Hershey Park

On September 11 we went to Hershey Park. We had originally wanted to go to Kings Dominion. We were planning on going one day in August when Nate didn't have school, but it was supposed to storm that day, so we skipped it. Then we found out that Kings Dominion was closed for a private event on the 11th (lame) so we decided to go up to Hershey Park. One nice thing about waiting to go was the Cammi was able to come with us, which was a lot of fun. Graham was still free, which was nice, because we figured that between Nate and Graham they would probably only have enough fun for one ticket.
At the start of the day, they had enough combined fun for no tickets. This was Nate: Graham finally went on a few rides, and enjoyed it.

Then we all went on the mini-train ride. It was one of the few we could take Olivia on.

Things got a little better after that, both kids went on the mini merry go round. (They look like giants.)

And then we went on a few more rides, we went up in the kissing tower, and they loved that, and we went on the old fashioned cars. Nate was able to drive that, with Cammi's help, and he only almost fell out of the car once. The most surprising thing about that ride- while waiting in line for at least a half an hour, they didn't complain once about the wait. Then things started to get a little better. Graham rode in the airplanes.

Nate agreed to ride in the truck ride. I think that was the beginning of him actually enjoying himself and agreeing to ride things. (Hold on tight Jesse!)

We rode in the tram, which takes you above a lot of the park, as well as outside of the park, around downtown Hershey and by the factory.

Then Nate and Graham were unstoppable- well, on the kiddie rides. Jesse tried to get them to go on the one family roller coaster, and they would have nothing to do with it. But they rode on the lady bugs several times.

And the spinning drums, as well as a bunch of others.

Graham wanted to go on the ski lift ride. I agreed to take him on that, and that was the most terrifying part to my day.

Throughout the day Jesse, Cammi and I would peel off and ride a real ride, but I realized that I really am getting too old to love it. But since it took so long for Nate and Graham to enjoy being there, we ended up staying late. The boys didn't get tired or cranky, just wanted to go on ride after ride. All of the same rides we tried to get them to go on when we first arrived!

But we finally said it was enough, and rode our last ride, and headed out. As we were leaving I noticed that those Hershey Characters are pretty creepy when it's dark. No wonder Graham ran terrified of them every time we saw them.

And we ended the day with gigantic lollipops. How could it get any better?

So in all, it was a good day. We look forward to going back next year. Plus, it was a lot of fun to do this for the first time with our kids. There is a lot of joy in seeing your children enjoying themselves, trying new things, and overcoming fears.