I meant to write about each day on our vacation, but circumstances made it difficult. We made it home on Tuesday at about 11:30 which was a little earlier than we expected. My mother-in-law picked up lunch for us and we got all of the kids’ stuff together. I brought in all of our bags so we could add our stuff to the bag with the kids’ and that way we would only have one bag with us. I also brought in our toiletries bag to add the kids toothbrushes etc (this will be important shortly). I packed everything back in the car and off we went to Lancaster. It was actually a very pleasant drive. Avi was in the back of the car with a laptop and a movie (we have power adapters to plug into the car) and Shayna and Noam were content in the middle. Avi actually fell asleep at some point and so the ride was very quiet (YAY!)
We stopped off at the furniture store where we had bought our dining room table a number of years ago because we have a broken chair and they will fix it for us. Avi woke up at this but was still calm. Unfortunately as we moved on we got to a point where traffic was totally stopped. We were on a small road with one lane in each direction. It turns out that there was work going on and they were only letting one side through at a time. Well it seems that they let the other side through for 15 minutes or more! That really got the kids upset (and us too!) We had hoped to maybe do something in the afternoon, but by the time we got to the hotel, we were all pooped. We brought all of the bags in and then I went to put some of the toiletries in the bathroom and I noticed that the toiletries bag was not here! YIKES! All of our meds including Avi’s were back at home. UGH! So we let the kids swim in the pool and then I made some pasta for dinner. I decided that I would drive home, sleep there and bring the meds back. There is an ice cream shop next to the hotel so we took the kids there first and got them small ice creams. It seems things are cheaper in Lancaster because a single scoop here is almost three scoops at home and the same price as a single there! The kids were VERY happy. After we got back to the hotel I left and they went to sleep. My two hour trip took almost three due to heavy traffic (at 11 pm mind you) because of construction. But luckily on the way back in the morning I had no traffic.
The hotel is very nice; it is a MainStay Suties hotel which is a Choice Hotel property. We have two bedrooms and a small kitchen. No frills but it work well for a mid-week stay. We would not use a place like this for Shabbat, but for this it was fine. There are a number of Orthodox people staying here and one woman told us that she checked out the breakfast and everything was kosher! On Wednesday we went to visit the Herrs chips factory. We had bad luck this trip with driving because for quite some time of it we were behind a very slow moving truck and a 40 minute drive ended up taking almost double. The factory tour is great and you get to taste chips right off the line while they are still warm. YUM! We bought a lot of junk food, had our lunch and then drove to Hershey’s Chocolateworld. They have a ride through the “factory” that was a lot of fun and we got free chocolate at the end and a photo of all of us (a rarity, see below). We saw a few more of the things there and did some shopping in the store (of course) and even bumped into another Highland Park family! After a nice dinner in Lancaster, we went back to the hotel for much needed sleep.
Today we went to Hersheypark and met up with the Kamenses who are down here too. After MUCH drama from Avi we went on a buch of rides, had a great time in the water park area and despite MUCH drama from Avi (did I say that already) we had a fine time. I really like Hersheypark. We go to Six Flags in NJ a lot but Hershey really has a lot for everyone. The have lots of roller coasters, but they do have rides for kids who do not like the thrills (Noam), rides for kids that are little (Shayna) and rides for everyone! They have a waterpark area and even some old fashioned rides like the swings and a carousel. The food prices are lower than at Great Adventure and all in all it is fun place to be. We’ll have to go back some time.
We are now back at the hotel and the kids are asleep (I think) and we are about to be as well. All told, it was a pretty good week, but I will be glad to be home.
Our family photo.
Avi and Shayna with a big piece of chocolate.
