Easter Weekend ( I know I am a little behind!) we did egg hunts with the girls on base. Gracie was the lucky winner too! Then while Molly went to her own Easter party, the younger girls hung with us and colored eggs. I wonder if this is how it will be in years to come. It seems the older they get the less time I get to spend with them, even close to holidays. It sort of makes me sad they are getting so big now.
Easter Sunday we scheduled ourself a tour of the Theo Chocolate Factory and the made a last minute plan to visit the Scratch Place.
Theo Chocolate is chocolate manufacture in Freemont, WA. They are the only fair trade and organic chocolate manufacture in the US. The tour was a child's and well any grown adults dream. As soon as you get close to the building you can smell the chocolate and I was already having little umpa loompa dreams of a chocolate waterfall. When you enter the store there are mounds of chocolate, all for you to enjoy, in front of their chocolates and chocolate bars. I am sure I could have stayed there all day, but we were warned to not eat the chocolate yet, to save ourselves for the tour and boy I am glad I did. The first part of the tour consist of sitting down and listening to a basic lesson in fair trade practices and how chocolate is made. There are lots of pics and LOTS of chocolate to be had. We were able to taste chocolate that was made from different beans from all over the world. The bean is actually ferminated for over two weeks and then left to dry out. And because of the transportation issues it can take up to four month for Theo to get their much needed yummy cacao beans.
Then we begin the best part of the tour where we get to see the chocolate being made. There are no umpa loompas here or a chocolate waterfall that mixes their chocolate, but that didn't stop us from having that moment they did in the movie when they were running through the fields of candy. We were shown how they roast the beans and how they taste. They are an aquired taste, I really liked them, the girls not so much. They are very nutty in flavor. Then we were shown where the beans are crushed and then mixed into the huge mixers. My favorite part of the tour was when we were able to go and see where they make their confections. Oh MY AND OH SO YUMMY! What I found so interesting about this tour was that they are a huge supplier especially locally and yet most of it is done by hand. All of the mixing of the ingredients into the chocolate, like nuts and cherries, is all done by hand. It was really quite impressive.
By this time was the end of the tour, all of our checks were red with chocolate happiness. If you are wanting to see the tour make sure to schedule it out, they do book up weeks in advance. Here is the link to check it out: http://www.theochocolate.com/our-story/
Cacao Nibs
Yummy Mounds of Chocolate
Cacao Beans after they have been roasted
The Huge Mixers
Gotta Love those hair nets.
Yummy! Where the confections are made.
Gracie had one with marshmellow.
How do you think it was?
This is where they hand mix the ingredients into the chocolate.
After having such a wonderful tour, we had planned to eat lunch, but I think Chocolate was our lunch. So we all decided to head back to the Scratch Place. This place is one of the most relaxing and enjoyable places that I like to be with my girls. We can stay there for hours and I still have to drag them out. There is something to look for that is different every time too. There are Scratch Places all over the world but this is the only one in the US and I feel very lucky to be so close to this wonderful place. If you are local and want to check it out here is the link:Scratch Patch USA
If you haven't been before, it is a place that you can go and look for gemstones and polished rocks. You take your shoes off at the front door and grab your rose pillow to hold your treasures. There are water fountains and relaxing music on too. I think that just walking through the rocks and the noise and feeling of them beneath your feet is so therapeutic. It is just a calming place to be. I can't wait to take the girls back.
I don't have to many pics. I just enjoy myself to much here. :)
Can you tell she is totally relaxing.
Baby JuJu loves to swim in the rocks.
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