Wonderland

I heard about Dutch Wonderland a few years ago, and I remember thinking that it sounded like the most bizarre place on earth. Little kiddie amusement park. Built in the 60s by a potato farmer. On the side of the highway. In Amish country. Humm...

But it was awesome. Scaled perfectly for the 10 and under set. Clean. Pretty well organized. Plenty to do but not too overwhelming. Of course, the mid-70s weather we had while there was the icing on our cake.

World's largest crane game. For those of you who don't know, Noah has a very special talent when it comes to the crane. And while these animals proved to be too wedged in to retrieve, Noah did win two stuffed animals in another one!

There wasn't one ride that Lily couldn't got on, and most of the rides she could go on without an adult!

There were even some rides that Anna could go on by herself!

My favorite rides were the ones that the girls could go on by themselves. Just the two of them.

Noah's favorites may have been the ones that he got to enjoy too!




Not even the cooler-than-normal weather stopped us from enjoying some Summer ice cream.

Anna's perch for a large portion of the day. Her "chariot!" Sweet baby...

...silly baby...

..."scary" baby!

And "scary" daddy. He'll go to any lengths -- including imitating a statue -- to get Lily to smile.

And yes. I was on the trip. Just normally the one hidden behind the camera.

Seeing as though our social butterfly-in-training had a birthday party on the 4th, and then we all had a holiday cookout at our neighbors, we just went to Lancaster, PA for 1 day/night. And in spite of my preconceived notions about Best Western properties, we stayed at a wonderful BW, The Eden Resort. Also on the highway. Surprisingly wonderful with its nicely appointed and clean rooms, THREE pools, and two brides. Yes, there were 2 weddings over the course of the 18 hours we were there!

My one regret was springing for the poolside room (or, in our case, balcony overlooking the indoor pool). We were all VERY tired after our early morning start on the 3rd and a full day of kiddie wonderland, and yet the fun at the pool didn't stop until 10 pm when it closed for the night. Long past our bedtimes. And, of course, this was the one trip when I forgot to bring our white noise CD...

All in, considering we were only gone for 31 hours, it was a great little escape. The perfect minication to jump start our Fourth of July celebrations!