Pumpkin Patch & Amish Country

Last Saturday we drove up to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania for the day. We did this last year too and we always enjoy it so much. It feels so. good. to get out of the city/suburbs for a day. Actually, I think Lancaster County is just a big sprawling suburb now, but there are still parts of it that are quaint farmlands, rolling hills, and beautiful scenery.

And, not to mention, it's home to the Amish!! I just LOVE the Amish and spent the entire day trying to convince Brandon that we should convert. He told me that I have a romanticized version of the Amish and that I love my modern conveniences too much to actually give them up. Well, I admit, he's probably right, but I still love the idea of modern-day Amish people. Just a simple life on the farm, no bothersome technology, and close-knit families. Sounds wonderful to me!

Anyways, it was a gorgeous sunny day and there were so many of them outside in their yards. We tried our best to not be too stalkerish so we didn't slow down and snap pictures of them (although, deep down, I really wanted to!) but I still got a few discreet ones :-)

An Amish man plowing his fields the old-fashioned way. Can you believe they still do that? I think it's incredible and really admire them for it!

An Amish carriage driving towards us. These carriages are everywhere, they drive in the right lane. It is very strange, though, to see them driving on highways and parked alongside cars in strip malls.

We stopped in a cute small town that was having a classic car show. The boys spotted an old fire engine and spent about a half hour admiring it.

Look Mom, there it is!

One of the famous covered bridges, a.k.a. "kissing bridges."

Amish horse and buggy.

This is perhaps the most ironic and hilarious place in Lancaster County. It's an amusement park (kind of like Enchanted Village/Wild Waves) right in the middle of town and it's called Dutch Wonderland. Unbelievable, right? Well here's photographic proof that such a place exists.

We made it to the pumpkin patch late in the afternoon and spent a few hours there. They had all kinds of activities for kids and the boys had a blast playing there.

The farm had this long pipe slide which the boys wanted to do over and over and over. It was a little big for them though, so we slid down with them on our laps. They would jump up as soon as we got to the bottom and race back up the hill as fast as they could. We had to be quick to follow or else they'd go rolling down the big slide by themselves.

"Driving" an old tractor.Cullen especially loved this and threw several fits when we had to leave because other kids were waiting.

The farm had a big petting zoo and the boys loved seeing all the animals up close.

Racing through the corn maze on Daddy's shoulders

Jack looking so grown up!

So serious.

So silly.

The cutest little pygmy goats. I wanted to take one home with us. *Sigh* But we live in an apartment. Maybe someday we will live on a farm, or at least a pseudo-farm ;-)

This chicken somehow escaped- but he soon ran right back into his pen. I think it may have had something to do with the little boy that was chasing him.

In the pumpkin patch searching for a pumpkin, or an "apple" as Cullen called them.

Trying to pick up a giant "apple"

My only regret was that we got to the pumpkin patch so late (we took the last "hayride" of the day over) and had to hurry to pick out the pumpkin so we never got any cute family photos. Darn! Hopefully next year, though.