Holiday Happenings and Overdue Posts

Since much of this month was plagued with illness, we worked hard to cram holiday excursions into our well days.  One outing that we do every year is riding the Santa Express.  Adeline is mildly obsessed with trains which made it a spectacular ride.  We were thrilled to have Heather and Baby Kate make the trek up so that they could board the train too.  Grammy and Papa were also in attendance.  The girls loved the train ride and Santa was nice enough to pay them individual time while gifting them a pretty fancy magnifying glass.

Since Adeline was fever free for the night, we decided that we would retry our weekend in Hershey.  Visiting an amusement park in 20 degree weather may seem strange to some, but in Pennsylvania it is a tradition.  The girls thoroughly enjoyed the rides.  They hung tough with the temps and we managed to stay five plus hours in order to see the park light up with 1000's of Christmas lights.  It was beautiful.

Check out their faces on the Frog Hopper.  (Lila went from thrilled to distraught when she saw an older woman, that was on the ride hold her throat and laugh.  Lila thought the woman was puking.  Goes to show how much puke has found its way into our house!)

While at the park, the girls were able to visit Santa.  I expected Savannah to start asking questions this year and she did.  We have moved on to the Santa's Helpers stage (i.e. telling her that some of the "Santa's" we see  at the mall, etc. aren't actually Santa at all, but one of his helpers filling in for him)  - she fully took the lead on this conversation.  We mutually decided that the real Santa is in Hershey which caused her to beam from ear to ear after spending time on his lap.

After the amusement park (both girls were passed out in their car seats before we got out of the parking lot), we spent the night and headed out to Chocolate World the next morning.  The girls enjoyed working on the factory line while packaging Hershey Kisses - dancing with your container was included again this year.  Savannah and Grammy had the chance to try out the newest exhibit.  They both got to make their own chocolate bar with individual fillings and toppings.

Before leaving we came across a magnificent gingerbread house.  Well, it really wasn't gingerbread but 100% Hershey candy.  Both young and old were awed.

Back home (and in between even more sickness) we found time to roll out a few more cookies and finalize our gift purchases.  Alex and I found ourselves shopping past midnight and wrapping gifts on Christmas morning.  Not how I planned to do it but it all worked out in the end.