The Crayola Factory

We took our second trip to Pennsylvania over Spring Break. This time we went to meet our real estate agent, look at some houses for rent, and decide what area we were going to live. There are two wards we could potentially be in depending on which city we live in. One is in Bethlehem and one is in Nazareth. The night we arrived we received a call from the Bethlehem ward Bishop. He wanted to make sure we arrived safely and to see if there was anything we needed. We also had a dinner invitation from a family from that same ward. Talk about a warm welcome! Turns out by the end of the trip that probably won't be the ward we end up in. But it's so comforting to know that people took the time to care about us even though the only thing they know is that we are members of the church and we are moving into the area.

The second day of our trip was spent with our real estate agent. She took us on a tour of Bethlehem, Easton, and Forks Township, which are the three cities we are looking to live. We looked at 3 houses as well. Xavier was definitely at his worst. I couldn't blame the kid. He'd been at his cousins for a week and in a car for 10+ hours the day before. Not to mention riding around town all that day without a nap. He had kind of had it at this point. Our real estate agent was so nice. At one point Xavier was so whiny that she stopped to get him a milkshake. He certainly perked up after that. Then an hour later he was screaming that he wanted water. So she made another stop at a gas station to pick up some water. Not only did his tantrums and whining not seem to bother her, but she knew her stuff. She knew what neighborhoods were built by what builders, she knew the good builders from the bad builders, and just seemed to have an awesome knowledge of the market, the area, and everything else in between. We feel like we struck gold with her. The final event that solidified our trust in her was that Tim had lost his Oakley sunglasses (that cost a pretty penny). She took us back to every house we looked at to find them. They ended up being at the very last house and it took an extra hour to do this. We apologized profusely for our high maintenance. All she could say was that we were nothing compared to some of her other clients and that we were a pleasure. She was definitely golden in our eyes. Of course, she knows we are future business for her, but not everyone would have done those things even with that in mind.

The third day of our trip we did a few fun things. The highlight was visiting the Crayola Factory. It was out of this world. They had room after room of things to create! It was definitely the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory of art supplies. We got to see how crayons and markers are made. The pictures below were some of Xavier's favorite stops.




Fingerpainting



Crayons galore. Thankfully Xavier has stopped eating them. Here he was able to pick some pictures and color away.



There was a huge sidewalk the kids could color on with chalk. Xavier spent the most time here.



Daddy and Xavier playing with molding clay. Let your imagination soar!