, it stands on it's hind legs and whistles to its group that there's danger ahead. And, Groundhog day started in Pennsylvania!

Anyway, today we visited a deer farm. . .

First, we fed goats while we waited for the tour. The kids laughed every time the goats would head butt each other. 

Addi thought they would slobber her hands. It was too gross for her to try to feed them.

The kids each got a bucket of food to feed the deer.

Lyssa was the bravest. Addi was again worried about it slobbering her hand and Ben was nervous too.

Tons of deer 

After a pep talk with Addi, and showing her how to hold the tip of the food, she was finally brave enough to try. The food would drop half the time because she'd pull her hands back too fast.

Even though Ben was nervous to feed the deer, he loved holding the bucket. He would not put it down. 

Notice the closed fists. He did not like that his hands were dirty from holding the deer food.

Ben, Smile!

See how many antlers you can spot in the next few pictures. Papa's paradise!

The guide said the biggest buck they had was a 23 point. 

Another grandpa on the tour helped Addi feed a few deer. She was getting braver!

On our way home, Steve asked, "Who wants to run through the corn fields?" Of course they all replied, "Me!!!" So we pulled over and let them play for a bit. Danville and all the neighboring cities are filled with corn fields.