Day Trippin'

Today we took the boys on the best day trip. We went to Cherry Crest Farm near Lancaster, PA. It has a gigantic maize maze and tons of stuff for little kids to do. The big maze takes a long time to complete, and by a long time, I'm talking an hour and a half to two hours. Its so big that you carry a flag that you can wave for help from the people who stand way up high and look out for all the maze walkers. There are port-a-pots, a snack shop and water coolers along the way. There are also different activity stations, like this rope walk that Collin enjoyed so much. The goal of the maze is to collect all of the puzzle pieces (which make up a map of the maze) and the 12 kernels of knowledge and work your way through the maze to the golden horseshoe. We didn't finish the maze. We managed to find our way back to where we started and decided to explore the rest of the farm for a while. Another neat thing they had was a fake cow that you could milk! No kidding, you pulled on the teats and water came out just like you were milking a real cow. I don't know if it was because it was a really hot day and the water was inside a metal cow, but it was warm just like you'd expect milk to be too! Cherry Crest is also right by the Strasburg Railroad which, if anyone has small children who are into Thomas the Tank Engine, has a day out with Thomas coming up September 15-23. It was really neat to see the train go by and Collin was finally getting used to the loud whistle by the time we left. I'm not sure which part was his favorite, there were so many fun things to do. They had a giant air pillow for the kids to bounce on. Of course, Tim and I both had to take turns bouncing on it with Collin. He kept asking to go back and bounce. Of course, there was one big kid there who kept trying to bounce so he would make Collin fall. Why is there always one kid like that? I was getting so mad at him that I finally told him that he was being mean and he needed to bounce somewhere away from my child. Collin also got to go down a really long slide with his Daddy. He had a blast on that as well. In addition to sleeping the entire night last night, Nick slept most of the day today too. He was up for a while in the morning, but slept for most of the trip to Lancaster. We stopped for lunch about 12:45 and then he slept until we were just about ready to leave around 4:30-5:00ish. I wish I could say he continued to be a little angel but I really can't. I don't know if he has a bit of colic or what the deal is, but recently he has become really grumpy around dinner time and stays that way until we go to bed around 11 or so. Tonight was no exception. We decided to stop at Cracker Barrel for dinner but we skipped the first one we came to because Nick was absolutely wailing. We kept driving in the hopes that the car would put him to sleep and he would sleep through dinner. Well, it worked, sort of. The car ride put him to sleep, we saw a sign for Cracker Barrel and took the exit. No Cracker Barrel in sight. We got back on the highway and kept going. Yeah! We see another sign for Cracker Barrel and we're getting really hungry. Guess who wakes up.... and has no interest in going back to sleep. We trooped into the restaurant anyway. Nick proceeded to scream through most of the meal. Collin however, was an angel and he ate his entire grilled cheese sandwich in record time. As soon as I was done, I rushed Nick back out to the car and fed him again. He was still mad but not as mad as he was earlier. We headed home again and Collin fell asleep. Nick was awake for most of the trip but he seemed happier. It was a long day but so filled with fun and well worth it. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Next time, however, I would pack a picnic lunch and some drinks in the car (its not a pain to go back and get it-bottle waters and sodas were $2.00 a piece) and make sure I was wearing shoes and clothes I didn't mind getting dirty. Also, bring plenty of suntan lotion and dress cool because it gets hot out there and you're in the sun a lot!