Focht Family Blog

Friday at lunch we made it back to our beautiful deck at Shenango Valley RV Park. All the kids had to go immediately to see Ms. Debbie and Mr. Dale (the owners) to say hello. They were glad to be back for a couple of days. We have spent the 3 days back for Labor Day weekend changing our decor over to fall, cleaning a little, and playing a lot! The kids have spent everyday at the activities and also playing at the playgrounds and the pool with their friends. I think they are a little upset that we are leaving again tomorrow morning! :(

Tomorrow morning we leave for Newmar. We will be having repairs done this next week. Something is pulling too much electric on the RV. Last month we beat the record at Shenango for the highest electric bill in their history. Somehow I don’t think that is the kind of award I want to win. :)

Saturday we decided to spend the night at Cabela’s. We had to pick up Nathan’s business partner in New Jersey on Sunday so we had time and Nathan wanted to do a little shopping. I actually ended up buying a pair of Hatley pajamas (I love the brand) because they had some on clearance for half price. :) Here are some of the pictures I took of the animals on display…

This was the Cabela’s in Hamburg, PA. One of the places we stopped to get a new water pump for the RV said it was the largest in the nation.

After Hershey we decided to drive over to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA for Saturday’s fun. As Nathan put it… it should be called a fun place or something because it is not a factory. The one portion that shows how they make things is an extremely quick and small demonstration that shows how they make crayons and markers. It was not true to what it said. Basically it is full of crayola products for you to use. We were given a sand art turtle to paint with watercolors. I actually enjoyed getting to paint.

Next up was an area that was set up like a street where the kids could draw and write on the ground with sidewalk chalk…

There was also a glass tunnel where the kids could write on the walls with markers…

Here are the kids trying to color on black paper with rainbow pens but all of the paper that was there had already been used…

There were also section where they cut out a seahorse and decorated it, finger painted, made a fish impression painting. You also got coins with your admission that you could use for a sample of clay, a 4 pack of crayons, or a marker. Here are the kids posing with the large crayon at the end of the day…

It was an interesting day but I think what I enjoyed the most was the little farmer’s market that was set up in the main square where we bought fresh bakery goods before heading out for the day. :)

The next day Nathan and I had to be at the spa at 3:00 so I had the morning free to take the kids somewhere. Nathan stayed at the RV to get some work done and my mom and I took the kids to Zoo America. It is a small zoo but we had reciprocity. One of my favorite animals I saw was the porcupine. The porcupine was up in a tree and looked dead (he wasn’t). When I mentioned it in the store they said he looks like a Q-Tip in the winter because he stays up in the tree and gets snowed on…

In one of the buildings they had some of the nocturnal animals. I tried to get a picture of the foxes but it is still a dark picture…

We stuck around for the 11:00 feeding of the bears. Here are the kids waiting near the bears…

When the staff came out they placed a metal tub on the ground and layered ice and cut fruit into it. Then they came out with two whole melons and threw them into the pool. When the largest bear came out he used his paw to hit a watermelon and then grabbed it with his mouth. It was quite impressive to see him with a watermelon in his mouth. Here is a picture of the largest bear when he came out. Timmy took one look and said that it was just like the bear that ran in front of us in Vermont.

Here is one of the smaller bears. I think it was shedding its fur or something…

After the zoo we found a Red Robin for lunch since mom wasn’t planning on having a great dinner and I knew I was missing dinner because of the times I set for my spa appointments. Nathan and I went to the spa a little early and tried out the jacuzzis at the hotel. Then I headed in for my Cuban Immersion (scrub and wrap) while Nathan had a beer and enjoyed the jacuzzis and the steam room. After my treatment I met Nathan and ate a chocolate muffin for my dinner. Then we had the last massage appointment of the day. We left at 8:00 as the spa was closing very relaxed! :)

I figured out quickly that we could make our path go by Hershey. I enjoyed my visit to the Chocolate Spa so much last year that I have decided that I am going to make it a yearly event. So I made reservations for a scrub, a wrap, and a couples massage with Nathan. Since I was now going to be at the spa for about 5 hours, I started feeling guilty about the kids and my mom being in the parking lot for that time so we left a day earlier than originally planned and stayed two nights at the Hershey Campground. This made it so we had a day and a half to do Hershey things with the kids and then my mom had more room and electricity for watching the kids while Nathan and I were at the spa.

Last year we went to Chocolate World. I looked on the website to see if there was anything else to do and noticed that they now have a Hershey Museum…

At the front of the museum is an amazing mural of Milton Hershey talking to children. It is so lifelike it feels like you are there with him. The kids posed with the mural…

One of the things I signed us up for was the Chocolate Lab. You go into a kitchen area where you have to put on hairnets and plastic aprons…

They give you each a bar mold and you have dishes of marshmallows, rice krispies, colored sprinkles, white chocolate drops, and raisins. Next they give you bowls of milk chocolate (would have been better if you could have dark chocolate). You can then design a chocolate bar however you want with the ingredients given to you. Mine had marshmallows, rice krispies, and white chocolate. Josh put sprinkles and marshmallows in his. After he was done he found another use for the leftover chocolate…

Then he got bored and started playing with his hairnet…

Timmy had sprinkles and rice krispies in his chocolate bar. He was using the other bowl of chocolate….

The result…..

Samantha made a “2009 Bar” but she will not share her secret recipe. :) Here are all of the children with their creations before they ate them…

Other than the fact that it was milk chocolate the bars were delicious! :)