Christmas Candylane

On Friday, December 13th we went to Hersheypark's Christmas Candylane to walk around and get hyped up on some holiday spirit... and for the delicious Hershey's hot chocolate and our most favorite Kettle Corn!

Baby girl is FINALLY a Reese's! No more "Miniature's" status for her.

Next up, we decided to grab our bag of Kettle Corn early because we've learned that when the park is closing, the line is the longest. Plus, that way we had the deliciousness that is that heavenly bag of golden kernels to munch on throughout the park.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. You can see the Kissing Tower in the upper left-hand corner, the Carrousel, Santa and his reindeer climbing on the Comet in the distance and then, of course, the statue of Milton S. Hershey there in the fountain. 

Our first ride {and the only ride really available for adults since it's so cold there this time of year} was the Carrousel. 

We ended up with a horse that was stationary {aka: didn't go up and down like the others} but we still had a blast, of course!

Next up, PEYTON RODE A RIDE ALL BY HERSELF! You guys, this is a BIG deal considering the last time we tried to get her to ride something at Hersheypark by herself, this was the result:

Photo: circa Summer of 2011

This time, she rode the Hot Air Balloons and she had a blast! I didn't get a great picture of it, but trust me, it was awesome :)

After that, she wanted to ride everything!

Right next door was the Starship! Nick rode with her for this one and it was so cool. 

{They're in the ship that is in the upper right-hand corner.}

We did some walking because we wanted to make sure we saw Santa's reindeer before it was time to go.

These lights were throughout the trees in one section of the park, so pretty!

Again, you can spy the Kissing Tower in the distance.

We soon reached the REAL, LIVE reindeer!

Peyton, of course, wanted to know why Rudolph's nose wasn't actually red...

Momma didn't have a good answer for that one.

She wasn't too impressed.

In the same little area was a {new} ice-skating rink and a hot chocolate station.

Peyton wanted to give the ice-skating a try, and she did surprisingly well for it being her first time and for barely holding on to my hands. She LOVED it!

After we chugged our hot chocolates and played in the rink enough to validate the skate rental fee, we asked her if she was ready to go see Santa. {Mind you, she had sat on Santa's lap probably 3 times at this point this season}. Her response?: "Nah, can we go ride on the slides now, Daddy Nick?!"

So, ride the slides they did.

At this point, it was getting later and we knew the park would be closing soon.

So, we trekked to the Dry Gulch Railroad for our "last hoorah of the evening".

It was nice to just sit and relax and huddle together for warmth while enjoying all of the lights along the train tracks.

We checked out these fancy heaters while walking back out towards the gate.

I wish we could have one for our back patio - so fancy!

It wasn't long after that that we said "goodbye" to the park and headed home for the evening.

Plus, Peyton was exhausted...

So exhausted, in fact, that she passed out on the walk to the car {which luckily wasn't too far away}.

All in all, we had a wonderful time - despite the cold temps. Unfortunately, I waited too long to grab our traditional box of Hershey fudge {something my family has always done ever since I was a little kid}. It felt like a sin to walk out of there without said fudgey-deliciousness, but I'm sure I'll make up for it the next time we visit. ;)

xo,

Sara