Hershey Park with Lerdle-luh and Eli's Fake Bday

Whitney says this post is WAY TOO LONG. So, ye faint of heart, please do not attempt to read it! :-) There were just a lot of photos that I liked, and I am blogging to make my blog into a book, so this is more for me.

My mom has been in town for the last week and we chose the perfect day to go to Hershey Park yesterday!! It was 66 degrees! (Perfect for someone who hates the heat, like me.) Eli had a great time and Dora was an angel, as usual. Poor Eli has his two year molars coming in, so life's been tough for him lately. This wore him out so much he is still asleep this am (it's 7:15 am now!)

Here are some of my favorites from the park. Eli and my mom went on a lot of rides, and to his glee, Nana was there too (my sister Emma). Here is my mom and Eli on the first ride of the day--the train. That pained look is his fake smile--it's what you get when you ask for a smile!


Here's Eli on the carousel. My mom and Whit sent Emma and I over to the Comet (roller coaster) while they took Eli on a few more little rides--the carousel was one of them.

Eli asked (again--he went on this with my dad, too) to go on the Flying Falcon. I was shocked. Look at it!

It goes up really high and is really fast, but he went on it with Dada and Nana!

Here's a shot of them up in the sky. You can sort of see Whit's head in the top left corner, too.

The ZooAmerica entrance had an owl on display today. It's the smallest owl in PA. Isn't it cute? Eli was really excited and kept saying "Whoo, Whoo"

The Antique car ride is one of only a few in the park where you can take an infant, but Dora and I stayed behind because she was sleeping! Here's the gang in the antique car. They let Eli drive!?

I love all the little Hershey characters. We posed here with the kiss. This is also my evidence that I WAS there. The person taking the photos rarely makes it into any! As a side note, I am down to 145--15 pounds to go (which means I am halfway there).

This is our favorite hangout at the park. There's a nice fountain outside the cars arena, by the Kissing tower. I thought these snapshots of Emma and Eli show how much he loves his Auntie Em.

On Eli's favorite ride, the Coal Cracker (a 4/5 on the "rough" scale--he's a tough kid!) the ride attendant had a little basketball. Apparently someone had left it on the ride. Eli pointed at it and said "Ball" and the guy gave it to him. He was delighted... Here he is playing with it.

I got this by accident, but it was too funny a shot not to include! Whoops!

When Eli gets hurt now he wants me to kiss it (whatever was hurt). Here he hurt his hand and was bringing it for a kiss.

Whit does this funny dance to make Eli laugh. You can sort of see what he's doing here--look how happy Eli is!

Dora was a happy camper. My mom held her while we went on the Dry Gulch Railroad. (Another one of the few infants can go on).

Eli moved over to sit between Emma and I after this photo.

As soon as he moved, he put his little hand on her leg. I thought it was so cute, I snapped a shot of it.

Here he is on the kiddo Scrambler. Having a fun time...

Another Happy Girl Dora shot.

Just my pathetic attempt to be artsy... I really like how this one came out, though.

When we left the park, we stopped at Giant for some Chinese food and a cake for Eli's not-birthday. My mom and dad had some presents my mom wanted to see him open (since they won't be here in a month when he turns two for real...) Among them were some new books and Blues Clues DVDs we will use for our trip out to Oregon this weekend... And a new Eli sized armchair. He was pretty excited and opened his own presents for the first time ever.

Here he is in his chair, thanking Grandma.

Here's the little cake I picked up for the occasion. He blew out his own candle!

As much as he liked his chair, he liked the box more! Weird kid!

Happy non-birthday Eli! And thanks for coming Lerdle-luh!! We will miss you when you leave today!!