Annabelle Rose meets Hughes Chocolates

Oshkosh, Wisconsin is known for a few things. Most people may know if for the children's clothing brand Oshkosh B'Gosh. Others may know of it as the home of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and the annual fly in that the EAA hosts. One of the lesser known traits of Oshkosh is that it is home to two ridiculously good mom and pop chocolate shops, Hughes and Oaks Chocolates. Now, in Oshkosh, you can generally be described as being a Hughes or Oaks kind of person. They are both good, but families grow up with an allegiance to one or the other. My dad was raised in Oshkosh and took to the Hughes side of the fence. When Nikki's parent moved there a few years ago we quickly educated them on Hughes and how friggin good it is.

Last weekend, my parents headed for Door County, WI for a little weekend getaway. On the way home, they swung by and had lunch with Jim and Karen. Among other things, they brought us back a 1lbs box of assorted milk and dark chocolates. This was on Sunday.

Last night, Monday night, Nikki and decided that Annie should have her first taste of Hughes. Well, I don't think I need to tell you that she liked it. She had a dark chocolate pudding. I don't know what was funnier, watching the sensation spread over her face when she realized what she was tasting, or the sheer insanity that a piece of candy of that octane can do to a 17 month old. Sweet merciful, she was running from one room to the next, babbling like an idiot. She was clicking her tongue, lolling her head, hugging the dogs, giggling like a maniac, and generally just loosing her mind.

So, we got her ready for bed and then went downstairs to watch a little TV and let her come down off of the buzz. Man, we put on a Dora the Explorer and just watched her plummet. She sat on the couch and you could tell that the bottom was dropping out from her sugar high; she just got all calm and quiet. When I went to put her to sleep, it took about 2 minutes and she was done.

Ultimately the exhaustion worked in our favor, but I was worried there for a little bit. I had visions of her sitting in bed, wide eyed, at midnight just rocking back and forth. Fortunately, she rode the ride and came off of it. The upside is that now I know that I have a new bribery weapon because every time she sees me going near the Hughes box on the counter she gets hopeful and becomes a very good little girl. Then she realizes that she's not getting one, and she just glares. Ahhh well, the first of many glares to come I'm sure.