Summer Reading 2011

We are avid participators in our local library. I get excited for the summer reading program. There are fun things to do and prizes to be earned for reading. Both boys are still in the read to me group, which means that all we have to do is I read them books from the library and record the title and pages read.

In the past there is 1 family that is the over achievers and read, read, read. Parker had set a goal to have 100 stories read to him. I am proud to admit that we read 167 book this year! We didn't come in 1st. Our over achiever must be getting a life, cause they didn't even break 200 books this year. Next year we might be in the running for 1st place!

We went to t-shirt decorating night. They had cute iron transfers to do, but my boys wanted to play with the paints. Preston got carried away with the paint and refuses to wear his shirt because it is so stiff from all the paint. This diserves a picture to show you, but I don't have one. Parker wanted the world to know that he loves his mother. His shirt reads "I love Mom." He also refuses to wear his art work.

I took a picture on closing night with the librarians, Miss Jessica and Miss Judie.
I also want to add that I was in charge of the adult summer reading program. We did a chocolate night, complete with a chocolate fountain and a closing party with a belly dancer. Both nights were a lot of fun for the folks that attended.

Delgrosso's

Delgrosso's is 15 minutes from our house. We frequently drive by it and each time Parker asks when we can go back. They have 1 day during the summer where students from the Tyrone Area School District go for free. Being the bargain shopper that I was, we decided to go.

The boys love Delgrosso's. I like it too. All the kids rides are in one area and there are benches in the middle. I would find a good spot to sit down and the boys would go from ride to ride. You only have to pay admission if you are riding the rides, another nice perk.

Parker is getting to the point where he wants to explore some of the bigger people rides. There is one ride called the Yo-Yo. He was a little nervous the first time, but he kept wanting to go back. I think it is one of his favorites.

The stinkers insist on grabbing maps of the park at local places of business and at the park. They want to constantly look and see where they are and where the rides are located.


There is also a fun lion's head drinking fountain.



Mom was brave and tried a few of the grown up rides with them. They aren't big enough to go by themselves, but if an adult accompanies them they can ride. After each ride, Mom was found saying "Mommy didn't like that ride." A sign that I am getting old.

As I write this, summer is over and Thanksgiving is approaching. When we pass the park now, Parker wants to know why all the seats for the rides have been put up and why there is black plastic on the rides.

Road Trip

Since we took our vacation in May, I wanted to do a few day trips with the boys through out the summer.

Parker loves chocolate world. Chocolate World is part of Hershey Chocolate that has a little train ride that shows you the process of how they make candy. It takes maybe 10 minutes. Hershey is about 2 hours from our house, 1 way. This was his one request that he kept asking about. I couldn't justify the trip for such a short activity. I was on the lookout for something else to do in the area that would make our trip worth while.

So earlier in the summer while we were at Delgrosso's a lady was telling me about this place called Lake Tobias. When I googled it, I knew this was the answer. Lake Tobias was a short drive from Hershey and looked to be a lot of fun.

Lake Tobias is a wildlife refuge owned privately in the middle of PA. They give safari tours on an old school bus that has had the top cut off. We took the tour at high noon, with out sunscreen. Not a smart move on my part. The boys did ok, it was myself that ended up with quite the sunburn on my chest and head!

The animals are quite friendly. We even fed a few of them right out of our hands.

There was a large variety of animals to see. These guys wanted to come on the bus, but their big horns made them dangerous.
This is a European type of deer.
I think these guys are water buffalos.
This Emu was the greeter. He stood by the gate both as we entered and exited.

They even had some lions and tigers caged up to view as well.

There was a petting zoo. The animals were so overvisited and fed they hardly wanted to eat when we went. They should have posted a sign about the goats though. I had one take a bite out of my dress.
The boys loved Lake Tobias and want to go back next year.

We went to chocolate world and did the 10 min ride on how chocolate is made. Didn't take any pictures of this. We had to park really far away because Chocolate World shares the parking lot with Hershey Park.

We finished off the day with dinner at Macaroni Grill. I had seen this by the Interstate when we would go past Harrisburg. I looked it up online, previewed the menu and decided I wanted to try it out. It was an Italian restaurant. The food was so good. I tried gelatto for the first time and I loved it. The kitchen was also exposed so you could watch the chef preparing food. Very entertaining.

Our 2nd roadtrip was a week later. We went to Morgantown WV. We stayed with some old friends. The boys were delighted that they had a swimming pool. Our host and hostess made us feel welcome and gave us a bed time snack of milk and brownies. The next morning they fed us pancakes for breakfast before we started off on our day.

We went to WVU campus and I showed the boys where I had my classes. We visited with Granny Rayburn at the bookstore and did a little shopping for some fun WVU items. Took a PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) ride to visit Grandpa Rayburn at his office. Met a friend for lunch. And then finished off the day with some shopping and playing at the mall. In the evening we met the grandparents for dinner and then played with the dogs before heading home. A long day, but a fun day.

Did I mention I got to drive the Crown Victoria on these trips? The A/C was out in our Nissan and the Police car gets better gas mileage than the truck. We road along in comfort. We had so much fun. Glad we were able to take the trips.