Left over Hershey stuff...

This is the first time one day has been fodder for 4 blog posts. But it was an excellent day :-)

The chocolate-themed-ness of Hershey is just shy of annoying, I find the kiss shaped light poles endearing :-)

After the Gardens Ella and I went to Chocolate World and I got Ella to imitate the candy on the roof :-) Also, I am happy to report that I did not spend a dime there and Ella was completely satisfied with her miniature Hershey bar they gave out at the end of the ride. She didn't even ask for anything even though we walked around a store full of chocolate that is the size of a football field. What a great moment for her to be content!

Ella really likes the ride in Chocolate World. It's just our pace: moves about 2 miles an hour, no loops, smells like chocolate, cows sing a catchy (though quite repetitive) tune, educational info on how chocolate is made, and free candy at the end! The new piece of info Ella picked up on was that cacao plants grow in Africa. She was so excited to hear this and kept saying "Mommy, that's where Gedeon lives!!"(the child we support through Compassion Intl.) Great content for our next letter to Gedeon because Ella really wants to know if he likes chocolate as much as she does :-)

Cows and Chips

We had a great day trip on Saturday to a Dairy Farm and then explored downtown Frederick since we were out that way. We had a great time and the only problem was Ella eating stickers in the car on the way there and throwing up on her shirt. Who knows what possessed her to eat stickers (we thought she'd outgrown such things) but I think hurling turned her off to ever doing it again. Enjoy the pics!



We got there just in time to feed the baby cows which was our main goal. Those cows were HUNGRY in a big way and kinda aggressive! We had fun though :-)

The cows were either very affectionate or desperate to lick milk off of anything they could, including each others' faces.

Ella seems to be totally cured of her fear of touching animals! I'm SO glad!

After the farm we walked around in downtown Frederick which was quaint and fun at the same time. All three of us had a blast in a specialty toy store we found and Ella had her first encounter with a jack-in-the-box which cracked us up!

We had dinner outside at a yummy Mexican restaurant and Ella got very intense about her chips and I had to get out the camera and take a video :-)

After dinner we walked around this beautiful riverwalk area at sunset and Ella plopped herself down and stared contemplatively at this fountain for a long time. I wonder what you contemplate when you're 2?

I didn't realize Chris took this picture of me pretending to be sad because Ella wouldn't come sit with me but it's so funny!

She gave in and, as you can see, I'm much happier :-) It was a great Saturday!