A couple quotes from Camp and NJ

Yoda looking down the latrine, "It's a LONG way down there."

Mimi, "My camp name is 'Little C', but for-long my camp name is 'Little Camper'"

 Parker in NJ, "This pizza is REAL good!" 

Parker

WARNING, TONGUE pictures. 

Nothing graphic, just thought I'd let you know, feel free to not look :) 

Parker was born with a tongue-tie.  I got a variety of advice over the years, but we did nothing until this summer.  The dentist said in years to come a tongue-tie could loosen gums and teeth, so when Parker was ready the dentist laser-ed the extra tissue off.  It hurt more then the dentist said it would, but Parker was a good sport.  Here's the before and afters...

Parker Before, Mimi as reference...

He's really stretching it in this one.  It hurts him to have it this far.

 After, looks NORMAL! 

GS Day Camp

This past week was day camp for our GS troop.  Mimi had a fantastic time!  To make it possible for more leaders to go, they have Boy Camp and Mini Camp, sort of like babysitting for the brothers and little sisters of Girl Scouts.  Guess who was in charge of the Mini Campers?  That's right, I volunteered to babysit for a whole week.  Not what I had in mind, but it turned out ok, since I got to hang out with Yoda all week.

Here's a few photos of the highlights. 

Both Parker and Mini's camps won awards for their camps decorations! 

While looking at the map

Me, "This is New Jersey, I was born there."
Mimi, "Where's Massachusetts?  I was born there."
Yoda, "Where was I born?"
Mimi, "Ohio, you've always lived in Ohio, you're a Buckeye!"
Yoda, "I'm NOT a Buckeye, I'm a human!"

NJ, Philly, and Hershey (or the blog post of 1000 photos)

On our drive to NJ (#23 on our summer list) to visit with my sister and her family I had a revelation... Greg should fly one-way to Philly, then we'll drive back to Ohio together, and visit places along the way... I'm so crazy!

Lest you think this trip was all sunshine and rainbows, I'll include the not-so-great stuff at the bottom...But first the good stuff! 

We spent time with my sister, her husband and their adorable 1-year-old daughter, baby H!

 Aunt Sonya came to play too!

 We played outside...  

 

Jill helped the kiddos make frozen Popsicles (#39 on our summer list)

And we played inside... 

ate yummy cupcakes (of course)...

And enjoyed a trip to a Jersey Diner...

+++++++++

That was fun, but it was time to get Greg from the airport...

First stop, Philadelphia.  I can't believe I've never been there.

It was the 4th of July so there was LOTS to do and see in addition to all the normal awesome stuff there is in Philly!

 They got a kick out of the blacksmith and the giant fire.

The old-time toys were cool too. 

There was a giant line to get an American cupcake.  We decided not to wait. 

Happy Birthday, America

But later that day, when we were going through the building, 

we got 3 of the last few cupcakes they were giving out!  Lucky us :) 

We DID stand in line to get a photo with the Liberty Bell.  

The guy in there was about to give the bell it's yearly ceremonial tap. 

We looked around at all the beautiful buildings. 

++++++++++++

Then we headed to Valley Forge.  This place is SO beautiful! 

America's own Arc de Triomphe

I couldn't find Yoda.  Mimi pointed to where he was, I looked and still couldn't see him.... Then I saw his funny face behind this cut out.  I laughed so hard!



I asked each kiddo to learn one thing and tell me and Greg about it...

Mimi learned that guns are heavy...

Yoda leaned that the soldiers played games...

Parker learned it was cold for the soldiers, but not the coldest winter. 

++++++++++

So now it's time to head to Hershey, PA.  We called around and searched the internet for a hotel room with little success.  We did finally find a place, and we got there just an hour before the Fireworks!  

(This was # 19 on our summer list)

Yoda fell asleep, Mimi was pretty tired too.

(By this time my camera had run out of batteries, so these photos are all from our phones)

One of the highlights was finding this awesome diner.

Time for Hershey!  We didn't feel up for Hershey Park and roller coasters and stuff, so we hit Chocolate World.  It was a big success! 

 

 You get to design your own kind of chocolate bar, and then see it being made. 

Yoda picked a Lego/chocolate car to bring home. 

But we all enjoyed LOTS of chocolate! 

Not so sunny vacation facts....

Both Yoda and and Mimi threw up!  Lots to clean up. 
The hotel was not so nice, ugh!  I'm not convinced we didn't pick up some bugs or something...
Almost getting into a fight with a teenager at the fireworks, he threw something at someone's car, but hit ours instead.
It took over an hour to drive back to our crummy hotel after the fireworks.