Road Trip USA: Lancaster

While the thunder storm while driving the previous night was a little scary, it did have one major benefit; it marked a turning point in the weather. Instead of being unbearably hot and humid, it became wonderfully pleasant. Hurrah!

We were all so excited to be at Grandma and Grandpa Winters’ home. Not only did we get to see them, but we got to stay for five nights! Being able to settle in felt rather luxurious. You know what else was luxurious? That when the kids woke up they had a room full of toys where they could go play without needing supervision. I’m not naturally an early riser, but on this trip, by necessity, I’ve been getting up regularly around 7 am. It had been long enough that I thought, “Maybe I’ve adjusted.” Five days at the in-laws showed that, nope, I still prefer to sleep in; 8 am has never seemed quite so lovely.

Thursday morning Grandpa had arranged an appointment for Thane in Harrisburg with a Pediatric Dentist to get his front tooth fixed. This particular pediatric dentist happens to be Grandpa’s home teacher and squeezed Thane into his schedule. Grandpa, Thane, and I went to the appointment while Mark, Grandma, and the other kids went to the Lancaster Science Factory. When we arrived at the dentist, we had a long wait in the waiting room, then they wouldn’t let me go back with Thane (they don’t let any parents go back. I didn’t put up a fuss because they were squeezing us in as a favor, but that wouldn’t fly if they were my regular practitioner). It didn’t take long before Thane came back with his tooth fixed and looking fabulous. When I went to pay, they told me that they waved the co-pay. My heart was filled with gratitude! Thane was equally thrilled to have his tooth back to “normal.” Now to avoid future face-plants…

When we finished, we met up with the rest of the group at the science museum. The place was packed with field trip kids. Graham and Nellie weren’t deterred by the older kids. At one point there was a large group of kids on a stage singing and dancing along to a song. Graham joined the big kids, dancing along like he was one of them. Nellie made her way straight to the microphone as if she were the lead singer. She gravitated towards the microphone many time throughout the day.

Around 2:30, the school groups disappeared, and the museum was empty except us and the Mennonites. It was almost as interesting watching the Mennonite families as it was doing the science activities. 

We stayed almost till closing time. It wasn’t a big museum, but they had some fun areas. Bryce really liked building a truss bridge and playing with cubeulets. 

Aubree alternated between trying some of the puzzles and activities and reading a book. The little ones spent a lot of time in the water area. Nellie's rain poncho did absolutely nothing to keep her dry. I ended up having to change her clothes afterwards, because she was soaked.

Then it was finally time for Shady Maple. I started planning this trip over a year ago and talked to the kids a lot about all the things we were going to do and places we were going to see. From the beginning, and without wavering, the thing they were most looking forward to was going to Shady Maple. Shady Maple is a Mennonite run smorgasbord. So yes. My kids wanted to drive across the country to go to a buffet.

They were extra excited because I didn’t put any limits on what they could or couldn’t eat (I did, however, limit their drinks). “Can we have two desserts?” they asked. “You can have as many desserts as you want,” I replied. Their eyes just about popped out of their heads in disbelief and excitement. 

Fortuitously, we happened upon “Kid’s Night” at the restaurant. That meant they had free face painting and balloon animals in addition to a higher proportion of kid-friendly food. Bryce had a headache, so he didn’t enjoy it as much as he’d hoped, but everyone else rolled out fat and happy.

On our way out, the kids got their faces painted and chose balloon animals. Graham got a balloon sword and just could not have been more pleased. Aubree, who insists we go to the gift shop at every possibly opportunity, was in gift shop heaven at Shady Maple. It’s kind of like the Costco of gift shops and, unusually, was incredibly reasonably priced.

After we got the kids to bed, the adults stayed up playing Mahjong as per traditional. Aubree stayed up for part of the time and learned the game. It’s a lot of fun to play, even though it takes a really long time to finish a game.

Friday morning Grandma joined us for a day at Dutch Wonderland, a smallish amusement park geared towards the 3-12 crowd. The last time we went, Thane was 6 weeks old, and it was so hot I didn’t even have the energy to pull out my camera to snap a single picture. This time around the weather was infinitely better.

Mark worked at Dutch Wonderland every summer when he was a teen, so it was a day of nostalgia for him. Amazingly, he even saw a few employees who worked there with him over 20 years ago. Most of my kids aren’t big roller coaster fans, so a more low-key park is perfect for them. The exception to that rule is Graham, but he’s only six, so he probably wouldn’t even be tall enough for bigger coasters at bigger parks yet. As it was, Graham was the one who finished out the day riding extra roller coaster rides with Grandma.

We arrived just as the park opened and were one of the first people to ride the Log Flume. Nellie hated it and cried the whole time, because she didn’t want to get splashed (she didn’t). Afterward, Mark took her on a hot air balloon ride and at first she was terrified of that too (see picture evidence). By the end of the ride, however, she’d fallen in love and was giggling hysterically. It ended up being one of her favorite rides in the park and she went back over and over. From then on, she was much more adventurous, but still never wanted to go back on the log flume.

While we’d spent the previous day with Mennonite families, this day we kept running into Amish families. Again, so fascinating. I had a million questions I wanted to ask them, but of course I kept my mouth shut and let them enjoy a fun day with their families.

We stopped by one scheduled show and honestly, it was pretty terrible. That didn't stop Graham from being the first to volunteer to go up on stage! He's such a ham.

A favorite ride was the bumper cars (no surprise). We were the first to ride them in the morning, and the last to ride them when the park closed at 6pm. 

Grandma splurged and got us all lunch at the park. It was good and filling food, but I admit the frugal part of me was proud when I heard my kids murmur, “I can’t believe how expensive this food is! $5 for a slice of pizza? We can almost get a whole pizza for that amount!” 

We had a really fun time at the park. In the afternoon, we took a break from riding rides and ventured over to the small water park. 

Mark and the big kids went down the tube slides a few times before joining Nellie at the splash pads/playground area. It was an expensive day, but worth it for the kids to get to experience a place that was important in Mark’s life. 

We had some ideas of fun things to do on Saturday, but when it came right down to it, what we really needed/wanted was a rest and rejuvenation day. I started laundry while Mark took the boys to a barber shop to get their hairs cut. Mark usually cuts their hair, so this was the first time they’d ever had a professional cut. Bryce and Thane came back with excellent cuts. Graham not so much. I guess his barber (all the boys had their own) didn’t quite know what to do with his “wave.”

Grandma came with me to make a Costco run (and one cool thing about Costco in Lancaster country is that they have horse and buggy parking. Sadly, there weren’t any buggies parked in the stall while we were there, so I didn’t get a picture). When we got back, Mark and I cleaned out the van. Do you know how dirty and disgusting a car can get after a month on the road with five kids?! Trust me, you’re better off not knowing. Otherwise, we had a very slow, easy day.

Grandpa turned on the Phillies games and taught my boys all about baseball and the important things to know about being a Phillies fan. Considering my kids have spent their entire lives decked out in Phillies gear (thanks to the grandparents), it’s probably well past time they knew these things. Thane was the most interested in understanding how the game worked. As usual, he had a million questions. 

Grandpa had also recorded all the University of Washington college softball world series games, so we got to watch those as well. That was a treat for me. I still have a love for softball even though it’s been forever since I’ve played.

Sunday morning we went to church in the ward where Mark grew up. There were many familiar faces for him. I really enjoyed the Sunday School lesson. The teacher is an immigration attorney, and I thought she had a lot of excellent insights into the New Testament scriptures we were studying.

After church, Grandma made us an amazing dinner, and we had another long, relaxing day. Mark and Thane played endless games of “Pretty, Pretty, Princess” with Nellie. 

She was so thrilled when she won!

I hadn’t realized how much we needed that break. As we packed up our stuff and prepped the car to set out again the next morning, the down days allowed us to look forward to the second half of our trip with renewed energy and enthusiasm.