The Torrences

April 17 – 19, Cape May, NJ (Holly Shores)

Opening weekend at Holly Shores.  It was time to get the camper out to start the season, so we decided on a two weekend stay at Holly Shores.  It’s a nice campground with an excellent dog park in the back.  The dogs love it because of the park, and Kathy and Emily love it for it’s proximity to Cape May (shopping and beaches).

Friday was Kathy’s birthday and she had to work, so I packed up the camper, the kids and the dogs and got everything down to Cape May.  After work, Kathy went to get a spa treatment at the Red Door Salon – she loved it.  She joined us at the campground by 6:30.  The kids wanted to surprise her… they hid in the camper and yelled surprise when she arrived.  We had birthday cake and a relaxing evening.

On Saturday, Matthew and I had to head back to Pitman for his opening day (Little League) ceremonies, pictures and his first game.  Emily and Kathy headed to the beach.

It was unseasonably warm and they had a blast on the beach… doing “girl” things all day.  Sand angels and shopping at their own leisurely pace.

Matt had a great first game, he caught for an inning and had a hit.  He said “it was the best game I’ve ever been involved in”.  We didn’t get back to Cape May until almost 9:00, so there wasn’t really time to do much else.

Sunday morning we woke up and it was considerably cooler (and windy).  We tried heading to Sunset Beach, but quickly left after almost being blown off the beach.

We look forward to our second weekend… no Little League games, just relaxation and enjoyment.

Elizabethtown KOA, Elizabethtown, PA

We headed up to Elizabethtown for a camping holiday weekend. As we drove up, the weather deteriorated quickly. By the time we got to the campground, it was raining steady and it’s been continuing through the night. We discovered that there is a leak in the shower, the dome must be cracked and it is something additional for HitchRV to take a look at. I need to try to schedule something next week for them to look at the tires and how they are wearing as well. I just hope that they will honor the servicing since it was sold under the Hitch-a-Rama moniker.

Like most KOAs, this campground was nice and small.  Everyone seemed friendly.  Lots of room to roam and the kids liked the pool and Emily really liked the playground.

Early in the morning on Saturday, Kathy opened up the vent in the bathroom and the vent cover snapped and cracked. We looked around and found out about a camping supply store in Highspire, just 20 minutes up the road. We loaded up and went there only to find them closed for the holiday weekend. I realized that I had to rig up a way to try and seal it for the weekend until I can get to the camper store next week. I have off on Wednesday, so I should be able to do it then.

We also stopped at the Saturday market… it was Kathy heaven. We had to cut it short due to the dogs barking at the campground, but we were able to pick up some whoopie pies and Hippies ring bologna.  Not sure what the dog issue was all about, they were fine when we got back.

When we got back, I headed up to the roof of the camper to try and seal up the leak. When I applied a little pressure to the tape, it cracked even more. The thing has gotten completely brittle at this point, I’m wondering if the same thing is happening to the shower — leading to the leak there.

The kids tried out the pool, but left after just 5 minutes or so due to the pool being too cold. After we were done with everything, we headed over to visit my dad and Nan. Nan, who turned 91 in June is doing pretty well, especially now that she is living with my dad. Nan gave Emily a bracelet that her mother gave her. That means it belonged to Emily’s Great Great Grandmother, what a special piece.

We just hung out close to the campground on Sunday. It was nice that the weather cooperated. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky all day and it got into the upper 80s. We made our way over to the horse shoe trail by the Conewago Creek for a walk in the morning. We walked a mile down the trail before turning around. The dogs loved it and the kids really didn’t whine too much.

Later in the day, after walking around the campground and on the trails in the woods, Kathy and the kids went on a hayride… well, actually, they went on two hayrides. The first one was a dry (normal) hayride. The second was something that they call the "wet" hayride. All participants are given squirt guns and they encounter "bandits" throughout the campground who are also sporting squirt devices. Kathy and the kids had a blast… but boy, were they soaked.

August 8 – 10, 2008

We went to Spring Gulch for a long weekend.  It was just Matt, Emily, the dogs and I this weekend as Kathy has to get ready for a trip to Alaska on Sunday.  It would just be too difficult to try to get Kathy back and to the airport in time for flying out on Sunday, so she decided to stay behind.  There are no pictures this weekend since Kathy needs to take the camera with her to Alaska.

We left the house around 1:30 or so, expecting it to take about an hour and a half to get there.  However, we ran into quite a bit of traffic and we didn’t get up there until almost 4:00.  Check-in was quick and we got up to the site OK.  There was a little issue with directions, they gave me the wrong road to get to the site, so I ended up having to back up about 30 to 45 yards around a turn.  Not the most difficult thing, but it can be tricky when I don’t have a spotter.

Overall, I was very impressed with Matt and Emily’s behavior this weekend.  They showed quite a bit of patience.

We walked around the campground a little to figure out where everything was and take the dogs for a walk. Our site was really secluded and backed right up to the woods. We were about as far from the bath house as we could be, but it was fine.

On Saturday, the kids decided they wanted to go to the pool.  It was a bit cool out, but the kids were OK going to the pool anyway. They had quite a bit of fun, we were there until about 11:30 before we headed back to the site for lunch.

After lunch we went down to the main level to do the tie-dye t-shirts. Matt and Emily each made one (I actually made it, but they helped a little). Emily’s is a little big… I got her the smallest size they had, but it was still quite big on her. It will be a nice sleep shirt though.

After the t-shirts, we went to the store to get some groceries. I picked up some snacks for the kids and we got some ring bologna. After that, the kids decided that they wanted to go back to the pool. We were there until dinner time.

On Sunday we decided to head up to Elizabethtown to visit with my Dad and Nan. It had been a while since the kids visited Nan and it was my Dad’s birthday. We took the mutts along and that made for quite a bit of activity. I tried letting Daisy off her leash once and of course, she ran away. Luckily, I was able to get Geddy to stop and eventually Daisy stopped as well… but she was pretty far into the field by that point. That is a really annoying trait that she has.

Overall, it was a good visit, we got to see Terri, Mark, Don and Kathy and all the kids. We headed back when the weather started turning. We got back to the camp site just in time for a storm to move through. We weren’t planning anything special at night anyway.  After the storm, it got quite cold… it dropped into the low 50s Sunday night – not what you would expect for the middle of August.

7/24 through 7/28/2008

We spent this weekend camping in Hershey, PA at the Hershey Highmeadow Campground, one of our favorites.

We had a really nice time…with the exception of a few minor meltdowns due to the heat and the crowds.

We spent our first day (Saturday) hanging around at the campground – just enjoying the nice weather, swimming in the pool, playing some games – Kathy’s parents even came up for a visit.

We purchased tickets for HersheyPark for Sunday, which meant that we could go on Saturday night for a few hours for a ‘free preview’ of the park.  Unfortunately, we were not the only ones on the park Saturday night – in fact, there was a record number of people at HersheyPark that night!  Between the Jonas Brothers and Brad Paisley concerts at the arena this weekend, the place was CRAZY!!!!

Emily was very excited to see that she was a “Reese’s Cup” this year and was tall enough to go on most of the rides.  Andrew, of course, is now tall enough to go on anything he wants!

We fought our way through the crowds and managed to go on a few rides that first night, but that was about all we could take and left exhausted.  Matt was struggling with his asthma, so he and Mike sat this evening out.

Sunday morning, we headed out bright and early – as guests of the campground, we got to enter the park an hour before it opened and enjoyed a few quick line-free rides.

As soon as it opened, Emily, Matt and Kathy headed over to the new “Boardwalk” – a huge waterpark filled with all kinds of fun things for the kids to do.  They changed into our swimsuits and played for about an hour…until it started to thunder.  At which point everything in the park shut down.

This was not such a bad thing – it was time for lunch and we needed to let the dogs out anyway, so we headed back to the camper on the shuttle bus and returned later in the afternoon after the skies had cleared.

Emily was proud to go on her first real roller coaster and Mike and Andrew went on a BUNCH of roller coasters including the new “Fahrenheit”– which to me looks just insane.  But no more insane than this one – the “Stormrunner” – which goes from a complete standstill to really-really fast at the very beginning of the ride.  Every time I saw the start of the ride and heard this creepy voice, I had my own personal little panic attack – and I wasn’t even on the ride!  Kathy managed to take a video of Andrew’s car at the start of the ride – take a look at this (this voice still gives me nightmares):

Andrew on the StormRunner

And here he is by one of the loops:

Matt doesn’t enjoy rides very much, but he waited very patiently at the ride exits for everyone to finish:

We made reservations to stay at the campground again next year – between the campground, the amusement park, the water park and all the other activities, this is one of our favorite ‘one-gas-tank’ trips!

Allentown KOA, July 4–7

It was an uneventful trip up on the holiday.  It was last minute reservations and I’m out of vacation time, so we had to travel on the holiday.

We were concerned about the dogs… Geddy had another diarrhea attack yesterday, so we weren’t sure what to expect.  The last thing we wanted was him losing it in the truck on the way up.  Everything was fine, though… we got here and the weather was deteriorating the whole way.  By the time we got up here, there was a steady drizzle… just enough to make it difficult to do anything.

We took a quick walk through the campground, it’s kind of small, but nice.  The dogs were a mess by the time we were done. 

We had dinner, relaxed and played bingo.  The weather should be a bit better tomorrow, so we should be able to get out and do something.  Our tickets to the Iron Pigs are for Sunday’s game.

Friday night (July 4th) was not a pleasant one… Geddy ended up getting sick throughout the night (from 2:00 on) and I ended up having to sleep outside with him because he kept vomiting.  We did a lot of cleanup work… not a good night.

Saturday was on and off rain all day.  We decided to head to Crystal Cave in the morning since it was weather independent.  Kathy stayed back with the dogs to make sure Geddy didn’t vomit all over everything.  The kids (even Andrew) really enjoyed the trip to the cave.

The upside-down ice cream cone stalagmite.

Some “flow”

The face…

After we got back, the kids wanted to try the pool… Matt didn’t last long saying it was too cold.  On and off showers all day, so we tried to just stay dry and enjoy ourselves.  At dinner time, the kids and I went to play miniature golf.  We had a good time, the team of Emily and I won, Matt came in second and Andrew was bringing up the rear.  Andrew had an impressive shot, it bounced off one of the rocks and flew about 4 feet in the air careening into a lake.  I had to use a net to fish his ball out of the water.

Saturday night was uneventful… Geddy made it through with no sickness.  Even so, we weren’t going to risk it, so Kathy didn’t attend the game on Sunday.  It was great, the kids had a blast and we watched the Iron Pigs’ pitcher throw a complete game 4-hitter while striking out 17 batters!

Coca-Cola park is really nice and clean and well laid out.  Not a bad seat in the place and there is even a picnic lawn area just beyond center field where you could lay out a blanket to watch the game.