Experiences are the Best Gifts

I transferred this from my first blog platform.  It was originally posted December 6, 2019.
Last Christmas my friend Jena and I decided that her kids really didn’t need any more toys so we took them to the Crayola factory. Almost all of my trips growing up were educational, so I’ve always appreciated trips that are both educational and fun They were so excited with all the activities and bragged about it at church for weeks afterwards. This year they asked to return to Crayola but I had taken our niece to Turkey Hill Experience and knew they would enjoy it as well. Our school district is very rural so we have days off for deer hunting, which allowed us to plan our trip for a Monday and avoid a lot of crowds.

The kids in front of the big cow out front. 

We left early so we could stop for breakfast and found a nice little family restaurant with an ice cream fountain just down the street from the tour. Both kids got chocolate chip pancakes and then we got samples in the museum before making our own ice cream flavors; it was definitely not a healthy eating day!

Driving a replica of the first delivery truck.

I know hanging out with mom’s friend
won’t always be fun, so I’ll soak
up all these moments I can!

Within the museum there are various interactive exhibits explaining the science behind tea and ice cream as well as the history of the company. So much of it is hands on so the kids don’t realize they are learning while they play.

On this game they have to try to destroy
the bad bacteria and keep the good.

Inside this microscope they choose to accept
or reject a batch of milk based on the bacteria found.

They got to “milk a cow.” There was even some liquid.

Playing ice cream shop.

Trying her coconut ice cream concoction.

He made a chocolate mint explosion.

As a bonus, I got to spend the day with one of my oldest and dearest friends. 

There we so many pretty trees.

Each tree had a theme.

The tea tree. 

The taste lab tree.