We made it to the gardens on our last day after leaving Chocolate World, with bags full of chocolate. It was the hottest day of the weekend too so we didn't spend as much time in the gardens as I would have liked but we had to save the chocolate!!
As we were walking in I started taking pics of the girls & this man came up & offered to take a family pic. LOVE that!!
I think both the girls and I want a bench like this in our yard. Gianna declared herself a fairy.
Marissa was a Butterfly....and said the seat burnt her butt. It was so HOT!!
The gardens are HUGE! It's 23 acres of just flowers...can you imagine pulling all the weeds?? This pic doesn't do it justice.
There are rows & rows of roses...7,500 in total...we counted. LOL!! ;)
The gardens are HUGE! It's 23 acres of just flowers...can you imagine pulling all the weeds?? This pic doesn't do it justice.There are rows & rows of roses...7,500 in total...we counted. LOL!! ;)
The gardens have some themed areas...not sure which one this is.
Gianna thought it was funny that the statue of the girl was catching butterflies barefoot. She's a funny kid.
There was a Butterfly House there too that was beautiful! So many varieties of butterflies zooming so close to you. I would have loved to spend more time in there.
There was a Butterfly House there too that was beautiful! So many varieties of butterflies zooming so close to you. I would have loved to spend more time in there.This fountain was outside the Butterfly house. The girls were amazed at how the ball would stay in the stream of spouting water. I liked the Hershey Kisses seats.
This hibiscus flower was H-U-G-E!! Seriously GINORMOUS! It was the size of a salad plate!
You can see the park in the background....
You can see the park in the background....
This is a view from the garden of the Hotel. 
As we went back to the hotel to get our car I had to stop in the middle of the road to take this one. And to catch my breath--it was an uphill hike from the gardens!!
See??
Then they brought out everyone's breakfast of eggs, sausage, french toast & potatoes. {This is where the happy part disappeared.} Gianna does NOT eat any of the above mentioned breakfast items. After struggling to get her to try some eggs or french toast I found out they had cereal. Of course they did not have her favorite cereal & this is when it got real ugly & I threatened to go back home. WHY oh WHY does my kid have to be a SUPER picky eater???
The day was overcast (cruddy pics) but it wasn't super hot & the park wasn't crowded. The girls by the statue of Milton S. Hershey.
We then took the girls on some rides. 
This is probably where I discovered I was a Disney snob. See at Disney everything is themed to Disney (& the food is better-LOL). As we walked around to the rides they seem like regular rides you'd find at a carnival. I was expecting Hershey themed rides. Needless to say the girls didn't care...especially if they were the driver of the rides making them go up as high as possible to scare your mother/ride buddy.
Too high for me! Joe kept trying to convince me to go saying stuff like "You'd get the best pics of the park up there". No thanks--not interested!
At the far end of the park is the waterpark. (cruddy pic alert)
The girls couldn't wait to go to the waterpark, they weren't thrilled when we told them we weren't going until the next day when the weather would be nicer.
It took awhile but I finally found something that was "Hershey" related...
Another part of the park is 
This eagle (?)
In a "Nocturnal Animal" building this fox was hysterical. He was behind glass in his habitat dashing back & forth like a ping pong ball.
Then there's the Sweetest Place on Earth!!
Then there's this Utopia of Chocolate...
Did you know they made extra long Twizzlers?? (You can insert your own dirty joke here)
My favorite spot....
And no that is not a real bottle of chocolate syrup much to her dismay, just a coin bank. There was also a food court inside along with tasty treats. They looked so good! 
But we settled on ice cream....well actually Joe & Gianna had ice cream but I had to sample some since Joe was raving about it (yes he was right). Marissa & I had milkshakes, can you say YUMMMMMMM!?!?! She had a chocolate shake & I had a chocolate peanut butter cup shake. It was THE BEST milkshake I have ever had!! From there we went back to our room & crashed....it was a long fun-filled day. 
Marissa wasn't into my taking her picture so I didn't get a lot of her as I would've liked. She's hitting the "TWEEN" stage hard!
View of the hotel from the parking lot... 
The next day was our last day so after check out we headed to the park for more rides. Gianna had the ride to herself. Marissa declared herself too big for this one & thought it was kiddie-ish. **sigh**
We went on the Monorail that took us around the park & outside by the factory.
We got to see the Hershey Kiss lamp posts. There are wrapped & unwrapped Kisses around the streets of town.
Had to hit one last ride which we made Marissa go on with her sister, & despite the attempts at looking cool she enjoyed it too!
Believe it or not, despite my mocking the park a little we did have a good time! It was 3 days of family time which you just can't get enough of...tantrums and all! LOL!
