First stop ... Hershey, PA!
We arrived in Hershey on Saturday night and pretty much grabbed dinner and hit the sack. 8 straight hours in the car was tiring! But, we got up early on Sunday and hit the town by checking in to the Hershey Lodge (it literally smelled like chocolate when you walked in!) and spent Sunday and part of Monday touring Hershey. We went to the Chocolate Factory Experience, the Hershey Gardens, the Hershey Museum and saw general sites around town. It was cool to see the Hershey kiss street lights and brown roads!
Eli at the Hershey Gardens in the children's garden.
Eli and Luke in the Hershey Gardens overlooking the stream. The gardens had many flowers, but Mom & Dad were most impressed by the 7,000 roses that were originally planted in the early 1930s. The boys liked the huge musical instruments they could play on: sidewalk piano and alligator xylophone!
Dad and Eli sharing Hershey ice cream at a cool little soda fountain across from the factory.
Luke eating ice cream in Hershey.
Eli making Hershey kisses. They taught him a special shake which makes the kisses turn out perfectly. :)
Next Stop ... Strausburg, PA
Strausburg is the home to the National Train Museum, the National Toy Train Museum and an original railroad that was one of the nation's busiest in its hay day. It is also in the middle of Lancaster County - supposedly one of the nation's best places to farm. So, knowing our boys LOVE trains and we love rural America, we stopped off in this gem of a town. We found a cool, old fashioned soda shop for lunch and then headed to the train station. We rode a train through peaceful Amish country - even picking up a group of Amish school children in our train car - seeing many farms, one of PA's oldest cemeteries and the spot where Lincoln spoke to the masses from a train car while in office. And, the museum was really cool! Truly admire the work that's gone into the restorations and passion of the workers on the rail line, the shops and the museum. I could go on and on, but on to the pics ...
Eli and Dad climbing on a Conrail engine.
Eli and Dad pretending to drive the train.
Luke, Eli and Dad at the spot we boarded the train.
Luke driving the train with Daddy.
Next stop ... Philly!
Philadelphia was just a quick trip from our hotel so we visited the city a few times. We spent one day in the historical area seeing the Liberty Bell, National Constitution Center, Congress Hall, Independence Hall, Franklin's Grave, Christ Church and more. Then, we spent another day visiting the Franklin Institute. We could not believe how much Eli, in particular, enjoyed these "grown-up" locations and Luke was great too! Here are some pics of the sites.
Eli in Independence Hall. He was particularly taken with the "bad guys" stand while Luke literally squealed really loud to ensure everyone on the tour saw the horses in the coat of arms painting on the wall.
Dad with the boys outside of Congress Hall.
Eli and Dad across the street from Independence Hall.
Eli and Mom at the Liberty Bell. Eli was obsessed with the bell and learning more about it. He was also a bit irritated that it had a crack and he wasn't allowed to ring it.
In this picture, the boys are just chilling out in our hotel room. We had fun swimming a lot in our hotel. Eli didn't want to get out of the pool and Luke liked climbing up and down the stairs. Of course, riding the elevator was fun for them.
This photo was taken in the Franklin Institute, a wonderful museum in Philly. These guys LOVED this place! In the sports exhibit, the boys got to try the science of a number of sports. They liked the race cars.
Mom and Eli before the 3D Dinosaur movie at the Franklin Institute.
Dad, Luke and Eli at the 3D Dinosaur movie.
Eli asked me to take this picture so he could put it on his wall at home "to remember this fun". We spent a lot of time at this part of the Franklin Institute. It was the "Space Command" exhibit and the boys (including Dad) built "Mars Rovers" out out of sticks and wheels and then raced them down the incline (among other space-related activities). I could not believe how much fun they had - laughing and cheering on their rovers.
Luke serving as the "navigator" in an airplane as Dad helps.
Eli makes a great pilot!
The boys making more of the Mars Rovers in the Space Command at the Franklin Institute.
Sesame Street ... It's for real!
As big fans of Elmo, Big Bird, Grover, Oscar, Cookie Monster and the rest of the Sesame Street gang, we planned to spend one day at the Sesame Street amusement park just north of Philadelphia. We had a blast and actually ended up spending two days of fun at this great park. It was clean, safe and perfect for the ages of both of the boys. It was so much fun to ride the rides, play in the water park, watch the shows and just chill out together at a relaxed place. We especially liked the parade in which all of the Sesame characters and dancers put on a great show. Eli and Luke got so lucky that Grover, Cookie Monster and Elmo danced right in front of them. Again, I could go on and on, but I'll spare you ... some pics and good memories of the fun are below ....
Dad and Luke at the splash park area.
Once Lukey warmed up to the water and splash park, he was off and running! He giggled the whole time.
Toward the end of the second day, Eli said ... "I'm ready for the scary ride, Mom and Dad." We didn't even know what he was talking about, but he took us straight to it and pointed to a ride we hadn't really even paid attention to ... Elmo's Blast-Off: a ride that kind of simulates a free-fall sensation (like Drop Zone, if you've ridden that at Kings Island). He was visibly scared at first, but he LOVED it. We rode it at least 10 times - almost simultaneously - completely at Eli's begging to go "one more time, Mommy!" :)
Luke listening to the counting song and watching the parade.
Luke at the water park again. He loved this and the big "Ernie" splash pool which had a gigantic Ernie painted on it.
This is a pic of Eli climbing Cookie Monster's Mountain. We were proud of him on this and I think it shows a personality trait or two emerging: determined and maybe competitive. He climbed and climbed this thing. We thought he was just horsing around and having fun, until he made it to the top and beamed (est. 9 feet high). He was so proud of himself - he apparently wasn't going to give up until he achieved it on day 2. We didn't even know he had it as a goal, but we were proud parents!
Eli's first ride of choice ... the spinning teacups.
Yes ... Daddy (who prefers to "watch our stuff" instead of riding rides) was totally thrilled and was a great sport. Also, on that note, Eli rode the roller coaster at his own request. Mom opted for the ride the MANY times we rode it - and it was so much fun. Eli was okay riding with Mom, but at one time he did tell Mike, "Daddy, don't be afraid. You can ride with me. I will protect you on this ride."
Mom and Eli on the water slide. Daddy rode this, too.
And, we don't have a pic, but loved the Lazy River which was nearby.
Eli, Luke and Mom on the bug ride. Fun stuff!
This is a pic of the Count's BIG Splash area. It was really cool.
Water everywhere and slides for all ages.
Luke really enjoyed this toddler activity. It was a big circle area that was padded with blocks to stack. There were lots of kids and he could run totally freely among them - all his size. He had a ball playing there!
Road Trip Fun
As you can tell, we had a great time. We also spent a lot of time in the car. They boys did pretty well. Luke has screaming and pointing down to a science. Eli talked all the way back from Philadelphia to Knightstown without stopping. Mom learned how to hurdle the console between the front seats and land between the two car seats in back in less than 2 seconds. Dad mastered tuning out all of this while still winning multiple rounds of Riddle lee, Riddle lee, Ree.
This is what a family road trip will do to you ... Enough said! :)
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