Horseyland (Amish Country)

Horseyland!  Not quite as flashy as Disneyland but just as exciting.  Amish Country or Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is a mere 3 hour drive from our house.  We took a day trip there about 4 years ago but Devin had a monster migraine so he didn't remember a thing.  We had a beautiful fall three-day weekend so we decided to make a return visit.  Our friends, the Malcarnes, live in York, PA and graciously lent us their house while they were away.  It is amazing not having to share a hotel room with two little wild things. (Quick tangent: our last experience in a hotel found us awake all night with Sophie crawling all over us in the dark, a midnight ride to put her to sleep, her waking up in the whole hallway on the way back to the room, another drive, us giving up and finally realizing we should ask the front desk for a crib, then having her scream bloody murder ten feet from us for a bit until she finally gave up.  We'll take mooching off of friends over that any day!) 

We started out at the Hershey Chocolate World and oh! what fun.  We rode this super cool ride about 40 times (4 times).  Then we stocked up on all sorts of chocolaty treats.  (Yes, Carrie, the third picture is for you.  All Eva needs is a plaid jumper!)  Then we decided to put our children's intense fear of mascots to the test and force them to take pictures with live chocolate bars.  They were screaming and clawing us trying to get away.  We probably scarred them for life.  Nevertheless, they still want to eat as much chocolate as they can. 

 

 

 

 

Then we spent the next couple days exploring the beautiful and charming little towns of Amish country.  I think our favorite thing was driving around the back roads and spying on all the quiet farms.  I'm sure they love us doing that. 

This was one of the most beautiful places I've every been.  (Ephrata Cloister).  It was probably a good thing I didn't bring my good camera on this trip or we would have been there all day. 

  

  

Eva is a pretty good photographer!

Kids mesmerized with the automatic timer.  I think we found a solution to our family picture problems.

Eva and I took a fun little buggy ride.  She got bored half way though and started taking pictures of tourists.  Seems she wasn't the only one. 

 Blog required picture.  Admit it, you chuckled when you saw this sign.  Thought so.

 
We pulled off at the little farm for some homemade root beer and a stroll around the farm.  Too bad they only accept cash in Amish country.  But being nosey was free... 
 

Decorating gingerbread cookies at a local bakery.  This was Eva's highlight of the trip. 

We ate at Good 'n Plenty for a yummy taste of the local fare.  Just typing that is making me want a snack.  It was so good.  Here's a pic of Eva playing around outside the restaurant. 

 

Another fun weekend trip is in the books!  Thanks again to the Malcarnes for letting us use their house as home base.  We'll be back again soon.  :)