In the words of Charles Dickens, "There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate." Truer words were never spoken for the Muffins, especially on the weekend of the great chocolate festival.
Times were rough in the Place of Doom (also known as our residence), courtesy of forces similar to those that led to our Indiana Christmas. But, lo, a joyful message of deliverance appeared, offering sanctuary in New Jersey, courtesy of some friends we met during our last stint in Utah. We packed up and headed off for a weekend of rest, relaxation, adventure, and speaking in regular-volume voices.
We got there in the evening, and after the kids were more or less settled in for the night, we had our first taste of the truly chocolaty nature of our visit:
The Muffins were ready to play bright and early in the morning. Here is Clarissa with one of our friends:
And here is Clarissa on the little horse bike she loved. It should be noted that Jared, who has been severely bike deprived, learned how to ride a two wheeler (no training wheels!) during the visit.
After the outside play came some inside play:
And then back outside for a picnic:
The town was having a spring festival that day, which we went to after lunch. On the way, we stopped by our friend's place of work:
There may or may not have been a fair amount of disgruntled talk from the Muffins about our decision not to go on any rides. Nevertheless, there were plenty of free fun things to see and do, including free balloon animals.
And then there was the best free thing of all. See all that chocolate? Yup, free, given away at the tent behind us in the picture. (Hence the "Chocolate Festival" title for this post.)
The chocolate influence runs deep in the town. If you zoom in on the street signs, you may recognize some red and yellow candy friends.
After the festival, there was more play time at our friends' house, whilst our hostess prepared most excellent pizza.
The lovely view from our friends' balcony:
Clarissa met a furry friend:
Once the pizza was ready, we enjoyed dinner and a movie, before heading home. Truly, a most excellent vacation. Thank you, friends!
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