The Statue of Liberty

We stopped in New Jersey to take the ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.  It was a Saturday so it was probably even more crowded than usual.  It was hot and there were lots of people.  I did feel like a part of the tired, poor and huddled masses.  It was just way too hot and crowded for my liking, but we still had a good time and it was fun to see the statue in person.  Here we are before boarding the ferry, checking out the NYC skyline.

 We briefly disembarked on Ellis Island and looked in the museum of immigration there.

We got back on the ferry to head to the statue of Liberty

 Ellis Island from the boat.

 Scott took the older three up to the upper deck of the boat to see better

NYC skyline again

 And a view of Lady Liberty

 Coming up to Liberty Island

 We got off at Liberty Island so we could see the statue up close

 There were lots of people there

Matthew REALLY wanted to look out of these binocular things.  They all cost 50 cents, but he was convinced that one of the ones he had looked through was working.  It may have been working but he didn't tell me that until later, after I had made him move on to somewhere else.  Then he grumbled the rest of the trip about anything and everything, but mostly about how I never listen to him.  The more upset he got the higher the pitch of his voice got, and thus, the harder for me to hear when he was trying to talk to me.  Especially since he would always look down at the ground or in the other direction while trying to address Scott or me.  So Matthew was sort of feeling grumpy most of that trip.  And I am trying to listen to him!  I really am!

 Here we are back on the boat back to New Jersey

Matthew managed a smile for the camera

At least Anna had fun.

The Crayola Experience

We stopped in Easton, Pennsylvania to go to the Crayola factory.  It's not really a factory anymore, just a cool place for kids to have some Crayola fun.  The kids had a great time.

 Posing with the giant marker

 Making some coloring creations that would then be projected on the wall

 John dancing with the coloring creations

 Anna drew the orange bird with the pink ahead and we projected it on the wall

 Seeing how crayons are made.  They don't make them here anymore, but they made some for a little presentation and we got to see it.  See the Mr. Rogers crayon factory video HERE.

 So many crayons at Crayola!!

The kids got to personalize a crayon wrapper and put them on a crayon of their choice, make markers and play with some Crayola Model Magic clay that they could take home.

We got to make our own coloring page.  The pictures were looking pretty normal til we got there and did our picture - then it started looking sort of weird.  Maybe our beautiful faces broke the machine.  :)

The kids got to melt a crayon into a shape.  Anna and Matthew picked a ring shape and Grant made a dinosaur.

And they got to do melty spin art too.

They did some painting with melted crayons.

There were so many fun things to do.  The kids LOVED this giant water play area where they could move their boat through lock and up water ways to get it through the river.  I wasn't sure what it had to do with crayons - maybe it was teaching about moving things for manufacturing.  But it was a lot of fun.  We loved working the locks.

Here is Matthew working the locks.  Water is always fun!

We had a great time visiting the Crayola factory...or the Crayola "Experience"

Hershey

Our vacation is really just a trip to New England to visit my family, but we decided to stop a few places on the way to make the drive less painful.  On our first day we stopped near Dayton, Ohio and on our second day we stopped in the lovely town of Hershey, Pennsylvania.  Yes, THAT Hershey!!  We went to Hershey Chocolate World there and had a great time.  

Here is Anna with a giant chocolate kiss.

 A giant chocolate bar

 A small boy next to a big chocolate bar makes it look even bigger

 We didn't purchase a giant chocolate bar or kiss...but it was fun to pretend

 The kids each got to pick two king size candy bars.  They were excited about that.

And we rode the Great American Chocolate Tour ride.  It's free to get into Hershey Chocolate World and free to ride the ride!!  So hooray!  Save your money for chocolate!  Here are the kids on the ride.

Everyone liked the singing cows on the ride.  The ride tells about their chocolate making process and the singing cows remind us of why they chose Hershey in the first places.  Lots of pastures for cows to provide the milk for Herhsey's Milk Chocolate.

 We met an even bigger chocolate bar.  Grant was too afraid to stand by him.

And we also got to make our own chocolate bar.  They have some different attractions that you pay for and this was the only paying one we did, but it was cool and the kids really enjoyed it.  First we had to suit up.

 Even John

We got to use different kiosks throughout the attraction to make selections about our special chocolate bars.  We got to pick what kind of chocolate we wanted (dark, milk or white) and which fillings choices we wanted - they had about 6 or 7 to choose from like rice krispies, chocolate cookies pieces, toffee etc.

 John didn't make a bar, but he was pretty well behaved.

 Here is Anna watching her bar be made on the chocolate bar assembly line

 That's Anna's chocolate bar going past and Matthew's right behind it

 And mine

 John sort of taking a look at the chocolate bars

 Matthew helped Anna to see hers sometimes.  We got to watch all the fillings being put in and chocolate dripped over the top again.

 Then we got to select a wrapper design.  You could pick a predesigned one or make your own

Matthew made his own using LOTS of Hershey branding.

 Here we are waiting for our bars to be boxed

 Or cartoned by the "cartoner" rather

 And in the end we all had our special chocolate bars ready to be eaten!

 John didn't get to do it, but Scott let him help with his

After our chocolate making we enjoyed a brownie (all of us shared one brownie and it was just about right)

And we went on the chocolate tour a bunch more times...'cause...FREE!  And you get a sample of something chocolatey at the end.

 Chocolate bars being made...this was just on the ride, so not actual chocolate bars being made

And kisses!!  I'm glad we got a chance to visit Hershey and enjoy some of that world famous milk chocolate (cue the singing cows).  More vacation adventures to come.