The Chocolate Factory

Lately the kids have really been into the movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” especially Troy because the LOVES candy. During his birthday & the Christmas season whenever I would talk with him about what he wanted for his presents his answer every time was CANDY! And thankfully enough Aunt Mindie came through for him in that department, and his candy was defiantly his favorite present. (There was one time however that his answer was not candy. I had given the kids the store advertisements that come in the mail to look through and circle toys they wanted for Christmas. The only thing Troy came back with was the Blue Light bulb Guy from the K-mart ad. I tried to explain to him that the Blue Light Bulb was not for sale.) Anyhow, I remember going to Ethel M’s Chocolate Factory when I was a kid and I loved it. Mostly picking out a free chocolate at the end, but I did also enjoy watching all the machines at work making the chocolate. So I thought it would be a great idea to take my kids since they are so into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Min and her kids also came along. Well my plans to score some extra points with my kids by taking them to the Chocolate Factory didn’t quite pan out as I had envisioned, since there were NO Umpalompa’s, NO Chocolate River, and NO room filled with candy for them to run around and eat all the candy they want. The factory was not even running. There was just a video playing, which so did not interest the kids. So as we were walking along we were getting them all excited about the free chocolate THEY would get to pick at the end, Umm no. No longer do you get to pick out a chocolate from behind the glass case filled with every kind of chocolate. A lady standing at the end passed out The Chocolate of the Day. Which was all still nice, I’m not complaining. It just was a far cry from Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory in my kid’s book. I should have known better. They probably would have loved it had we went before ever watching “Charlie”. We still tried to make the best of our day with a little stroll through the Cactus Garden, and a trip to the park!