Chocolate and the Beach

You may or may not remember, but one day hubby was cleaning the tub in the kids' bathroom and happened to look up at the ceiling. He noticed a water spot. It wasn't huge, but it was big enough for him to decide to get on the roof and take a look. We had a hole. Ugh! On the bright side, our friends, the P's, came over and helped take care of it. While the hubbys were on the roof, my friend C and I sat down to look at some homeschool stuff on the internet. Our main focus for the day: free or very inexpensive field trips. Boy did we take a doozy yesterday. We went to a chocolate factory in Daytona Beach. And since we were at Daytona, we had to go to the beach.

We caravanned with about 7 other families. At one point, I thought I had lost them so I pulled over. Heck, no. As soon as I got stopped, there they were. Our destination was Angell and Phelps Chocolate Factory. They do free tours about four times a day. They give you the run down of the equipment, the types of chocolate they make, and a history of the business. It was started by two ladies, one named Angell and the other named Phelps, from Michigan. They were frequent visitors and decided to set up shop. Am I glad they did! One of the best parts of the whole tour was living out an I Love Lucy fantasy. While I didn't get left alone with the conveyor belt running at super speed while I stuffed my cheeks full, we did get to pick a piece off the belt. We also got to pick another piece off of a sample tray. I chose the dark chocolate covered potato chips. That was one of the best things I have ever eaten in my life!! We brought home a bag of them. We also brought home a bag of chocolate covered blueberries. There were also some other little things we brought home with us. So, so good. If you get to Daytona, go see them. It is well worth it. When you walk in the door, the most incredible chocolate smell smacks you in the face. Smack away, dear chocolate, smack away.

And since we were five minutes away, when you get stopped at the red lights, from a great little park on the beach, we had to go there. We had packed a lunch, and dragged all our stuff to the sand. It was a great day to be at the beach. There was no crowd, the weather was beautiful, and the waves were minimal. It was also a great day to boogie board. Those went over almost as well as the chocolate. I wish we had thought to bring ours, but everybody got a turn. So much fun to watch the kids running and playing and building sand castles. We got to spend time with a group of families that we all enjoy. And, amazingly, the bathrooms were clean. I am not a fan of public bathrooms, but these were ok. It was so nice to just hang out and be. One of my favorite things: saying "A1A, Beachfront Avenue!" everytime we talked about the road. I love me some Vanilla Ice. It's the little things, people.

It was a great day with great friends. It was refreshing to not be running to get here, there, and everywhere. I loved getting my tan on, to quote my friend S. I'm not sure what the next one will be. I hear this weekend is a free butterfly festival at the museum in Ganesville. Hmmmm?

Have a great day.