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.

4th of July

4th of July has been a big celebrating holiday in my family for many years. When I was younger the celebration lasted the entire weekend with various activities and plenty of yummy food to eat.

This year the Plessinger's came to a picnic at my mother's house. It was pretty low key this year, a bar-b q and visiting.

The men around the bar-b q.

Talking about farming.
Meeting some extended family.
The teenagers.
And the spread.

The evening ended with Parker and I going to fireworks and meeting up with an old friend. We went to Delgrosso's to see the show. We had to walk quite a way to get to a good spot. Parker wanted to be where the action was. We had excellent seats. We sat on the sidewalk at the traffic light.

A little scare

I took Preston in for his 4 year old well visit. The doctor informs me that Preston needed a booster shot. I say ok. They give me the handout to read about the shot and any side effects that I should watch out for.

Preston gets his shot and we are on our way. Well later that evening when we are home I started reading the literature they gave me about the Pneumococcal vaccine. So I get to the last page and it says something like "please notify your child's doctor if anyone in the household is undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and or taking steroids. Well hello, this is me. The Doctor knows I have breast cancer. My short hair cut and lack of eye brows is a physical reminder to anyone that I am going through this.

At this point it is after hours. I don't want to bother my oncologists after hours because I read a warning about a vaccine my 4 year old got. So I call tell-a-nurse. She tells me to contact my oncologist the next day. And if Preston should develop a fever I should keep my distance . Well thanks lady that was a lot of help. I am quite nervous about this. I call my mother. We discuss the different situations that could happen.

I send an email to my doctor's office. The next day I was in for chemo and one of the nurses told me as long as the vaccine was dead, and most of them are I was fine. It is the ones containing live viruses that I would need to stay away from for 2 weeks. Ok good to know.

I was relieved to know it wasn't anything to worry about.

Birthday Cake

About 2 years ago I took the Wilton Cake decorating class. The whole reason in taking this class was so that I could decorate birthday cakes. Cake decorating does not come easy for me. It is a slow and messy process. I was always the last one done at class too.


This last birthday experience I did 2 cakes. My Mom's birthday is a few days before Preston's. We were celebrating Preston's birthday at my mom's house. I decided to do a cake for my mom. She does so much for me.

I had the request from Preston a blue lightening mcqueen cake. My Mom wanted chocolate cake. That was her only request. I got to choose the decorating scheme.


Here comes confession time. Parker actually told my Lightening McQueen cake wasn't that good. I think baking 2 flavors of homemade cake and doing enough frosting for 2 cakes and all those colors was more than I was up to at the moment (you know considering I was going through chemo, get tired easily, my arm isn't what it used to be since they took out my lymph nodes). I wasn't pleased with my work. I got tired while doing it. And then to have my son critique my work, well it kind of got me down. At that point I thought to myself, I have just decorated my last cake. I now know why people pay money to have cakes decorated. And I have considered paying for my next cake.

This was 2 months ago. I have some time to think about that. At this point I am on the fence if I will decorate again.

Since Preston was turning 4 he was fine having his celebration at Grandma's house. He wanted Aunt Lisa to come, she was his first choice. Aunt Lisa lives in North Carolina and it is about a 9 hour drive 1 way. We had both sets of grandparents, great grandma Belva and great Aunt Diana in attendance. I asked him what he wanted to eat and he chose the menu for the day. We feasted on fish for our main course and several yummy side dishes (I don't remember everything we had that day), followed by cake and ice cream.

Preston is a laid back guy. He likes to sit on Mommy's lap. His favorite food is Campbell's tomato soup. Preston has a hearty appetite and will often be the last one eating and chomping down on his meal. His favorite show is Diego. He likes to wear his shoes on the wrong feet (sandles) and the straps one in an "X" and one straight. He also loves playing with his big brother Parker.

Sporting Events

Living in a college town gives you lot of opportunities to go to different sporting events. Many of these events are family friendly. We have tried taking our crew to enjoy a baseball game or a basketball game, but they just don't seem to want to sit and watch unless they are eating. And the food at these events is expensive. So I think we are taking a brake from taking them. Our money is better spent on a babysitter and then Jim and I can enjoy it.