Full-time Grandparenting in Virginia

Becky opted to attend a conference for her job in Honolulu during October which was not exactly a tough decision!  Well, Gerald, being a smart guy, decided to tag along and I got a phone call: "Mom......" Which led to a second call from Houston to Darwin "Guess what we are doing for your next break?" Didn't take too much arm twisting for either of us.

So we held down the Fowkes fort in their new house for a week:
walking the kids to school, pre-school, swim lessons, violin practice, packing lunches, making dinner, homework, playing games after said dinner, yard work, laundry, (lots of laundry), and my favorite - reading aloud at bedtime.
Roy and I managed to squeeze in watching some baseball playoffs - go Giants!  We also bought a squirrel proof bird feeder for their deck and Birds of Virginia as Roy hopes to recruit bird watching companions.
With all this normal, we needed an adventure so we skipped the kids out of school on Friday and drove 3 hours northwest to ........

HERE!  We had a very fun afternoon learning all about chocolate.   Ask me anything. 













Maybe the best part was making our own chocolate bars.  Milk or dark chocolate?  Nuts?  Sprinkles on top?

Thank you Milton and Catherine Hershey. 
After a swim in the motel pool and pizza for dinner, bedtime for all.  Grandparenting is exhausting; in a good way. 
The next day found us in nearby Valley Forge. Happy History buffs :)

George Washington Chapel

Guess who? 

Miss Ellie and General Scout

 Back home in Virginia we took a walk in a nearby Park with binoculars and Grandpa's new bird watching enthusiasts.

Do we need to tell ya, we had a GREAT time? Even if I came home sick.
The kids were very well behaved and hardly missed Mom and Dad.  Ok, maybe a little.  At times.
As Paul Harvey used to say, "and the rest of the story" about the bird feeder: the birds finally found it and Scout has started a "birds sighted" list.  Grandpa is thrilled. The family has reported what great fun it is watching the squirrels trying to break into the food.