More Pics

200904Vacation

Click above to view these bigger. Also has a video. The end of our vacation wasn't very exciting but was very nice. The most exciting part was when Alan, Shara and Samantha got caught in a big downpour on the beach. Jill, Andy and I had decided to go for a walk, and while we were still getting things together from the car, the sky opened up and, according to Shara, gumballs rained down. Jill, Andy & I hopped in the car and Alan, Shara & Samantha grabbed everything and ran. As soon as we saw them coming over the dune, we got out and went to help. By then the rain slowed down but they were soaked. Shara was gently crying but boy was she a trooper. Alan said even though she was crying, she kept walking and carrying her towel!

That same day we went to Gershon's for lunch and Shara enjoyed a bowl of chicken noodle soup and got to see grandpa in action! That was really great for me too. We put in our order for the trip home, picked up the house key, and headed back there to change clothes. The day was still young so we headed back to the beach, convincing Shara it wouldn't rain and if it did, so what, and went for the walk that Jill, Andy & I had wanted to go on. The Lookers were already on their way to leaving the beach, so we didn't end up doing anything with them. When we got back, we went on the boardwalk out to the marsh and saw crabs and lots of oysters. That was cool. No other alligators to see but the ones that greeted everyone on the drive to the beach. We then played for a while on the boat outside the educational center, then headed across the street to the walk through the woods on the ocean side. That was an ok walk. There were some pretty views, but not very exciting. Shara went the whole way, then when we got to the end, we could either go back the same way or walk on the road. We opted for the road and Alan went on ahead to get the car and circle back for us. Shara walked quite a bit more but I ended up carrying her about 1/4 mile or so and then Alan showed up and we went back for to grandpa & nonnie's supper and to pack for our trip home!

The trip home was actually very pleasant. It took all day. We left on schedule, just before 7 AM and drove all the way through, stopping in Virginia for lunch at a rest stop, which we ate in the car because it was rather cold outside. They had a little playground there so Shara was able to stretch a bit. Then she took a nap through DC - we drove through because our nav system needs to be updated. It wasn't so bad but we aren't sure if we lost time or not. I assume we did because we ended up cutting through to Maryland to avoid some traffic. For dinner we went to a rest area in Jersey. We had been noshing the whole trip so no real meals, just snacky things. We didn't get home until 10 minutes after midnight, which was a real bummer because I wanted to be able to say we got back the same day. Well, that's ok. We'd do it again and I'm not sure we'd change anything!

Day 9

It must be Easter Sunday! Shara had a visit from the Easter Bunny and got some pink peeps (she didn't like them), a light-up bunny pen (liked), a silly putty egg (loved), and fairy tattoos (doesn't remember them). Then she went on a pre-offical egg hunt in her jammies and found several so Samantha had to rehide them. Samantha did a very challenging hunt for everyone and not even her map of the hiding places made all of them easy to find. The kids still did well and got lots of money and candy. It was also cute that Ryan and Emily shared their eggs with Shara and Emily actually gave Shara a basket with one of her videos in it that she thought Shara would like. So basically the kids had a great time and then when it got really challenging, the grown-ups had fun too! For most of the day we just hung out and searched for eggs, visited, and cooked - not me much, but there was a lot of cooking going on! There was also a fair share of balloon animals and twisties happening as well. The day is a bit of a blend, mostly remembering the egg hunt, so if anyone can fill in the blanks, let me know. I do remember having a nice chat with Liz via Skype, which is great! I will certainly need to get her on the line more often.

Vacation - Day 8

When we finally got moving, we went to Downtown Disney Marketplace. It was great. The shops were very cool and the Disney store they have there could be done in a whole day, rather than the couple of hours we spent. Shara picked out a charm necklace and Ariel fashion play set - the rubber dresses and dolls and accessories. And a Gibbitz. I think she made good choices for spending the money nonny gave her. We then went for a quick stop at the Lego store where Shara had more fun with Alan playing with the pieces they have attached to the outside of the store then looking in the store. Lunch was a mess. Shara was hungry, tired and cranky and wanted a hot dog ($5). So Alan got to stand in line at the Earl of Sandwich for us and I took Shara for her hot dog, which needed ketchup and she wanted to open it herself and wanted the hot dog cut up and we didn't have utensils so I held it in the bun for her but I wasn't holding it the right way. You can see, lots of fun. Alan arrived and we had lunch and I wanted a sundae from the Giradelli Soda Fountain - been looking forward to it for weeks. So I got my sundae and no one else wanted any, so I had it in the car while we started our long drive.


Wow, what a long ride. We basically got going as early as we could and made a couple of stops, ate dinner in the car and only a small fight for Shara to take a nap. It's becoming obvious to us that when she starts picking fights, she's either ready for a nap or hungry. She really does pick fights too. This time she was telling me that I didn't put the dress on her Ariel the right way, it was backwards, but it wasn't. So it was time for a nap and she did reluctantly go to sleep. She woke and we were in traffic for a while. We played, watched only 1 movie 2x, and then it was time for dinner - waffle with strawberry sauce in the car. I finished my salad from lunch. Alan had a burger and fries. We got back at about 10 PM. Not too bad, but still long with the traffic jam we ran into.

Disney - Disney Studios

Last night and this morning we were having a family discussion about the option to go back to the Magic Kingdom, because we really only saw Fantasyland, or go to the Disney Studios as planned. I was voting for Disney Studios because all the other things at the Magic Kingdom wouldn't interest, or rather would scare, Shara. I also knew that Shara wanted the Magic Kingdom because now it was familiar and the Studios was not, and she doesn't want to go to the unfamiliar. Well, as usual, I won out and we went to the studios. An aside, we had to go to the 2 hour time share presentation at the Hilton, and ended up getting a week every other year, so this "cheap" vacation really wasn't!
The first thing we did when we got there was head over to "Beauty and the Beast" musical. Of course we had to go to the bathrooms and get frozen lemonades on the way. The show was great. On the way out, Shara tossed a penny into the fountain and had to test the water temp. It was cold and smelled like the pool she used to go in for lessons. Next up was the Street Parade. Shara was both scared and happy. She liked all of it - but at first she didn't want to get too close and we had a little tension about where to stand. She was worried we weren't standing back far enough but mommy and daddy tried to tell her that we wouldn't let anyone come close and they had to stay on the street and wouldn't come near us. It was our job to worry about these things, not her. She should just relax and have a good time, knowing mommy and daddy would take care of her. We then went to see "The Little Mermaid" show. That was very cool, but we did need to wait in line for quite a bit. We spent more time in line than I thought we would and I'd never go at a peek time again. Not that the lines were boring and Shara was great, but we missed out on several things because we ran out of time. We then went to get some dinner and tried to go to the 50's Prime Time Cafe, but they said without reservations we couldn't get in until after 9 PM. We ended up going to the ABC Commissary for pretty much a fast food dinner. Then we went and played for a long, fun time at the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play area. Shara had so much fun, and Alan and I had one tense moment, or actually about 3, when Shara and I played hide and seek and she was braver than I realized and went down this netting by herself and literally disappeared. We couldn't find her for several minutes and when we did, found her by the entrance. She had no idea we wouldn't be able to find her and so we had another talk about not leaving our site. The best part was when she wanted to climb up the spider web - this big rope climber that went up really high and then back down. She was really slow at the beginning and all these big kids were passing her. I went back out and had Alan go with her because he's better at being in the way than I am. They had so much fun and when they got out, a big line of kids followed them out. Alan commented, "what a log jam we made"! Shara wanted me to go with them and said, "it's ok mommy, you'll like it. it's a lot of fun. Don't be scared." We all went and it was fun, especially because she was getting faster and more comfortable on it. She ended up going on about 5 times.

The only reason Shara would leave was because the place was going to close! We went to find ice cream then get seats for Fantasmic. Shara was less than happy with Fantasmic - she claims it was too scary but didn't ask to leave or act scared, so I don't really think she was. Probably one of those scary but fun times. I found it good, but also too much Disney movie filler. I think less filler and the same amount of live action and it would actually be better, though not as long. Wouldn't feel cheapened by it.

Well, getting to the car was a piece of cake, since it was just a tram ride away. Back to the hotel, sleep and pack for our long trip back to Grandpa and Nonny's!

Disney - Magic Kingdom - Part 2

So now it was time to visit the princesses. They are available for photos in the Judge's Tent at Mickey's Toontown Fair. That line was only about 45 min, so I waited while Alan took Shara to the attached store to buy a glow thing for the fireworks, because she still wanted one from last night and I thought it would be easier to get one now. So Shara met Belle, Aurora, and Cinderella. Snow White wasn't there and Ariel is in her Grotto. The photographers were really good - they let us take as many pics as we wanted and then went in to take theirs. Shara was beaming and had no interest in autographs, just the picture.

Disney Tip - if it's a hot day, the frozen lemonades are really refreshing.

Realizing the time, though it didn't feel like we did much and could really spend two more days discovering the rest of the Magic Kingdom, we needed to head off to get Shara's dress for dinner with Cinderella.

Another Tip - the not so expensive princess dresses will easily roll up and fit into a backpack and not make you go all the way back to the car to retrieve it.

I hadn't thought about what it would take to get back to the car - monorail to the Ticket center, tram to the car, tram back to the ticket center, monorail to the hotel. It actually wasn't bad but I worried if we didn't get to the hotel in time for our reservations they'd give them away, or at least make us wait a much longer time. Well we did get there on time with not too much running. Needless to say, I didn't feel very appropriately dressed for Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Fare. I had park all over me! Shara on the other hand looked very cute.

It was a great event and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it for those wanting the princess experience. I can't compare it to Cinderella's Royal Table, but couldn't imagine it could be any better for the kids. It was a little crazy, the kids were a little excited and were all over the place, but for the most part, well behaved. Chaotic, but not annoying! Shara was in her glory and did say that it was hard to eat her meal with all the characters walking around and distracting her. The characters were great though. The step-sisters, step-mother, Cinderella, and the Prince were all available and came around to take pictures and really talk to the kids, all keeping in character. Shara smiled so much, it was well worth all the running around. I'm so glad we were able to get reservations. The food was also pretty good and they had the kids' buffet tables low so they could help themselves. They also had great desserts and I can't help indulging Shara. She only wanted ice cream, none of the tarts, and then I asked her if she wanted any chocolate chips, which they had in stead of sprinkles. She said yes and then I asked if she wanted gummy bears, so she had a couple of them, and a couple of M&Ms too. Interesting to me, on the way back to the table I noticed a kid who had a whole plate full of gummy bears!

When we were done with dinner and the prince made another appearance, which we missed earlier on, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the SpectroMagic Parade and Wishes Nighttime Spectacular fireworks show. While waiting, we got a mouse ear hat. I was in more of a buying frenzy than Shara or Alan, no big surprise. She didn't even want to go with me into the candy store. I thought it would be neat to make her own hat, but she spotted a princess had (the one she has on in the picture) and wouldn't budge to think about any other. When they started making the announcement saying the parade would be starting in 15 min., Shara got very nervous again, but it all ended happily and she was really wow'd. It was also cool to see 2 highschool marching bands before the parade started. I did end up holding Shara for the whole parade, but it was actually fun for me because I could see her reaction to everything. Wide-eyed for the whole thing and she was excited to see some of the fairies from Sleeping Beauty and Ariel again. We agreed that Ariel is a busy princess! After the parade we headed over toward Tomorrowland (through the back lot where some of the cast members park). We thought we got some good seats but when the show started, realized the tree in front of us would be a problem so we were able to move over and get a good view. The coolest thing was seeing Tinkerbell so close. I never really saw her very well, but this time she was right where we were! When it was over, we went with the crowd, back onto the monorail, on the tram and to our car - with Shara sleeping on me the whole time! Getting onto the tram with a sleeping Shara was rather interesting, but Alan was there to help if needed, like suggesting he go in first so I'm not hanging off the side with her.

We got to the hotel, took off Shara's dress and shoes, and she slept in her clothes, still covered in "Disney park".

Vacation Pictures

Here are some pictures of the last few days. We're getting Shara's prints developed and will pick up today but they need to be scanned. Was much easier to have her use a disposable camera at Disney than lug around her big Fisher Price camera.

Disney - Magic Kingdom - part 1

We woke up in time to get showered - all of us, with a very reluctant Shara, and had bars in the car on the way to Disney's Magic Kingdom. I forgot the rigamarole to get to the park - first park the car, then get the tram, then get the tickets, then get the Monorail, then get the bag checked, then get through the gate! When we did get through the gate, we arrived on Main St. and I kept looking for that big eyed, amazed smile, but didn't get it. We did get very interested looks and intent watching. We looked on the schedule board and I realized all the times I had were wrong so my plan was out the window, as it had been for all of my trip. I still like to have the plan even if it's never used, which is often the case.


We first saw smoke by the Cinderella castle and headed over to there until Shara noticed Meleficent and didn't want to have anything to do with it - we put on her "no masks" sign to let the characters know she didn't want them to come near her (I know, but it made her feel better). We held her and we saw a little - Mickey, Minnie, villans, nothing she wanted to watch, and had a hard time believing they wouldn't leave the stage. The next thing was to get ready for the "Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party". This was a tense time - needed to be back far enough and her first parade and she was so scared - again, wouldn't listen that the characters wouldn't come up to her, so we reminded her about her sign and Alan and I held her the whole time. Toward the end she looked like she was enjoying it a little, but would have been fine missing the whole thing.

We headed further into Fantasyland, avoiding the stage because Shara thought the villians would come out again, and saw no lines at Mickey's PhilharMagic. This was a 3-d movie and I knew Shara wouldn't like that much so I told her she could take off the glasses but she wouldn't even put them on. She didn't like it - a little too much interaction and she was scared of what would happen.

Next up was Ariel's Grotto and Shara had no problem standing in line for an hour to get her picture taken with Ariel. In face, we had fun playing in the little water park while Alan waited in line for us. When we got to our turn, Shara was so excited to meet her - this was why we came - she would have been just as happy to visit the princesses and not see anything else! but in the end, she was happy we (I) did make her see other things.

Though Shara wanted to go on Cinderella's Golden Carrousel next, we made her eat lunch - "but I'm not hungry" was the answer we always seemed to get on this trip, but we learned not to believe it and keep her fed even if it meant filling her up with not the most heathiest foods. We headed over to the Columbia Harbour House which was surprisingly good. Shara had Mac & Cheese, and added the cheese from my salad to make it super cheesy, grapes, applesauce, and apple juice. She ended up eating about 1/3 of the mac & cheese, 1/2 the grapes, 1 spoonful of applesauce and a few sips of juice. My Garden Harvest Salad with chicken was very good - nice greens, sunflower seeds and I used honey mustard dressing. Alan had the BLT salad and he enjoyed it a lot too.


So after lunch we hit the bathrooms, which were clean, well stocked, and kid friendly, as they all were though out the parks, and headed to the Carousel. Much to our surprise, Shara rode a horse all by herself and loved it! Alan stood in front to take pictures and I ended up standing to the side because there were no horses left after we got Shara settled in.


On to wait in line to go on "It's a Small World". We decided fast pass wasn't for us because we don't like to watch the time so much - you get a reservation for a much later time, and they were booking for about 6 PM. I like to plan but not be held to a schedule, so we waited in the hour long line, which went rather quickly. Shara was very good at entertaining herself and we all played together. She doesn't need to have toys but really uses us for that purpose - hanging, standing on our feet, having us pick her up with just our arms, etc. Human climbers! Well, this ride gave me my Shara Disney Moment. Her mouth was agape almost the whole time! She loved it and was amazed and didn't know where to look next. Much like me!

Well, we conquered one ride, why not try another. So we did. We got in line for Peter Pan's Flight and it was 80 minutes! Shara practically fell asleep on me for a bit and then jumped around and made friends with a 12 year old girl who was a little too touchie feelie for me, but Shara didn't seem to mind. I kept a close eye and the girls mother was also making sure she wasn't being too foreword. Alan helped her into the car and we were off - the ride lasted about 5 minutes, way too short for such a long wait, but Shara liked it and I liked that she wasn't scared about flying around in the cars and dipping, and going around the bends. I always felt a little out of control on that ride.

Disney day 1

We got a very late start because Alan was up 1/2 the night with a crisis at work, which meant I was up a lot too. We ended up getting on the road around 9 AM and had a rather pleasant and uneventful drive - stopped for a few breaks, had fast food for lunch (yes, me too), and got to the hotel around 5:30 PM. I can't remember anything except that Shara watched several of her princess movies and did take a nap, though not willingly.



After getting settled in and eating our warm chocolate chip cookies - each of us ate the whole thing, we took quite a nice walk to Universal Studios Citywalk for dinner. There was a path lined with various aromatic flowers that we all enjoyed, though too much aroma for Alan. It surprises me that Shara likes flowers so much. I'm sure it's because we talk about them so much between me, Bubbe, and Oma, but we also talk about food even more and she doesn't get as into food as flowers. In many ways I think that's good. Citywalk was crowded and none of us were hungry and Shara wanted to go on the little carousel they had there. She didn't want to go on a horse and wanted me to sit with her on the chariot, which I did and we had fun, though with it being so small, it was a bit dizzying. Shara wanted a glow thing, and we said we'd look after we ate. Shara insisted she wasn't hungry but we said we were having supper and went to see how long the wait was at Margaritaville - 90 min, so we went to the food court instead and got from Moe's, which was pretty good. Shara even ate 1/2 her kid's burrito. I had a salad and Alan had a burrito. After supper, Shara still really wanted the glow thing and it was getting cold and I forgot to pack her hoodie, so we said that we'd take a quick look to find one on the way out, back to the hotel, but if we didn't find one, would get one later. She apparently forgot that conversation because she started having a fit, which she got over soon enough. On the way back to the hotel, she was nervous because it was pretty dark where we were walking and we had to try to convince her that we wouldn't let anything happen to her and she should stop worrying about it and let us do that, because it's our job. We got back to the hotel, cleaned up and got a good nights sleep because we wanted to be rested to meet the princesses at the Magic Kingdom!

Day 4

Ok, another rather relaxing day and no fights and lots of playing. Shara's buddy is Nonie - they played with playdough together and Nonie took out the balloon animal making kit and we all tried our hand at creating some interesting sculpture, if not too many actual animals. I started making a website for Gershon's. Alan broke and fixed the wireless here - making it more secure. We took a drive to the beach even though it was barely 50 and gloomy. The beach here is beautiful. The sand was really packed nice and made for great walking and running. We also go a couple of interesting rocks and shells. Shara brought 2 balloons on strings to use as kites and one popped on the rose bush on the way to the car but the other worked out pretty well. It did get loose once but we all ran and got it back!

Day 3

This was a great day for all of us, though dad and Ev didn't think we did anything, we felt rather productive. Alan "researched" on the computer all day, I knit, played hide & seek, did a puzzle, and went for a walk, Shara played hide & seek, did a puzzle, played with bubbles, and colored some very pretty pictures. For lunch all but Grandpa went to Gershon's. It was great! Ev and I split a reuben, Alan had the triple decker A, Shara had chicken nuggets which were real breaded and fried chicken breast made by Sean daily. We all split a basket of sweet potato fries. Alan's side salad was the cucumber salad and he said it was really good too. You just can't get good corned beef like this and the bread is the real thing, imported from Schenectady. I think when we go again I'll have an extra thin #2 overstuffed. Shara also had fun performing her dance that she'll be doing at recital. I was surprised she knew so much of the song already. She'll be all set for June!

Last night Bonnie, Sean, Emily & Ryan came for dinner, as they will tonight. It was great to see them. Shara and Emily played the whole time and had a no grownups policy and even made a sign on the door of the room they were playing in. I'm not quite sure what they were playing, but dolls and dogs were strewn about, so it must have been a good time. Dad BBQ'd ribs and Ev made a cornbread casserole, sweet & white potatoes, beans. All great and even ice cream for dessert. We'll be turning into sweet potatoes - 2x a day - yum! I talked to Ev & Bonnie about the problem we had with watching the movies all day on the ride here and as I was talking, came to realize that I was holding myself up to the trip experiences Jill had told me about with her family. They'd play games, sing songs, and have a great time. Ev & Bonnie pointed out that there were two kids that could play together and this was a long trip and it would be fine for her to watch the movies and not to worry about it. That was my first instinct, but I'd think about Jill and the kids and think I should be having the same type of educational, interactive road trips too. But if I think back to my being a kid, I remember sleeping a lot out of boredom, and complaining a lot. I'll lighten up for the ride to Disney and we'll probably have more fun.

So it turns out the drive to Disney will take more that 5 or 6 hours - more like 8, driving straight through, so we'll leave tomorrow at 7 AM and plan to get there around 6 PM. That will be good because we'll want to stay up late anyway when we're at disney. We're all getting excited but I can see Alan's a little skepticle we'll have a good time and not have fits. From what I was hearing from Bonnie & Sean last night, fits to happen even at the happiest place on earth, so if we keep Shara fed and rested, we should be in good shape.

Day 2

Today was just a driving day to SC, not very exciting and unfortunately the most memorable part was the fight that really only lasted about 15 or 20 minutes, on hindsight, but felt like hours. We were somewhere in Virginia and we wanted Shara to take a nap because she was too tired to play, color, etc. but not too tired to watch more movies, which I didn't want her to do the whole trip. We fought and when we were near done fighting, it was too close to a time when we'd get lunch and too late to nap, so I gave her 5 minutes of no tv, yelling, kicking, trying to get herself out of her carseat and no saying things like, "i'll chop mommy in half and bury her and bury daddy". After the 5 min she got her movie and we got quiet. We also got off the highway, couldn't find anywhere to eat, so took an interesting ride through some country roads to get back to the exit before. We stopped at a restaurant next to a Howard Johnsons that turned out to be pretty good. Shara ate and ate, then we got back in and she actually took an hour 1/2 nap, all the way through North Carolina. She then watched 2 more Ariels and we were ready for dinner - first time to a Waffle House and it looked a little grubby but tasted great. She ate her whole chocolate chip waffle and sausages. I had a great omelete and Alan had a burger. Then on to Grandpa & Nonnie's!

We got in about 7:30 PM, settled in and Shara took no time at all to start entertaining. She got into her Princess nightgown and paraded and danced for grandpa and nonnie. I think we're going to be ok. She does know that if she doesn't behave, we're not going to the Disney parks, since we don't have our tickets yet and I'll stick to that because we're not going to be miserable at the Happiest Place on Earth! The other advantage is that she won't misbehave in front of anyone other than us because it would embarrass her. I did tell her that when she acts badly, mommy and daddy tell our mommies and daddies about it because it's the kind of thing families share. I didn't tell her that it's up on her blog for all the world to see. When she gets older and can read more, she'll yell at me then, but hopefully by then we'll all just laugh about it together! Yeah, right.

Down Country Adventure - Day 1

Today we left on time and got to PA at around 12:30, right on schedule. Shara was more than happy relax, play with her Leapster, color, decorate paper airplanes (while passing over the GWB), and then finally watching Cinderella. She didn't bring up the movies until near the end of the trip. We did need to make a few stops - mostly for Alan, though Shara was made to "go" too. Rather uneventful trip, which is really fine.

We got to Lancaster County and stopped for gas. Alan pumped and almost couldn't open the car door back up because of so much wind. The open spaces made it that much worse, but it was warm - only needed hoodies. We first stopped at the Best Western in Intercourse, but they only had one room and we didn't want to pay that much so we figured we'd look for something else later. We then went into the Intercourse Canning Co. and tried lots of yummy samples and bought a few jars of goodies. Shara liked their pickled beets (and I told her to remember this when I give them to her for dinner some night back home), spicy pickles!, no sugar preserves, etc. I thought most things were better than I've had elsewhere except the vegetables - these were just ok, like the pickles and salsas, but the applebutter, jams and beets were exceptional.

Next stop was across the street to the Intercourse Pretzel Factory. We looked around, had a soft pretzel and took a "tour" of the baking facilities. The tour included a try at shaping a pretzel - not as easy as it looks, but I did learn how to do the slow method, which is what we'd probably do when we try our hand at home, which we will. Not so different from bagels in that they're boiled before baking. Shara didn't want to try - she didn't feel comfortable trying and I didn't push. We all got stickers though!

We got back in the car, after Shara skinned her knee when she fell climbing onto a bench? I wasn't there so I'm not sure the details, but she was fine the next day and at other times during the day when she wasn't paying attention to it. But it did make her a bit cranky for the rest of the afternoon - on and off. We learned too late (like day 2) that she still needs regular food and sleep to be a happy Shara. We ended up driving around the corner (didn't know it was so close) to the Kettle Kitchen Village. After parking and giving Shara the choice of what to do next, since she was whining so much, we decided to do the buggy ride right away. We got our tickets and had to wait 10 minutes so looked around. It's a cute place - lots of goodies to eat - ice cream, kettle corn, pretzels, shoo fly pie. The buggy ride was fun, even it the wind was howling outside! It is so beautiful there - real farm country with streams and bright green fields, but also had lots of propane tanks, which is what these Amish folks use for heating, refrigeration, and cooking. Shara spotted a dog sleeping near a barn, and really enjoyed the other buggies we passed. Actually, thoughout the whole time we were there, she had fun spotting the buggies and would squeal when she saw one. After our ride we went to look for a "snack" and had a sample of shoo fly pie, which prompted Shara to want a whole slice. This was before having anything significant and us knowing she was tired and didn't need a cup full of sugar, which is basically what shoo fly pie is made of - brown sugar, so this prompted another fit which led to us leaving and going to find somewhere to sleep for the night. We found a place next to this restaurant I had heard about and our buggy driver recommended - the Family Cupboard. We stayed at a Bird in Hand motel, right across from a farm with cows, pigs and chickens right across the street and viewable from our motel window. Alan and Shara relaxed in the room for a bit, Shara had a little of an apple, and I went to check out the Bird in Hand bakery which I had a $5 coupon for, if you spend $20. I got there and didn't want to buy $20 worth of pastry, but did get a slice of shoo fly pie, which I was told would last another week, and a bag of local pretzels. Across the street I checked out the farmers market and got a cinnamon raisin bread, which was wonderful - samples, and a bag of dried apples. After I returned, we decided to go next door for dinner and got there at a great time - no wait at all. I don't think I've seen Shara eat so much. She had munched throughout the day, but no real meal and she was hungry. She saw what was on the buffet and was so excited they had all her favorite foods including mac & cheese, buttered noodles & beef in gravy (she had 2 servings), corn, and mashed potatoes and gravy. Her favorite by far was the beef and noodles. I loved all the pickled things on the salad bar and the baked lima beans, mashed potatoes, and desserts! Shara got ice cream with Alan and rainbow sprinkles and she tried some of Alan's chocolate cake with peanut butter and a little of this and a little of that and I did tell her to pay attention to her tummy - she kept eating and eating! She was ok and when we got back to the motel we went to look at the little playground they had and ran a round, which I was very happy to do. When it was time to leave to get ready for bed, Shara took off on me and wouldn't come back - kept running and not listening. When she started running toward the road and I said STOP a few times and she didn't, I ran after her, clapped my hands and shouted while grabbing her shoulder. She cried that I hurt her ears and I explained, again, about listening and she was close to the road and she's arguing that it wasn't close to the road, etc. Nice. Well, we did get back to the room, got ready for bed, and went to sleep.

Popsicle Dreams

Shara had a dream last night, not a bad one. She was playing outside at school with her friends and there was a mailbox and she opened the mailbox and there were Popsicles inside. Dalene was there and Shara asked if she could eat one and Dalene said she wanted to check them to make sure they weren't stale. They were good so Shara, Tenley and Molly each got one. Tenley kept taking Molly's away from her.