Focht Family Blog

I finally put the pictures of the deck on the computer. Here is our finished deck:

As soon as the conference was over it was time to pull up stakes again. Monday we drove to Atlanta and spent a couple of nights so we could visit with my brother and sister-in-law. Wednesday morning we started the long drive towards Pennsylvania. We made it as far as West Virginia on Wednesday night. Thursday we finished the drive and made it to the campground by early afternoon. I wish I had been a passenger instead of a driver because some of the scenery was beautiful!

We relaxed for the weekend and on Monday we were busy building decks. It took us until Thursday to finish but it was worth it because we are all enjoying sitting out on the deck enjoying the weather. Even Tinkerbell enjoys laying out with us while we are out there. Here are pictures I took of both of the decks on Tuesday. I will try to take some pictures of our finished deck tomorrow.

Here is mom’s deck in use…

Here is mom’s deck without the people…

Here is our deck on Tuesday…

And here is the easy up behind mom’s site that houses the golf cart and her picnic table…

This weekend has been a lot of fun for all of us enjoying the campground and all of its activities. We are once again getting the Mastiff itch so we have been looking around for a pup to join the family. I always told Nathan that once we were done showing I wanted a brindle so we are looking for a brindle. We have found a 6 month old apricot brindle in WI. We just put in a puppy application for her and if we are approved we will leave on Tuesday and drive to get her. Then we have to be in NY next weekend for a Girl Scout camping trip for Samantha with our niece Alex.

The puppy we are looking at is an apricot brindle from Peerless Mastiffs.

Nathan and I have decided that we should stay in one place for the summer so that the kids can get some time with other kids. So we came up with a list of what we wanted in a campground and I stumbled upon a nice campground in Transfer, PA named Shenango Valley RV Park. So, instead of heading south when we left Iowa we headed to Pennsylvania so we could check out the campground. We called the owners and they told us we could come out and look at the campground on Monday because they were at an RV show in Erie. We arranged to have dinner on Sunday with my Aunt Sue and Uncle James in Cleveland.

As is often the case with our travels we changed plans. We drove to Erie and spent the night there on Saturday so we could go to the RV show and check out the campground exhibits. Erie was a scary town. We actually had a teenager throw a snowball at us while driving through the streets downtown. I told Nathan I was glad that it was just a snowball.

The RV show was held at the Bayfront Convention Center. It is on the lake and the lake was frozen. I took some pictures of the icy lake and of the marina with all of the boats out of the water…

The RV show had 18 campgrounds exhibiting but we decided that Shenango was still the only one we wanted to look at. Next we drove back to Cleveland for dinner with my aunt and uncle. Here is a picture of my Aunt Sue and my mom while we were waiting for dinner…

After dinner we drove to a Walmart in Chardon, OH for the night. The next day we went back to Pennsylvania to check out the campground. We had a lot of fun running up and down the hills covered in snow. We checked out a couple of areas for possible sites, the playground, the pool, and the river. We ended up putting a deposit down on two seasonal sites at the top of the campground further away from the playground. The sites are further away from overnight sites so we figure there will be less traffic on “our” street. Nathan is already designing the deck he is going to build so we can sit outside and watch the kids. We will try it for a season and if we like it then we will continue to “season” and travel during the winter months.

Tuesday we left New York and headed for Hershey. Wednesday was spent at Chocolate World. Here are the kids as we were going in.

The first thing we did was go to the 3-D show that they have. It was very cute with all of the chocolate characters dancing around. Next we went on the tour which is a ride that takes you through a simulated factory that shows how chocolate goes from bean to candy. Here are the singing cows that perform throughout the ride.

After the ride we went to a section where the kids can have a factory experience. They get to fill a container with kisses that come off a belt. Then they put the container together, do a dance and put them on a belt that takes them to the back. At the other end a container comes out with their names on them that are wrapped up in plastic. Here is mom and the kids in line.

And Samantha, Timmy and Josh filling their containers….

After we purchased their containers and badges, Nathan and I decided it would be fun to go to a chocolate tasting. Mom decided she would probably not be able to eat what they were tasting (I think she thought some would have nuts) so she stayed with Josh. Here is a picture of Nathan, Samantha and Timmy at our table and a picture of our tasting mats.

We started out tasting the nibs before they are processed and then went from milk chocolate (either 30% or 35% cacao) to a specialty dark chocolate that s 70% cacao. Nathan and the kids preferred the lighter chocolates but I enjoyed the darker ones. After our tastings we went to lunch and then took a trolley ride around town that gave the history of Hershey and the town. We had a lot of fun.

Thursday mom and I went to the Chocolate Spa for the afternoon. You check in and they give you slippers and a robe and this is what you stay in until you leave. We had lunch in our robes, tried out the aromatherapy room and the steam room. We were then bored (guess I’m not good at the lounge around thing) and we went into the quiet room and looked for magazines to read while we waited to be called. I went back first and mom was called about 15 minutes later. We had a Chocolate Immersion experience. We first had a Chocolate Sugar scrub and then they rinsed that off and followed it with a Chocolate Fondue wrap. After being coated, they wrap you in plastic and blankets and leave you to rest for 20 minutes. This is followed by another rinsing and then a coating of cocoa moisturizer. I got back to the quiet room first and ate some fresh baked goodies that are in the room while drinking a bottle of cold water and finishing a magazine. Mom came back in about 15 minutes later and we went back to the locker room to change and go back to the real world. :)

Everything felt great but since my allergies are in over sensitive mode a few hours later I was covered in hives. Today we are doing laundry while Nathan visits customers. Tomorrow we drive to New York City and we will be there until Tuesday morning when we will head back to upstate New York.