edensgarden's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crayola magic in "Philly" if that's what they really call it. Two weeks ago Mom and I embarked on our BIG adventure. I�ll spare you the details of our 2 hour wait in the security line and the subsequent 3 hour and 35 minute flight into �Philly.� The friendly airline employees kept calling Philadelphia, �Philly�. I asked the girl sitting next to me, who was from �Philly�, if every one in �Philly� calls �Philly�, �Philly�. She didn�t know, I guess that question will go in the box with the whole �Chicken and egg,� and �Did Adam have a belly button?� controversy. At the end of the terminal my sister and her little family were waiting for us. When I saw the babies standing there I ran, I�d waited weeks and months to see them, but one minute more was too much. We had the standard hugs and kisses, and then the little girls started telling us all about life in Bethlehem, in their little toddler language. My sister and brother-in-law (who will be here after referred to as BIL, because he calls me SIL � ok I think that might qualify as an inside joke ??) were also there and it was good to see them too. Actually, that was a minimal assessment of them. I almost cried at the sight of my sister. I don�t know why. It was just so good to see her again. ========================================= As I�ve mentioned my sister now lives in Bethlehem, PA. Bethlehem is part of the greater Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton metro area, which is very, very rich in history -- seriously. Easton, in particular, is the world headquarters for the Binney & Smith Company, who are the makers of Crayola Crayons! So as you can surmise we went to the Crayon factory! This was the coolest place! It was actually more of an interactive museum than a factory, but it was still so cool. The man making the Crayons was a very fun hippie type who I will call Red Ted, not only did Red Ted make the crayons he cracked corny jokes, and was involved all of the kids in the Crayola manufacturing process. He started by pouring melted wax mixed with red pigment into a tray. The tray had 1200 spaces, which were the molds for the crayons � is this making sense? So while this cooled he explained how the crayon wrapping machine worked � I don�t remember how it worked, but take my word for it, it was very nifty, I also don�t remember how fast he said it could go and how many crayons are actually made and wrapped in a day, but it�s numbers with lots of zeros, zeros, and zeros � oh and they only make one color a day. But I do remember that there have been over 117 Billion Crayons made since 1903, the year when Crayons were first introduced. Ted also mentioned the fact that the average American child goes through about 1,000 crayons in his or her childhood. My sister agreed with this whole heartedly, in fact she thinks that M-2 has already passed the average at the tender age of 3.5. Ted gave all of the kids at the demonstration a crayon to wrap and keep. M-2, who is 3.5 and *very* into coloring right now thought this was waaaay cool! She also used one of her tokens to get a free sample box of crayons. Red Ted, also ran the Marker demo, which was just as cool as the crayon demo, but I�ll spare the details. The rest of the tour consisted of watercolor painting, drawing on the indoor side walk with chalk, finger painting, cutting, gluing and having a great time. We ended the day in the Model Magic room playing with what else but, Model Magic. If you�ve never heard of this stuff, it�s a modeling compound that is not messy, and very fun, in fact if you get the white kind, you can take Crayola Markers and color it! (Ohmygosh this is turning into a shameless and totally FREE commercial for the Crayola company � sheesh � I *should* get paid!) We saved our tokens and got about 6 pieces of this and had fun making all sorts of shapes, snakes, flowers, hand prints and blobby things. Down at the Crayola store, where they sell everything �Crayola� I purchased a refrigerator magnet. I collect magnets. While most souvenir shoppers try and go for the good stuff, I go right for the trinkety touristy trash. What better way to remember your vacation than with a magnet???!!! Oh and I also bought a handful of the 4 for a dollar pens and pencils, also conveniently emblazoned with the Crayola logo, for your corporate recollection. (Again, I think I should be getting paid for all of the advertising I�m doing for them!) The day was good, we all had fun, and then we went home and took naps, speaking of which�zzzzzz! 1:37 a.m. - March 23, 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
||||||
|
||||||