Hershey, Pennslyvania

Chad had to work in PA this week so we tagged along. While he was working, the kids and I visited Hershey, PA. We'd gone there a few years ago, but the girls didn't remember it.

On our first day, we visited Zoo America where we got rained on a little.


After lunch, I had planned to go to Chocolate World, but the regular parking lots were already full and they were taking people by tram from another one. I guess the rain caused people to go there since it's inside so we decided to wait until the next day and hope it wasn't as crowded. Instead, we went to a neat toy store called Toys on the Square.

The next morning, we headed to Chocolate World first thing and found no crowds. We did the Hershey's Chocolate tour first with no wait. The kids liked seeing all the things that have to be done to make the chocolate. Last year when we studied the rainforest, we talked about how chocolate comes from cocoa beans and they remembered some stuff from that. Of course their favorite part was the candy bar they give you at the end.




After that, we saw the Hershey Kiss and just had to go get a picture.


Later while the kids were deciding what they should buy to take back to Chad, we spotted the Reese Cup.


Then they decided we needed to go on the tour again. I think it was mostly to get another candy bar. After having already seen it once, I guess they were looking closer this time. Caleigh said, "Hey, those are mirrors. I don't even think they're doing the things they say in there. Do they actually even make chocolate in this place?"

After that, the kids became factory workers at the Kisses Packaging place.

When my kids watch a show or something, they always seem to pick a character that they say is them. As soon as we got to Chocolate World and saw the sign out front, they decided that Caleigh was the Kiss, Colin the Reese Cup, and Molly the Hershey Bar. So when they saw stuffed toys of them, they thought they just had to have them.


I thought it was better than these giant candies they had asked for first so I agreed.


Once we left there, I was going to take them to the outlets, but as we were about to pass Zoo America, they all started yelling that they wanted to go back there. We have a membership card that gets us into zoos free so we went again.

Here's a picture of the street where you can see the Hershey kiss lights.


And here is my little Hershey Kiss:

Beach Days

The only thing the kids seemed concerned about when they found out we were moving away from Charleston was missing the beach. We're still only 2 hours from the beach so it's not too far. Chad has a lot of meetings near there so we've been able to get in quite a few beach days this summer.

I don't get too many pictures because Chad and the kids spend most of their time in the water and I try to avoid the water if I can. Here are a few from the different trips.

4th of July & Joel Lane Museum House

We visited the Joel Lane Museum House, where they were having special events for the Fourth of July. This house was built in the early 1770's. They had re-enactors, crafts, demonstrations, and much more. The kids got to try writing with quill pens.




Making rag dolls


Finished dolls


They had a spot where you could play with toys from that time period.


Tin punching ornaments


Here are their finished ornaments:


Churning butter







Colin is putting in the wick for a beeswax candle.


Here is the cake the kids think we have to have every 4th of July. It's pound cake, then a layer of jello, and then cool whip. Caleigh put on the strawberry stripes and Molly did the blueberry stars.

How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A.

One of our favorite picture books is How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, so I decided we would use the newer book, How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A. to go along with studying Independence Day. In this book, the girl has all her ingredients, but she needs the equipment (bowl, rolling pin, pot holders, etc.). As in the first book, the store is closed (this time because it's the 4th of July) so she has to travel to find the natural resources needed to make what she needs.

We used our map to follow along to all the states she visits. We colored in each of those states on the map in our notebook. We discussed what she made from each of the things she gathered and how some of the processes work. During her travels, we see many landmarks that we read more about. From there, we discussed the Fourth of July, what it means, the American Revolution, George Washington, the American flag, Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock. Using Draw Write Now, they drew the Statue of Liberty.






I printed out this street scene, cut them out, and had the kids glue them to the bags so they could have their own similar to the one in the book. As you can see, they've already added some people and vehicles to it.