Harvest Festival and Hershey Park

We've had some busy but fun weekends! And with October just around the corner, I'm sure we'll be adding even more fun with fall festivals and visits to the pumpkin patch.

Two weekends ago, our small town had their Harvest Festival. The day started off kind of dreary, but we headed down later on in the afternoon and wandered around to look at the vendors. They had a whole parking lot blocked off for fun kids activities that were mostly free. There were some fun farm animals that Noelle was quite excited to pet, and then we spent a good 15 minutes at the sensory tables that were set up. Jonah, of course, decided it would be fun to mix the rice, pasta, and sand all together.

This past weekend, we headed up to Hershey, PA for the day to visit one of my closest friends from our Grove City days. Amy has a 2 1/2 year old, and along with our husbands, we took the kids to Hershey Park (big thanks to Amy and Austin for getting us free passes!) I was nervous about how Jonah would do, thinking he wouldn't want to sit still long enough to go on the rides. I figured he would be trying to stand up while the ride was in motion, and could picture him being dragged around in circles as he fell overboard. BUT he did so well! The kids rides all had belts that pulled pretty securely across the kids laps, and I think he was entertained enough by the motion and scenery that he didn't even try to get up. Even though I didn't get a great picture of the kids actually smiling, Noelle did keep asking to do more rides, so I'm convinced she was having fun!

At one point, the guys took the kids on some rides while Amy and I went off and rode the Great Bear roller coaster. I don't even know the last time I went on a roller coaster, and it was so much fun! I screamed my head off and enjoyed every second of it! We traded off, and the guys went to ride a coaster while we took the kids on some rides. We finished up our time at Hershey with a tour of Chocolate World- with of course a free treat at the end. Noelle claimed that the tour was her favorite ride, which is of course entirely free and not even inside the park. The kids were both asleep within ten minutes of starting our drive home, and slept for most of the two hour car trip. A good first time amusement park experience for both Noelle and Jonah! And a fun time with Amy, Austin, and Micah!

Meanwhile, we'll be soaking in all the time we can get outdoors before it gets too cold!