Hershey!!!

Here are some pictures of us at Hershey. Wesley and I loved, loved, loved the chocolate parts!!! We did Hershey on Tuesday when we got to Pennsylvania. We went to Chocolate World first and then went to the park for half day passes later that afternoon. We bought lots of chocolate and it was hard not to go crazy with buying the stuff. :) I have been enjoying my special dark Hershey Kisses since then, though. ;)

We had so much fun on the rides. The park was not crowded by the time we got there so we could get on and off the rides easily. Daddy, my brother and I rode the Scrambler first thing. Steve said he couldn't handle that so he got to be the photographer. This picture is my favorite of that ride...we were packed in that thing like sardines and laughed the entire time. Daddy had a blast. Mom stayed with Wesley and Mikayla while Steve, my Dad, brother and I went and rode roller coasters. These were the first roller coasters Steve had ever ridden and it was fun to watch his expression and hear his happy shouting at the fun he was having. :) I had to ride one of them barefooted because my Birkenstocks would have fallen off since our feet dangled. lol We did the water "log" ride with the kids. Wesley loved it and rode it again but Mikayla did NOT like that long hill and getting wet. She was funny.

It was terribly hot that afternoon, though. Thankfully we did it later in the day. Mom could not have done a whole day of that...she had a hard enough time as it was. The kids got to ride a lot of rides as the evening wore on before we left. They were just over the size of Reese's for the rides. They enjoyed themselves a lot. Hershey Park is definitely a fun place to be. It was also neat to see how they make the chocolate. We knew it wasn't the real thing but it was interesting to see what it takes to make something I love to eat so much!!! By the end of the evening as we were walking out we finally saw one of the characters and the kids got their picture with it.

Our day was busy and we were tired at the end of it. We went to Hershey Gardens the next day...I have lots of pictures from that. :)

The thing I loved the most about traveling up to PA was the farms I saw all along the highways in Virginia and also in Pennsylvania. It used to be like that here. It made me realize how much I miss those days. I feel like a "city girl" now and, I guess, I have become one. I don't like that at all... I would have loved to have stopped the entire way up there and taken pictures of all those farms but I wouldn't have had enough time or space on my memory card!!! I did, however, get a picture of this creek on the back roads of Virginia. We had stopped for a potty break...out in the middle of nowhere because Mikayla was in dire need of a place to go....and we saw this as we passed over on the bridge. Steve and I walked over to it while my brother turned the vehicle around and I took these pictures. It was so peaceful and beautiful. This is another thing I miss...we are so busy in our lives now that we don't take the time to stop and look at the beautiful things in life all around us that God has given us. I just wanted to stand there and soak it all in but we had to go. Believe me...I had more opportunities to see God's handiwork and creation in the coming days. As I have said before, though, I miss the slower pace of how things were when I was growing up. Everything is so rush, rush now and I don't want that for my children. I want them to see the small things in life that God has given us. Things like the peacefulness of this creek.

Well, I have a wedding to attend this afternoon and must get going. I will post more on our trip tomorrow. :) Of course, I will also be doing some heavy cleaning beginning tomorrow as well...yuck. hee hee