Our vacation

We had a great time on our vacation.

Our first stop was my brother's new home.

Here are three at the sleep over party:

(cousin S, Nik and cousin O)

The next day we headed out for a day at the Children's Museum in Pittsburgh

(side note it was free because we had a membership to another local museum something families might want to consider.)

The cousins

(oksana and T playing in sand)

(Oksana and T learning about water)

(V exploring Engineering)
Having fun
We sadly said good-bye and headed to our next stop Lancaster PA

Here we were lucky to have our hotel directly across from Dutch Wonderland

It was a perfect stop for kids under ten! The nice part we could just walk to the hotel for lunch,

a quick nap, change into swimsuits, and not carry lots of extras! (Can we go now! No more pictures we want to ride!)

Here are the kids riding lots of great kid rides:

(I am not scared are YOU?)
(Nik loved the big kid rollercoaster, while Vitaly was not a fan!)
(all three ready to ride alone - Oksana is FEARLESS, but mommy was not, now I know how my mom felt when we rode the big rides!)

(need room for one more!)

(Oksana and dad on the Carousel, notice she is the ONLY one riding!)
It began to rain and walked back to the hotel and swam inside and outside.

(V swimming great without any floaties- those swim lessons finally paid off!)
(Daddy tossing Nik like a cannonball)
(what a year makes daredevil Oksana swimming unassisted in "deep" water)
(A tired little girl)

We departed Lancaster and headed our travels to Hershey PA to attend the Ukrainian Angels Annual Reunion and taste some chocolate. I remember traveling to Hershey myself as a little girl and was curious to see what it was like again.

We stayed at the UA Angels reserved hotel and enjoyed swimming inside and outside for a few days.

Then we headed to the place where chocolate is a foundation...Hershey's Chocolate World

(My cuties waiting for some chocolate!)
(no words for world's largest chocolate and yes we bought the mega twizzlers on the left!)
(Now here is a job that might be tempting working with chocolate and candy every day. My three learning to work in a chocolate factory)
Our precious family with $15.00 of chocolate in the bag and a big candy bar per piece in our stomachs. I have to mention a cute thing that happened. As I let each child pick a candy bar (large) of their choosing we all sat down for our snack. Vitaly turned to Nikolai and said "well, did you get one?" Nik said hold on and slowly opened his wrapper. He then said to V "No I didnt get a golden ticket either!" (From Willy Wonka of course) Larry and I just looked at each other and smiled.

UA Angels
This is A. She and V hit it off immediately. They are so compatible and so alike. They were instant friends.

V and A played non-stop together.

A wears glasses and so does V but he did not have them at the pool.

When A saw V with his glasses she excitedly proclaimed, "Vitaly you wear glasses TOO!" Which he proudly smiled for being recognized for such a great feat!

Then V said to me. A is from Ukraine just like me!

That is what the reunion is all about. Finding friends that like you just the way you are and with a little something special that others can't quite understand!

Some more friends not identified but all UA cuties:

Two year old cutie

Four year twins!

Oksana and J groupa buddies from Odessa #3
Nik and assorte UA dudes

Unfortunately, we had to leave early and take mommy to the airport and daddy headed towards home. Mom caught her plane to Orlando to stay at an overpriced resort, but she at least had the luxury of this bed

Mommy missed her family and wondered how a resort could charge $5.00 for a bottle of water and $17.00 for a sandwich!

Mommy then struggled with her sudden summer cold and sinus infection and has since tried to recuperate with vertigo (thanks ear infection)

We are now back to routine although mommy is making up the lost time with extra hours at work, but the boys are playing football and having alot of fun with it!

Is it really August already????