weekend in lancaster

Saturday morning, we piled the kids into the car bright and early and headed out to Lancaster. It’s so close, but I’m sad to say that we don’t make it out there nearly enough. It was a fantastic weekend! I think the pictures will tell the story far better than I can:

We started out at the famous Shady Maple Smorgasbord. Our kids love breakfast, so we get our money’s worth at places like this. I’m surprised we don’t have our picture next to the cash register or something.

Gracie had a terribly healthy breakfast, consisting mostly of sugar. Note the M&M pancake the size of her head and the donut (with frosting and sprinkles). She topped it all off later on with an Icee. Yes, an Icee. This is what happens when you send one of your kids out into a smorgasbord with your husband. And, of course, she chowed down on the breakfast meats. We eat our money’s worth at these places in bacon alone.
The rest of us had healthier fare. My only complaint about Shady Maple was the bacon thief that kept showing up at our table…

Then we headed off to Strasburg Railroad. We pulled into the parking lot and Colin basically started screaming “CHOO CHOO!! MAMA! DADDY! CHOO-CHOO!!” and trying to get out of his car seat.

He was a little excited.

So we climbed aboard (some of us practically jumped) and settled into our seats to enjoy a ride through Lancaster County farmlands in a gorgeously restored coach car.

 


Actually, I think this picture pretty much sums up how Colin felt about the Railroad:

After our ride, we enjoyed exploring  all around the Strasburg Railroad,
including introducing our kids to one of our childhood favorites -
those little candy dots that come on a long piece of paper. Remember those? So fun! And, just so you know, eating these little candies takes
great concentration when you are two years old and will keep a child quite busy
and quiet for an extended period if time. If you were looking for such
a thing… not that we were.

Ahem.

Anyway, we piled pack into the car and headed over to what several friends told me was a ‘must see’ in Lancaster, the Choo Choo Barn, which is a 1,700 square foot model train that takes you through everything from famous Lancaster landmarks to a fully animated circus!

Its THOMAS! “Tommeee, Tommeee!!”

And we topped off our visit to the Thomas’ Trackside Station. Where Colin pretty much went insane with joy.

We dragged him out after spending surprisingly little (he fell in love with a ball that was only $2.50. Nice.) We headed over to spend the night in our amazing hotel, the DoubleTree Resort Lancaster/Willow Valley, which even had a water park inside!  It was a super fun day, but we were all asleep by 9pm – including Mommy and Daddy! We made it home this morning, where Colin and Daddy promptly made the must humongous train track ever in Colin’s room. I’m not sure he’s left it all day!

I can’t believe we hadn’t made it out to Strasburg yet, but I am so glad that we did. I can’t wait to take Colin back for the Thomas Train (where he’ll probably just about pass out from excitement) and wouldn’t that train ride be gorgeous in the fall? Dinner aboard the train would be such a neat date if you were going out to Lancaster for a little romantic getaway.

disclosure: we were provided with tickets to strasburg railroad and choo choo barn free of charge. as always, all opinions are our own.