More PA fun with Mark's brothers

So, let's review.

We visited 14 states with Michael this summer.

We traveled across the country and saw buffalo, Mt. Rushmore, Chris Farley's grave, Wrigley Field and the national aviary. We got cheese in Wisconsin and deep dish pizza in Chicago.

He lived with us for over 7 weeks in PA.

We did a TON of yard work.

We ate out some.

We cooked great food.

We played lots of games, especially Ticket to Ride (but also Battleship, Pit, Twister, and many more!).

We watched all of Freaks and Geeks.

We went bike riding and played basketball and baseball and Laser Tag.

We got Hershey's ice cream at the local, old-fashioned ice cream shop.

We played a lot of Mario games and Rock Band.

We visited some Amish Country. We visited Hershey several times for both Chocolate World and Hersheypark.

We drove through New England (6 states on this leg of our road trip) and ate great food and visited great places in MA and RI, like Boston and Newport. Mark and his brothers went to a game at Fenway Park (and the Red Sox won).

We flew kites and visited the ocean.

We played cards.

Michael got to work for our business and the boys built various arbors and put in fencing and did a TON of landscaping.

We made brownies, soft pretzels, chocolate chip cookies, Dutch babies, and other scrumptious snacks.

We dealt with a guy who ran over our antique wrought iron fence.

We played Webkinz and Facebook Scrabble.

We barbecued and ate a lot of ice cream.

We lit fireworks.

We had pizza parties.

. . .


Oh, but there's more!

More work building pergolas (this one has a ceiling fan!)

More work planting and watering ivy to climb our fences

More fun around town--this is the boys chatting up something at National Night Out where we met friends and got free burgers, hot dogs, water, pierogies, Italian Ice, and fun!

More trips to Chocolate World to ride the ride, get free chocolate, and visit the many chocolate-themed shops!

Ugh. Scott asked me to take this picture of him holding a gift he thought Lindsay would like but didn't buy for her. Think he's trying to score points with a pregnant wife? I say punch him, Lindsay! :P

The gang at Chocolate World

So we have lots of these pictures in front of Chocolate World with our visitors. From this summer, we have one of Uncle Michael with the kids. And here is one with Uncle Scott and the kids! 3 of Mark's brothers to go (mine has visited a few times)! We've always been excited to have our siblings visit us here. I don't think I would've guessed that the twins would be the first. Loved having them here. We're excited for our next visitors so we can take you to Chocolate World, too!

More fun with friends--
Thing 1's first wedding shower with her cute friends
(She was so excited to attend)

More fun in the sun - Here is Thing 2 and Uncle Michael

Three amigos!
Thing 1 is doing ALL sorts of tricks off the diving board!


Thing 2 surfing on Uncle Michael's back

Thing 2 and his amigos!
Thing 2 is doing flips and handstands and twirls and cannonballs and "falling" into the water and all sorts of tricks!

More fun in Hershey, this time at HersheyPark! The kids get free tickets (and we get free parking) through a summer reading program. We usually go once locals are in school (one of the benefits of homeschooling) but we went earlier this year so we could go with Michael (there are 13 roller coaters in the park and he really likes those--some of them are CRAZY!)
Here we are lining up to get our bags checked.

Then it's time to see how tall we are for the rides:

Thing 2 is ALMOST past the peanut butter cup stage.

Thing 1 is ALMOST past the Hershey Bar stage.

I'm the same as previous years--a Jolly Rancher.
(Mark is taller than Jolly Rancher, which means he's tall enough for everything, but too tall for some rides)

Here we are with Hershey Kiss

It TOTALLY poured on us right when we were using the water park -- it was crazy!

This was pre-water park and pre-ride-closing rainstorm
Fun ride--The Howler--one of those spinny rides that Mark and his brothers don't handle so well (are there any of the brothers that can stomach spinny rides or is it all 6?)

More Rock Band
Love Thing 2's pose--he was getting into it.
You should hear him sing "Hello There, Ladies and Gentlemen!"



More fun IN our house - VERY short video of bat in our house. You might have to watch it twice to see it.

More outdoor enjoyment -- our beautiful back patio area--pergola built by the boys, ceiling fan wired and installed by Mark, morning glory vines running up the sides. Lovely!

More fun with our bird area -- that little bird bath/fountain was a deal we got on clearance. We love this area and really enjoy our feathered (and furry) visitors!

More food - farewell barbecue with Uncle Michael under our patio pergola!

We often eat out here because sometimes it's cooler outside than inside!
We got this cute picture of Uncle Michael and the kids before Mark took Michael to the airport to go back to school. Here are the three of them with their Webkinz. We got Michael a buffalo one as a farewell/thank you gift to commemorate our road trip and summer (we saw buffalo). Now the "kids" can play together on Webkinz and visit each other's online houses! We can hardly wait!