Who would you have left...

this crazy dude...

...or this sweet girl?

Don't answer that.

Tomorrow we get our sweet girl back from 2 weeks of camp!!

Awana Scholarship Camp and Hershey Park

Whilst Meghan was baking in the Pennsylvania sun here:

"no I canNOT open my eyes - too sunny!"

The rest of us were chillin' Hershey-Park-boardwalk-style here:

Where are all the people??  We came at 11am on a Monday morning... the PERFECT time to go!  NO CROWDS!  LOVED IT.  As you can tell from my YELLING, population is a big deal to me.

These guys are just happy all the time regardless of the teeming masses of humanity or lack thereof.

Seven fine looking kids (ours sans Meg plus four of the cousins):

Tressa, Josh, Evan, Caleb, Olivia, Austen & Hayden

Hershey Park - Thanksgiving Weekend

Brrrrrr!

Yes, I did indeed photoshop Evan onto the frog-hopper (top right picture).

A house made entirely of Hershey's candy products... YUM.

The handsome old guy is Craig's dad.  The beautiful teenager is cousin Brittany.

Back to the Sweetest Place on Earth...

...that would be Hershey, Pennsylvania, not to be confused with Mayor Nagin's Chocolate City, Louisiana

Tressa shows us "Hershey Park HAPPY!"
(I know, sooo cliche.)

Evan: "Dinos are so three years ago." frown.

Hayden: joyful giggles and shrieks. big smile.

...been there, done that. And we'll be back!

***

Camp Meeting at Craig's parents' church.

Here we are visiting with Craig's Aunt Arlene and Uncle Dick in the family cabin on the church campground.

(Have I ever mentioned what a pistol Tressa can be?)

While the cat's away...

After we left Meghan at camp, the rest of us spent a few hours at Hershey Park. First all three kids rode some little rides together. Then Craig took the big kids on the Coal Cracker. Then just Craig and Evan did some big rides - Lightning Racer, Wild Cat, and Wild Mouse. Meanwhile I gave the little ones ice cream for dinner and took them on some little rides. I was a bit concerned about letting Hayden ride with Tressa (usually he rides with Meghan), because I thought he might try to climb out mid-ride and she's not real aggressive about saving his life. Thankfully he stayed put! (I've never had to worry with any of the other kids... but Hayden is a whole different kind of animal.)

Taking Meghan to Camp

Daddy's going to miss Meggie... And she'll miss him too!

(Actually, Meghan was just pretending to be sad... she really couldn't wait till we left! Two weeks without us? Easy-cheesy lemon-squeezy, as Megs would say. I think she'll be fine.)