Ithaca, Ny, Rochester, NY, and Hershey, PA Trip-Mid August

Two weeks before school, the kids and I went on a long trip to Upstate New York to see family.  We had a wonderful time with April & her family, and Grandma Margie.  We went to Stewart Park and road the carousel, we went to Buttermilk Park and played on the wonderful playground there, went to Uncle Hugh's, rode horse, feed critters, visited Purity Ice Cream, and just had a lovely time.  The weather was great, the kids were happy, and all in all it was great!

Oh, and Sydney found some more rocks to bring home, including one the size of an ostrich!  She also lost her first tooth!

Then we headed to Rochester to see David, Lydelle, and Chris.  As usual we had a blast there two.  The kids were all for tackling Chris and making him play all sorts of games with them.  Probably the silliest one was when Chris and I taught Josh to ride down the sloped lawn on the skateboard.  Then the best part was, we got him to push it back up the hill.  A tired baby is a good thing at bedtime.  Then the girls got in on the action and everyone took turns flying down the hill and climbing back up again.

On the way home, I was not feeling up to the 12 hour drive straight through, so we made a detour to Hershey, PA.  WOW!  That is a yummy smelling town!  we didn't go to the Park but we went to the hershey's world Tour, and really enjoyed that part.  The girls got to do a make your own chocolate bar "ride"  Josh and I tried to do that, but after waiting in line for 40 minutes, Josh was an absolute mess.  So we waited at the end of the ride/tour for the girls.  he was just as happy playing on the floor with his trains.  I wished we rode the trolley instead, but the girls thought it was the best thing ever!

Our hotel was simple and clean, but we got there too late to use the pool.  So we listened in the dark as Josh laughed to himself about his glow-in-the-dark pyjamas.  It was so cute!  The next morning we hit the free breakfast at the hotel.  josh managed to catapult his cereal and juice all over himself and the chair and floor.  Ahh!  Such wonderful guests we are!  the girls loved the giantic Belgain waffles.  Again, they declared it the best part ever.  they did not like that the hotel tv did not have a cartoon channel!    With that, we headed home,  (Oh but when I was loading the car, they were supposed to be watching Josh.  he met me in the lobby.  Since we were one room away from the lobby on the first floor, that is not as shocking as it seems.  But I was ticked!  The girls had no idea he was gone.  Thank you TV).  The drive home went well, and I was so glad to be home!