I decided that it would be fun to take the kids to Amish country in Lancaster, PA, and even more fun to stay on a farm while we were there. We booked a room in a cottage at the Verdant View Farm and off we went! We left Monday after lunch and arrived around 4pm. When we got there, we got to go into the barn and see the cows, the bunnies and some of the cats walking around. The kids then ran around to see the goats and we had perfect timing and were invited in to collect eggs from the chickens. That was a lot of fun. Eli was afraid to touch any of the chickens. We then explored the property and let the kids run around for a while. They were excited to wave to the passing train and were very afraid when we said they could later stand on the tracks to take a picture. We stayed in the top floor of a house on the property and had two double beds and a pull away bed (for Eli!). Brielle slept in a pack in play and Liam slept in a bed with me. Mike had his own bed...lucky! The room was perfect and even had a little nook with a window and a basket of fun toys and books for the kids. There was a playground in the backyard that the kids loved. We went to a buffet style restaurant for dinner called the Bird-in-Hand restaurant and the kids had fun. Brielle ate her weight in peas. The desserts were amazing and the boys had fun sampling the pies and trying the ice cream. We then let them run off their energy at a fun nearby playground with lots of fun slides! They crashed shortly after we got home, which is good because we wanted to wake up early to see the cows being milked. We headed over (in the rain..ugh) at 7:30 and were excited to see 5 cows being milked. We were the only ones there at the time and got to talk to the dairy farmer guy who answered all of our questions. After that, we headed over to the farm house for a farm breakfast and I drank raw cow milk for the first time. After breakfast, we went back and packed up our stuff and headed over to the Choo-Choo barn, a huge room with a huge mini train display... villages, etc. The kids enjoyed it. We had a fun lunch at a restaurant nearby (thank you for serving dinosaur chicken nuggets!). Brielle choked on a goldfish, which was no fun, but she was ok and it ended up being a great time. After lunch, we hit the Strasburg Railroad Museum and the kids loved looking at the big trains and climbing aboard. There was one setup where they got to use shovels and pretend that they were shoveling coal... that was their favorite part. They also had a HUGE playroom with tons and tons and tons of Thomas tracks set up. THAT was fun. On to our next stop: Baltimore!
My mom was recovering from pneumonia so our original plan of dropping them off at her house and having a night out didn't pan out. So along came the kids and we turned it into a family night! We stayed in an amazing hotel, The Admiral Fells Inn, in Fells point. For dinner, we went to a seafood restaurant where Brielle out-ate both of her brothers, putting away 2 large chicken tenders. After dinner, we got ice cream (which is where we learned that if you feed a 2 year old bright blue ice cream, he will poop bright green). In the morning, we enjoyed breakfast in and then took off for the national Aquarium. The kids had fun and Eli got to see his favorite, the Red Bellied Piranha. Liam loved seeing the sharks and Brielle was excited to see everything. Then we headed to mom's house!
Thursday, we took the kids to DC on the Metro. First stop: Natural History Museum to see the Dinosaurs before they close the exhibit for 5 years. That was fun. They especially loved the mammal room where they got to see a tiger, bears, lions, etc. After the museum, we walked across the mall and the boys enjoyed a caramel popcorn break before we headed into the Air and Space museum. They weren't really too impressed and were getting tired and cranky, so we headed home.
Friday, Emily came over and we had a big Easter Egg Hung int the backyard! That was a ton of fun. Liam was so excited, running around yelling "ANOTHER EGG!!!" In each egg were either 2 jellybeans, 2 fruit snacks, or 2 m&ms and there were two golden eggs that each had $1 (which, come to think of it, I have no idea what they did with). We let them each open a few eggs. We headed home after that.
Sunday was Easter... I had to work, but the Easter Bunny still brought their baskets! Brielle got a new baseball glove (to keep up with her brothers), a few stuffed animals, and some eggs filled with baby snacks. Eli and Liam each had a new puzzle, a new movie and a bunch of eggs filled with m&Ms and jellybeans. They got a whole pack of fruit snacks, which is a treat for them since we usually don't have those. Daddy said they were pretty excited. Daddy also got them all dressed up in their suits (and dress for Brielle) and took them to church. They made it all the way through the offering, which is pretty good!
It was a super fun vacation week!!
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