So, I Went All the Way to Hershey

and didn't bring home any chocolate to eat.

I find this news quite baffling, as I'm, you know, quite fond of chocolate. Based on previous blog postings, this is clearly a well known and often documented fact. Eh, oh well. I don't need more junk anyway. And besides, I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow to restock my barren refrigerator and cupboards and I'm sure a bag of Hershey miniatures will find their way into my cart; they're sneaky like that.

As I sit here eating an after dinner popsicle, which is most definitely NOT chocolate, I'll share some pictures with you. In general, I don't take many pictures. I prefer to hold my precious family memories in the vast and dark abyss, otherwise known as my memory. Or in other words, by the time I get my camera out, if I remembered to bring it in the first place, the moment has more than likely passed. Therefore, the pictures I do take are generally not very good. I'll weed through those not destined for the garbage can and try to find any that look atleast mildly acceptable.

DISCLAIMER: I realize that my child has a dirty face in nearly every picture. I am not proud of this fact, but some battles are pointless. Before motherhood, I was determined to have an impeccably clean child at all times to show my high parental aptitude. Naive much?

You see, I try. I try so very hard to keep her face clean. Despite my dedication to the task, I've proven to be rather unsuccessful at achieving this goal. I fervently pray that when she goes away to college she'll have the forethought to check her mouth in the mirror to see if there is any spaghetti sauce on her chin. Surely a teenage girl won't walk around with a milk mustache. Right?

Anyway, ignore the perpetual schmutz on Caroline's face, and everything will be quite alright.

First up, Caroline checking out the king size bed in the room with the jacuzzi tub we hijacked from my mom.

Thanks mom, you're the best!

Caroline pointing to her favorite color (the one she could reach, anyway) at the Crayola Factory.

Me and my 60 lb, 51 inch tall baby.

Next up: Chocolate World. Cue the Hallelujah chorus.

Caroline looking stylish in her 3-D glasses, waiting for a movie to begin.

Next up: Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Craig took Caroline to play miniature golf while my dad brought, my mom, aunt and me on a long and scenic drive through Amish country. We stopped in a quaint little town called none other than.....

Oh, those crazy Amish folks.

While shopping, I came across a tshirt that said "Virginia may be for lovers, but Pennsylvania has Intercourse." Ha.

We ended up at a little place called Kitchen Kettle Village. We sampled homemade jams, jellies, salsas and fudge made by the locals. And then we ate lunch at a smorgasbord (!). My mom picked the place and although my aunt and I made fun of her mercilessly for choosing a smorgasbord, it was altogether a tasty lunch. But still, the word smorgasbord lends itself to a little teasing.

The Pennsylvania countryside is very pretty. Lush and green. And FULL OF CORN. I've never been to Iowa or Nebraska, which are well known, heavy corn producers, but I'm fairly certain that Pennsylvania is a competitive corn producer as well. Seriously, I've never seen so many stalks of corn in my life. Maybe it's used to feed the cows that produce the milk that is in Hershey's milk chocolate?

We also toured the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery in a lovely town called Lititz.

Tall Caroline and my itty bitty mom.

Craig and I took Caroline to Hershey Park on Thursday.

They offered a great military discount on tickets, which was a huge blessing. The lines were LONG and Caroline is impatient, so we only went on a few rides. However, Hershey Park also has a water park, which proved to be quite the highlight.

Craig and Caroline on the gondola ride. Not wanting to squish, I got a car to myself.



Here I am. Sweaty face and all.

The gondolas go through a few of the loopy steel roller coaster rides. That is the closest I'll ever get to one of those crazy upside down, shake up your insides, lose your $15 lunch, rides.

There are people in those pink harnesses hanging from that hunk of metal!

The Boardwalk at Hershey Park

Bug girl Caroline

after getting pummeled by

a gazillion gallons of water

The final stop on our trip was to Philadelphia, PA.

A slightly askew picture of Independence Hall.

A fuzzy and hastily snapped picture of Craig and Caroline standing by the banister inside Independence Hall. The park ranger giving the tour asked everyone to touch it because it's the same banister that Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson once touched. Of course, the germ freak in me said, "yeah, they may have touched it, but so have millions of other people, too." Not one to turn my nose up at historical banisters, I touched it. And used some hand sanitizer shortly after. Ahem.

The Liberty Bell

And, of course, no trip to visit our nation's historic symbols is complete without a trip to the gift shop.

Do you think Ben Franklin walked around with ketchup on his cheeks?

We couldn't resist having our pictures taken with Craig's boss.

Yeah, even me. The big guy and I don't see eye to eye on many any issues, but he's the President. And he does have a lovely smile. Oh, and more importantly, he signs Craig's paycheck!

And this concludes the pictorial review of our vacation.

Oh, except, no vacation recap would be complete without showing the newest additions to Caroline's Webkinz collection. We added Tommy, the Boston Terrior, in Williamsburg, but our time in Pennsylvania proved to be doubly fruitful.

Meet Cocoa, named in honor of Milton Hershey's pet elephant, Cocoa.

And Chip, as in Chocolate Chip. He's a guinea pig with the cutest, puffiest cheeks EVER.

And their little friend, Brownie.

Whew, this is one hugely gigantic post.