Hershey Pennslyvania mini-vacation

Jeremy's time off is few and far between over the next few months so we took advantage of a free weekend and went on a “long car ride” for a “special adventure”.  We landed in Hershey Pennsylvania for what turned out to be one of the best weekends we’ve had as a family. (all of the photos were taken on my iphone)

Saturday we visited Hershey Chocolate World: Admission is free. There were a variety of things to do .  We took the free ‘Factory Tour’ which is a little ride that simulates the chocolate making process. It takes about 10 minutes. You get a piece of candy at the end. We skipped most of the other avities because they were either too advanced for Owen or we didn't want him eating a giant chocolate bar. We spent a few hours at Chocolate World. This was plenty of time for us.  (of course we left with "Reeses" t-shirts. OF COURSE WE DID.)

We stayed the night in a hotel and we were all so exhausted we passed out within ten minutes of laying down.

Gillen had a bagel for breakfast :)

On Sunday we woke up and headed to Hershey Park:  Owen has never been to an amusement park or ridden a ride before. He is also fairly timid. We figured we would spend three hours max at the park. Much to our surprise, we arrived at 10am when the park opened at left at 6pm closing. Owen was tall enough to  ride the vast majority of rides at the park, including one roller coaster! He had a blast on everything, most of the rides you can ride with your child and we saw children as young as 1 riding on some of the smaller rides. There are several rides that will let you wear/carry your baby on. The kids got tired about half-way through the day so they took a nap in the stroller while we walked around Zoo America inside the park. 

 This picture above should be titled BEST DADDY EVER. This was the only ride that Owen disliked. I don't particularly care for the feelings of being dropped either so I don't blame him.

Owen was actually fearless on most of these rides, something we realized will go away once he has awareness of heights and danger. Jeremy took one for the team and went on this ride with Owen which almost made him puke (no way was I riding it, it spun in every direction posssible SUPER high in the air!) 

 

We visited the park during one of three “Springtime in the Park” preview weekends in April. This turned out to be a GREAT time to go. We had a beautiful spring day and tickets were half-price (water park is closed) and we walked on to most of the rides without a wait.

 hanging in the stroller while Daddy and Owen ride go karts.

This was such a wonderful weekend for our little family. We all had so much fun and watching Owen enjoy an amusement park was more fun than enjoying it ourselves. We can't wait to go back next year!