New Jersey part 2

I had too many pictures to get them all in one blog posting...so here's part 2!  Our time in Pennsylvania continued with a visit to Hershey and the factory.  Oh yummmmm...the smell of chocolate permeated the town!

 The boys even got to fill up little kiss boxes with kisses!  :-)

 Our kiss packagers ready for a job! 

 Pictures from the factory tour

 a small bar of chocolate anyone? 

 

I decided we should go to the beach and put our toes in the Atlantic Ocean since we go to the Pacific Ocean at least once a year....however, that day, a storm was rolling in.  The news forecasted it wouldn't hit until 2-3 pm...so we left early enough to get there by 11.  However, the storm decided IT wanted to come early...so we sat in front of this sign, not able to see the beach, grounded by the heavy rains, lightning and thunder.  We sat for about 30 minutes and finally decided we should just give up and go back to our hotel (over an hour drive)

 We drove two blocks and found the streets were already flooded!

 But the storm started to subside as we drove from 80th street back to 4th, so we turned back toward the beach, found an entrance, ran to put our toes in, and then ran back to our vehicle.  It was sprinkling by then.  Joshua was the only one who was comfortable with the beach/water idea. 

 Ryan was too nervous, so he stayed on the sand...

 And Michael was in and out before I could even snap his photo.  Oh well...we still had a good time.

 

One of my highlights was having lunch with a friend from Tabor College who happens to teach in New Jersey!  We sat in Red Robin for a few hours...the boys did great and it was good to catch up.  

It was a good trip, even if it wasn't the most relaxing for me!  We were glad to have those days with Bill. 

New Jersey

This summer, Bill had several work trips, so we took the opportunity to go with him to New Jersey for one of them.  While he worked, we took the time to sight see during the day...Children's Museum, Philadelphia highlights (Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben Franklin's printing press), driving through Maryland and Delaware, attempting the beach of the Atlantic Ocean (but got hit with a terrible thunder/lightning storm!), and then we all went to Amish Country and Hershey Factory  in Pennsylvania on the weekend.  We were gone for 11 days, and while it was a busy and exhausting trip, it was fun to see another part of the country.

Here are a few photos of our trip!

First off...Children's Museum in New Jersey...the boys had fun making bubbles with themselves inside the bubbles! 

Amish Country...buggy ride!

One of the covered bridges....many people stop to kiss under the bridge. We did too!  :-)

At the pretzel factory learning how to tie a pretzel...not as easy as one might think!

A one room Amish school house tour...hard to believe the teachers could have grades 1-8 in ONE room!  And manage to teach anything!

Beautiful Amish countryside

(More pictures in the next posting....

Milestones

On our way home from San Diego, we hit a big milestone in our van...

 

WOW!  We have been blessed to have such a great vehicle to be driving.  Our van has served us well over the past 8 1/2 years.  We look forward to many more great trips and adventures!

 

And I am BIG into palindromes.  My grandma taught me about them when I was little...we saw two really cool ones right before and after our big 100,000!

 

 

The boys decided they needed to be silly after we saw these cool numbers (they have learned to like palindromes too!)

 

Life is good.  :-)

 

 

Family Photo Time!

Every August, we have our good friend Amy take our family photos.    This year was no exception...I'm just delayed in publishing them!

My three precious boys!

 

Joshua, age 10

Michael, age 7

Ryan, age 5

My silly monkeys!

San Diego fun

We decided this year to create memories instead of giving big gifts...the boys won't remember what LEGO set or book or toy they get in a few years, but they will remember the trips we took.

So we drove down to San Diego over Thanksgiving and spent time at Sea World (Friday) and LEGOLAND (Thursday and Saturday, thanks to a deal of buy 1 day, get 1 day for free!). 

We had a fun time even though it rained on us on Friday.  Here are a few photos of our time together!

 The cool Star Wars T-65 X-wing they made...it took over 5 million pieces...32 Legomasters to build it...and over 3 months!  And it weighs 23 tons! 

That's a LOT of LEGOS!

 Ryan had fun "shooting" water at his brothers (and Dad!)

Then we went to Sea World....one of our most favorite places to go!

 The boys had to stand next to the beaver....since that is their school mascot!

 Our polar bears!

 We loved watching the giant turtles swimming.

  They even had snow world so the kids could play in "snow". 

 We went up this tower - the SkyRide -- wow.  What a view!

 Shamu show at night...beautiful Christmas lights....

 and Christmas carols!  Glorifying our Lord and Savior's Birth.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!