BV1: The Sweetest Place on Earth

Twins & Gramma waiting for the tram

You can''t go to Shawnee with kids and not take a day trip to Hershey Park. known as "The Sweetest Place on Earth," Hershey Park is a chocolate-themed amusement park in the town of the same name. Hershey, PA was founded by chocolate mogul Milton Hershey in 1905 as a town for his employees to live. Hershey Park was built in 1905 as a place for his employees to have a place to relax. The park evolved from a true park to an amusement park with some awesome rides over the past century. I mean, it isn't Disney, but there are a lot of rides and games and fun stuff to do.



On the train, Charlie's favorite ride

Neither my husband nor I are "ride people." We aren't into roller coasters or anything to that effect, so we knew that we were going just for the kids. Plus, we have a trip planned to Disney World this summer, and we wanted to introduce the kids to going on rides. It was just $26.95 per adult and $17.95 per child to get into the park for the day-- I would much rather have them fight and cry and not want to go on rides at Hershey Park than at Disney, where we spend over $100 per ticket. I figured it would be a good test as to whether or not the twins like rides. Fortunately, they LOVED the rides.



Fun on the swings

There were a ton of rides for little kids. Charlie went crazy for the train, which just ddid two laps on its track. Charlie is a real train afficionado, and was overjoyed to go on a train that was just his size. Seriously, he went on about 37 times. At first, he would only go on with me, Daddy or Gramma, then he wanted to go on by himself. I was thrilled, because he is the one that is Mr. Cautious. He didn't want to do anything until he saw the train.



Buzzy bees!

Catie, on the otherhand, is the adventerous one. She wanted to go on everything that she possibly could, but her favorite ride was the carousel. She was little Miss Independent, going on rides all by herself that an adult could not accompany her on. She even instilled a little courage into Charlie and got him to go onto rides with her-- sans adult. I almost took Catie on The Scrambler, but Gramma and Daddy disapproved because they thought it was too fast. (Spoilsports.)

Choo Choo Charlie

Food prices are RIDICULOUS in the park. My husband bought a soft pretzel and a bottle of water for $10. TEN DOLLARS! If you want to have lunch, there are plenty of places outside the park to get something to eat. My family and I just headed over to the nearby Friendly's for a quick bite that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg. Hershey Park offers same day re-admission, so you don't have to worry about wasting a day. You may waste a little time going to a restaurant outside the park, but it is certainly worth it. Oh, and the "special" that is offered on the Hersheypark.com website for four admissions and four pretzels? Totally not worth it. Go to Subway and get a discount ticket. Use that to pay for your admission-- you'll save a bundle.



Catie isn't afraid of the Hershey man!

On our way out, we had to visit one of the chocolate shops  And, of course, my kids got... lollipops. No kidding. Leave it to the three-year-olds to go for lollipops over chocolate. Mom and I went right for the chocolate-covered pretzels, while my husband - ever the purist when it comes to food - went for milk chocolate. We also went into the Christmas store and got a Christmas ornament to remind us of our fantastic day at Hershey Park every year we decorate our Christmas tree.

Gramma & Catie on the train for the third time.

The kids didn't want to leave. We bribed them to stay in their car seats and not cry by allowing them to have some of their lollipop when we pulled out of the parking lot. Our whole family had an amazing time at Hershey Park. It was the first taste of theme parks for the kids... I can't wait to go to Disney this summer!

Blog Vacation #1: Shawnee, PA

The idea for this blog formed while I was driving back from Hershey Park, PA to our villa in Shawnee, PA yesterday. The kids had such a fantastic time at Hershey, but I will get to that in a later blog post. I just wanted to introduce you readers to the locaction of our first vacation that I am blogging about: Shawnee on Deleware, PA.

We chose to go on vacation in Shawnee for a couple of reasons. First, I have not traveled with both of my twins at the same time on a flight. I took my daughter back in March and she was fantastic, but I have concerns about flying with two three year olds at once. Maybe when they are five. I don't know. We'll see. Shawnee is about three hours from my house on Long Island, which is a tolerable drive with the twins.

Secondly, my mom owns a timeshare in Shawnee. It cost us $98 for the entire week in a two bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, two story house on a resort property with tons of stuff to do. Therefore, we would save a ton of money on the place where we are staying, and be able to spend more money on fun stuff in the area.

Third, Shawnee is known as a year-round place to vacation. My good friend, Penny, took her husband and their eleven-year-old daughter here a couple of months ago, and they had a blast. Penny doesn't ski, and neither do I, so I thought that this would be a great place for us. Penny and her family also stayed at the Shawnee Inn, which is right next to Wyndham Shawnee - Depuy, where we have the timeshare. I figured we coudn't go wrong

I gave my husband the task of finding things for us to do within driving distance of the resort. He discovered TONS to do: Hershey Park, a steam train ride, the Crayold Factory, Lehigh Valley Zoo, Camden Aquarium... The list goes on and on. I knew that I chose the right place for our Spring Break, especially since most other families on vacation were looking to go somewhere "warm and tropical," as was the request from many of my clients. I was looking for a peaceful yet fun vacation with my family, and I believe I found it in Shawnee.