Hershey Park!!

Another year at Hershey Park, thanks to Rob's company is in the books (and on the blog!) ROb's company treats us to a day at Hershey Park (food and parking included!) as their company picnic. We missed it last year, but made up for it this year. The park was celebrating Christmas in July so we heard a lot of holiday music and the characters were all dressed in their Christmas finery. It wasn't too hot, either. Previous years it's been well into the 90s, so we were grateful for high 80s. We also changed it up a little this year by inviting ROb's brother Sholto (Uncle Dude to the girls) to come along and take the girls on the rides that my neck couldn't handle. The girls had a great time as usual and didn't want to leave. In fact, the only thing that got them out of the park was the excitement that the next day they'd be going to their first year of sleep-away camp. Here they are with the Christmas Candy Bar:    

 Here's Lizzie on the Merry Go Round, which is the last ride that we do in the park. This helped get her ready for Horse Camp. :) You can see from this picture that this was NOT a scary ride (at least until I decided to get off the horse and lost my balance and well ... it wasn't graceful, but at least I didn't fall off the horse!)

 Here is Hannah on her trusty steed. Rob was riding behind me, so I don't have a picture of him, but he actually rode a horse that went up and down this year. He's so bold!

 This is the view from the Kissing Tower. It's not as good as the view from the London Eye, but then again, it's not in London. It was a great ride because it was AIR CONDITIONED!!

 Lizzie and Hannah getting ready to get started on their first roller coaster ride. I picked a moderate ride for their first time and they loved it, so I'm sure there will be more in their future.

Here's Uncle Dude who chaperoned the first coaster ride. I had the excuse of a bad neck. Be sure to ask Rob what HIS excuse was...:

 Both girls said this was their favorite ride, though. It was a flying thing and you could steer it. Hannah sure looks like she's having a great time!!

 Lizzie's not sure if she wants to let Hannah take the rudder or not...

 And she's a lot more nervous just before it started, but she did have a great time on the ride:

 Here is Rob and Sholto's favorite part -- reading the Hershey Park Map:

 Another fun ride. THey ended up on it with two older kids who spun it around in the air. It was so funny to watch them!

 Lizzie's pretty sure she's not going to like this!

 Help me! But it was too late, they were off and around and she loved it:

 

And here's the giant pirate ship and yet another great facial expression by Lizzie:

 Here's another fun aspect of the day for Rob. Free food! We usually go back a second time before the buffet closes at 4 p.m. and this day was no exception. What WAS different is that the gang got stuck in a line so we had to sprint across the park to get to the buffet with enough time to spare to down a couple more burgers and dogs and BBQ chicken! Can't wait until next year!!