Lucy has had the last 2 weeks off from preschool for a fall break, and when I found out about it I was nervous. This girl has ants in her pants even with preschool 4 days a week, so trying to come up with fun activities every afternoon to keep her attention is a BIG job. The first week off I pulled out all the stops and we went to the park, the library, to lunch at Chick-fil-A, we had friends over, we made TONS of Halloween crafts, we met Jon at Pope AFB for a picnic, basically we did all I could think of to keep us busy in our little 1-horse town. Around this same time, Jon decided he was ready for his first vacation ever as a non-student which would require some precious PTO, so we planned a fall trip up to Virginia and Pennsylvania to enjoy the fall leaves!
Last Friday we left for our first stop to Richmond, VA which is about 4 hours away. We stayed with my brother Devin and his wife Sarah, and their girls Eva and Sophie.
Saturday morning we headed to Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg, VA where they give all active duty military families a free day at any park. You can't beat free!
We started in Scotland where Lucy and Zach got to ride the "ho-sies."
Zachy LOVED the rides!!
Spooky troll blocking the bridge! The park is doing its annual Howl-O-Scream so it was decked out with Halloween decorations. I would NOT want to be there at night when everything comes to life. I hate that kind of stuff!
Posing in front of the Loch Ness roller coaster.
The park was PACKED and the wait times for all the roller coasters were around 90 minutes, so we actually decided to skip those. Oh well. Next time. We focused on letting the kids ride whatever they wanted!
The Tower of London decorated for Halloween complete with ravens lining all the buildings. The Howl-O-Scream part started at 6 p.m. when the park became haunted, so we wanted to be sure we were outta there by then.
But not before we caught the 3D Pirates movie, which was Zachy's favorite thing. He LOVES pirates! Yo Ho!
Another fun day provided by Annheuser Busch!
Playing with frousins! It is mind-boggling how these 4 kids can be rowdier than like 40 kids. What is it about cousins that is SO fun?!?
Sunday night our little science project (courtesy of Grandma Cardon) of the butterfly life cycle completed itself when the butterfly cocoons hatched, so we let them go Monday morning before we left town. It was a beautiful fall day-- about 80 degrees and a very momentous occasion for Lucy and Zach.
I recently learned that there are TWO Cafe Rio's now on the East coast (plus FIVE more locations opening in VA and MD in 2012), one of them in Olney, MD about 10 miles from the Washington DC temple. I literally planned our entire route up to Pennsylvania around stopping here for lunch. There's a little saying hanging next to the menu in every Cafe Rio I've been to that says, "I sold my soul for a pork salad." I think they quoted me on that.
Two hours later we were there. We knew returning to Amish country would be all about traditions-- starting with these legendary pretzels. It was our first stop (besides the potty for Lucy). I wish every one of you could taste the buttery, sugary goodness which is an Immergut pretzel...they are AMAZING.
After our pretzel run we headed over to Kitchen Kettle Village which is our favorite stop for shopping and free samples of Amish goodies. There's always lots going on-- music, farm stands, buggy rides, cute shops, etc.
Lucy patiently decorating her traditional gingerbread cookie at the bakery; Zachary bit his cookie's head off within 3 seconds of receiving it-- the difference between boys and girls??
Loving our Amish paradise!!
Tuesday morning we headed over to Hershey, PA which was about 20 min. from our hotel. Plus they have a pretty fun free ride, free chocolate samples, and a CRAZY bakeshop full of treats.
One word: C-A-N-D-Y!! I think this guy's first word was "chocolate." Checking out the gift shop after the Hershey factory tour.
Lucy posing with the Hershey bear stealing s'mores from the campground!
After Hershey, we headed back to Intercourse, PA for lunch and to feed the greedy goats and sheep at the free petting zoo.
That afternoon we decided to treat the kids (and us) to a buggy ride through the farmland. Somehow Lucy and Zach ended up sitting right next to the driver who was this little cute Amish girl, and Jon and I got to an enjoy a romantic ride in the back.:)
Typical Amish farm. We got to see a lot more of the Amish because Tuesday happened to be a holiday for them-- so they were out and about in style. We saw a group of Amish pre-teen girls leave Bed, Bath, and Beyond with TONS of shopping bags, several families getting ice cream at Kitchen Kettle Village, some really cute little girls playing on the swings at the petting zoo (and yes, Lucy made friends with them), and at dinner that night at Texas Roadhouse, two couples "courting" pulled up in their horse and buggy and ordered burgers a few tables away from us on their date night. Such a clash of two different worlds!!
A beautiful covered bridge. This says Pennsylvania, East Coast, Amish paradise, more to me than anything else. Just picture Ichabod Crane riding across that bridge...
Lucy has had a few unbeatable life experiences in her mighty 4 years. Throwing a temper tantrum in the president's Oval Office at the White House comes to mind, being stuck in the Detroit airport for 3 days as a 2 month old in the middle of winter, and now, falling asleep on the shoulder of an Amish woman. What next??
After doing a bit more shopping at Kitchen Kettle Village, we headed over to the outlet malls before getting dinner. It was a great day!
Wednesday morning we headed to the Strasburg Railroad museum, because, duh, Zachary lives and breathes choo-choos!! Lucy shoveling some coal to fuel the engine. Woo-woooo-woo!
Zachary in the engine room. Complete and total fascination.
Wandering through the vast collection of old trains. Lucy and I were
very good sports!
Ahhhhhh! Heavenly music playing! Now
this is a Geo Trax set-up! Getting Zachary to leave this was next to impossible.
Then we hopped aboard a real train, with a real steam engine. Ready for the train to take us to Paradise... Pennsylvania that is. It's an 8 mile journey through some really beautiful Lancaster farmland with Amish farms dotting the countryside.
Enjoying a peaceful ride through the country just as the leaves were turning.
Farewell from Pennsylvania! We headed back to Virginia to stay the night with Devin and Sarah, but not before we stopped at Cafe Rio AGAIN (pathetic! I know!) so I could really get my fix for the next few months. We headed back home to North Carolina this morning, and are all (kinda) glad to be home.
