I said my next post would be about Jaime’s birthday, but I didn’t realize how far behind on posts I was so I’m actually going to start with July 5.
Since July 4th landed on a Sunday, Scott got Monday and Tuesday off too. We spent Monday in Fresno. We got up super early and got there about 8am. Then we spent 5 hours cleaning and packing up the van to bring more stuff to Fremont. Then we went and spent the rest of the day with my mom in her care facility. It was a pleasant time and the kids had a BLAST. They played bingo with all the old ladies, played the piano to entertain more old ladies and had a wonderful dinner with one wonderful lady, their grandma. After much goodbye’ing we left there, dropped my sister off and headed home. We got home around midnight but it was a fun trip and well worth it. We did spend the time to clean out the car before going to bed because we had a big day planned for the next day.
Tuesday July 6 we headed to the Jelly Belly Factory. Scott had never been there and so we decided it was a good day to go. We got there about noon and we had about an hour wait. But that was ok. Scott and I took turns taking kids to the free sample bar. We must have taken each kid about 3 times. Then we noticed they had a free sample bar of fudge and chocolate. That was a big hit too!!
[Just wait’n in line]
[Keri was so good. As soon as they gave us these hats for the tour, she refused to take it off till the tour was over. Such an obedient child. And anyway, she looked dang cute in the hat!]
The tour of course was phenomenal! Scott enjoyed it just as much as we did even though it was his first time and our 5th. We tasted a lot more samples before, during and after the tour plus we got our free bag of Jelly Belly’s for going on the tour. I swear those things are the BEST candy on earth!
[Family picture after the tour on our way back down to buy belly flops for an amazing price!]
Being the nature of our family, we were the last ones to leave the tour in our group. We get so fascinated by what’s going on we tend to lag behind. As we were leaving the tour guide said ‘Oh, it’s the Thompson’s. The only polite family that said Thank You.’ That was a HUGE compliment. I figure she knew our name because I have a tendency to call my children to order by saying ‘Thompson’s stay together’ or ‘Thompson’s over here.’ It’s times like these that I burst with pleasure at the sight of my children. They are polite, kind children and I still marvel at the fact that I was blessed with so many well behaved children. I really am grateful for it!
[Our after tour snack. We even had a cherry pit spitting contest. Scott is definitely the BEST! By the way, we did pick up all the pits before driving away!]
We just went to the JB factory last with with Beth and James (Hutchings). So fun! They hand out more samples now than I have ever known them to before–very nice. But I hate the picture taking at the beginning. Ugh. Love your photos!