Hershey Park

We spent Memorial Day Weekend at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.  It is only a 2 and a half hour drive from where we live and it was a much needed family getaway.  We arrived around dinner on Friday and first visited Hershey's Chocolate World.  The kids packaged their own Hershey kisses (Anna even made off with a few of her own), Emma and I made our own Hershey candy bars, we took a trolley tour of the place, and had dinner and of course a few sweet treats.

Emma the Factory Worker

Boxing up the Hershey Kisses

Preparing to enter the factory and make her very own Hershey Candy Bar!!

Factory line

Emma picked on the computer all of the ingredients that she wanted in her candy bar.  Sprinkles?  Um .....YES!!

She chose white chocolate

She added chocolate chips and toffee chips

It was then coated with chocolate

Sprinkles added to the top and there is Emma's very own perfect candy bar:)

Posing with the world's largest candy bar

We took a trolley tour through Hershey World and the singing cows were by far Anna's favorite part!

The next day took us to Hershey Park.  We spent the entire day riding the fun kid rides.  We knew that there were a lot of kid rides, but didn't expect to be there all day and still have more that we didn't make it to!  The park was huge and had so much to offer for little kids.  Even Anna could ride a ton of rides all by herself.  Both girls LOVED it and were not scared at all.

Emma was a "Hershey's Kiss"

Seriously does it get any cuter?  We were on the Ladybug ride, which twirls around and around like the tilt a whirl.  We told Anna to put her hands in the air and she did!  She loved every minute of it:)

Girls loved the "Boardwalkers" which were a traveling band throughout the park.

Anna busting a move to the music

Daddy and Emma having fun on a ride

It was impossible to get a cute picture of both girls in front of one of the characters!  Emma wanted to keep hugging them and high fiving them and Anna was just so enthralled I couldn't get her to look at the camera.  Both girls loved them!

Sunday took us back to the park, but only for the water park.  It was HUGE and was perfect for the girls on the hot day.  There were multiple huge kid areas, wave pools, lazy river, slides, along with adult slides.  We all had a blast.

Water park!!!  Total awesomeness!!

More waterpark!

The one water ride I wanted to go on but didn't get a chance to.  It looked like so much fun.

This girl LOVES the water

Emma loves the water, too!

Perfect ending to a great trip - a big mint chocolate chip ice cream cone

I could NOT believe Emma wanted to go on this ride.  It was big and went really high.  Jay went with her and she didn't hesitate at all!

We don't get away with our family of 4 very often, but we had such an awesome time.  It was a much needed distraction for us too because the day before we left Anna had a kidney ultrasound that didn't go so well.  We were expecting it to be "just another test" and were not prepared at all for bad results.  She has gone from one kidney cyst in each kidney (which we knew from her ultrasound one year ago) to "over 10" in the right kidney and "over 3" in the left.  She also has an AML (angiomyolipoma) in each kidney.  Although both cysts and AML's are common in people with TSC, the big jump in the number of cysts is very alarming.  In a small percentage of kids with TSC, they can also have polycystic kidney disease.  I won't go into the details because I really don't want to think about it, but basically it is not good.  Our doctor is on vacation all week and won't be back until next week to discuss these results with us and what they mean.  The wait is killing me because I have so many questions.  We will most likely be referred to a nephrologist (kidney specialist) and I am mentally preparing to have to wait even longer for answers. 

We also have a 24 hour EEG for Anna next week and an appointment with her developmental specialist.  We will go and get hooked up to the EEG and bring it home with us so that she can wear it overnight.  After we get these results we begin the 4 month weaning process from her current medication.  We have a lot going on right now with Anna's medical care and we keep praying for good outcomes!  I will keep everyone updated as we learn more.