Sun and fun and chocolatey goodness.

Why does the actual vacation never last as long as the planning? Seems unfair.

We had a great time and thanks to all of you for your good vacation wishes.


We left NY on Friday and headed to the beach in NJ. My wonderful sister (in-law) invited us to her parent's place just three houses away from the sand.

This picture was taken on Monday morning before we left. It was a little overcast but cleared up within the hour. 

The surf, however, was very rough while we were there. My brother said it was TS/Hurricane Emily coming up the coast that caused the giant waves. It kept us from taking the 5 year old too far into the water but it was spectacular to watch.


If you have ever taken a hard look at NJ you will see a small strip of land running parallel to the right of the state. This is where we were staying. You have the ocean on the one side and the bay on the other.


My brother decides to take us crabbing on the bay. This was a hoot and a lot easier than it sounds. With just two traps and some raw chicken we caught over a dozen blue crabs in less than a thirty minutes.

It was recommended that we don't eat the crabs since the bay water is not the most pristine but the 5 year old loved the catch and release program.

With wonderful memories, and sand in unmentionable places, we left the beach and headed to Harrisburg, PA on Monday and stayed until Thursday.






Here is a short list of all the awesomely cool things we did in Harrisburg/Hershey.

Appalachian Brewing Company

No pictures but the food was really good. My husband enjoyed the beer and we bought some of their very delicious root beer and birch beer.

The Hershey Story Museum

This was an interesting tour with lots of great memorabilia. To keep the kids entertained they had an I Spy game and the Maya Chocolate Adventure.

Hershey's Chocolate World

What can I say? This place was awesome. Chocolate everywhere. Cool shows. Chocolate everywhere. Make your own candy bar. Chocolate everywhere. I didn't want to leave.

Hershey Volunteer Fire Department

We don't go anywhere without checking out the local firehouses. These guys were great and had the coolest T-Shirts to buy. You can get them off their website.

Hersheypark

So much to do here now I know why they want you to come for two days. The water park section alone could have been an entire day. 

I don't think my son stopped smiling the whole time we were there. There were so many rides all over the park for just his size.

The shows are pretty cheesy but still make you laugh. Lots of spontaneous entertainment all over the park. It was the longest and most fun 10 hour day I have had in...forever.

The National Civil War Museum

Even if you are not interested in Civil War history (which was very cool) the museum sits at the top of this tall hill and has the most beautiful view. Worth the drive just to see it.

This quote was not credited to anyone but I found it inspiring.

All in all...amazing. It was great and relaxing and fun. Most importantly my son and husband, who don't get to spend long days together except on the weekends, had the best time.

Sand and chocolate

So. I'm not home. I'm on vacation. Yeah. At the moment I'm at the beach. I've been here for a few days. I have sand in many awkward places but its awesome. The mornings by the water playing with my son have been amazing.
Next we go to Hershey, PA for a couple days. This could be bad. As you know, I'm a chocoholic. I've never been there...on purpose. I don't want any of those Wonka moments of falling into a vat of chocolate. Well I do...but I shouldn't. Hopefully my husband will not let me put myself into a chocolate coma.
I hope you will all survive Monday and I will be back soon with pics and such.
HMG

Screaming for ice cream!!! Thanks Alex!

I completely blame (and thank) Alex J. Cavanaugh for turning me on to this PRETEND ice cream.

It's not real...yet.

You know how it goes with social networking pressure though.

It started with this guy: Jon Defreest aka Jonny Etc. who apparently just made this for fun. 

Ruined my day. I wanted to eat it. 

So, Alex posts this on his blog and all these Star Wars inspired flavor combinations start popping into my head!


Jabba Wabba: Mint ice cream with chocolate frogs 


Ewok Tracks


R2-D2's Rockin' Mocha Chunk (developed by my son): Coffee ice cream with chocolate chunks and R2-D2 shaped marshmallows


Princess Leia Swirl: Cinnamon swirled vanilla ice cream with crunchy cinnamon buns 


These are the Droids you're looking for: Chocolate ice cream with peanut brittle


Dagobah Delite: Pistachio Nut ice cream with marshmallow swirl


Toffee Hoth
 

What do you think? Would you eat any of these? Do you have an ice cream flavor to add to the list?

A little of this and a little of that...

Trends and Topics I've noticed going on in the blog-o-sphere.

At least two people that I follow mention that they have left Blogger and joined Wordpress. Not sure why. Wordpress doesn't appear as visitor friendly as Blogger. Maybe they give out cookies. 

Google+ isn't living up to the hype.

Blog Question: Book that everyone loved but I didn't? Twilight.

Blog Question: Favorite novel made into a movie? It's a trick question. I have never seen a movie that did justice to the book that it was stolen...I mean...taken from.

Eye candy / hunk pictures
We all love to look at hot guys and hot girls. Not sure we need to make it a weekly post but I guess...to each his own. 

So I don't feel left out here is my hot guy/girl video. Such an enjoyable way to spend three minutes. One of the hottest network television scenes ever. 

Supernatural Sam/Ruby scene 

Notice anything else going on out there?
Care to share?

*******

The other day we finally got to go for a ride on the bike. It was an absolutely beautiful day and since I sit on the back I get to daydream the whole time.

Stupid me came up with a whole new book idea. Wrote down two pages of thoughts when I got home.

Just what I needed!

And that wasn't even sarcasm!

It feels good to have new ideas. To know that my writing brain still works under all the crap I pile on top of it. To know that if I finish one that there is another.

Funny thing. Class is over...yeah me...and I have completely ignored my finished book for days. I think I'm scared. I know I will get back to the edits. Hopefully soon.

Schoooooooolllllllssssss out for summer!

Now I remember why I dropped out of college! It's freakin' hard! Well, that and it was really expensive. Oh, and I hated high school, finally graduated and brought my hate right into college. And, of course, I don't like people or classrooms. Yeah. Any of those reasons.....

BUT!!!! 

This class is over!

And it was great. I really learned a lot.

When I tell you that there were over thirty something lessons then I mean a lot.

If you are interested she is having another class in September. Go here.

Now I just have to apply all the things that I learned to my finished work and my current works in progress.

No problem.

That should be done in no time at all!

There are two ways to handle this. Two ways that I can think of.

Work on all the lessons in sections of the book or do an individual lesson through the whole book before moving on to the next lesson.

Not sure which one will work better for moi. But, I am sure that it needs to be done.

So, I know what I will be doing for the next month or two...what about you?

Last important tip from class...Make sure your man characters sound like a man and not like a woman trying to sound like a man. Same goes for a woman character written by a man. Or any funky combination that you can come up with!