Ariel and Tori tend to whine just a little bit about the cold and cramped conditions. Don told them that they would look back on this and laugh someday. Ariel gave him a dirty look and grumped, 'I'd laugh about it, except...it's REALLY HAPPENING!!' Boy, we had a good laugh to start out the day (even Ariel appreciated that it was funny).
8:10: On the road again...just can't wait...oh, sorry, I won't sing for you, promise!
9:30: We found Hershey, PA!! But, where on EARTH is Chocolate World anyway!? We had a small detour while we figured out where we were. It was actually fun as we ended up in downtown Hershey. We got to see the streetlights and Chocolate Ave.!
Lots of pictures with the kids' cameras! We can't wait to see what they thought was so cool! It'll be a while, there are lots of disposable cameras to develop. They were really funny with the cameras. We bought way too much candy...but how can you NOT!? The entire place smells like chocolate! Everywhere you look...chocolate...it's almost obscene!
Just a sampling of our wanderings thru' the candy shop.
Our 'official' vacation photo while on the chocolate tour.
Oh, and let's not forget that Don managed to catch Ariel and Tori both getting a BIG KISS while they were in Hershey!! LOL
Picking out the 'perfect' gifts took the kids about 20 minutes...SO much to choose from!
11:45am: Leaving Hershey...sure seemed like more than just 2 hours! Whew!! Glad we went in the 'off' season!! Kids have had way too much sugar and need activity to get their energy out!! Actually, they are doing really well, to be honest.
12:35: Ok...trying to explain 9/11 to the little ones is tough! Since we're visiting the site of the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, PA, we thought we ought to at least try to explain it. The innocence of Children is wonderful! They just don't understand why there are 'bad guys' who would want to hurt people that they don't even know, or why people would die by crashing the plane into a filed instead of letting the 'bad guys' crash it into Washington D.C.
1:15: Stopped for lunch (much more fast food than I figured on with a camping vacation!)
2:05: On the road again...there is some incredible scenery around here! Absolutely beautiful!
2:30: Opps, missed an exit. Good thing we're running ahead of schedule today! The next exit is actually near Shanksville. We were just going to exit early to save the tolls, but this works too!
We took lots of pictures while we were there, this is just a sampling. The visit was very cold and windy! The wind was really blowing and it was about 47 degrees! It's a very impressive site, and reflective. The volunteer who told the story for us was very good. It seemed to both Don and me that he was directing his comments right at DJ. The kids were well behaved at the memorial and listened really well to the guy speaking. The Stirks made good time driving over to pick Ariel up for her visit.
Ariel and Jessica...together again!!
4:20: Leaving Flight 93 Memorial.
5:45: The little ones are fighting sleep now...only about 20 minutes to camp, I guess. I put in a movie due to the non-stop chatter and repeated questions and answers and statements (turns out they were trying to keep themselves awake, I guess!). We're planning a campfire tonight with hot dogs, some applesauce cups and homemade banana bread that I brought with us. Then, S'mores before bed, a trip to the bathroom (gotta wash off the s'mores!).
6:30pm: Campfire was a rough start, good thing mom brought so much paper! Dinner as planned, with lemon aid that we brought with us. Don cooked for Tracy while she set up the rest of the meal in the camper (he's a pretty good cook!). Showers were...interesting, but at least everyone is clean! Kids are way too excited about camping! LOL Everything's an adventure to them, so it's actually fun to watch.
I think that things are going better than we expected, actually. There are times that we (as parents) may feel slightly overwhelmed and frustrated, but it's out 1st ever vacation as a family...I think it's sort of expected that we have a few 'glitches'. The kids have been pretty well behaved, they have been stuck in the van a LOT so far. I'm really hoping that there won't be rain tomorrow as we're supposed to be walking all day in DC! If it's too bad, maybe we'll go back to Hershey and see their 3-D movie and see what other indoor attractions we can find.
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