Valley Forge Park

That is a great idea Paula!

I don't know if you'd travel this far west, but we have Idlewild Park near Ligonier...It's great for the kids...And of course if you come close to Pittsburgh, the zoo with the new polar bear enclosure, the Science Center, Kennywood, all the boats on the rivers, especially the Good Ship Lollypop, Seven Springs with the giant slide, Keystone Park....And right now I can't think, lol.....
We normally have our young grand kids from out of state, visit during the summer and try to find different places to see.....

Monica,

Valley Forge is a great idea. That would be a nice drive down the turnpike. If only I could get my son to stop calling Revolutionary War soldiers 'pirate soldiers'.

Terri,
I thought it was a good idea too but I hope I don't end up just talking to myself.

irishdancersgram,
I would like to see the western part of the state when the baby gets a little bit older. I've only been to Seven Springs for a conference and I never left the resort.

Sesame Place is wonderful for kids, they have a water park as well as rides for all ages.

in Lancaster County there is
Lancaster science museum .com
Hands on house .org

In the fall there are bunches of Farmers fairs Elizabthetown, Denver, Ephrata, New Holland..games, food, rides, parades and livestock.

How about Indian Echo Caverns in Hummelstowns? Or Cystal Cave in Kutztown?

In Exton there is Crayola .com

as they get a little older you can go to the BUCK tractor pulls - boys love that.

Gettysburg can be fun - maybe a little too young yet :(

Harrisburg: Farm show in January, Eastern Sports & Outdoors show in February

Hamburg: Boys LOVE Cabelas!

I'll keep thinking!

My geography is lousy but don't you also have Pennsylvania Dutch Land? It has a big windmill at the front. I've only seen the front recently but I remember when I was a child my parents took me there and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

There's an age limit so you won't have to contend with bigger, rowdier children.

In Philadelphia, along with the ZOO:

Franklin Institute Science museum (my favorite as a child).

Independence Hall

Betsy Ross house

The Liberty Bell

The Art Museum...children of all ages like to dance at the top of the steps and run down the steps like Rocky.

Atwater Kent Museum (museum of old Philadelphia artifacts and Benjamin Franklin inventions)

Fairmount park - the USA's largest park within a city limits.

The Water Works - country's first water system

Fort Mifflin - Revolutionary War fort, down by the airport

Jannie,

I'm sure Sesame Street is a lot of fun but it's also a lot of $$ and my older son can be a pill about riding rides sometimes. I think we will go when the little one gets old enough to ride because I have the feeling he will show no fear.

Salgal,
Lots of good ideas that I will add to my list. My son has already been to the Sportsman show and he loved it. I stayed home. Maybe this year I will go so I can blog about it.

We've been to Cabela's but not since we got a Bass Pro here.

Zeetera,
I think you mean Dutch Wonderland and that is on our list. I'm hoping to meet some friends who live in DE there this summer. When the boys get older we may get the Gold season pass to Hersheypark which includes admission to Dutch Wonderland.

Oh,

And the Fels planetarium, which is a part of the Franklin Institute.

Monica,
In all the years I lived in downtown Philly, I never more than walked by most of those attractions. Now, I can't wait to take the boys there and see it all up close LOL. I'm going to wait until the little one is potty-trained to make that trip, well those trips. I sure we will visit Philly many times.

Let me know....and i'll join you - especially for the Franklin Institute :)

Paula, if you decide to head to the western part of the state please post and let us know! One the way to Pittsburgh is America's County, Somerset. That's where the Miracle Miners and Shanksville are both located. Or head a little north and pass thru Johnstown! If you are into bikes and you time it for the end of June you will find 200,000 motorcycles lining our streets! LOL!!!

Yes Paula, it's Dutch Wonderland.

About 2 years ago I went on my first duck tour and it was in South Philly. Your boys will love it when the boat slides down the ramp into the water. Plus they give you duck beak whistles. Every tour guide is different but ours had us dancing and singing as we toured. Lot of fun.

Oh, what about making your own pretzel at the factory in Intercourse? At least they'll have fun rolling the dough.

This post is making me want to go back to Pa.

Oh, I've always wanted to go on one of those duck tours. I didn't know they had them in Philly.

Hey all you PA folks---I'll be visiting family in eastern PA in a couple weeks. I'll be staying at my sister's in Reading. Even though my itinerary is filling up, and I'll be traveling up to Scranton for a few days, I do have some free time. Anyone want to get together? I have some time on 6/18 (daytime), 6/22 until maybe 3:00, and possibly 6/26.

You can either post here on KT or email me through my member page.

I'm only a little over an Hour from Reading....6/18 looks like it might be good.

paula, pennsylvania pursuits is an excellent magazine, broken down into regions with calendars of events, places of interest, etc. you can either call or write to the pa tourism office to get on their mailing list and they will send the catalogue, which comes out several times a year. www.visitpa.com

did anyone mention hershey or dorney park? what about knoebels?

delaware water gap?

pocono mountains?

roadside america in shartlesville is most excellent.

kozier's christmas village up in bernsville.

scenic route 6 - what a great drive....all across the state. some very interesting sites

maryanne

pennsylvania has so much to offer, i love living in this state.

I wish I could do a PA get-together but I'm working on all of those days.

Maryanne,
We've done Hersheypark and we go to Knoebel's a couple of times/year (it's one of the best family attractions I can think of price vs. value). I completely forgot about Dorneypark. Thanks for reminder about Roadside America. Someone mentioned that recently but I forgot to write it down. I just read about Kozier's somewhere but I haven't looked into it. What is it like?

Kozier's is a long drive for a 30 minute "that's pretty" experience.

It's only open for two months - early Nov to January ...and is an after-dark(opens at 6PM lighted buildings experience.
Long line of traffic.

Hey, I am also going home to PA in June. I will be there from the 18 to the end of the month. I will be staying with my DD in Morgantown, which is just south of Reading.

If anyone want to get together, let me know!

As far as things to do:

Knoebels is my favorite kids amusement park! What great memories!

Here is a link that might be useful: Knoebels

So...does that make 3 of us?
We could meet at Shady Grove for the lunch buffet.

Some others:

Williamsport area
Little League Headquarters ( a side trip to Eders Ice cream is a must)
Clyde Peeelings Reptile Land
Hiawatha Paddle Boat
Childrens Discovery Workshop

Lancaster/Hershey area
Hands On House
Dutch Wonderland
Indian Echo Cave
Strasburg Railroad
Green Dragon
Hayloft Candles and Zoo
Sturgis Pretzels

Paula,

Another endorsement for Sesame Place. You said you wanted to hold off since your son can be a pill about "rides" -- but I see you also have (of have been to) Hershey and Dutch Wonderland.

I have been to all three and can tell you that Sesame Place is the least "ride-oriented"; it is a water park, not an amusement park like the other two. And, IMO, it is far more family-friendly, and perfect for the ages of your children.

I think that you can find discount tickets around -- and I believe that on certain dates, your ticket allows for re-entry (free) on another date.

Definitely worth looking into further.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sesame Place Water Park

We have been to Hershey only for Springtime at Hersheypark and Candylane. Both admissions are much cheaper than regular season price. We haven't done Dutch Wonderland yet. We hope to meet friends with two little girls that my son likes and he may ride with them.

We usually go mostly to Knoebel's - free parking, pay by the ride, reasonable food prices.

Sesame Place is over $50 each for DH, me and my 5 year old, plus $15 parking. If it's mostly a water park, it will be difficult with a one-year-old and a 5 year old who isn't all that into water rides either. Mom and Dad aren't crazy about walking around wet either! I have been keeping an eye out for discounts. Someday it will work out but with two kids in daycare right now, we're trying to stretch our $$$.

Monica, I could do the 18 and do you mean Shady Maple, in Blue Ball?

Lynda

It's just east of there...the huge smorgasbord place up on a hill with big gift shop downstairs.

Depending on where you are located in Pennsylvania there's a really nice resort in northwest Maryland that you might not think of. It's Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, Maryland. It's due south of the Youghiogheny River in PA and it has a huge power boat lake, water skiing, fishing, white water rafting, golfing in summer and the Will 'O the Wisp ski area in the winter.

Now you can find all of these activities in PA too, but if you're near the PA/MD border you might want to look into it. We used to go there all the time when we lived in Pittsburgh.

You can pick up the duck tour at Independence Hall (if that's the place where they dress up in old fashioned garb).

You can see the man eating chicken at The Outhouse in Lancaster but that place might not be too much fun for your boys, even though they have a lot of gag things.

The Outhouse would have been a fun stop when we're in that area this Sunday but it will be closed. Those darn Amish and their no-work-on-Sunday policy!

I'm really thinking about the duck tour for later this Summer. I'm not thrilled about driving into Philly but at least I know the city to some degree (I didn't own a car when I lived there so driving there still stresses me out a bit).

Try Mt.Gretna Lake for a fun day. Also, Lake Tobias has a really cool safari tour for children. Strasburg Railroad might appeal to your children and they have visit with Thomas the Tank Engine days. There is a new science museum in Lancaster called (suprise suprise) The Lancaster Science Museum.

Mt. Gretna Lake is on my to-do list. It will be the closest thing to the beach I can offer this year. I'm just worried about how crowded it might get on the weekends. The beach doesn't look very big in the pictures.

Lake Tobias is practically in our backyard, about 5 minutes away. We go there all of the time. We did Thomas at Strasburg when Nick was younger and we'll do it again when Dan is a bit older.

So far my 5 year old is not showing an interest in science but I will keep that museum in mind for when he's older.