Again, I thank you all for your comments and concern for Ricky 
He's hanging in there, overall the pain has been less than the first time around however due to this surgery being different - patellar tendon vs. hamstring - the pain is in a different spot so it's harder for him to put pressure on the left leg as early on as last time. Therefore he's not as mobile yet as he was a week after surgery last Nov. which aggravates him of course, there's nothing worse for an active teen boy than having to be still. But he understands it takes time and luckily there's Netflix and as @mommaof3boys and I mentioned, Fortnite!
I did the own make your own chocolate thing and it was pretty fun. I actually liked the Turkey Hill make your own ice cream flavor much better as it was much more hands on. If you need another place to go to in PA, the Turkey Hill Ice Cream center is really fun!
I think I mentioned this already, but while we left Sunday my sister stayed until Monday and took her boys to Chocolate World that morning, the sole reason being so they could do the make your own chocolate and it was down
I actually didn't know about the Turkey Hill center until we got there and I saw brochures in our hotel lobby lol! It does look cool, as does touring the Herr's potato chip factory. As someone who researches and plans others' trips for a living, I...............didn't research ours very much
Although granted we really didn't have much time this trip and focused on those Amish and Hershey anyway!
I saw that on FB! I was thinking we should have had a DisMeet there!
If I hadn't been with a school group my answer would have been YES! And I will remember that if we go again. I much prefer Six Flags NE to the one in NJ.
Totally agree! At least with Disney, the food is edible. I made the mistake of getting the meal plans with our Six-Flags APs one year and I think we ate there once. I couldn't even eat the food even though it was "free."
Um, when we went on that school trip we had lunch vouchers, and I thought we would be using them at any quick service location, or at least have a choice of a couple. Nope. Turns out since the day we visited is basically "school group day", they set up a buffet way back in a picnic like area for all the schools to eat at the same time. The buffet was a dollar store tin pan full of dry burgers, hot dogs, stale rolls and then a big bin of salad
little bags of chips plus 1000 visiting students were scooping their food out, dropping ketchup and mustard packs into the salad, not using tongs for their rolls. I was appalled, disgusted, and super hungry so I ate like 3 bags of chips. Then later while all the kids were going on rides with teachers, I got cheese fries
What?? Are you even RELATED?
Congratulations on the granddaughter! Teeny tiny baby snuggles are the best.
They are! I could sit and hold her all day
What more do you need to recover than balloons and Fortnite?!
OMG Fortnite
Sometimes one of the boys has a friend over in the neighborhood and they abruptly leave. I'm like, "why did so-and-so go home already?" Why, because they need to be at their own house so they can play Fortnite together instead of hanging OUT together playing outside or something!! It's crazy.
The Amish tour seemed really neat.
It was much more interesting and informative than even I thought it would be, and I was pleasantly surprised that they boys liked it so much.
Not ever been to Hershey, being a West Coaster, but it does look like a nice getaway and some good old fashioned, if not delicious, fun.
I think old-fashioned really describes the theme park well, and I don't necessarily mean that in a negative way. Many of the rides are basic, especially the "kiddie" rides; they remind me of carnival rides. Food isn't inspiring in any way but then you have all that chocolate
and so some of the things/attractions specific to that are neat.
I've cruised through the Amish areas of Kentucky and it was similarly interesting although there is no formal tour. We stopped for lunch and had the most delicious Sky High on the planet. Mmm!!! And of course took a pie home. That's what you do.
Our tour bus driver told us where else in the U.S. the Amish are and she mentioned Kentucky
Just not as bit a population as PA. And yes, you have to take home the baked goods!
No dolls for me, thanks. Nearly as creepy as the face chairs at Boardwalk. Nope, nope, nope.
LOL those chairs! We've stayed there a few times, kids were younger, and I always made them stand by those chairs for a picture.
e are World's Finest Chocolate distributors (work in fundraising with schools-well mostly the hubs, I fill in when needed-I'm in nutrition!)
I know that name, I chaired fundraising at Chris's school the last few years and while we didn't go with them (you? lol) I would get flyers from them. I would have been all for a chocolate fundraiser but not everyone was in agreement and sometimes I have to listen to others
If we do ever have a meet up I'm gonna have to bring some good chocolate.
Oh I certainly won't turn it down! Maybe in May???
My son...I call them Ben "droppings"-I can tell where he's been (and his name is Ben-get it
?) by the trail of wrappers, bags, plates, cups etc laying around...
Love it! Same here, especially with backpacks and sports bags which never seem to make it to their bedrooms or even usually out of the middle of the floor..........and forget it when their friends are down in the family room, it's like a garbage bag exploded by the time they leave!
My husband was on way back from a kickoff at a school (kinda rural) and saw a Mennonite boy walking down the highway-we have signs all over to share the road with the buggy's and horses. So he pulls over to see what is wrong-turns out the boy's horse and buggy got away from him (not sure what the kid was doing that the kid's ride ran away) but he ended up taking the boy along the highway and back roads towards the boy's house looking for the buggy. The poor kid knew he was in for a whoopin if he didn't find them. Luckily they did before they got to the kiddo's house.
Aw, poor kid! I'm glad he helped him! I think the Mennonite's are a bit less strict than the Amish but I supposed losing one's horse and buggy is about as bad as one of our children coming home without the car they left with!
Was glad to see the update on Ricky's surgery, even though we are FB friends I don't recall reading it.
Thank you
I put a vague post up that day, one of those memories came up about Ricky and I sort of referred to the fact that he was having surgery that day but never really said he was or how it went. I was too drained by the time we got home and tired of texting individual friends and family members (all of whom I greatly appreciated!).
LOVED that you went to Hoop-De-Doo. I'm tempted to book it for our Thanksgiving trip as something different and fun for everybody. We haven't done it in a few years. We'll see. My FIL had talked about booking a tour for ALL of us...but that's tough when we have two small kids (6 and 4) with us. This might be something we all could enjoy and would cost him less than a tour.
You should most definitely do this over a tour, and I think Thanksgiving is a great time for it! Both times we've been, there have been younger kids and they totally seem into it. I think everyone in your party would enjoy it
and it's always great to do something different. Tell your FIL you think it's a better fit for all the different ages you'll have with you than a tour!
So excited about your upcoming stat at Grand Floridian. When we stayed there for TWO nights last August, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about it...but I really did LOVE it and I'm sure you will also.
That's how I've felt, I was never 100% sure I'd love it-which I know can happen even at a resort we're 100% sure we WILL love-but recently I've decided I really, really want to try it so I'm glad the opportunity has come up!
Jealous about your upcoming trip and seeing
MNSSHP as well. I think we'll be doing an Orlando trip in Sept/October, but we will be staying at Universal and maybe take a side trip or two to the Disney parks, or at least that's what DH has mentioned as part of our 20-year wedding anniversary celebration. I have yet to book that though.
It's been 4 long years since our last MNSSHP, and if I had it my way we'd do that every year
Your Universal trip sounds exciting, especially if you combine it with some Disney! You guys should try doing HHN on your Universal trip, I've wanted to do that, too but Steve doesn't want to squeeze that in this time so I have to wait.....................
I can't believe how fast his summer break has passed this year.
I'd love to take him however he has two brothers and to take the 3 of them with my family would be $$$$$$$. He does love to tell me I should take him though, and I'd love for it to happen.
but yeah, definitely about that week if it's the one before or right after Easter.......
Good Humor ice cream bars were included and since they were individually wrapped I was ok eating one!
