A Date with Hadassah @ Safari Niagara

This summer Hadassah and I had a day between scheduled visits up in the Niagara region. Having lived there for my high school and college years I always have a number of people to visit when I make it up there! But this time my plans left a wide open day where Hadassah and I could just hang out - and we had a great day. Here are a few pictures from our Safari Niagara adventure...

These goats were some of the first animals we saw up close. And they were certainly not the most rare or exotic species. But after this my camera came out only once in awhile because I wanted to just have fun and enjoy the moments, instead of capturing all of them on camera and spending time trying to get the perfect shot. Anyone else feeling that now that the digital camera age is well seasoned?

Yet they are kinda cute, eh?

And this guy - he was quite possibly my favorite animal. When these guys eat out of your hand, your hand gets completely engulfed by tongue! And slobber! Yet it's such an experience because giraffe's are so unique. God was so creative! It was a great day to talk to Hadassah about how wonderful He is to show us His creativity each and every day, all around us.

The day turned out to be beautiful, despite a forecast of rain, and we both managed to stay un-cranky all day! (that should produce a 'wow' from anyone who knows us ;) It was a good day for Hadassah and I. Here's one of my favorite shots of the day:

I hope there are lots of mom & daughter dates like this in the future!

Country Living Fair >> Good Times !!

While I haven't subscribed to Country Living in a few years now, I remember when I first read about the Country Living Fair. It was described as the magazine in real life and while that was exciting to read, they needn't have told me that, for they had me at "Fair". 

I knew I had to go. 

Ok, "had" sounds so demanding, as if I'd never be happy if I couldn't go. Obviously, I could've lived without going to the Country Living Fair. But when my sister said she'd be happy to accompany me on this fun little road trip (Chatham Ontario to Columbus Ohio), there's no way I was going to refrain from grinning, getting giddy and making a happy overture to her about how exciting that was and thank you so very much! Country Living Fair? Check! 

After our adventure-less drive to Ohio and a decent sleep on the rather hard mattress of our luxurious roughing it glamping camping cabin, we drove into Columbus and settled into the longest line I've ever been in. Ever. (and it wrapped around almost twice this long around this fence!)

This was gonna be good!

And it was. It had such lovely booths and displays.

Loved this cabinet. Would've loved to take it home except I have no spot for it. Sigh.

And then there were the ideas! So much inspiration for things to try at home.

(loved those doorknob picture holders by Cash & Cari from RePurpose)

The amount of people blew me away. The amount of people tugging along wagons, carts, and little suitcases boggled my mind! Such wise people! Clearly they've done this sort of thing before. Next time Jen...next time you can be one of those wise people!

And then there was the food. Mmm the food. Our favorite? ("Should we get the small one? Do you think it'll be enough?" Slight pause... "Uhhh, no. Let's get the big one.")

It was a busy, long day. But Country Living did a great job of making it truly lovely.

I did make a couple of purchases - one in particular I absolutely love. But more on that another time...

There is quite possibly no better way to have a sister's time out. Thanks Trac, for joining me and making it a fabulous, memorable trip!

 

A Little Getaway

Every once in awhile it's nice to book what I now term a 'minister's long weekend'. (Mon & Tues) Holiday Monday's -and thus long weekends - make very little difference to us because Tim takes every Monday off! And so several weeks ago I snagged a Groupon hotel deal for Niagara Falls and away we went.

Our first stop was a night at Grandma and Pa's - much to Hadassah's delight. And then they joined us Monday as we toured Niagara Falls.

When I booked this little getaway, it occurred to me that perhaps it wasn't the prettiest time of year to go seeing as things were just really starting to green up. Boy was I wrong! The flowering trees were in full bloom and the tulips and daffodils were absolutely lovely.

Our day was full. With yellow raincoats, thoughts of wonder at God's power in creation, pleasant garden strolls, fun food in a Rainforest (Cafe), and ice cream, of course!

We were pretty tired once we got to the hotel! But Hadassah can't let a hotel pool go by unnoticed, so we had a nice swim before heading to bed. The next day we did a bit more wandering, ate breakfast on a patio outside with a nice falls view, then visited Bird Kingdom. I must admit, I was a bit leery about this detour! But what a great place. The high ratings on TripAdvisor are true!! If you want a cool place to bring your kids - Bird Kingdom is the place! Sorry...no pictures. But we did manage to squeeze in a couple of family pictures.

One.

And two. (see it?)

Hadassah was one excited girl about this trip. Equal parts excitement for the Falls and "the street filled with kids stuff where there's upside down houses and scary houses that I wouldn't want to go in cause I'd be too scared and there's a big Ferris Wheel that I went on and games and lots of fun stuff!" :) And since watching their kids have fun is often a highlight for parents, Tim and I also had a very lovely "long weekend".

Lancaster County, PA

Warning: This post contains pictures. Many, many pictures.

The following pictures give you a visual of what our vacation looked like. As I'm sure you've concluded from the post title, we visited Lancaster County, PA. Beautiful, beautiful place. Very green with rolling hills, lots of farmland dotted with barns and big houses, lines and lines of laundry flapping in the breeze, a regular clip-clop of horses. And before I forget to mention, it was also....busy. Very busy. Tourist hot spot? Oh yes indeed.

But after a stop here...

...where we ate some very delicious yummyness...

...and a pit-stop so Hadassah could help Daddy with something...

we drove up to here:

 Need a romantic retreat? Mother daughter date? R&R?

 We found just the place...

...isn't it beautiful? I found it on the Vacation Rental By Owner site (vrbo.com). It was so lovely, it deserves its own post. Stay tuned.

For one absolutely lovely week, we spent time relaxing, hanging out...

...exploring...

...and having fun. (Tim ventured into the creek and made it across a large, deep hole. He celebrates.)

Tim and Hadassah also did some serious studying. Nothing like a piece of lunch to learn about the fascinating world of ants.

We also did a lot of touring around the area. A borrowed GPS allowed us to explore all the (less busy) back-roads and not get lost. Which was an interesting concept: Exploring the back-roads allowed us to get a little better glimpse of how the Amish and Mennonite live. Simple, basic living. It was refreshing to watch and we couldn't help but long for it, in a way. But if it weren't for our modern technology, we would've been rather lost. At any rate - they have a beautiful place to live.

Our vacation also had its enjoyable side trips. Hadassah's absolute favorite day was spent at Dutch Wonderland. She looooooved it. The day was long, but she was determined to get the most out of it! And why not? It's not everyday we visit an amusement park geared toward little kids! Where little blonde girls can ride a train...

...glide through the air...

...ride a pony...

...get a picture with a princess...

...be a princess...

...get carted around between rides to save energy for the next one...

...wait in line to ride a car by herself...

...ride the Turtle Whirl with her mom FOUR times! (woohoo! I found a "Tilt-a-Whirl" Partner!!)...

...be a train engine (with a little help from dad)...

...cuddle tight with mom because man, this is exhausting...

...get whipped around at high speeds and giggle while doing so...

...ride through the air yet again, this time in a cable car-ish...

...and best of all, get a picture with a dragon!!!

I kid you not, this was the single most exciting thing for Hadassah the entire day. A picture with Duke? A DRAGON?! Yes please, mom!!

And, if you're not sick of pictures yet, we also got a few shots of our trip to the Ephrata Cloister, which was quite fascinating. (check out their pillows!) To think that someone thought this was the way to "be Christian". (check out the history page on their website). There was a nice little group of people in our tour as we explored the homes these early American settlers lived in.

Here's a shot of our tour guide in the chapel. Men and women alike wore this outfit, so that there was no individuality. You'd never know who was who from the back when the hoods were on.

And how cool is this? Tim and Hadassah are standing on floors walked on by people in the 1700's. (so was I, for that matter, and I sure thought it was incredible). The kitchen floor of this building was original.

They have an amphitheater outside for special occasion events. I rather like this picture:

I am only now realizing that we have no family shot. Not even one! Oops.

This vacation was very memorable. Hadassah still talks about Dutch Wonderland, even telling random people the story-line of the diving show she saw there. If you hear her mention green frog princes, just smile and nod and mention Dutch Wonderland. You'll make her day. It's fun when your children get old enough to really enjoy something and are actually be able to remember it! Much of our fun was watching Hadassah have fun. But it was also relaxing. Can't believe it's over.

Now the question is: Where to go next summer?