Due to some mix ups on my calendar, we had to make it a quick visit on some short notice (I wanted to get there during fall and enjoy the beauty of Autumn). So, after MOPS last Friday, I loaded the girls up in the car and we took off on our adventure.
Ten hours and fifteen minutes later, we arrived at Aunt Torrie's Downtown Lancaster apartment!
We made sure to PACK our four days to the absolute limit, and I must say, this trip will forever be cherished in my heart.
DAY ONE:
Donuts and Amish Food
Torrie lives in downtown Lancaster so we walked to Central Market Saturday morning to experience the oldest farmer's market in the country.
This is what Aunt Torrie is known for...
Saturday afternoon, I wasn't feeling well and neither was this one, so we laid down for naps. How cute is a baby burrito!
Nice and refreshed from her nap, ready to go to the park with Aunt Torrie while mommy got some more sleep!
Snuggling with my loves
Amish cuisine was on our list of must haves, so we went to Good N' Plenty for dinner
Dinner was such a fun experience. We dined family style with another family from Northern PA and a couple from Australia. This little one couldn't get enough of the apple butter on bread. I have to say, everything from the butter noodles to the barbeque meatloaf to the shoofly pie was delicious, but my absolute favorite thing the whole evening was the homemade ice cream!!!
DAY TWO:
Crepes and the Pumpkin Patch
We went to Rachel's for lunch since I had read really great reviews about it. The reviews did NOT disappoint. It was probably my favorite meal we had the whole time we were there (and that's saying something because we had Amish food...come on!). I had the turkey club crepe, but I am regretting the decision not to top it off with the Nutella ice cream dessert crepe...GASP!
Aunt Torrie with her favorite nieces
How did Emrie grow up overnight...she looks so old
Exploring downtown Lancaster while we wait for our table
Once our bellies were nice and full from the delicious lunch, we headed out to Country Barn to pick pumpkins. We were pleasantly surprised that there was SO much for the kids to do there beyond just pumpkin picking.
Children of the Corn (maze). We didn't last long, it was muddy and Aven didn't want to walk! Luckily they had a little version for toddlers (and mommy's who didn't want to get stuck doing the whole thing).
Teamwork makes the combine go (at least that was my little white lie that day)!
She went on the kids tractor ride all by herself, and she loved it!
We rode the tractor out to the pumpkin patch and they left us out there so long we were contemplating just walking back in (we didn't, we followed instructions and waited for the next tractor).
As you can imagine, my kids were filthy after playing in the mud...I mean picking pumpkins! Good thing Aunt Torrie stocked up on Dora Bubble Bath!!!
DAY THREE:
Pastries, Buggy Ride, More Amish Food and An Amish Town
Monday morning I decided I NEEDED to go for a run (I should have run 9 miles since I am supposed to be training for a mini soon...eek, oh well, 3 miles will have to do:)
As I came to the top of a hill (okay, a short incline) the sun was coming up over the horizon and I saw fall in all its glory and I truly felt like God had painted this picture just for me!
Meanwhile, back at the establishment, Torrie was taking care of my kid, making sure she was well loved (and by well loved, if you know Aven, that means well fed)
Now for the fun stuff. Breaking out of the donut routine, we tried pastries at La Dolce Vita. There were so many delicious things to choose from, I truly wanted them all!!! Torrie and I agreed that our dad would LOVE this place (and they would love him too!)
HAHAHA...like I said, this kid loves food (one of the many reasons we call her TJ for Torrie Jr.)
Anna, our tour guide told us all about how her daughter was getting married on the 31st (TODAY) and how they had friends coming in from Berne (Allen) Indiana...WHAT? Small world, even between the Amish and us English!
This was probably Emrie's favorite thing we did all trip. She still talks about it even now.
To get the full Amish experience, we decided to have another Amish meal at Plain & Fancy.
Of course, I needed to find a post office, and the closest one was a few miles away in Intercourse, PA. Side note, the post office there was the nicest, cleanest, friendliest post office I have ever been to (and I LOVE the ladies at my post office, so that's saying a lot). They even said they put out milk and cookies at Christmas time for their patrons. Now that's hospitality! Anyhow, there is a little town there called Kitchen Kettle Village. There are some sweet little shops and of course, more food. Torrie had to go back to practice, so the girls and I hung out there for a bit and listened to some old men play the banjo while we ate homemade rootbeer floats!
We had been busy that day, so we opted for a simple homecooked dinner of Mac N' Cheese at Aunt Torrie's!
DAY FOUR:
Friends, Field Hockey and The Coolest Small Town
My girlfriend, Lydia, played field hockey with me in college and she lives in Lancaster with her husband and their two darling kids. We went over to her house Tuesday morning and had a play date. It was so fun to see her and catch up while our kids had a 'normal' morning playing together. I love how quickly kids make friends!!! I wish we lived closer so we could do this more often!
Around lunch time we went to Spooky Nook Sports where the U.S. field hockey team is located. This complex was AMAZING!!! It is more like a compound really. ABSOLUTELY gigantic! Field hockey is just one part of the complex, and that alone was amazing. We were able to meet some of Torrie's teammates (although Emrie was beyond shy and Aven was sleeping). The bonus was seeing one of my old girlfriends, Kelly, from high school. She is the team manager and it was awesome to see her and catch up!
Aunt Torrie gave Emrie a lift on the pull up bar!
This little fan got a tour of the locker room!
I am so incredibly proud of my sister and all the hard work she has put in to getting where she is!!!
While Torrie had afternoon practice we went to Lititz, named the coolest small town in America. It honestly is one of the cutest little towns I have ever seen and they are known for Wilbur's Chocolate and Julius Sturgis Pretzel Factory. We were about to run in the pretzel factory right at closing time and the lady came out and said, "can I give you a bag of pretzels, I hate to throw them out!" Two HUGE bags of soft pretzels later, we felt we had truly experienced the personality of this small town.
That evening we went to one of Torrie's teammates parent's house. Megan has been to our house with Torrie on road trips before and Emrie loves her, so I knew she would love her parents too. It took a little while for her to warm up, but once she did, she literally felt right at home, to the point where she told them she was going to live at their house. It probably helped that Mrs. Beamer made AMAZING homemade apple sauce and macaroni and cheese (she also gifted my girls with slippers).
What did I tell ya, she made herself right at home! Aven also became fast friends with Megan's stepdad, Larry. She was his little buddy!
DAY FIVE:
Coffee Shop and Saying Goodbye
Last morning waking up in Torrie's AMAZING (she hand crafted it on her own) bed.
We drove out to Elizabethtown to have breakfast at the COOLEST coffee shop called Folklore. They even had an area for my girls to play, not to mention the food was incredible (are you sensing a theme here. I could eat my way through PA). Worth noting, I had a Nutella and chocolate Frappuccino that left me speechless!
Saying goodbye is SO hard!
Our trip was full of so much love and so many memories, I am so grateful that I have such an awesome sister and that my girls are blessed with such a fun, talented, laid back, patient, caring and generous Aunt Torrie!!!
