Friday, April 5, 2013

{Spring Break} Chocolate, With a Side of History

After recovering a bit from our FULL day in New York City (which translated to about a 20 hour day for me, start to finish), we popped in to visit my grandmother, Grandma L...


She wears every single one of her 98 years well...



After grabbing lunch, we made the short, half hour, trip over to Hershey (see last year's visit here) for a visit to Hershey's Chocolate World...




What I love most about this place is that while there are plenty of "ticketed" options, we don't spend a dime when we go ~ it is a great place to entertain the little ones for a couple of hours for FREE.  We generally take the factory tour multiple times ~ it is an entertaining ride (with singing cows) that takes you through the "Hershey's Factory" where you learn how chocolate is made, and then developed into different products. 


{M likes to "moo" along with the cows!}


At the end, everyone gets a free piece of chocolate.  Even if you tell them, "Hey, I've already been through seventeen a few times.", the workers who hand out the candy always seem to answer with an energetic, "We don't care.  You can have as many pieces as you'd like.  It's Hershey!"




After a few gazillion tours of the factory, we always try our hand at packaging our own kisses...  Again, the packaging "experience" is absolutely free, though you are given the option to purchase the kisses that you package at the end...




I just loved the "disco shake"...




After our Hershey "experience", we headed down to Gettysburg and explored the Museum & Visitor Center at Gettysburg National Military Park...




before bidding farewell to Honest Abe...




Hubby will want to come back with us & do the full battlefield tour, I'm sure...


An interesting story about Gettysburg...  My great-great-great grandfather, from Pennsylvania, fought as a soldier in the Union army.  At my rehearsal dinner, almost 10 years ago, my mom's brother, Uncle K, toasted an unnamed soldier from the Confederate army, because that grandfather of mine didn't fight at Gettysburg due to the fact that he had been wounded by a soldier from South Carolina.  If it weren't for that soldier, my grandfather likely would've died at Gettysburg and not come back home to father my great-great grandfather, Sherman Perry Murtland...  Yes, having been born and raised in the south myself, and namely born in Atlanta (and actually baptized by a direct descendant of Robert E. Lee!), it is hard for me to swallow that my great-great grandfather was named after General Sherman!  So, interesting to fast-forward many, many, many years ahead to me marrying a boy from South Carolina and settling down there myself!


More Spring Break 2013 Fun

Thursday, April 4, 2013

{Spring Break} A Day in "The Big Apple"

Much like last year, for the second part of our Spring Break week, I decided to take the kids, along with my mom, on a trip up to visit my grandmother in Eastern Central Pennsylvania.  Because she is 98 years old, frequent, but short, visits work out best for both her and for the little ones!  While we are up this way, I generally try to plan some day trips so that my mom can visit a lot and the little ones and I can visit a little.  Today, I took the littles on an all-day trip to New York City.  While Hubby is completely comfortable driving the Suburban into the city, I do not like the idea of driving in a big city where I don't know my way around both backwards and forwards!  In talking with my good friend, S, we decided that it would be easiest for me to drive into Jersey City and catch the ferry over.  This was way easy, and thankfully, we really didn't really run into much traffic at all.  S was so sweet to ferry over to Jersey City to pick us up...




The littles LOVED the ferry ride...




S was so very kind to take my crazy (and ambitious) plans and map out both the easiest routes and the best travel methods between stops.  We took our first subway ride of the day...




and started out with a late breakfast at Tom's Restaurant, famous for both inspiring the Suzanne Vega song, "Tom's Diner" and being the stand-in facade for Monk's Cafe' on Seinfeld...




We met up for a brief visit with Aunt E, before heading down to Riverside Park to burn off some energy...




 before walking a good bit of the park back up to Grant's Tomb...


 


We then took a cab down to The Astor House, home of The Junior League of the City of New York...
 



and enjoyed lunch in the Roosevelt Dining Room...




before touring the beautiful building, formerly a private residence.  It was neat to learn that Dominic Chianese, star of The Sopranos, married his current wife there back in 2003...




 Our first stop after lunch, was the Theodore Roosevelt Birthsite...


Though his original birthplace was demolished in the early 1900s, a replica was rebuilt on the original site in the early 1920s...




While touring the home, the ranger showed us an old photograph of little "Teedie" with his favorite chair, and here is B with that exact chair...so neat!




Next, we cabbed it up to Central Park to ride the carousel...




and to play on the playground...




before grabbing a cupcake at Magnolia Bakery...




and meeting up with S's hubby for dinner at Shake Shack...




What a great way to end a FULL day of fun!  Thank you, S, for being the best "tour guide" ever!

More Spring Break 2013 Fun