FINALLY--The Chocolate Factory!

Today Brady finally got his GOLDEN TICKET.


After 2 and 1/2 months of patiently waiting, Brady finally got his trip to the Southbend Chocolate Factory! We took the back roads to get there and had a ball seeing all the Amish (actually, I am pretty sure they were Menonite) people with their buggies.

This was at an eye doctor clinic.

This was at an intersection we were stopped for the red lights.

This was behind a convenience store!

We took pictures of the buggies but weren't sure about pictures of the people. To avoid embarrassing ourselves we stuck to the cool buggies and pretty horses. It was soo00 fun to see them and be with them on the roads!

After almost three hours of driving, we finally arrived at the corner of Sweet St. and Sample St. The tour did not disappoint the little people in the group. We were all really interested in the cocoa bean husk flower bed mulch.

When it rains, or gets wet from sprinklers, it smells like chocolate! You can buy big bags of the stuff from the factory to put in your own flower beds at home. The tour guide bothered to mention that dogs LOVE to eat it! So did the squirrels.

There are a lot of squirrels here; black, brown, and gray--there were probably 20 working over the cocoa flower mulch pretty hard. Too bad I didn't manage to get a pic. of any of them.

Lexie's new friend MJ came with us today and she is the sweetest little girl. She and Lexie kept each other company on the long drive both ways.

MJ is concentrating on not dropping her spoon into the chocolate. I think (judging by her tongue sticking out) that she was really eager to eat the treat. They had to wait until it cooled!

They had a great time at the chocolate factory and afterward when we went to downtown Southbend and ate at the "Chocolate Cafe". It was across the street from the college football hall of fame. I still have to pinch myself sometimes to be sure I am really here. I am living in my vacation. :-)

They loved the hair covers and wore them most of the day, they even wore them in the car on the way home while they played "chocolate factory".

I tried out Gary's little point and click HP photosmart camera today. It takes video clips and I am so excited to be able to add that to the blog!

How do you get a 100 pound box of chocolate off of the wall and out of the store before anyone notices?