My husband, the planner...

Well, our trip was a HUGE success! In no small part this is due to Jonathan's geekiness (which I fully embrace now!) He did an extraordinary job setting up the itinerary for our Road Trip. He looked up on Google distances between locations to determine where we would stop, hotels on the AAA website to determine where we would stay, and gas prices online to estimate the fuel costs for the trip. I could not have done what he did. He has a skill that is valuable to me. Well, he has many, but in this instance, I am referring to his geekiness. I am so thrilled with the way the trip worked out. We did so many cool things and saw so many special people along the way. The moral of the story: IT IS GOOD TO HAVE A NERDY HUBBY... Thank you. I love you, Jonathan!

POAD TRIP 2008-2009 - Some notables to ask us about

Hippopotamus on Ice
Hey Kids, "We're in ....."
Boys as lifeguards
Star Wars and Pokemon discussions
In car vomiting
Wafflemaker
Ice cream sundaes with Magic shell
Zachary's must-have blankie in the car
"Are we staying in another Comfort Suites?"
Peewee and Ellie Mae
Stargazing Anthony

ROAD TRIP 2008-2009 - MORE PHOTOS

ROAD TRIP 2008-2009 - SOME PHOTOS

A Dinner Parade

A video from our dinner with Mel, Bonnie, Linda, and Brooke tonight. The girls were hilarious once they got comfortable with each other.

ROAD TRIP 2008-2009 - Hershey, PA cont...

Today has been another great day on the trip. It is Day 15 and we are still managing pretty well all together in close quarters. Tomorrow we leave and drive home, which will be a welcome part of the trip. It is very nice to get away and see things, but it's even nicer to get home to our warm and cozy home that is ours and get back to normal life. We went this morning to drive on Chocolate Avenue to check it out. We saw the street lights made out of Hershey's kisses that someone told me about. Benjamin noticed that there was a pattern- one silver, one brown. Jon noted that it was a wrapped one and then an unwrapped one- how cute! Hershey's Chocolate World is a fabulous place and of course is totally set up for tourists. We did the Factory Tour in which you ride in a little car and you get taken through the entire process of making chocolate from cocoa beans to store shelves. It was very well done. At the end of the tour, you are handed two pieces of candy (today they gave out Hershey's Bliss pieces). Needless to say, the kids devoured those in about 20 seconds. We did some other things after this tour, but they decided that they wanted to do it again (can you guess why?!) I took them and Jonathan hung back with Zachary, so the boys, Samantha and I all got two more pieces of chocolate, yum! Another thing the kids did was to Create Your Own candy on the factory line. They got little paper hats that said "Factory Worker", lined up at stations, and were instructed to push a button that dropped a couple dozen Hershey's kisses into a container. Then, they took it to another conveyor belt where the container was wrapped. We could have purchased this for $8.95 each, if we so chose (which we did not). They all had a FUN time doing that. Photos will follow once we get home. After this adventure, we drove around looking for a lunch place, even though I had made PB&J's for the kids. We found an adorable little place called the Soda Jerk Diner in Hummelstown, PA. Everything about the place was enchanting- the decor, the friendliness of the servers, the good prices on the menu, and the food itself. I wish I had taken a photo there, but didn't think of it. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to put the littles and me down for a nap. The boys took off to a place called the Indian Caverns which as it turns out, was just down the street from the diner we ate lunch at, about 25 minutes from the hotel. The reports I heard were that it was "AWESOME". Beforehand, when I had mentioned it to the boys as a possibility after lunch, they said that they already saw stalagmites and stalagtites on Fetch with Ruff Ruffman. They wanted to go to the pool/waterslide/arcade again. Jonathan convinced them to go to the Caverns. Benjamin threw a fit and was not happy about going, but he was the one who ended up enjoying it the most, go figure! So, I heard about the Pennsylvania Hermit and the Mystery Box from them, but I am going to have Jon and the boys write more about that later on. At 4:00 we got ready to go to the Pike's for dinner. How wonderful it was to have a nice homecooked Shabbat dinner while on the road! Samantha and Brooke played very nicely together after they warmed up to one another. The boys headed down to the basement pretty soon after we arrived. Dinner was delicious and lovely together. Sorry that Aiya was not with us at her friend's house. Maybe next time. We do plan to come back to this area in the warmer weather sometime. There is SO much to do around here during nice weather that was closed now. I have a memo with a running list on my Palm Pilot. We took some great photos at their house and will post those later too. Now, it's 8:45 and Jon and I might go play mini golf down the hallway. Until we reach MA, night, night!

ROAD TRIP 2008-2009 - Hershey, PA

Today we awoke at 6 am ready to start the day... Breakfast was nice, so we ate. We had an in-day at the Hotel. The boys frolicked in the pool and on the waterslide, played mini golf and arcade games, and generally had a blast. Samantha watched television while Zachary and I took a snooze. Jon woke us up at 11:40 am just in time to have lunch and make our way over to Dallastown, PA for a visit and dinner with Jon's friend from college, Anthony Wolfe and his wife and 3 daughters. We journeyed there at 1:15 or so and arrived around 2:30 pm. When we arrived the two older girls were downstairs playing with their new Christmas gift, the Wii video game. Lisa was in the kitchen prepping meatballs for dinner, and Anthony was carrying Katrina around in his arms. Once the girls came upstairs, it took a while before they and the boys would talk to each other. Pretty quickly, Benjamin and Joshua found their way downstairs and became acquainted with the Wii. I stayed upstairs with Lisa chatting, while Zachary wreaked havoc on their toy areas. Lisa was gracious and offered hot cocoa and cookies to the kids as their snack at around 3:45, which she said is the usual time that her girls have their daily snack after school. Her homemade cookies were delicious- chocolate chip, oreo cookie-like ones, and gingerbread men. Samantha liked the small trampoline in the basement and was happy doing that for a while. She and Katrina were having a bit of a turf war about it, but Eva was such a great mediator with the little ones that things worked out fine after some intense negotiations. Anthony had asked Jon in advance about what the kids eat, so of course Lisa was fabulous in obliging us by providing Joshua with a hotdog on a bun instead of the regular fare that everyone else ate, spaghetti and meatballs and sausage with pasta and salad. Thanks so much! Dinner was wonderful. We enjoyed their company very much and are grateful to have people like them who welcomed us with open arms when we announced we would be coming to their area. Our boys and their girls were upstairs in their rooms doing who knows what for some time. They really seemed to take to one another at some point. Personally, I think Benjamin has a crush on Eva, the 8 year old. After dinner, Anthony was excited to show us the stars in the sky with his very high tech telescope. Joshua was most excited about this since he wants to be an astronaut. Even I was thrilled to see the craters on the moon through his viewing lens! When they came back inside, Anthony took out his books and began showing Joshua various constellations. I don't know who was more into it, Anth or Joshie! Lisa then offered us brownie sundaes for dessert, which we took her up on no questions asked. Again, Lisa's offerings were scrumptious. Before we knew it, it was 7:00 pm and we had to say goodbye to our friends. Lisa and I discussed the possibility of meeting somewhere in CT since they travel there frequently to see her parents. Lisa mentioned Sturbridge Village, which our kids have never been to. An exciting idea! We arrived home at 8:00 pm and everyone went straight down to sleep. That is, except for Jon and me. He went on the computer and I went to check out the Hollywood Casino up the street from our hotel. I donated $25 to the PA Gaming Commsission (or whoever gets the proceeds of the casino's earnings), but I was there for almost 2 hours and I had a fun time. I mostly played the 1 cent machines, so not too much strain on the wallet. When I got back here, Jon was still awake. Now, it's off to bed for me. Tomorrow is our day at Hershey's Chocolate World... Talk later.