What I did on my Summer Vacation....

Oh wow, fancy meeting you here.....how have you been? Really that's great. Oh what have I been doing? Well, I kinda took a bit of a break. I went home to visit my family in Pennsylvania for about a month and then just kind of slacked for the last couple weeks.
What? You really want me to tell you about my trip? No, you don't want to hear all about it.
Really? *sigh* WELL Ok, if you insist!

( I feel like I should put on khaki shorts and a polo shirt. Maybe dig out my old Hershey Park name tag and get one of those little portable mics. Oh and don't forget the sunglasses, because otherwise tourist can tell when you roll your eyes at there stupid questions...they don't like that.)
Shall we begin our tour?
(Just think, if this was 1972 I'd be setting up a slide projector...just saying)

Let's start with the "the Road Trip"

 Because Ryan's arms are longer we have a sort of understanding that I drive most of the way and he beats...*cough cough*umm I mean handles the kids. Also despite having a perfectly decent sized kennel, George insisted on staying up front....where it was safer...

 Only home a few days and Willow is not happy...this is her "I can't believe you put me in time out!" face. Especially on Memorial Day while at the coolest park ever!! It had a "desert"(sand box) and everything.

And of course the first thing you do when coming home is go to Chocolate world "The Sweetest Place on Earth". Ride the free ride and get some free chocolate!

 Hello ladies...Every few years they add some sort of "improvement" to the tour ride...the singing cows are one of the latest....

 But what has never changed (and better not ever) although I swear they turned down the heat is the ROASTER!!! AAAHHHHHHH

 And speaking of roasting...what better way to end our evenings than with a fun camp fire in the yard..mmmmm.......

"If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine"

 I love my parents back yard...3 acres of Green awesomeness.... I really like this picture...See Mom! You can cut them down but they will come back!!

 

 Me posing in the "back forty" in front of my favorite Mulberry tree.... And speaking of Mulberries!!!!

THIS is what a real Mulberry looks like!!!! MMMMM  YUMMY!!!And this is why I LOVE coming home in June. Last September I found a mulberry tree in Idaho and I almost bought the land it was on just to get the tree....

These are my sister's hands...she didn't understand why I wanted to take of picture of them...so she could make a camio in my blog, of course!

An this is what your fingers are supposed to look like after just a few minutes of picking/eating them....

Now, up next on our tour is a little town just east of my home called Annville.

 Every year they have an annual street fair they so aptly call. "Annville Days"...some years are better than others. But this year was pretty good....

It's not a deep fried Snickers, but hey deep fried Oreo's will do.

Making cards to send to the Troops

playing the drums for music therapy

And the BEST part of Annville Days....The Bag Pipes!! I'm serious, it's my favorite part.

 And now moving on....
Since moving to Idaho I've had to make do with not having certain things that I can only seem to get in PA.(And if I do find them here, they are not very authentic) And here are a few of those things.

Four Leaf Clovers...

Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake WITH the thin layer of icing on the top of the Vanilla

Real "OH MY GOSH" soft pretzels. Yes, it's over a foot wide and it only cost $4.

Decent tasting Whoopy Pies mmmmm

 The last two picture were taken after of my trips to an awesome farmers market called "Roots" (pronounced  "Ruts") located in Lancaster, PA. Going there is mandatory. The food alone is worth the trip and you can get the best deals on fruits and veggies. If you go there, take my mother. If she can't find you the best deal, than no one can. Not to mention that you if don't go home with a car full of flowers, enough fruits and veggies to can in mass quantities and a full belly, then you obviously did something wrong! Ok, moving on.


Our next stop was about 2 hours east, just outside of Allentown in Easton, PA.

The Crayola Factory!!! (aka the Crayon Chocolate factory)

The town square Easton, PA

Does this really need a caption?

 There are just rooms and rooms of FUN. It was totally worth the $12.50 for admission...And to think my mom tried to talk me out of going.....

The kids (and Ryan) had a blast!

Really mommy, I can just  cut and glue what ever I want?!
Yes, child...go to town.

 One of the last stops on the East Coast was a quick one day trip to Rahobeth Beach, DE. For some reason I always thought it was in Maryland, but no, I was wrong....Either way, it hasn't changed in decades! This was only the kids second time to the beach (that they can remember) so it took a while, but they started to realize the full potential of alll that sand!

MMMUUUAAAAHHH HAHAHAA

It helped that Happy (Pappy) was there to show them the ropes

 All in all, it was a very fun trip. I had not been home in over two years so I wanted to make sure I got in all the fun things I remember from my childhood. So just to make sure I solidified those memories I made sure to make one more stop at the most important place.....again!

It's only 5lbs...but still it's the best thing in the whole shop!!

 And thus ends our tour....I hope you all enjoyed this little trip to the East Coast...



In some ways the trip ended too soon. But I was happy that I was given the opportunity to visit with all of my friends and family....

Driving home into the sunset through Wyoming....I'm sure it would have looked better without the smoke from the CO fires...not to mention a clean windshield.

MUSH GEORGE, MUSH!!! at a very windy "Little America" in Wyoming..

And now I will leave you with a small sampling of what I was treated to (subjected to)  during our down time at the house...Did I forget to mention that my sister was visiting there with her 4 kids too? Combined with my two...it made for some interesting times.