a trip to the cookie factory

Way back in February the boys had a day off from school so we visited Grandpa at work. There is no better place to work than at a cookie factory!
When we parked the van at the factory we were greeted with the most delicious smells and we could hardly wait to munch on some freshly baked cookies. But first we headed up to Grandpa's office.


All of the office people were diligently working away until we stepped off of the elevators. I think that we must of been loud because all of a sudden office doors opened and all kinds of faces peeked out to see what was going on. (Even Mr. Voortman himself came to see what the excitement was all about.)
Of course Tyler had no idea what was going on and when my dad walked out of his office, Tyler had the most surprised and delighted look on his face. There was grandpa. My dad has worked at Voortman Cookies for thirty-five years, and his father also worked there until he retired. Sometimes I run into my grandparents at the grocery store and you can be sure that my grandma is doing all of the grocery shopping and my grandpa has stopped right in front the Voortman Cookie Hut admiring all of the packages.

On a wall there is a huge world map of where the cookies are presently being shipped to.

Grandpa gave us a detailed tour of the factory. We had to put on hair nets, coats and stay close together. The robots and mechanical devices are unbelievable. Close to one million cookies are made every day and it is mostly automated.

Here the jam is being pumped into the turn-over cookies.

The cookies are headed into the big, long oven.

By the wafer machine.

Grandpa gave us a fantastic tour and we were all impressed by the efficiency of the factory. (Excuse the two boys who could not resist making faces.)
We headed into the factory store and everyone picked out a package of their favourite cookies.

 

What a great way to spend a day off of school!