Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, instead of fighting the crowds over Black Friday specials, Mark and I loaded up the kids and headed over to Pennsylvania for a mini vacation. It was probably the best getaway we've had as a family in a long time. We didn't have to rush anywhere. We could do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. And it didn't cost us a whole lot of money. What could be better than that? We literally woke up, threw some clothes in a suitcase and left.
So anyway, just four short hours away from us is Lancaster County, PA. Strasburg lies within Lancaster and houses some of the best train museums ever. If any of you are familiar with the I Love Toy Train series then you've probably heard of the Choo Choo Barn. Inside this little rinky-dink museum is one of the best miniature train layouts. . . ever! We spent an hour inside the museum and only got around the layout once. The babies would have gone around at least one more time, if not several, but they were closing. You can see how much they loved it here and if you click here you can see everybody's most favorite part of all.
After the museum we ate dinner at Isaac's Deli which is right next door to the Choo Choo Barn. What a great little restaurant. We've eaten there before and I've craved their pickles everytime I've been pregnant since. But this time Lady and her crew went with us and she recommended the Mallard (a roast beef sandwich on pretzel bread) and it was fabulous. Everything about the restaurant was perfect for our crowd of 10 kids and 3 adults. We didn't have to wait to be seated (on a Friday night even!) They immediately handed the kids crayons and coloring sheets and pretzel goldfish. The kids' menu offers more than the traditional mac-n-cheese and chicken nuggets, including make your own PB&J sandwiches on rainbow bread and cheesy pretzel bread with dipping sauce. They had the most awesome straws I've ever seen and yeah, their pickles still rock!
  
After dinner we returned to Lady's house and the kids played together and we talked to Man (who's all the way over in Iraq) via the computer. It was especially fun when he donned some of his army fatigues and Lady told him to get his army helmet on. Caleb (who loves wearing his own camo) was watching intently and was quite surprised when he returned with his bike helmet on instead. Silly Man! And we all got to see his gun and watch him help Ainsley read, even all the way in Iraq. It was pretty sweet. Finally we called it a night and headed over to the hotel where we crashed, sort of. The twins were really hyper and even after the rest of us were asleep they kept climbing out of their playpens and jumping from bed to bed to bed, laughing all the way. Argh! Also, Mark realized his wallet was missing on our way to the hotel and I couldn't sleep at all. I just kept worrying about showing up to the Surgery Center on Monday with Noah and not having the $100 copay because some lucky bum found Mark's wallet and drained our account of everything. And it didn't help that payday was Friday either. Fortunately, Isaac's had Mark's wallet and I'm happy to report, everything was just as he'd left it, cash and all.
 Saturday we headed back to Strasburg to ride the Strasburg Train. They have one of the most beautiful steam trains I've ever seen and it's almost exactly identical to the one on Polar Express, so you can imagine Caleb's delight when he climbed aboard. We rode the train first and then watched a few come and go between trips to the gift shop and the KettleKorn stand. Everytime a train left or pulled into the station Caleb started running towards the train shouting, "Wait! Wait!" just like the boy does on the Polar Express when he finally decides to hop on board. I'm sure, if we hadn't been there to grab him, he would have jumped on all by himself and had a free ride or two. When our ride ended Caleb started tapping the side of the train and said, "I want this train for Christmas." If only we had a million dollars, Caleb we'd totally buy it for you. . . maybe.
After we rode the train we returned to Lady's house again and she took me to the Wilbur Chocolate Factory where she introduced me to Wilbur Buds and Wilbur Chocolate Covered Pretzels and Wilbur Peachy Penguins all of which we are now completely and totally addicted to. Thanks Lady! We loved it all so much that I've already researched Wilbur online and discovered how to order more. Of course, we'll have to return to Lititz to get the pretzels since you can't order those online. But that's okay because we didn't get to visit the Strasburg Railroad Museum or stay in the Red Caboose Motel, two more things we still want to do. And we've got to go back to see Man and have him teach the boys some of his fishing techniques. But that's what's so great about Lancaster County. . . it's all just a few hours away. Just one more thing we'd miss if we ever leave CT.
P.S. My favorite conversation of the weekend went like this:
Mommy: Allentown? Hey,look guys! We're almost to CalebAllenTown.
Caleb: What town?
Mommy: CalebAllenTown.
Caleb: My town?
Mommy: Your town.
Caleb: Nakedtown?
Mommy: No, Allentown.
Caleb: What town?
P.P.S. Does anyone else find it interesting that within Lancaster County there's an Intercourse, a Middlesex and a Fertility? I wasn't just being crude in my title. We really live right next door to a Lover's Lane and we really did drive by Intercourse while we were out there. Really.
posted by Shana # 1:34 PM 
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