PA Vacay - Day 7, 6/26

Thursday: Today was Hershey Park Day 2 for us! Grandma & Grandpa went back to explore more of Amish Country and we went back to Hershey to explore more of the park and to go to the Water Park. Our plan was to ride rides in the morning, head out for a picnic lunch and then do the water park in the afternoon. The bummer thing was that the water park was ALL the way in the back of the park and made for a long walk in toting your stuff. Too bad there's not a back entrance that is water park only! 

We had another awesome day. Both boys have totally gotten into riding the rides. They both wanted to ride whatever they were tall enough to ride and would stop as we walked by. They talked about what they did on Tuesday and what they wanted to do again. We did some new stuff too. After lunch we had to make another trip through the Chocolate Factory - for a break and to cool off - and this time we got some yummy ice cream. Then it was an afternoon at the Water Park. We also stopped back in the Chocolate Factory on the way out to buy chocolate for Cole's teachers to take back with us. The boys picked out a small bucket for themselves. Somehow we managed not to take back 50 pounds of chocolate and didn't eat too much.....yet! I definitely see us coming back to Hershey Park in the not so distant future. One of my favorite amusement parks to date!! Will have to come back when Eli is big enough for the big coasters and maybe Cole will get to do his first loop coaster. 

Playing a baseball game with fire starter wood and hickory nuts

Reese and Hershey strapped in, ready to go back

These two had so much fun together. I'm so happy they get along and are best buds. 

We took a nice ride on the monorail. 

Got to see Hershey street lights. 

Oh yes, this is one of the coasters that Grandma & I rode on Tuesday. You literally go straight up, can see nothing but sky and then whoop, fast back down. It was crazy!

My coaster boy - waiting in line for the big wooden coaster. 

View from the ferris wheel. 

The whole yellow coaster. 

Water park view from the ferris wheel. See that purple waterside on the left side of the picture? Cole went down that. By himself!! He & I waited in line thinking we could do it together. When it was finally our turn, they said we couldn't. So instead of walking back down, Cole said he'd go by himself. I looked over and saw him come out of the tube. I thought he was crying and upset. Then it was my turn. Oh my goodness! It was SO dark in there. And when you finally came out into the water pool at the end, you were going really fast. Tim was at the bottom and apparently Cole was all jazzed when he came out and said "THAT WAS AWESOME!!". So proud of my brave, adrenalin junkie little boy. =) 

Finally found Mr. Reese

We let them play a Plinko type game to win a prize. 

They both ended up with little Reese dudes. And were proud because they won them themselves. 

Water park after lunch. Eli and Cole loved this sandcastle water area. They played in the other places but this one held their attention the longest. They loved sliding down the slides on their knees. 

It's so fun Mom!! We don't want to leave. 

Eli and Cole were NON-STOP for hours at the water park. But when it came time to walk back to the truck, Cole's legs stopped working literally just as we started walking. 

And I love this picture. It reminds me of those "They're just like us" celebrity pictures. Tim hauled Cole for just a little bit until his legs would work again. Funny how kids have all the energy in the world for that THEY want to do but none when they need to do something. 

As we were leaving, we came upon some more of the Hershey characters dancing in the street. We walked them and then got pictures with them. Here....Mr. Milk Dud. 

Peppermint Pattie

Rolo.....YUM

NutRageous - love how he propped his hand on Cole's head

As we were exploring in Chocolate World, we found Mr. Jolly Rancher. The boys were super excited because we'd almost seen all the characters. I think the only one we missed was the Twizzler. 

All back together at camp for more campfire stories and Smore's. 

THIS is what super tired looks like. 

Too much fun in one day for these little guys to handle. Just how vacation is supposed to be!!

PA Vacay - Day 6, 6/25

Oh my....last night was a doozy! Let's see how to explain this. I'll go back to Monday for some background. As you would expect after a weekend, lots of folks left and more arrived. Well, a pop-up family arrived Monday afternoon two spots over from us. My initial impression wasn't that great because one of the little boys (I suspect about 8 years old) kept trying to show off and ride his bike in front of our campsite so Eli & Cole would notice him. That hit me wrong to start. Then.....the Dad (I assume - he was the only adult male member of the camping party) came over to our campsite and, in front of the boys!, proceeded to cuss and smoke while asking if we had power and if he could check his power meter because he couldn't get power on. So my radar was up pretty high and I quickly decided I was not fond of our new neighbors. Monday night the kids (6 of them I think) were super rowdy with a pillow fight in their camper and did so well past the 9pm quiet hour rule. Tim told me to lighten up and it'd be all right. But then this morning....he was totally on my side! We were so tired from Hershey yesterday that we fell asleep very early. About 3:45am I woke up and had to go to the bathroom. Turns out Tim was already awake and could hear the intro song to the Indiana Jones movie on repeat from two campsites over. Apparently our neighbors decided to have movie night - projecting onto the tent wall, fell asleep and left everything on super loud. There was no sleeping or anything for us then. After looking through all our information to see if we could contact a Ranger, Tim ended up calling 911 at 4am. About half an hour later, the Ranger on Call came over. Of course we were awake and waiting to see what would happen. I only saw him because of his flashlight (he had left his truck down the hill) and he banged on the pop up camper door, no one answered. Then he tried to get someone awake in the tent. Nothing happening there. We heard a verbal exchange with "Dad" of the site but in the end, the Ranger just pulled the plug on their whole set up. Quiet again (and pushing 5am), we managed to go back to sleep before starting another fun day. We later found out that Grandma had walked over about 3:30am to try to find a way to shut it off. They were a total disruption to our peaceful camping existence (with no manners at all!) and we were anxious to see how everything would go. 

After such a busy day yesterday, we decided to stay in camp and explore / have more fun. Tim and Grandpa went to see if there were any magnets or stickers at the Ranger Station and ended up talking to the Ranger that came out early this morning. Apparently he's the Assistant Park Manager and was not happy about what he found. They're going to keep an eye on them so hopefully no more disturbances. 

We took a lazy start to the day. Tim and I took the boys mountain biking (Cole's first time on the trails!!) while Grandma & Grandpa did some shopping and exploring of their own. We really wanted some down time to let the boys play and explore. We met back up for some beach time (a different beach in the park) and wore ourselves out! After dinner, a major storm came in so we all took cover and had an early bedtime. Thankfully the monsoon kept our rowdy neighbors away and thus very quiet! I'm learning more about how to schedule our days camping and today's "rest day" was a good call!! 

Morning card games

Mountain biking family!!

Cole had so much fun and kept saying that he's now a "Mountain Biker!"

I am so wonderfully blessed. 

One of my very favorite pictures of these two cuties. 

After biking and lunch, we went to a sand beach. 

The boys made friends on the beach and worked to capture and reroute water. They then had a blast catching minnows. 

This face cracks me up! 

And when everyone was gone, the jumped in their creation. 

Not a night camping without Smore's. 

Hanging with Grandma & Grandpa around the fire. We took turns telling stories. I included stories where "two little boys" were the main characters and got into trouble for doing various things. Grandpa taught the boys a story about "Sloppy" the pig. Sloppy weighed 500 hundred pounds. It was hilarious!!

The major monsoon. Thankfully we all fared pretty well.