going out for dessert... posting a week late.

To finish off our fun last minute trip to Philly over Christmas break.
On our way out of town we seriously decided to drive west instead of south which was the direction home. We called the Hershey Lodge and got one of the last rooms for the night.
We were greeted with candy bars for each of us and by a walking Kit Kat bar and Reese's Peanut Butter cup. The kids checked in at the "Kids Check In" to receive more chocolate and candy canes. Our room was one of the 6 outside rooms that had windows to the main parking lot and felt like a cheap motel. Since we were not paying cheap hotel prices I called the front desk and asked for a better room (Mindy this should empower you) Ryan, the bell hop, was there in seconds to take our luggage to our new room, in the tower off the main lobby and given 5 more large Hershey Bars. The girls were in heaven!

There were kisses everywhere, on the wallpaper and pillowcases.

We had a package deal with tickets to the little zoo, Hershey Park (like an amusement park) and Hershey World with tickets to the 3D movie. We probably would not normally have done all these things but because they were included in the price it felt free.

We got on the tram and took it to the park and rode a few rides. The weather was surprisingly nice. I loved these photos of the girls on the carousel.

It went way too fast for my taste. I am surprised it didn't cause Caroline to throw up again. (of note we went swimming the next day and were safe with no closing of the pool) But I love this photo of Sally Jane and Jeff.

We saw the awesome 3D movie. (I know Tasha you must think I am crazy that we got so excited over this place but it was so fun) as we walked out of the theatre we were handed again more chocolate.

We had the girls do this little factory section where they got to package Hershey kisses. We thought they were going to get them when they were done. Oh no, you put them on the belt and they disappear. This did not go over with Caroline, so we ended up buying on (their whole master plan) for $5.00. those sneaky marketers.

The ride through the pretend factory was fun and we actually went twice. The girls thought it was the real factory.This was the photo of us going through at the end. Jeff took a photo of it on the screen where they displayed your Hershey car going through. I was laughing so hard that he took this, now that I think of it, it is kind of dishonest, but hey at least I am in one of the photos of the trip. Oh no not more guilt! And as we walked out of the ride we got more chocolate! We came back to the hotel exhausted and hungry for real food, but too tired to go out. We ordered room service which is the first time in my life I have ever done that. I kept saying to Jeff "are you sure we are going to do this" This of course was not his first room service and was laughing at me, saying just pick up the phone and tell them what you want.
We got up the next morning took a swim in the pool for 15 minutes ( I get kind of sicked out by public hotel pools and after my daughter threw up in one... oh I can't go there) Ran to the local zoo, which the kids thought was fun, ran back to Hershey world to ride the ride again, and then headed off to Gettysburg to hopefully get the 3 hour tour in.
(ok that is another post, but we were able to listen to 15 minutes while driving through the battlefields.. the girls had had enough. Jeff and I finished out the 3 hour CD and can't wait to go back and listen to it and see the scene. If you don't know much about Gettysburg, it is amazing and what happened there in 1863 is even more so.)
We came home unloaded the car, showered, jumped back in the car and went to Jeff's work dinner. It was a long, fun, historic, chocolatey day!