On the final day, we did a little shopping at Target. I got my GF foods and then we headed home….with one little stop enroute at Niagara on the Lake. We enjoyed the park, had gelato, browsed in the amazing hat shop where I found the cutest $400.00 hat and had lunch at the Irish Tea Room. It was a spur of the moment stop but I am so very glad that we did because it will likely be the last time that I get to eat at the tea room. It will be closing at the end of September. Knowing that we would be getting gelatto, I had no intention of buying a dessert but when I saw the notice I got their gingerbread cake for the road. Deliciously GF with vanilla ice cream.
After a picturesque drive through Pennsylvania dutch country we finally arrived at our destination: a covered bridge (We had also planned to see some quilts but, well, to make a long story short – didn’t happen). After enjoying it, we climbed back in the car to head for Hershey’s Chocolate World. Yup, girls enjoyed it so much last year that they asked to go back again. The ride has been updated just this spring but that delicious smell of chocolate still hung in the air.
From there we had to head back to Corning to pick up our glass. At that stop we went and had the most delicious gluten friendly dinner at a cafe called Poppleton Bakery. The buckwheat crepe was to die for. I highly recommend the ham, turkey and apple with apple dijon. Their GF lemon loaf is also heavenly.
Katrine even found a mushroom.Heading into the Hershey ride.
HeavenOh, and the girls had fun using the can recycling machines.
The next morning we headed south to Easton, PA which is home to the Crayola Experience. This was the one that Elspeth was most excited about but both girls ended up having fun. Heck, even I ended up creating one wax painting. Imagine four floors of art supplies. They made drip art, molded crayons, painted with wax, made puzzles, animated drawings….so much art. We stayed until us grown-ups could handle the noise no more. It was a lot of fun.
Cool theme crosswalk set the tone.Elspeth got a laugh from seeing the crayon bum.The “naked” crayon also got a giggle.Drip paintingWax painting stationKatrine drew this in the glow in the dark section and then a lady came to clean the board making the cool crystalline effect.Beside the World’s Largest Crayon.The factory tour portion where they each got a fresh, “newborn” crayon.It also had a counter showing the number of crayons being made.Giant crayon caddy.
My mom, the girls and I just got home from a four day road trip. It was jam packed and lots of fun.
The trip began with a stop in Corning, NY to see and work with glass. The museum is gorgeous. Piece after piece of glass to take your breath away. The girls would have gladly gone back the next day but we were off for another adventure. In addition to the glass, we also took advantage of the programs that they offered to do some work with glass. Elspeth fused glass to create wind chimes, my mom and Katrine created pendants with flame work while I made a Christmas ornament by glass blowing. A lot of fun and the finished products are gorgeous but it was really hot work.
A view of inside of a furnace while they were making a pitcher.
Elspeth’s final Sark badge for selling cookies. Â It is all sewed onto and the sash has been hung up in her room. Â Needless to say she is rather proud of her patches.
A photo post to give you a glimpse of our exploits.
A bronze medal in her new dress.Rocking the swimming lessons.Beach timeCaught our first pokemonSushiSimple science experiments involving the power of carbon dioxide.Crafting
The pictures will ultimately show the story but it has been five years of growth and positive change. Five years ago we met in a hotel lobby in China and there were tears. This year, Elspeth spent her GotchaDay talking with her Grammy, playing with her sister, cuddling with us and going to a friend’s birthday. Instead of tears, there were smiles. We love our girls and have truly been blessed.
2011
Elspeth insisted on building a new pony house….…thank goodness it was large because it had to hold a rather large family.
And now a Katrine post, just in case you thought we had forgotten her. Of course she has been skating, skating and skating; working on her new program to get ready for her upcoming competition. She has also been waiting for her new dress. She LOVES it and it seems to fit really well. Pressure is now on mom to get the hair and make up just right. Wish me luck, I hope that I am up to the task.
Here is her journey in pictures:
1. Look at how excited she is to begin.2. Time to talk colours. Obviously there has to be some pink.3. Oooh, sparkle too.4. Now the general design. Pink on black with sparkle.5. Then it was time for the first fitting but this is all of the photos you get from that. Sparkle on the sleeve too.6. The final product.7. Even the back is pretty.8. A happy girl and I think that I didn’t do too badly with the make-up.
One of the great things about having a friend come to visit (other than obviously seeing them), is having an excuse to do a little bit of an exploration. When one of my friends came home from Hong Kong and wanted to get together for lunch, the girls and I headed off to Downtown and had a bit of an adventure enroute.
Our first stop was the FlatIron Building which they obviously thought was cool. Elspeth thought it was funny that the people had to use the stairs on the outside of their building until I told her that they were special stairs that were used if there was a fire and the rest of the time they went upstairs inside.
As we walked along further we passed a cement truck. Now that by itself is not remarkable. What made it entertaining was that it was actually pouring cement and the workers were then smoothing the cement. I think that we stood there for a good ten minutes observing the process.
Eventually it was time to move on to our next stop, a small Inuit Art Gallery. It only took about 20 minutes to see everything but the craftsmanship was wonderful. I always marvel at what beauty can be created from stone and bone. All in all, between lunch with friends and our various stops, it was an enjoyable afternoon.
I still remember seeing this mural in a magazine growing up.Wow! A cement truck.
Another thing that Elspeth has gotten up to is a painting class. The subject – why Shopkins of course! She now has her Cheeky Chocolate proudly displayed in her bedroom.
