Best Family Trip You Never Took

I've been planning a big Back East trip for a while now. We spent 12 days on the East Coast this month. We packed 6 suitcases, 2 car seats, and 8 carry-ons. It was crazy!! But the trip was lots of fun! When I told my little sister about all the fun things we had planned, she told me it was the 'best family trip that she never took!'

We arrived in DC at my Grandmother's / Uncle's house in Arlington. Annie's favorite thing was the neighborhood cat that would come around...

It was nice to just hang out on their back deck. Unfortunately, the first night, we didn't use bug spray. BIG MISTAKE for Ryan and me! He got about 15 bites - poor little thing! I got about 30. Dave and Annie got zero!

The best part was getting to hang out with my grandmother. She's 92 and still gets around great. She taught me how to make her best Norweigan cookies (which suits me just fine!) Watching her with the kids was wonderful. Here she is with Ryan, teaching him about how good cookie crumbs and blueberries are on ice cream!

We visited the memorials...

I love this pic of Annie. She is standing at the bottom of the Washington Monument looking up to the top...

So, I was taking this picture of one of the flags that surrounds the monuments...

And I looked down and saw Annie standing in it's shadow. I thought it was pretty cool....

On our way to Hershey, PA, we stopped to pick blueberries...


At the Hershey Chocolate World, the kids got to be part of the production line and make their own box of Hershey Kisses...

That evening, we made s'mores by the campfire at the resort.
So, off to the Crayola Factory....

The Crayola Factory was OK. A great spot for the locals, but very similar to a lot of Children's Museums. They did, however, have this really cool room where a computer took your image as you moved around the room and put it on the screen in different colors... Here's Annie and Ryan...

The next day was Sesame Place. Annie rode this rollercoaster FIVE TIMES!!! Dave and Annie are in the very front...

My favorite part was the area they had built to look just like Sesame Street
Ryan took a while to warm up to the characters. He had to have me with him at first...

We got rained on on our beach day. We had a bit of beach time, then had to run for cover into a diner. Annie acting the movie star role...

AAAHHH! NYC!! Times Square! (Waiting for Toys R Us to open)

It was a bit chilly in the a.m. in the shade of the buildings with the wind going. Our NYC Starbucks stop! (And there's only hot cocoa in Ryan's cup, not coffee!! ;) )

One of my favorite shots. We stopped at a little pizza place to eat lunch. The only spot left to sit was at the counter at the window. I went outside the shop to take this pic. So it looks cool with the kids in it, but also the NYC reflection

Annie and I got to go to her first NYC Broadway play!

Don't even ask!

Annie was crazy for all the taxis...

We stayed with our friends, Bill & Dana Fleming one evening. Annie and their daughter, Mia, share the same birthday (one year apart). After 2 minutes, you'd think they had been friends forever!

There was so much more to share, but these represent the gist of the trip!