David had the week off so we took a quick trip to Pennsylvania. First, we headed to the Hershey Factory. It was very crowded because it was raining so all of the people that were at the Hershey Amusement Park came over to the Factory to be indoors. We were able to take the quick tour though. The kids loved it and it smelled so good! The kids picked a bag of Reese's pieces (I may have persuaded them a bit) as a souvenir before we headed to nearby Lancaster, PA.
We made a quick stop at the outlet stores in Lancaster and were able to fit all of the kids into a new pair of shoes for the new school year. We checked into our hotel, grabbed some dinner and then headed to Dutch Wonderland for the evening. The kids absolutely loved it! It is an amusement park designed especially for younger kids, complete with a water park and mini golf. Ben and Kate were the perfect age. They loved every second it of. At least every second except for my adventure with Kate on the bumper cars. I may have caused a head on crash that just might have scarred her for life...or at least make her never want to ride another bumper car ever again! David and I really enjoyed watching them have so much fun. My favorite part was the entertainment provided at the high dive theatre. They told the story of the Frog Prince and the Dragon's tail. The actors/divers were very animated and talented. They threw in some adult humor which made it fun for the parents. Ben loved it, but Kate and Jacob were terrified of the villain. It didn't help that we sat in the splash zone and he actually did splash them. We spent all day Wednesday at Dutch Wonderland as well. Near the end of the day on Wednesday, I asked Ben what his favorite part of Dutch Wonderland was. He said, "When Daddy said I could play a game." Now mind you....up until that time Daddy had never said that! We had made it very clear that we weren't going to play any games and explained to Ben that you never actually win. Of course how can you resist when he says something like that....his favorite part hadn't even happened yet. What a smart boy! He got his Mom to convince his Dad. And his Dad even forked over $12 until he got that darn Papa Smurf. And then of course, Kate just had to have Strawberry Shortcake. We had better luck with her and got her for only $6.
Pre-crash!
Ben purposely placed Kate and himself in those specific tractors. They matched their ages!
After the trip, we vowed to do more things like this. A memory worth every cent.
