Spring Break!


Mercifully, my children aren't at the age where Spring Break is synonymous with "South Beach" or "MTV". For Spring Break this year, we escaped the Concrete Jungle and headed to literally greener pastures - Amish Country, in Lancaster, PA. We took my mom along, who really needed a break herself.

Let's hear it for Waffle House!

There is something very relaxing about waking up and seeing green everywhere. Our EconoLodge was right next to a farm, so we got to see (yes, and smell) the cows every morning. No alarm clocks, no work stress, no e-mail - it was bliss.


I was blown away by the amount of craftsmanship that still exists in Lancaster. There are handcrafted gifts in every store, from the beautiful quilts that Amish Country is known for, to the incredible amount of woodworked gifts - I treated myself to a little tin star (so many of the homes have the beautiful bigger ones on their doors - where am I putting that? My living room?) that's hanging in my kitchen, and the cutest little sheep - I've recently gotten little sheep figures in a couple of my knitting swaps, so I've kind of fallen into collecting them.


I also went to the Lancaster Yarn Shop, which was just gorgeous. I could have bought every single thing they had, if there wasn't that whole money thing involved. Just amazing yarns. I did have great deal of restraint - I didn't buy a thing. Lately, I've found that just increasing my stash hasn't helped when I go to find something to knit. I take part in a few swaps, so I love getting my stash increased that way, and it also helps me knit things for me - if I buy my stash, I end up knitting for everyone else.


Speaking of knitting, I had started a Stargazer sweater over the drive - figured the stockinette sleeves would make for good car knitting. For some reason, though, I got about halfway through one sleeve and I just noticed several little holes - I thought I was knitting evenly, but they were really on my nerves, so I frogged the sleeve. Yes, the whole sleeve. Augh.


I'm still working on the Cirque sock, but that required a completely different level of attention, so it ended up languishing in my knitting bag for the trip.

I'm still reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which I'm enjoying much more than I thought I would originally would. But I've got to say, it's completely different from Blade Runner, the movie - in a good way. I'm looking forward to reading the supplement which details more about the making of the movie, because I'm thinking Ridley Scott used Dick's novel as a jumping-off point for telling his own story using Rick Deckard and the idea of retiring replicants. I think I'll watch the movie just after finishing the book, so it's fresh in my mind and I can get a full picture.

Back to Amish Country. We visited Kitchen Kettle Village, a shopping village where we got to take the kids and Mom on a buggy ride and wander around enjoying the beautiful day. We ate fresh kettle corn - I may never be able to eat the 99% fat-free microwaved stuff again - and Mike and the boys enjoyed freshly made ice cream.

The FOOD. I can't even describe it. We went to a few Amish-type places, where we had corn fritters with powdered sugar (heavenly!), homemade noodles in a chicken pot pie, brown buttered noodles (caramelizing the butter at the bottom to give it extra flavor) - I could go on and on and on. Heartbreaker managed to find macaroni and cheese everywhere we went, and Cutie Pie actually ate - at one point, after polishing his third hot dog off at Jakey's Amish Barbecue, Mike and I considered a move to Lancaster County, since we finally found a place he'd eat.

We also found several petting zoos, which I enjoyed as much as the boys did. Kitchen Kettle Village even had a llama, which I was desperate to shear and spin. ;) As you can see from the picture below, he was quite interested in being fed - right after this picture was taken, he managed to lean over enough to headbutt my Mom as she got the feed out!

Heartbreaker was looking forward to his funnel cake, so when he finally got a chance to have it, he expressed his glee. And that funnel cake was HUGE.

All in all, the boys thoroughly enjoyed having Nana spend three days with them. And the feeling was more than mutual.

Joy!

After what seems like forever, I am finally reconnected this week - Mike just got my cell phone fixed and, earlier this week, dealt with Best Buy in a way that my temper would never allow and got my camera replaced. Huzzah!

Counting the days 'til Florida - less than 7 full days now (it's actually 7 days, but at this time, we'll be in Florida, relaxing by the pool)! I think it may be safe enough for me to pack, at least some stuff. I get antsy when I can't pack early. Packing makes me feel that much closer to leaving.

I've got serious knitting ADD lately - I finished the first Kimono sock last night (and it is adorable), but felt the need to cast on something entirely different to head off second sock syndrome. So I decided to start up a little sweater for Mike's cousin, whose baby shower is in early October. I still have the ever-going stockinette stitched French Market bag sitting in my stash bag. And I finished the Celtic Cable neckwarmer, but haven't gotten the buttons for it. Don't ask me about the Tree of Life afghan. We do not speak of such things.

Finally finished the Torchwood novel, Slow Decay and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's written very much in the vein of the show, which I've come to love and I definitely want to check out more of the novels. I still have three Doctor Who novels to get to, and I just saw a Primeval book in Border's, and since I like that show, I'm sure I'll be getting that book. Yup - too many books, too little time.

I'm still working my way through Twilight. Not sure if it's my speed or not. I know it's really become very popular outside of the 'teen and 'tween market, but I think I need to finish it before I make a decision on how I feel about it. I've got World War Z finally on my nightstand, which has been one of those books I've sworn I was going to read for about a year now. It's in the on-deck circle, finally.

Sigh... then I still have the rest of the Dresden Files.

So, I've been working on my vacation reading. I'm hoping to have Twilight done, so I'll be toting World War Z in my carry-on bag. I always like to have a back-up, so I'll probably bring a Doctor Who novel with me. Or maybe a couple of magazines, this way I can lighten my load and dump them when I'm done.

Vacation knitting - I'll probably just bring the second kimono sock and be done with it. And maybe some baby hat goodness for the shower. Or a baby sweater. Something small and portable.

Must mull this over.

Can you tell us how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

Upon meeting Big Bird, Alex was apparently inspired to do his best Richard Nixon impression.

Big Bird palms Alex's head like a little basketball.

Family portrait by the Camden waterfront.

Will does his best shipwrecked corpse impression.

Aaahhhh...

Rhode Island has officially knocked Virginia down to the #2 spot on my "Places to Drop NY Like a Hot Potato For" list. We were there for Mike's cousin Jen's wedding last week, and I fell in love shortly after arrival (and congrats, Jen and JP!).

I located a yarn store within 20 minutes of our arrival - baby, I Googled yarn stores weeks before we left - and got some nice, blue yarn that I've started knitting with already (can't divulge more than that for a few months, sorry) and it knits up like a dream.

We went on a Cliff Walk to see all the Old Moneyed mansions - as Mike's uncle puts it, "These people considered you 'new money' if you made your first million after 1908." The Vanderbilt's estate, The Breakers, was just amazing. I took this picture right by the estate. Can you imagine looking at that when you woke up every morning?

We missed the kids unbelievably, but it was nice to play boyfriend and girlfriend again.

We also found the best Thai Restaurant ever, Thai Cuisine, on the main drag, Thames Street. To say we gorged ourselves is probably putting it mildly, but it was all worth it. Any chance they do takeout to New York?