Potato Chips, Pretzels and Donuts, Oh My! PA Wrap-up

 Ok, last PA post, I promise! It was an awesome trip, so I just have tons of pictures to share and details to tell. Aside from the day trips to different major cities, we spent time in York and Hanover doing factory tours of places like Martin's Potato Chips, Utz Potato Chips, Snyders Pretzels, and Wolfgang Chocolates. It was fun! It's always interesting to go behind the scenes and see how things are made...and the free samples aren't bad either. :) Here we are at the Martin's factory, sportin our stylish hairnets! Haha Lexi was the cutest.

 But this girl looked pretty cute too.

 We walked through the factory right on the floor next to the machines that spit out potatoes, peeled them, sliced them, and dropped them into the big kettles of oil for kettle cooked chips. Workers then stirred the potatoes around in the oil with big rake things for several minutes, and then they came out all hot and crispy on a conveyer belt. Our nice tour guide man had a tray that he'd fill with chips as they came down the line and let us taste a bunch of kinds. Unsalted, salted, sunflower oil cooked, etc. It was tasty!

 I'd say that was the best tour, just cuz it was up close and personal. Wolfgang chocolates is fun, and they have tasty candy at the end. Utz is self guided with free chips at the end, and Snyders is kinda boring since it's such a big company/factory and all you do is look through windows from above and listen to a boring tour guide. But I'm glad we did them all...learning experiences! York area is known for its factory tours, after all.

One night we went to dinner at Logan's Roadhouse, the awesome steakhouse that I think beats out Texas Roadhouse! It's my parents' favorite, and has THE most yummy warm buttery rolls and honey butter. We also had onion rings, fried mushrooms, peanuts, and dessert afterwards, so we were stuffed! Dad had a little incident with the waitress when she saw him holding Lexi and letting her play with a knife (silly Grandpa, always pushing the limits). She said the manager had seen and said it wasn't safe and not allowed. haha. He insisted on holding Lexi even during his meal, so had to cut his steak with a fork since his knife was confiscated. :) I love this picture of Mom and Dad.

 On Friday, we went to my mom's school to visit her cute Pre-K class. It's always fun to see Mom in action, teaching and playing with her rambunctious inner-city kiddos. We watched her make a volcano erupt with baking soda and vinegar, which the kids loved, and then it was free time. Lexi got to sit in a doll highchair. hehe.

 Grandma did it.

 And Cami was swarmed by the schoolkids, it was really cute. They all wanted to be her friend and show her around and play with her. She's only about a year younger than them...crazy! Cami is IN LOVE with school...or the idea of school, anyways. She always talks about how she's going to go to school with her pack pack and tells me stories of the teacher and what she does there with her friends, and riding the school bus. So she was in heaven in Mom's school class for the hour or so that we were there. She got to paint, play with blocks, play house, write on the white board, and read books with kids always by her side.

 Jake and Dad were taking a tour of the Harley Davidson Factory in York while we visited Mom. Jake thought that was pretty cool and suggested he get a Harley someday. Yeah right!

We just had such a good time relaxing at home, too. It was nice and chill. We borrowed a bouncer seat that Lexi could hang out in, and you'd better believe she gets strapped in cuz this girl squirms into all kinds of positions!

 Cami got a kite for Easter, so Daddy took her to the park across the street (one of her favorite parts of the trip because of the swings, of course) to fly it. I think it got up in the air for a little bit at least.

 Cam was supposed to sleep in Nathan's old room, which is heavily decorated with Russian memorabilia. Furry hats on the wall, Catholic pictures of Christ, scarves, maps, etc. Well Cami wasn't such a big fan, and cried because the hats and pictures were scary, so she refused to sleep in there on the nice big bed. After the first night, she slept on the floor in the bedroom we were staying in, silly girl. I loved this position I found her in one morning.

 One of the best parts of the trip for Cam was reading all of Grandma's books and strewing them across the living room. Having two teacher grandmas with lots of books is a dream come true for Cami!

 In the basement, there's also a fun castle to play with.

 A friend loaned her exersaucer for Lexi to play in, too. This girl needs to learn to stand! She's getting better, but doesn't quite have bouncing down yet. That's ok, she's just so dang cute.

I loved visiting my old ward for two Sundays. It was fun to see old familiar faces and we felt very welcomed. And I loved sitting in Relief Society with Mom!

Picture time after church. That little white rocking chair belonged to my Dad when he was a little boy, and then it became mine when I was little. I remember sitting in it every day to play dolls and pretending to be teacher when we were playing school. Oh memories.

 And on Monday, our last day in York, we woke up and I took Jake to Maple Donuts! It's a local donut place that we used to frequent in highschool, and quite tasty. We were just going to get a few to share, but the lady behind the counter said that the bakers dozen was half off that day, making it cheaper to just get a whopping 13! Who could turn that down. It's always fun to pick an assortment of glazed, iced, and powdered fried dough. Mmmmm.

 My favorite donut is always glazed. That bowtie in the middle was really good, cuz it was nice and soft and doughy in the center. Jake likes apple fritters and cinnamon crumb, and Cami's choice was the pink frosted with sprinkles of course.

 We ate a few bites of almost every kind, just to try them out. Then we left the rest for my parents to enjoy. :) I don't know if they did or if they ended up just throwing them away, but thanks Maple Donuts- that was yummy!

Dad drove us to the airport that day and we said our goodbyes. That's never easy. We had some time to hang out in the airport before our departure, so Cam had fun.

 And Lexi was a dream once again! Such a good flying partner. I'm so thankful that we got to go on this trip, get away as a family, and make lots of fun memories.

I don't know when we'll get back there again, but we're looking forward to Mom's summer in UT and Dad coming out in August. It's always better when we're together!