The Hooks Family

Family Trip to PA, Part 4

We headed over to Hershey on Tuesday morning. It took a little over two hours to get there, but we drove through some beautiful countryside on the way. We were happy to arrive at the lovely Hotel Hershey right at lunchtime.

We checked in and decided to explore the hotel just a little and head over to one of the restaurants for lunch. It was pretty yummy!

The girls enjoyed the rocking chairs outside the restaurant.

We had some playground time too so the girls could get a little energy out after sitting in the car and then at lunch. They had a great time playing together.

Enjoying the beautiful fountains.

After resting in our room for a little while, we decided to walk over to Hershey Gardens. They were beautiful! Here's a view of the hotel from the gardens.

I loved this sweet little statue.

The girls enjoyed the musical part of the children's garden. They loved this in-ground xylophone to jump all over.

Exploring the gardens.

So many beautiful flowers.

Running through the rose archways.

Enjoying the butterfly bench.

Kiss fountains. One of them misted on Mia's hand, and she jumped; we all cracked up!

The butterfly garden area was fascinating!

Love my sweet girls.

We ended the day at the hotel's pool. We were told it would be a nice 80 degrees in the water...not so much. We still had fun though! They had a fun twisty slide that I enjoyed. Lily didn't want to try it, and Mia was a little too small for it, so they just hung out in the shallow end having fun in the mushroom fountain. Ryan visited the adults only area and loved the infinity hot tub.

We decided on room service for dinner so we could relax. I ordered this Reece's peanut butter pie for dessert. Yum!

This was a fun start to our time in Hershey!

Family Trip to PA, Part 3

Sesame Place!

Another beautiful day as we headed over to Sesame Place. I think I was most excited! After walking in, we picked up our fast pass bracelets which was probably our best investment we could have made. It took us to the front of every ride. Honestly, we only saw two other families with these bracelets, so we moved right to the front every time...awesome! We headed over to see the topiary trees which were super cute.

We talked the girls into trying the roller coaster first, but they both hated it. Oh well...on to something else. We headed over to the hot air balloon ride which they loved. Mia was my co-pilot.

Next up was the first of two tea cup rides. I gladly watched from the side! The girls always love this type of ride though as Ryan spins them incredibly fast.

Next up was Elmo's World Live. Since we had the fast pass, we were the first ones in so we had front row seats. The girls were pretty excited!

We were so close to Elmo and Mr. Noodle's nephew!

Having fun!

Mia loved the King of the Cookie Hill. Lily was actually too tall for this activity, but Mia didn't mind. She quickly made friends with the little girl in line by her, and then scampered right to the top.

The girls enjoyed a few carousel rides.

It was fun to sit on Sesame Street and watch a parade!

The girls loved the swings. Here they are pretending to be Flying Superheros!

The girls and I loved the Blast Off ride. The girls screamed as we hopped up and down; I couldn't stop laughing at them!

The girls always love to get their faces painted. Mia chose a pink t-rex while Lily went with a sunset design.

We also had the opportunity to meet some characters. The girls hugged on Elmo.

We were all happy to meet Big Bird!

We didn't even hit any of the water rides while we were here. By the end of the day, we were all worn out! We had done lots of walking, laughing and screaming. It was a fantastic day!

Family Trip to PA, Part 2

We could not have asked for a more beautiful day to explore Philadelphia. We headed in first thing in the morning, and thanks to Jenn's advice, we were able to walk right in to see the Liberty Bell.

After viewing the Liberty Bell, we walked across the street for our guided tour of Independence Hall. It was really fascinating to see and learn more about where our country began.

Listening to our tour guide as he told us about this room where the Second Continental Congress met to write our Declaration of Independence.

When the tour was over, we decided to take a 30 minute carriage ride around historic Philadelphia and Society Hill. It was a wonderful, interesting and fact-filled ride. So glad we did this!

The girls were on a mission during our time in Philly. We stopped by an information desk on our way in, and the park ranger gave each girl a book with tasks in it. Mia's tasks included things like connect the dots and matching pictures. Lily's tasks were word search and drawings. They were also required to go on a guided tour which we did with Independence Hall. They were so excited to go back to the ranger to receive badges and be sworn in as Junior Park Rangers!

After our morning exploring Philly, we met up with Michael and Jenn at the Reading Terminal Market to enjoy lunch together. After lunch, the four of us went to Adventure Aquarium. It sits right on the Delaware River.