Easton, PA

After visiting with grandma for a few days, we checked out of Middletown and headed to Easton. The main attraction was the Crayola factory, but it was also our 10th anniversary, so we splurged on a two bedroom condo for the night! We ended up being on the 10th floor and the place was dreamy and the view breath-taking!These are just a few pics of the view out of our windows!The bridge to New Jersey...we were right on the state line!The round-about and the way we walked to go to the crayola factory. It worked out so well staying downtown, we didn't realize we would be able to walk to the factory!

The pool was a huge hit with my water rats and one of the highlights of our time in Easton!
Our large family area......way up my alley!We did have 2 bedrooms, but the bed in the second room was only a double, so we had to get creative! We had 2 of these chairs in the condo....so we took off the back pillow and put them end-to-end, covered them with towels and got the blankets out of the car and that was Will's bed for the night:)The monument and fountains in the round about. A dedication to the people who serve and have served the city of Easton! What a nice city.

Visits with Grandma Drayer

The main reason we decided to take a vacation to Pennsylvania was to visit Ryan's grandma!! She is living in an assisted living facility and has had several health issues and continues to struggle standing up and doing simple tasks without becoming short of breath. The last time we visited was when I was just pregnant with Kailyn, so we really wanted her to meet our children and vice versa. We were able to visit her on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before heading out of Middletown.We made grandma some paper flowers so that we could brighten her room and she could think of us when she looks at them. Talk about easy maintenance, she doesn't need to water them or do anything with them, really.We brought lots of activities for the kids to do while we visited. Among their favorites were their water color books and the story books I took from home!

I believe that we made grandma's week and she was really sad to see us go....hopefully we can go back again in a couple of years:)

Chocolate World!

Who doesn't need a little chocolate in their lives? Well.....we did for sure!!! One of our stops while in Pennsylvania was to Hershey World to take the short tour that shows how they make the chocolate and then to the Hershey store to stock up on some of the good stuff:)

Riding the tour and loving it! Kailyn loved the cows....the main ingredient in chocolate - milk!
A dream world!We opted for just a picture instead of purchasing one big tummy ache!Will and Kailyn each got to pick a non-candy item at the Hershey store. Kailyn picked a cow (big surprise) and Will picked a ball with Hershey on it (another big surprise!).I think this was one of my favorite stops, not only because of the chocolate, but because it was nice and short and the kids were great!

All Aboard!

This morning we headed to the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania!!! The kids were super excited to ride an actual train, and the drive there was absolutely stunning!One of the few happy moments for our little man! I really had it in my head that he would LOVE an engineer's hat, but he was more interested in all the little farm toys, so I just took a picture of him in the hat!
Thomas the train just happened to be there....so we got to see him too!

Listening to the conductor telling us the rules for riding the train!
Kailyn picked out a train whistle at the store and had a great time blowing it on the train!
Precious father-son moment!!!

Overall, the ride was fun and so was listening to Ryan tell the kids his memories of riding the train when he was little! The kids were sacked in the back of the car 5 minutes after leaving....of course all of Will's meltdowns did take a lot out of him:(

Pick'in time!

The kids and I headed to DeLange's Redberry Farm on Tuesday morning to pick some strawberries. While Kailyn totally remembered last year, Will's memory was a little fuzzier. However, they both did a great job finding the reddest, biggest berries they could find:) We only picked around 4 quarts this year, compared to about 12 quarts last year, and it only took us about 25 minutes! What a fun yearly tradition!Thanks for all the help Kailyn and Will....and for letting me put up two batches of jam later in the day:)

Dance, Dance, Dance!!

Sunday afternoon, Kailyn had her spring dance recital!!!! She has taken ballet/tumbling for a year, plus 8 weeks last summer to see if she liked it, at Avalon School of the Arts. She has always loved dancing but has learned so much this year and we are so proud of her! Here's a few shots of our little ballerina before rehearsal and at the recital. Enjoy!Hamming it up for the camera!

In first position, waiting for the music to start!We couldn't use flash and we were up a ways, so this one is a bit blurry....but still precious!
They danced to "Little Black Rain Cloud" from Winnie the Pooh. Great job princess!

Last Chance!

Tuesday was Kailyn's last day of ballet until fall! It was also the last chance to practice the routine for Sunday's recital:) We are so excited to see her perform with all her classmates and to see how much she has grown this year. Here's a few pics of my little ballerina:Kailyn with her teacher, Miss Marie! Thanks so much for everything! This summer Kailyn will be taking a break from ballet and tumbling, but Will is super excited to be taking a tap and tumbling class just for boys this summer with Miss Marie!