Sweet's - aka The Sugar Fest

It has become painfully obvious to me that our summer days are in short supply, so we are trying to pack in as much as we can before school starts. Yesterday started with our annual visit to Sweet's Candy Factory. We weren't sure that we would be able to get in on a tour and I thought my kids would be OK with just being able to choose some treats, but I was wrong. Certain of my children were very upset about the tour. Fortunately, things worked out and we ended up on the tour. It is always interesting and informative no matter how many times I go.

Of course, everyone was really excited to wear their fancy candy maker hats - and to have to pose for a picture while wearing them. The older kids are pretty well trained and stand there with only a few "this is a waste of my time" sighs, but Peter was a bit of a stinker, so I had to settle for only a couple of shots with him in it.

As always, I wonder why I do this to myself - trying to get a picture of 9 kids all looking at the camera, hands down, smiling and no goofy looks - an almost impossible feat. (Something about capturing the memories no matter how imperfect they are.)
Peter quickly realized that the other kids thought it was funny when he wore his hat over his whole face, so he tried it repeatedly. He loves being silly and being the cause of laughter. I have to tell the other kids to quit encouraging him just to make him stop.

We ended with a silly face photo and of course gobs of candy fresh from the factory that will keep us all on a sugar high for days to come. (I plan to ration it accordingly.)
Just for fun - the candy factory through the years:

Amazing to realize that in the first photos, Jonas and Robbie barely came to the bottom of the "office hours" and now their heads are above the hours sign.