Big Fun In PA-Part 1

I'm finally able to blog about our trip! I had been looking forward to this trip for months and months and it was better than I even thought it would be. My whole family flew out to Columbus where we rented a very large unwieldy 12-passenger van so that we could all ride together. It would've been so lame to be split up among multiple cars. Plus, we never would've been able to fit all of Emerson's crap along with everyone else's. We had a great time yelling from the back of the van to the front and joking about echoes and the front of the van arriving 20 minutes before the back of the van. It was also very bumpy in the back of the van and there were a few bouts of car sickness and bonking of heads on the ceiling. But it was all good.

When my family got here, we ate a quick dinner together and then went to the Park of Roses and stopped by Jeni's Ice Cream. It was delicious as always. Then we celebrated Nattie's birthday (see post below) and got ready for the long drive ahead. On Sunday morning, we went to Sacrament Meeting then started our 6 hour drive to Hershey, PA to meet up with my brother Scott and sister-in-law Ashley. E did surprisingly well in the car. There were no major meltdowns, even when our 6 hour drive turned into an 8 hour drive because of bad traffic. We were so excited to see Scott and Ashley! We hadn't seen them since Christmas. But on the way, we stopped here...

Yes, you guessed it. The World's Largest Apple Basket. The size is a little skewed here since it IS Emerson standing in front of it. And he's like just over 2 feet tall.

It was pretty awesome. And there were baskets everywhere in this little Longaberger Village. Way cool.

E did really well in the hotel all the nights too. The first morning he woke up a little earlier than we wanted, but he conked right out next to Ben on our bed while I showered.

On our first day we went to Hershey Park and Chocolate World. I loved both of them! My mom was kind enough to stay with E while Ben and I went on big rides. She doesn't like rides and she was a really good sport to watch E most of the day. Thanks Mom! I think my favorite ride was the one at Chocolate World where they show you how chocolate is made. It was like a grown up Mr. Rogers. We actually went back another day just to go on the ride again. :) And E happened to love the kiddie rides! It was so weird watching my little toddler ride rides. He seemed so big...yet so small. It was hilarious. And I love that his arm is draped over the back of the bug in the picture. You have to know he's a little nervous though because he's sucking his thumb. That's the telltale sign.
Also a little uneasy about the train ride. But he loved it because he started crying when it was all over and he tried to climb back in.
And what could be better than riding a train with Grandpa? Nothing I say. He obviously felt secure enough with Grandpa there since he has no thumb in.
He really hated this fuzzy Reese's character. So of course Ben made him get a picture.