I have been really bad at keeping up with the blog this summer. We have been really busy this summer as soon as soccer and baseball were over the kids went to Camp Allendale for a week, then we left for Gettysburg, PA for vacation, then Allyssa and Taylor went to Florida with our niece and newphew.
Vacation
We went to Gettysburg with Ed, Teresa and Eddie this year. We rented a cottage at a campground. We had a fishing pond right behind us with a trail around it so the kids rode their bikes a little and threw rocks in the pond. We went to the Eisenhower house which Taylor loved. Allyssa, Taylor and Jacelyn became Jr. Secret Service Agents. They had little booklets with questions and tasks that they had to complete before getting a certificate and a badge. One day we had tour guides drive us around the battlefield which was really neat. He asked us what we wanted to see and what we were interested in and wanted to know more about. He took us to where the Indiana troops were and showed us the monuments that were put up to honor them. It was kind of eerie walking on the battlefield knowing that someone probably died right where you were standing. We went to the cemetary and saw where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address. He didn't give the address where they do now (every year on November19 they have a ceremony and someone reads the address.) Lincoln actually gave the address in a neighboring public cemetary because they hadn't finished burying all of the bodies from the war.
Teresa, Ed and I went to Amish country and did some shopping while Russell and Eddie took the kids to The Land of Miniture Horses. The highlight of the vacation and the day I think everyone loved was the day we went to Hershey. We watched a 3D movie about Hershey, did a chocolate tasting class, rode a short ride that told how they prepare the chocolate and went on a trolley ride through the town to see the Hershey homestead and heard about everything Mr. Hershey did for the town. Yes the town really does smell like chocolate that is how they cool the factory twice a day they open vents on either end of the factory to let the hot (chocolate) air out and let cool air in. I think we were all on a chocolate high this day everytime we turned around they were handing us free chocolate. Allyssa, Jacelyn, Eddie and I created our own candy bars which was fun, but it took forever. The Create Your own Candybar area is fairly new and it was really busy. We got to choose 3 of 6 ingredients to go in the bar, then we decided if we wanted sprinkles on top, then you go into the factory area and make it. You scan your ticket which has all of your information then the robots take over. It drops the candybar shell onto the conveyor belt and drops your ingredients as it passed the right ones. Then the whole thing runs under a chocolate waterfall. While you wait for the chocolate to harden you go into another room and create the wrapper for your candybar. Your candybar is put into a box then it is put into a really nice tin keepsake box that the label we created is put over. After some shopping in the giftshop of course we were done at Chocolate World. The last day Teresa and I took the girls to an outlet mall while the boys drove to another battlefield in MD. I got some really cute decorations for the house and the girls got some new clothes. PA doesn't have sales tax which was great. Why can't IN be that way?
I think I am caught up on the summer now. Here are some pictures I'll try not to get too many.
This is the kids on the last day of camp
It hit me that she looks more like a big girl than a baby when I saw this one.
No bathtub means bathtime in the sink for Irelyn. She loved every minute of it.
Abe Lincoln statue outside the Museum and Visitors Center.
Learning about the canons from our tour guide
Family picture minus Taylor on top of Little Round top
On top of Little Round Top looking down on Devil's Den
Monument at the National Cemetary
Around that flag is where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address.
That flag marks the grave of Jenny Wade the only Civilian casuality from the
war in Gettysburg.
Being silly
Group shot of the kids. I'm not sure where they are but I liked the picture.
This is the statue of John Burns they say we are related to him
so of course we had to hunt down the statue and have a picture taken with him.
This is from the Land of Miniture Horses.
They said this little goat followed them everywhere.
Jailbirds!!
Macy
Vision he was only like a month old.
This is part of the battlefield in MD.
I think they said it is called the bloody lane
One of the Indiana monuments
The kids + Eddie
The last night we were there
