Hershey!

That's right! We visited The Sweetest Place on Earth recently and had a wonderful time! 

But before I can share about our trip, I'll fill you in on our summer. The kids enjoyed all six weeks at Wildbrook. It went entirely too quickly and they were so sad to see it end. As parents, we're also sad it went so quickly...and that the three of them only got to go together for one summer.

On the last day, the kids wore their camp shirts so friends could sign them with a Sharpie...

And they invited parents of graduating campers (for us, that's Samuel since he's going into 7th grade) to see the Aging Out ceremony. It was lovely and bittersweet.

Here's Samuel saying goodbye to all of his counselors over the years. 😢

Both Boys 6 and Girls 6 each performed a skit for the parents. As always, they were very Gen Z...meant for the ADHD viewer in all of us. Brie's was based on TikTok videos...ha! 

Here are Sebastian and Jordan--his Boys 2 counselor and our bus counselor every summer.

And here are the kids with Camp Director Gayle. Her parents founded Camp Wildbrook in 1952. Last summer was the only summer in 68 years that they didn't open. We couldn't thank her enough for such a fun (and safe!) summer!

Then we went home, got cleaned up and headed to our neighborhood progressive! We usually have it in the winter, but with the pandemic, we figured that walking from driveway to driveway was perfect!

So fun to get all dressed up!

And get a little silly. 😉

At the last house, we celebrated Brian's 50th birthday! Super fun! 

Then we were off to Hershey to meet Tony's family! We were supposed to go last summer, but everything was cancelled. We were all excited to finally get to go! 

The kids occupied themselves in the car with reading, fidgets...

And crocheting, of course!

The rental home was perfect for us...and had a beautiful pool in the backyard! The kids swam and played in it multiple times a day.

Dinner #1: lobster ravioli!! 

We also played Scopa with Nonno...

Performed some karaoke hits...

Had a few friendly board game competitions...

Made lanyards...

Tried a little bocce...

Watched movies...

Played ping pong...

Had more yummy meals...

And swam A LOT more in the pool!! 

Then we headed to the Gettysburg battlefield! We did the phone app tour that's guided by GPS. It was excellent! 

Samuel and Tony at Little Round Top.

We ended our day at the cemetery where Lincoln gave The Gettysburg Address.

Lucas memorized the entire thing and did an outstanding job of reciting it for us!

The next day, we headed to Hershey Park! We met Tony's cousin Ralph, his wife Erin and their two daughters Anna and Adria at the park for a day of fun and yumminess! 

Hershey was a fun combination of big amusement park, county fair and a mini zoo; there was something for everyone! 

We first rode Fahrenheit. It had amazing vertical drops!

Another ride? But first, soft serve!

And a Reese's Cup sundae that fed four of us!

After eating all of these, we somehow rode the Reese's Drop Tower!

The cousins really enjoyed riding rides together.

And we thought the seal and sea lion show was very entertaining! 

We wrapped up our day with Chocolate Town, a ride that gives you a tour of how Hershey chocolate is made. Tony found the Mother Ship. Ha!

Then we grilled out again...

Savored more cousin time...

And listened to the kids' hilarious banter at dinnertime. 

It was Maria and Ciro's wedding anniversary that day, so we celebrated that, too!

Lots of smiles! 

One with just the grandkids! 

Samuel dubbed this "The Socks and Sandals Gang." Hahahaha.

One last delicious breakfast and we were on our way home. It really was a sweet vacation.

And when we returned to Cincy, we were elated to reunite with Blossom...and it was mutual. Our neighbor's son did an great job of taking care of her, but nothing beats being together.

Waiting for my family to return is exhausting!

And now that she's completely up on her puppy shots, we can go for walks beyond our backyard. So fun!!

And the Gettysburg fun continues at home (with our board game!)...putting our beefed up history knowledge to work!

So glad that our summer is looking much more normal this year. We're busy having good times and making memories! 

P.S. Sebastian was feeling inspired the other day and made lunch for all of us. He declared, "I have tin can cooking skills!" Gotta love summer camp!! 

P.P.S. We got to try several new treats in Hershey! Sebastian picked out this Kit Kat that tastes like Fruit Loops cereal. The kids loved it! 

P.P.P.S. We heard from a lot of friends when T.J. DeFalco stormed onto the Olympic volleyball scene a few weeks back. No, there's no relation, but we did find it amusing since Tony is also T.J.!