Across the Pond

Today, DumbMom over at Parenting by Dummies, is hosting Old School Photo Friday. So, I started digging through some old photos and found this one:

That's me circa 1999 in Wales. Betws-y-Coed, Snowdonia to be exact. My husband was stationed in England from 1996-2000. We were married in 1998 and I joined him in England from 1998-2000. It was an awesome experience! I would love to go back! We visited so many wonderful places- all of which I would love to visit again.

My most vivid memory of Wales was while driving through a village, and elderly woman with a cane flagged us down. We stopped and she asked us for a ride to church. We agreed and she immediately informed me there was no way she was climbing in the back seat of our little English car and banished me to the backseat. I obliged and she climbed in.

Once in the car, she informed us that church was the next village over. We were heading that way anyway, so we drove where she requested. When we arrived at the church, she got out of the car, left her cane in it and went inside to see if her friends were there. They were not, so she requested we take her somewhere else. We drove her around for forty-five minutes from church to church and village to village each time with her leaving her cane in our car so that we couldn't leave her. Finally, hysterical with laughter, at yet, ANOTHER church, DJ and were hurriedly trying to discuss what to do before she came back. We decided to just leave and she could get another ride if she needed it. I worried about her cane, so he quickly threw her cane on the little walk right in front of the church and we sped away, laughing hysterically and certain all the other villagers were laughing at the stupid tourists that gave a ride to the village nut.

So.. if you find a lost elderly woman in Wales...

...OR if you hear about the time the Americans kidnapped the Welsh lady...

...well, you haven't seen us. Alright?

**Disclaimer: My husband wants me to add this disclaimer because he is afraid this sounds too mean-spirited. The villages in Wales (England too) are all very close together and when we left her, she was within 5 miles of where we picked her up. We didn't just dump an old woman off in the middle of the countryside. She was sharp as a tack and had all her wits about her. It was clear after the fourth stop, that she was just using us as a taxi cab to go from place to place and we had to get on our way. We don't normally pick up hitchhikers, but as we were driving through the village, she literally stepped in front of our car to flag us down. We had to stop to keep from hitting her and when she asked for a ride to church, we didn't see any harm in it. Europe is not like America. I think I'm done now. Carry on.

Summer Reruns

Because, I am lazy, and I have two children up my keister all day just counting down the days until school starts ( I'm counting, not them). My followers have already seen this.. twice. I posted this originally last summer after a camping trip to the shore in a pop-up camper under the name "Transcendental Meditation from a Pop-Up" and I posted it again this year as a precursor to our upcoming trip to the shore in the pop-up which wasn't nearly as eventful as last year's trip. After all, I almost died of hypothermia last year. And then there was the rabid rooster. I'm telling y'all... I liken the Jersey Shore to the Serengeti or the Outback. Seriously.

Transcendental Meditation from a Pop-Up

I grew up in a fairly rural area. I didn't think it was rural at the time, but knowing what I know now, it was. We went camping, fishing and yes, I swam in lakes and creeks. I had no problem with that. The old adage, " You can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl." apparently does NOT ring true, though. By my best estimation, it takes around ten years to weasel the aforementioned, "country" out of the girl.

Despite my childhood experiences with the great outdoors, I am now aware that I have become a bit of a city girl. We currently live in a lake community with a public beach on the lake and lifeguards in the summer. Three years ago we went swimming in the lake and emerged covered in some sort of brown slime that stained our suits and proved hard to wash off our skin. The locals told us it was called " cedar water". Whatever it is, it produces stain-inducing slime. I now prefer to only swim in that which is chlorinated.

Back to the present. It is currently five a.m. I've been up since three a.m. We are camping at the NJ shore in a pop-up camper with no heat, no air and no bathroom. Here are my musings thus far:

Two-thirty a.m.: Yes, I KNOW you cannot get frost bite when it is fifty-five degrees outside, but my feet are so cold they're numb, so humor me.

Three a.m : What was THAT!?? Are there coyotes in southern NJ?

Three-thirty a.m.: I'm going to go and choke a chicken. No, that is not a metaphor.. there is a rooster somewhere that has his days and nights confused.

Four a.m.: I decided to just grab the laptop and start recording my musings since I am clearly not sleeping any more tonight. I am seriously so cold, that I am huddled in an intricately-designed cocoon that I have created with my blanket.

** "cocoon"- hmmm.... how ironic I am identifying with my caterpillar friends with whom I have such a tumultuous relationship.

** If you subscribe to the thought that there are no accidents or coincidences, that everything is meant to happen and is some sort of pre-designed Divine plan, then is this the Great Creator's way of having me make peace with the nasty caterpillars? Because I don't know if I can let that go.

** I have to pee. The bathroom is four streets over. I know the walk is good for me, but I prefer to stumble to the bathroom in the middle of the night half-asleep. If I walk that far, I'm going to be good and awake. Isn't that what exercise is FOR? To give you energy and get your blood flowing?

** I decided to take the "city girl" route and drive to the bathroom. Besides, I got to turn the van's heater on on the way over there. It was heavenly. See?? I'm being made to appreciate the simple things. One more night and I can be a Buddhist monk.

**Look at me... I've turned into a flippin' philosopher! Jennaclese ( el vato with the knobby knees) Sorry, I was channeling Cheech Marin for a minute.

** Me thinks Emerson and Thoreau were NOT really one with nature. They simply lost their minds camping and wrote about it and we recognize that today as a literary movement worth studying.

**Totally random.. but really, what is WITH New Jersey jug handles? Why can't you just make a left turn?

** Why does the slightest drop of moisture cause my hair to explode? I CAME from a very humid environment... my ancestors lived in the swamps of Louisiana. I wonder what they used for hair product back in the day?

** Speaking of ancestors... I realize I am spoiled, but I feel I should point out that at least the pioneers that travelled forth in the name of Manifest Destiny and slept out on the open plains had camp fires to keep them warm! Granted, they had to fear attack by wild animals and Indians, but hey, let's not trivialize the mosquitos and rabid rooster I'm dealing with.

** We turned the stove on and the fans to circulate the heat from the stove. It's working a little bit. I can't say I'm WARM... but I am warm-ER. And I see light, so the sun should be up soon to warm up good ole Mother Earth!

** At least both my kids have managed to sleep through this. I could be dealing with chills, rabid roosters and two crying children. For that I am thankful.

This post is part of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop. Prompt #3: Describe a Memorable Camping Trip

NOT a Man of His Word

I love my neighbors! It's always good to have neighbors with a good sense of humor. I like people that make me laugh. Seriously.. that trait is above all others in my book.

Back in the spring, we painted our house. It took an entire four day weekend and my neighbors watched, helped and complimented. When it was all done, Noah was over at their house playing with their little boy and they asked him if he wanted to paint their house. My son, never missing an opportunity to get out of work said, " Nah. But I think it would be funny if you painted yours with polka dots!" Then he apparently went one too far and said, " I would give you $50 if you painted polka dots on your house."

About twenty minutes later, this is what we saw:



Unfortunately, my son backed out on his end of the bargain.

This post is part of Wordful Wednesday at Seven Clown Circus.

Flashback Post- The One About Scandalous Haircolor

I sometimes like to bring back old posts that some of my new readers might not have seen, or for my own personal enjoyment a second time. I originally posted this post in May 2009 after a trip to the salon ended in me discovering something equally hilarious and tacky/scandalous. So.. wrap your mind around this and enjoy. It still makes me giggle! And.. oh yes, they did.

I'll bet you never imagined someone can write an entire blog dedicated to.. umm... er..., "carpet". We'll call it "carpet". Well.. you were sorely mistaken, my friend, because anyone who can compose an entire blog about nothing other than caterpillar poo, can drone on and on about absolutely nothing at all. So.. here goes:

I was in the salon today, waiting for my turn to have my hair cut and colored. While waiting, I was browsing the products looking at the new conditioners, shine sprays, make-your-hair-curly/straight gels when I spotted a box of something called, "Blonde Betty". The description said, "color for your hair down there.". I did a double and a triple take. I physically got out of my chair and walked over there to inspect it up close because I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I had no idea such a product even existed, but there it was sitting on the shelf next to the Redken products.

Throughout my service, I could not stop thinking about this product.... and giggling at all the scenarios popping into my mind. For example, why would one WANT to color there? Perhaps because they dye their hair blonde and want "the carpet to match the drapes" for all those times they hang out on nude beaches? Because they spend countless hours walking around nude and when they catch a glimpse of themselves in a mirror, they are reminded they aren't really a blonde?

Next, I imagined someone trying to actually do this at home. How long does it take for the color to set? I guess you have to run around naked while waiting. Do you start with the roots and work it to the ends after a few minutes? How big is the bottle that you mix this stuff in? Does it stain your skin? Do you get that awesome little tube of after-color conditioner that comes with regular hair color?

And THEN-because I have too much quiet time in the salon and can allow my thoughts to run freely - I took it another step and wondered if you can get creative with it. Can you, say, dye it brown and then give it highlights and lowlights.. you know.. for that NATURAL look? Or, for the crafty gal, could you possibly use a stencil and dye a heart or a cute little butterfly? I dunno... you tell me!

The Dress

When Zoë's first birthday rolled around, I wanted it to be girly. After five years of planning little boy parties ( in order from 1st-5th: puppies, Elmo, trains, Sponge Bob and Star Wars) I was ready to add a little sugar and spice (and pink) to the festivities. I browsed catalogs and internet ideas but nothing stood out. That is, until one day, while searching for cute little dresses on ebay, I came across this dress:

...and suddenly, I had a theme. I built her entire first birthday party around this dress. I was elated to find out that they actually sell a "Pink Poodles in Paris" party set at an online party store.

(cups, plates, napkins, topper and Eiffel Tower centerpiece)
I made the little hatboxes by covering Christmas cookie tins with scrapbook paper and filled them with dogbone shaped sugar cookies. I know what you're thinking, " Wait a minute, what is Darth Vader doing at this party?" Well, Noah's and Zoë's birthdays are only a week apart, so I had a combo Pink Poodles/ Star Wars party this year and I thought I merged the two themes well.

That was the first time I centered an entire party theme around a dress.

This year will be the second.

While online shopping one day, I came across this beautiful gem:

... and thought, "What a beautiful dress! It reminds me of neapolitan ice cream."

*BING*

And there was my idea. I suddenly had visions of ice cream socials from years past with ice cream sodas, pretty soda glasses, and jars filled with brightly colored candy toppings for sundaes.

Now you know. That is how my idea for this year's party began- back in May. I have been planning ever since and have just started making decorations. I will have a post just for the decorations when I am finished. But for now, you will have to settle for the invitation. As I mentioned in the previous post, I really enjoy making these invitations for them each year with Photoshop. Before I show you, I will show you what I used. I took this photo (which you saw in my previous post)

...edited it to give it a vintage feel and then built the invitation around it.

(back:)

A Good Ice Cream Experience

It sure seems that I am obsessed with ice cream, doesn't it? I've just realized that a large number of my posts this summer has been about ice cream in some form or fashion.

Zoë's party theme for her third birthday is going to be "Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social". I have a post planned to tell you about how I arrived at that idea ( and it isn't conventional, my ideas are always borne of some strange spark of inspiration. It explains how nutsy my mind really is, jumping from tangent to tangent, but that is for another day).

So, yes, ice cream party. Well, if you are a new reader, then you don't know that I always make both of my kids' invitations with Photoshop and invest quite a bit of time in their design. I had a design in mind for her invitation, but it required an elaborate setup which I did not have the props for. I was brainstorming and it occurred to me that I live in a state that is known for it's gazillion (yes, that is a number in my head and yes there really are that many in this little state) diners. It's one of those things that is synonymous with Jersey- the shore, diners, the Jersey devil, Jersey sweet corn and an entire state of full service gas stations. Yes, that's correct, you cannot pump your own gas in this state. It's the law.

I was thinking- in a state known for it's diners, there has to be an ice cream shop somewhere. I don't mean Dairy Queen, I mean the old ice cream/soda fountain type shop with the juke box and soda jerks. So, I consulted my dearest internet friend, Madame Google. She very quickly returned with the website of The Pop Shop in Collingswood, New Jersey. It was perfect and yesterday, we set out to have lunch, ice cream and stage some pictures.



The menu prices were very reasonable and the food was incredible. They serve breakfast all day ( and I mean basic breakfast, breakfast burritos, eggs benedict) and have over thirty versions of the grilled cheese sandwich. My grilled cheese connoisseur, Noah, literally was twittering with this realization. Even better, they have the regular kids menu and then the little kids menu for kids under 5 where most meals are about $2.99 that way you don't feel like you wasted money paying for a five dollar meal for your child to only eat three bites.

Upon entering, the kids were given paper soda jerk hats to decorate with crayons. Despite a packed house, our waitress arrived immediately to take our order, but we had to turn her away, because we had so many choices, we could not decide!


So, what did we end up eating? I had the Honeymoon chicken for $8.59. It is described as, "Grilled chicken breast topped with honey mustard dressing, avocado, caramelized onions, and melted cheddar cheese on crusty ciabatta" My husband had the Madison Grilled Cheese for $6.59. The adult grilled cheese is huge. Plenty big enough to satisfy. His is described as, "Mozzarella, tomato, basil, and garlic olive oil on country white". Noah had the kid-sized Big Toaster which is a classic grilled american cheese on white bread for $3.59. His came with fries. Ours did not, so we ordered a basket of fries to share. Their fries are hand cut and fried and delicious! As for Miss Zoë, she is the picky one and doesn't like sandwiches. We usually can't find anything other than french fries to feed her at a restaurant, but we ordered her the Chocolate Chip Betty's, "Our family’s original 100%-from-scratch pancakes with chocolate chips and whipped cream" for $3.59 and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

As for drinks, the kids got lemonade, but my husband and I thought we would take advantage of the soda fountain and I ordered Dr. Pepper with cherry and vanilla and he ordered Coke with cream and vanilla. Again, excellent!

Once lunch was cleared away, we licked our lips and prepared for the whole reason we visited- to order dessert. Again, they did not disappoint. Noah got the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Sundae, "Cookies and cream ice cream with chocolate chip cookie and Oreo™ pieces and caramel sauce, topped with whipped cream and rainbow jimmies":

Zoe ordered the Captain Underpants Cone, "Vanilla ice cream topped with a sugar cone, chocolate sauce and a candy face":

DJ ordered the Oreo Cheesecake Milkshake, "Vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, cream
cheese, and Oreo cookies":

I got a chocolate malted milk shake. Delish!

They also had the classic ice cream sodas- the cows, Lime Rickey, etc.

If you have a minute, I recommend you go to their site and peruse their dessert and food menus. You will be glad you did (or mad, if it causes you to raid your fridge). And if you live in or near southern New Jersey (Philadelphia area) or are visiting, I highly recommend you stop in and visit! (The restaurant, not our family- we don't share our ice cream)

Update to the Ice Cream Tune

Okay, y'all this is totally freaking me the heck out!

Since it appears y'all can't really hear the tune, I just went searching on the internet for ice cream jingles prepared to listen to quite a few before I found the particular one I wanted ( if at all). I wound up on this site, mainly because I wanted to hear and share the Mister Softee jingle with you.

But, then I saw two others listed and the author of the page titled one the " Ghetto Ice Cream Truck Song". I laughed because I thought I had coined the term, "Ghetto Man" for our ice cream fella, but apparently others have one too. I thought there was just NO WAY this would be the same song... and holy schnikes, IT IS! So.. hold onto your children... I give you the Ghetto Man song: ( it is exactly like ours, only difference is ours ends with "quack quack")

I Scream, You Scream ( in Terror as We Run Away)

If you aren't up to speed about the ice cream drama that has been going on in my 'hood this summer, you can catch up here, here , here and here. Go ahead, I'll wait.

*whistling*

Oh hey! You're back! Okay, well, we now have THREE regular ice cream men that roll through our neighborhood daily. Ghetto Man, Blue Bunny and, of course, Mister Softee.

Ghetto Man and Blue Bunny both played the tune Turkey in the Straw whereas Mister Softee has his own distinct (and heavenly) jingle. Someone must have tipped off Ghetto Man that he was ringing the same tune as Blue Bunny, because a few weeks ago, we heard something different, and a bit disturbing coming down the street. There is just no way I can convey the creepiness in words, so I've been waiting for the moment when I could record it as he drove by. Well my lucky, adoring (read:captive) audience, today is that day!

Now, before we get to the part that will surely be the root of many nightmares in your future, let me also go back about eight or nine years and tell you another story.

At the time, we were living in New Jersey, but in military housing. The ice cream truck that frequented housing played Greensleeves. You know, What Child is This? Either interpretation makes it weird. Either the ice cream man is playing a slow Christmas song in July, or he is playing an old English folk tune/love song. In my book, this was the weirdest song played by an ice cream truck, ever. That is until this year.

Back to present day. I may be a bit cynical, but if this doesn't give even the most trusting of you visions of a child molester preying through the neighborhood, I'll.... well, I'm still not buying ice cream from him!

(I got more than I need and can't trim the clip, so if you can fast forward to about 39 seconds in and then watch, it should be perfect)

Umm, yeah, you heard that right. The tune ends with a big "quack quack" and an overly cheery voice saying, "Hello!?"

Tell me, have you heard any strange selections on the playlist with your local ice cream truck? Please share in the comments, I would love to hear them!

Carnal Instincts

Have you ever had a moment ( or half hour or so) where all rational thought and self control completely desert you and you are overtaken by your primal instincts?

No, I'm not talking about THAT.

I'm talking about something even more basic to our needs, the very core of our survival.

I'm talking about food.

You see, I'm a bit of a picky eater. I have entire food categories I won't eat because of their texture, but this post is not about that, it's about one food group in particular. Meat.

I don't eat seafood of any kind. I only eat turkey if it is smoked. I don't like pork, except for bacon which I don't like to fry, so unless someone else is frying it for me (which is never) then I don't eat that either. So, it's safe to say that I don't eat pork. I also have a tumultuous relationship with red meat. I mean, for the sake of variety and sanity of my husband, I will eat red meat on occasion. Otherwise we would be eating nothing but chicken. But, I never just sit around and think, " You know what I really want? A nice juicy steak." It's just not something I crave.

In fact, I often think I could become a vegetarian without much loss.

Until I encounter barbecue. I mean, I was born and raised in Texas. Barbecue is in my blood- literally. The maternal side of my family was obsessed with barbecue and had their own family recipe for sauce. We had frequent barbecues growing up, complete with a pit made from a hollowed-out drum. Only charcoal was used for cooking. None of that propane stuff! It's pretty serious business to a Texan, and this former-Texan can tear up a brisket and pick a rib clean enough for presentation in a museum when prepared properly (i.e. smoked, tender and covered in a yummy barbecue sauce).

So, yeah. I don't encounter much barbecue in the northeast, thus I am fooled into believing I live this almost-vegetarian lifestyle. That is until the occasion presents itself (as it did yesterday) that we stop in at a Famous Dave's restaurant.

We were on our way home from the shore and stopped in for a late lunch. Upon walking through the front door, the smell of smoked meat and barbecue sauce overcame me. I felt weak in the knees. The primal instincts were kicking in. I swear I felt my incisors lengthen and sharpen in preparation for me to get my carnivore on. I don't remember much after that. The plate of food was set before me and I went into a frenzy. A little later ( I have no concept as to how much time had passed) I came out of my trance and looked around. My husband and children were staring at me horrified. I had meat in my teeth and barbecue sauce all over my hands and face. But I was sated, so, ignoring the stares of the rest of my party, I smiled and opened my moist towelette and began cleaning my hands and face. And fingernails. And a little out of my hair. And maybe a smidge that was in my ear.

Now, feeling completely in control of myself again, I began small talk regarding the flavor of the brisket, comparison and contrast of the different sauces and inquired wether or not my husband was going to eat his cornbread muffin. I was slightly embarrassed at the thought of what my husband and children might have witnessed previously, but decided it best not to mention it.

Everything seemed so normal. Perhaps it was a gross over-exaggeration on my part and it hadn't been quite so bad after all. Yes, I had quite convinced myself that what I had actually just experienced was a lovely meal with my family and nothing else.

I voiced just that opinion of the state of things as I was packing my leftovers into the container. Zoe reached her tiny little arm over mine into my styrofoam container and suddenly I snapped at her like a dog defending his bone. " STAY OUT OF MY FOOD, ZOE! YOU DON'T EVEN LIKE THE MEAT ANYWAY!" Two wide little eyes stared up at me and then she squeaked, "I want fry fry, Mommy."

" Oh, french fries. Alright. You can have one of those."

Technical Difficulties

Just to let y'all know what is going on with my blog. I tried the new easy template designer and, well you can see what happened. I have lost my traffic feed, my followers list, my tag cloud and my custom photo/blog header.

I have also lost the ability to manipulate the size of my photos.

I am not an HTML expert, nor am I an HTML amateur and I have wasted and entire afternoon on this to no avail.

Thus... it looks like, until I get my patience back ( because I am *this* close to deleting this whole bloody blog- yeah, I am THAT ticked off and have been working on it that long) you will have to stare at generic blog. Maybe I will change the name to just that- Generic Blog by Generic Girl With Generic Name.

Strasburg Railroad

Okay, so I lied.

On day two of our trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, we visited both the Strasburg Railroad and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. I said I was going to include both in my post today, but I just have too many pictures and not enough self-control to pick only a few.

So, today will be the Strasburg Railroad only.

The Strasburg Railroad was founded in 1832 for passenger and freight transportation but it's main purpose soon became as a freight interchange with the Pennsylvania Railroad. By the mid-1950's it's usefulness was coming to an end and in 1957 track destruction caused by a series of storms brought the railroad to a halt.

With the owners unwilling to invest in repair of the tracks, it looked as though the Strasburg Railroad was going to slip quietly into a place in history. While petitions for abandoment were being considered, two fans of the railroad, Henry Long and Donald Hallock formed a group to try and save it.

After repairing the four mile track, the owners of the railroad began acquiring locomotives and passenger cars from all across North America. The railroad was opened to visitors in 1958 as a tourist railroad and has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Lancaster. (www.strasburgrailroad.com/about-the-railroad)

Upon arrival at the station, we were not disappointed. We encountered the engine just hooking up to the passenger cars and getting ready for it's first trip out of the day. It was like stepping back in time to the steam engine era and I felt all that was missing was my parasol and steamer trunk.

The kids were delighted! We soon learned that instead of the usual, " Choo Chooooooo, chugga chugga chugga" that most kids say, Zoë says, "Choo Choooooo traintraintraintrain- traintraintraintrain." This never got old, throughout the entire trip.

One can buy the standard coach car tickets for $14 for adults & children 12 and up, $7 for children 3-11 and children under 3 are free. A ride in the first class parlour car will cost you $20 per person regardless of age. You can also choose to ride in the restored dining car with lunch served to you for $16 and $9 for adults and children 12 and over and children 3-11 respectively and $2 for children under 3 plus the cost of your meal.

We chose to ride in the open air cars with a beautiful panoramic view unobstructed by windows for my picture-taking needs. This upgrade also cost $16, $9 and $2 for twelve and over, 3-11 years and under 3 respectively.

We got on the first train of the day and although not vacant, it was not crowded at all either. There was plenty of room to choose your seats. I did notice as we pulled back into the station after our ride that there were considerably more people waiting to take the next train. We purchased our tickets there at the station with ease, but I am told weekends are very crowded and it is recommended you purchase your tickets in advance.

One last thing- several times a year, Strasburg Railroad hosts Thomas the Tank Engine- a life-size engine painted to look like Thomas to comes to pull their train. This is a very popular event and advanced ticket purchase is highly recommended if not necessary.

Now for the rest of the photos:

The inside of the open-air car. You can look through the doors two cars up and see the nose of the engine.

An old engine we passed on the way out of the station:

Our conductor taking tickets:

Amish farms:I used my zoom lens for a closer look at the the Amish farm:

Amish farmhouse:


More Amish farms:

Our engine unhooked from the train and then went around us to hook up to the other end and pull us back to the station:
He's almost there and then he can switch tracks and hook up:
All hooked up and ready to go back:
Amish farming caught on film:Building a barn:

The inside of the coach car- I can stare at this picture all day- BEAUTIFUL!
Our engine:
While taking pictures of Zoë, I caught a Mennonite family in the background boarding our train:
Another picture of the Mennonite family in the background:Details of our engine:

Dutch Wonderland- Lancaster County (Vacation Part 1)

Finally, I am going to tell you about my vacation and mini vacation. There are loads of pictures, so I am going to spread them out over several different posts.

While in Lancaster County, we spent one day at the amusement park Dutch Wonderland. It is an amusement park specifically for small children and my family had a blast. Even in summer months, the weekdays are relatively crowd-free making it for an awesome day filled with riding almost everything in the park (save a few we didn't want to ride) seeing the diving show twice and Noah riding the roller coaster over and over again.

In the middle of the day, the park became a little more crowded, but that only amounted to us having to stand in line for the log ride for fifteen minutes. Seriously. Fifteen minutes was the longest we had to wait to ride anything.

Now, the pictures aren't great, because there was no way I was taking my Canon to the park. There is a small water park encased in the bigger park and I didn't want to ruin my camera. Little did I know that we would only spend twenty minutes in the water park because upon entering, BOTH of my kids freaked out and cried until we left! Nevertheless, I didn't bring my camera and therefore these pictures were taken with the camera on my husband's cell phone.

First:

And because I couldn't resist: ( I had them switch) Where the two diving shows took place. I don't know why he didn't get a picture of the actual show. One was A Dragon's Tale and the other was The Frog Prince.

The park mascots are a dragon, a prince and princess that walk around for pictures. I don't remember the dragon's name, but Zoë didn't like him.
The little monorail:
The view of the entrance to the park from the monorail:
Zoë riding the pandas:
Noah and I on the little roller coaster. We are in the third car, you can't really see us very well. Noah later fell in love with the big roller coaster and his daddy rode it with him over and over. Since Zoe was too small for that ride, she and I rode the park train numerous times.

Views from the skyride:

Zoë on the skyride:

Riding the little boats:
There boat ride took us under that waterfall (it doesn't get you wet) and there is a big nest under there with a supposed dragon egg in it. Ha!
This had nothing to do with Dutch Wonderland, but we saw it on our travels and it made me giggle every time we passed it. So, of course, I made my husband pull over so I could get a picture. It is located in Paradise, Pennsylvania... which the realization of progressed my giggles to full-on guffaws:

As I mentioned, the park was really a great day for us. The weather was perfect- in the low 80's with low humidity and a breeze. The park isn't very big which is perfect for small children and the rides are all geared toward younger kids. I highly recommend it if you are in the area with your young children.

Tomorrow: Strasburg Railroad and Museum