So, the day after we finished up with VBS, we took 18 people and packed up the church bus and drove out for a youth group weekend trip to Hershey Park. And I thought I would share a few things that I learned from our trip this weekend. First of all, I learned that setting up tents is great if you have all of the right pieces, and it’s not so great if you open up your tent to find random, not right pieces. This was Christian’s experience when he went to set up his tent. Fortunately, we did a little shuffling and everything worked out just fine.
I also learned that if I write a blog post about Zack Skarka, it will get many positive reviews. Thank you all, by the way, for your kind comments. Speaking of Zack, he shared our devotions for the week, and he did an amazing job.
Right after I took the last picture, I learned that if I’m going to bring my small camera, I might want to make sure that I charged the battery pack first. I didn’t. So the rest of the pictures from my weekend had to come from my iPhone. Now, considering the next picture, I learned that quite a few people will come on the Hershey Park trip that do not actually like roller coasters. I think it proves the fact that you can still have lots of fun at Hershey without riding the crazy big rides.
You can instead opt for the crazy small rides, including these swings. They looked more innocent than they actually were. Thankfully, Kayla and Ellee still had fun on them.
Whereas we did have a handful of students and leaders who weren’t a fan of the coasters, we also had quite a few that really enjoyed many of the rides including this one. Though you can’t tell from the picture, a good number of our group was on this actual ride when I took the picture. You’ll have to just take my word for it.
Whereas I really enjoyed roller coasters in my youth, after having our kids, I kind of realized that I was fine never going on one again. I had enjoyed my time at Cedar Point and Six Flags and was now just content to hang back with this sweet girl. She was a huge fan of the bumper cars, so we took quite a few turns doing those.
She also loved driving the antique cars as well. When the big kids needed a break from the crazy rides, they joined us for a few rounds of driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Afterwards, we walked over the the zoo. And we learned that Coco Cameron’s great uncle lived at Zoo America. Just kidding. Though this lizard looked like he could be some sort of reptilian relative to our sweet gecko.
Let’s see. I also learned that there is no shortage of candy at Hershey Park, nor is there a shortage of teenagers who will eat it.
I learned that Ellee was a fan of photobombing people with bunny ears.
And I learned that if I looked around for our son, and couldn’t find him, I would eventually find him, in a tree.
I learned that Hershey Park has some delicious Kettle Corn.
Later that night, I learned that if a Jr. High student tells you that he will make three baskets in a row at one of those side games with the tiny hoops, and in your heart you highly doubt it…
He will prove you wrong and make all three. And he will instantly become legendary to everyone who saw it. Well done, Liam!
I learned that despite what my mother’s heart was telling me, you could actually play a game where you tried to bounce a ball ridiculously close to someone’s head and it would not hit them in the eye. Somehow, he got through the entire five rounds of this game without getting hit in the head.
And finally, I learned that if you combine an iPhone flashlight and a jug of water, you will have the best free table lantern ever. I saw it on one of those camping hack lists and it totally worked. It was an impressive way to end the night.
All in all, I learned that no matter how crazy of a week you can have going VBS, that it can only get better by spending the weekend with some amazing people at Hershey Park. Thanks to everyone who joined us for a wonderful trip!
Laura Herr Photography 