There is a train whistle sounding and the distant rumble of the rails in front of which the crickets are fiddling in the twilight. Children somewhere two streets over are yelling in a yard. I’m surrounded by boys and the gentle scratch of their pencils on paper as they work on their journal entries. Tea water is on to boil.

It’s been your pretty average perfect day.

Hershey’s Chocolate World is a dream come true for children. It’s a lot of entertainment mixed with a little learning and coated all the way around in sticky, sweet milk chocolate.

I wish you could have joined us for the 3-D movie and the chocolate tour, and had your toddlers box Kisses with ours on the assembly line experience. And met Lois’ friend Lydia, and her two sweet kidlets, who joined us for the morning and a picnic at the “Cocoa Castle” city park.

Even more than that, I wish you could have been in the van to witness the look on Jeremiah’s face when we pulled into the biggest Cabella’s store in the world and he realized one of his life long dreams when he walked through it’s doors.

The Millers have called Jeremiah from inside that store more than once. We’ve purchased a hat for him there and have wished for his presence while eating a buffalo burger in the cafe. It was a gold star moment for all of us to take his picture next to the big canoe sculpture that stands out front. It was at least as good as the chocolate factory for him, perhaps better.

Eating our spaghetti dinner on the patio, surrounded by two of my dearest friends and our combined herd of 17 children, I remembered again how very blessed I am. If today was all we got of this trip, it would have been worth all of the effort.

Yep. It was THAT good.

To see pictures of this field trip visit The Mama Bus!