My birthday lasted a week!!

I have perfected a system wherein my birthday lasts a week. How? I'll tell you. First, we go to Pennsylvania for a weekend for an Arts Festival that my mom, sister and I attend every year. We eat yummy gyros and truffles. Sometimes we buy artsy stuff too. Meanwhile, my dad, Seth and the kids go to Pumpkinville. I went to Pumpkinville every year as a child, though it is way cooler now.

There were no cow rides when I was growing up. Or pumpkin donuts. I love that my kids get to go the same place I went as a child.

The first time we measured Kylie against this pumpkin she was 16 months old.

As part of my extended birthday we went back to State College to visit. It was so wonderful to be back. This is Kylie's old school.

Our great friends, the Waynes, invited us to dinner. We all enjoyed being back at our old home.
We had to visit Seth's Alma mater, and no trip would be complete without a photo with the Nittany Lion.

Since we hadn't driven enough already, we spent part of Columbus Day visiting friends in Hershey and a few tours through Chocolate World. We ended up driving 1200 miles over 4 days.

We took the tour about four times. Something interesting happens when you smell chocolate for over an hour--you don't feel hungry for it anymore. Therefore, my hypothesis is that I'd be much thinner if we lived in Hershey or worked in a chocolate factory.

My gurlz

My birthday ended yesterday when me and my friend, Deborah, visited Salem. We had such a fun time.

Yup, I got to see the House of the Seven Gables. I think I'm going to have to reread Hawthorne as I read this book in the seventh grade.

She's real, people!

The final thing we did before we left Salem was watch a mock trial using the transcripts from the 1692 trials. It was sad. Truly sad. This woman was accused of witchcraft by one of her servants and would've been hanged except that she was pregnant. The hysteria ended before she gave birth and therefore wasn't put to death. But a lot were.