I awoke very early on Thursday (October14). I was going to be co-teaming with my mother for the day watching my sister's two children along with the three children she takes care of. My sister was going in for a medical procedure, and in order for her to get to the hospital on time, they needed to drop off their two children at our house at 5:30 am. So, I was awake and watching a special about dolphins when the kids showed up. My mom plays the organ at the temple on Thursday mornings, so she was already gone, and my dad was upstairs working in his office. The kids finished watching the dolphin show with me, and then we decided it was time for breakfast.
On the menu for the morning was scrambled eggs and toast. I did the cooking while my 8-year-old nephew Michael set the table and went to tell Grandpa it was time to eat. We sat down and blessed the food, and began to eat before it got cold. My dad was in the middle of something and would join us when he was done. I put his eggs on his plate and covered them so they would stay warm. Michael, in the meantime, had finished his eggs and two pieces of toast and still looked hungry. Still no sign of Grandpa, so I told Michael he could eat Grandpa's eggs and I would make fresh ones for Grandpa when he came down. No sooner had Michael moved the eggs to his plate when we heard Grandpa coming down the stairs. He hurried and scooped the eggs back to Grandpa's plate, but not before Grandpa entered the room and figured out what was going on. After a little ribbing, Grandpa told Michael he could eat the eggs and Grandpa would have cereal for breakfast. (Michael requested that this story be shared on here. Here's to you, Michael!)
After cleaning up breakfast, my mom came home, the other kids were dropped off, and we all piled in the car to go down to the Sweet's Candy Factory for a tour. We had been scheduled for the tour beginning at 9:00 am, so we wanted to be on our way.
We arrived, and were asked to check in all cell phones and cameras at the front desk. We were then escorted into a small room to watch a brief video on the history of the factory and the company. We were also given hair nets, and we were taken behind the doors of the world of candy. I almost felt like we were at Willy Wonka's, but I hadn't seen any oopma loompas yet, so I figured it wouldn't be THAT kind of candy tour. We saw where they store all of the candy, where it gets loaded onto trucks, and the super tall fork lift that stacks all of the candy on the shelves. We saw them making taffy (watermelon flavor), jelly beans (did you know it takes seven days to make a batch of jelly beans?), cinnamon bears, orange sticks, peanut clusters, and a myriad of other things. We even saw the "trash bin," which contains all of the "oops" candy they can't sell. Apparently, they send it to Idaho where the farmers poor the candy over the hay the cows won't eat. That way, the hay nor the candy goes to waste. We were given samples of most things we saw being made, and at the end, we were invited to shop in the candy store on the premises. With all of the kids, my mother and I buying candy, by the time we got out of there, we had six (count them!) bags of candy. I think these people saw us coming....
It may not have been as exciting as a visit to Wonka's, but it was fun to learn all of the things that go on there. I think I may have even seen a small, orange-faced man peek at us from around a corner....
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