Vacation, Part 2

I finally got a chance to go through the pictures from our vacation. What a gift that time was. We left my dads on Wednesday, July 6 and drove up to Lancaster, PA. I think our GPS took us the longest way possible, but we enjoyed the drive and finally arrived that evening. The place we stayed at was an Inn that I went to with my mom and Grammy years ago. It's called Penn Valley Inn and it could not have been more perfect for our family. It was a little cottage off of the main farm house and had everything we needed - full kitchen, living area, and a staircase that led to a separate loft with a bathroom that slept all of us. The owner of the farm lived in a house just up the street and rented the actual farm out to an amish family. Here are some pictures from around the farm.

I was in garden envy! This young amish family had an amazing garden outside the farm house. I walked through it a few times and drooled over all the yummy things they had growing.

Our first full day there, we did not do much. I was really exhausted and recovering from the full days we had at my dads. The girls colored, did some crafty things, and played on the swing set that was right outside. Then, we ALL took naps!








Selah's drawing

Later that afternoon, we went to a restaurant for lunch that had a huge tree house.





The Inn we stayed at was so wonderfully peaceful and the views around us were breathtaking...true country - I love it!







The next two days we ventured out to Dutch Wonderland, an amusement park for younger kids. Two years ago we went with some friends to Hershey Park, but it was a bit much for our girls. This place was perfect! Cheaper, smaller than the bigger parks, and all the rides are catered toward those that are around around 11 and under. The girls had a blast.













Mckenna loved the bumper cars!

Selah feeding the ducks...of course, one of her favorite things that she did at the park.

On Saturday, Dave decided to stay an extra night. In fact, he said that if it wasn't for work, we would have stayed even longer. It wasn't until we had been there for a day or two, that he told me he finally felt like he was on vacation. It was sad to see our time come to an end, but we made wonderful memories and I'm so grateful for the time we had together!

Read more...

A popsicle day...

for sure!

Read more...

Blueberries!

I love this time of year! In my opinion, farm fresh blueberries are one of the best parts of summer.

We just arrived back from vacation early evening on Sunday. We hit home running yesterday with unpacking, school, grocery store, laundry, blueberry pick up (I order bulk blueberries from a farm) and getting ready for a homeschool meeting here last night for a number of ladies. And of course, I had to make some kind of blueberry treat. I found these bars online and they were delicious! Not overly sweet, so you could take in the full blueberry taste. A hit!



Blueberry Crumb Bars

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 pinch ground cinnamon (optional)
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and cinnamon, if desired. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the shortening and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Read more...

Vacation

Continuing to catch up here on the past number of weeks....

As I mentioned earlier, this week, Dave was able to take some time off....well, sort of. Although he is technically "on vacation" he is still putting in a good number of hours each day to work. But we have been able to do a lot of fun things together and I'm so grateful for this time.

On Friday, we drove down to my dads, while Dave worked in the car. Because of the holiday weekend, traffic was really bad. So, the usual 3 hour drive took 4.5. But we finally arrived and Dave went to hide away to finish up the day. The girls got to playing right away. On Saturday, we went to a nearby water park, which the girls loved...





Sunday, Dad and Patti hosted a 4th of July picnic for a good number of friends they know. The girls had a blast and Addie was the star of the show and won everyone's hearts. At one point, Dave put this little white impatient in her hair. Surprisingly it stayed and she kept it there for some time...








On Monday, Dad took us out on the boat for the morning to do some fishing...













I didn't have any of Mckenna, but she was with us on the boat...maybe it's cause she was more interested in the soda and snacks than fishing. Selah actually fished the entire time and loved it!

Later that afternoon, Kelly and the boys came down. It was craziness from the get go. But the kids love being together!...







Today we took the big kids to the beach for a few hours. The kids all loved the water, despite a few knock downs by the waves.





Tomorrow Dave, the girls and I are leaving my dads. It will be sad to go cause we've had so much fun. But we are off to Lancaster for a few nights to be together as a family.

Read more...