Fuse Beads

Step One: use lots of patience, creative design, and extreme manual dexterity. Top it off with fabulous fine motor skills.

Step Two: Endure the warming of the iron and awaiting an adult's help

Step Three: Use wax paper over your design to iron and thus fuse the beads together (DO NOT use a paper towel-I did, not one of my brightest moments)

Step Four: Admire your work of art! Good job Christopher!!


By the way:
1)Ella had never finished one before Christopher came over and did one and she was inspired and diligently worked very hard and made one the next morning :-)
2) They carry these at Michael's but the ones from Ikea are much cheaper (but the beads are also smaller thus better for older kids)

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 :-)

Hershey Butterfly House

I was worried Ella might freak out about hundreds of butterflies in an enclosed area considering her recent near-seizure-like responses to bugs, but she did great! It really was awe-inspiring to walk in and be surrounded by beautiful flowers and then, as your eyes adjust, see that there are butterflies everywhere! After about a minute of just standing and looking quietly Ella turned to me and in a hushed voice said "Mom, this is amazing!"


the "map" (as Ella calls anything with any type of directions)


There are probably about a dozen butterflies in this 2 foot area


GREAT experience!

Hershey Gardens

After the zoo and a great lunch (I highly recommend The Chocolate Ave. Grill) we dropped Chris off to meet friends at Hershey Park. Then, on a whim decided to see what the sign for "Hershey Gardens" was all about. OH. MY. GOSH. I've got to follow whims much more often. It was amazing. I haven't enjoyed myself so much in a LONG time. The beauty of creation was overwhelming and magnified by the pure joy of watching Ella's eyes light up over and over in wonder at all we saw. It was the perfect place for me and for Ella, a little girl who has been saying, since she could put the sentence to together "flowers make me happy!"


Just to give you an idea, this is the rose garden we walked into when we entered the garden. We spent 30 minutes here because I thought this had to be all there was. It smelled amazing and we had so much fun reading all the names of the different colors of roses. Then, I discovered this garden was about 1/8 of the whole place! Have I said "amazing" enough??

Hydrangeas are my favorite flower which Ella knows so she was thrilled to point them out all over the gardens. She also said she wants to have them in her wedding like I did :-) I told her she has to get married at Hershey Gardens. I'm not kidding.

All of the gardens had themes (there were probably 20 different ones) The Children's Garden was awesome!!!

A big part of the children's garden was plants that began with each letter of the alphabet which Ella loved.

My favorite part of the Children's Garden was the "secret garden." You go down some steps into a lush, wooded area with a pond, a stone bridge and then this little table and chairs hiddwn in the trees. It felt magical!

On our way through the "Coniferous Trees Garden" to the "Ornamental Grasses Garden." We also spent time in the Herb Gardens which smelled great!

The Spa Garden had all kinds of spa-worthy herbs and plants and some of them growing in this bathtub!

This tree was so cool...

this is what the "walls" looked like from inside...

and this is what it looked like if you look up! Ella asked if we could please live there.

The red-orange-yellow rows of the Rainbow Garden where each row was a bunch of color-coordinated plants and flowers.

There were so many beautiful little gazebos and benches under trees and nooks and crannies that seemed perfect for memorable moments...


If you look closely you'll see a bee in this rose. Ella was so excited to tell me about how it was getting pollen to go make honey!

My beautiful little girl enjoying the flowers! Stay tuned for the Butterfly House...

INSANE Garden update!

Ok...so remember this picture of zucchini? Taken on Friday?

Well this is the SAME zucchini on Wednesday!! Less than a week later!!

It's a horrible picture of Ella but OH MY GOSH the zucchini is HUGE (well, not anymore, we ate most of it). I'm in shock at how fast things can grow!!! (PS-Thank God for spell check because I have no idea how to spell "zucchini" and spell it differently (and wrong) every time I've typed it!)

Here are some of our grape tomatoes. Ella was carrying 4 and then all of a sudden she had 3... then 2 and we were looking all over for them because we knew she didn't eat them (if it grows outside there's very little chance of her eating it without prodding). Finally we discovered the culprit...Raleigh (the dog) had been walking behind her and when she dropped the tomatoes, she scarfed them down!

Aunt Stacy is in town from Colorado! We got to just sit and talk for hours-great to have time with her.

Ella had a great time with sidewalk chalk while we chatted

And taking pictures of her favorite plant :-)

And chasing bubbles! Fun afternoon outside :-)