Pray...and feel the strong spirit in Gettysburg
Love...hanging out with "Uncle" Brian and family
My wish for our vacation was to stop at the Hershey Museum in Pennsylvania. It was darling. You actually get to hop in a "car" and go for a ride where cows sing to you, chocolate is stirred, kisses line up by the thousands, and the smell of cocoa abounds! I was in Heaven--as were my sweet-toothed kids. They got to meet Steve's partner, his wife, and 3 of their girls (they have 5 girls) and hit it off from the start. Chocolate really is the perfect medium for friendships. :)
Just look at the "ooohs" and "aaahs".I had to. It was a moral imperative.
Here we are in front! Darling!
The ride isn't very long, and of course, it spits you out into the main store where you can purchase any Hershey product of your dreams. Each child got to pick what they wanted (within reason) for their treat. It was like Christmas!Starr took us down the main street in Hershey. As I looked up to see the street sign named Chocolate Avenue, I was delighted to see the street lights. They are Hershey Kisses!!!! How fun is that?!!!
About an hour and a half away is Gettysburg. In preparation, Steve and I had shown clips of the movie Gettysburg to the kids in the van. I'm so glad we did so that it gave them a frame of reference and they could visualize what happened, the type of fighting took place, and who the great men were that had memorials built for them.
We are so proud to be from the "Land of Lincoln."
This is the memorial for the 20th Maine, where Chamberlain and his men defended the Union flank and prevented the Confederates from overtaking the high ground.
Here the kids posed and imagined what it was like for Chamberlain and his men to hold the line.
Emma and Evan in a castle--really it's a memorial, but it sure looked like a castle!This is the memorial for Picket's charge at the cluster of trees which were the goal for his men.
Listening to history and stopping at stones and memorials day after day can get tiring, especially for kids. Steve challenged all the kids to race each other (not himself) to one of the memorials and back.
In the race below, the boys did NOT have to climb over the fence and touch the memorial, which leveled the playing field. Evan clearly won, but I love how competitive Carter and Audrey got. He was not about to let her win. They were so funny!
On the way to the McClatchie's home, they took us by an old Mennonite meeting place, where they had this really long, slippery slide. All my kids got hurt the first time down and weren't prepared; however, they got the hang of it and had a blast!
Even Brian went down with cute Emmaline.
Lizzie wanted to hold hands, of course.
Carter and Audrey racing--again. :) If I could arrange marriages...
Check out this old merry-go-round! It made me sick to watch it for too long, but the kids loved, loved, loved it!
Listening to history and stopping at stones and memorials day after day can get tiring, especially for kids. Steve challenged all the kids to race each other (not himself) to one of the memorials and back.
In the race below, the boys did NOT have to climb over the fence and touch the memorial, which leveled the playing field. Evan clearly won, but I love how competitive Carter and Audrey got. He was not about to let her win. They were so funny!
On the way to the McClatchie's home, they took us by an old Mennonite meeting place, where they had this really long, slippery slide. All my kids got hurt the first time down and weren't prepared; however, they got the hang of it and had a blast!
Even Brian went down with cute Emmaline.
Lizzie wanted to hold hands, of course.
Carter and Audrey racing--again. :) If I could arrange marriages...
Check out this old merry-go-round! It made me sick to watch it for too long, but the kids loved, loved, loved it!
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