May. 19, 2009 - From Mt. Joy PA
It's rare, but sometimes the romantic, nostalgic side of me wins out over the more practical, logical side. Take for example this vacation I planned for my family. I booked a B&B on a working farm about 4 months ago with wonderful visions of our children milking cows, feeding chickens, swinging on the old fashioned swingsets while sipping lemonade. Of course, I neglected to remind myself I would be 6 months pregnant with twins, walking a whole lot, fighting a bull calf at 7:00am over a large bottle he has no idea what to do with while having 3 children "help" (all while in about a 4x3 foot stall) and fighting nausea that comes with a full belly of food and deep breaths of fresh cow manure filled air. Actually, despite all of that and the fact that 2 of the 3 kids are in bed with fevers and their fill of Motrin, we have already decided we need to come back. Oh, it's exhausting but completely worth every swollen limb (me-edema) and cat scratch wound (the kids). If you had seen delight on the kids faces as we arrived last night and pulled up next to a field and barn with literally hundreds of cows you would understand. We had a really hard time getting them inside just to check in between the beautiful wooden playhouse, the swingsets and all the cats and kittens that DIDN'T run away when the kids approached them. We awoke this morning and fed bull calves and then had one of the best breakfasts I've ever eaten; and I'm a connoisseur. There were pitchers of farm fresh milk, oj and fresh brewed coffee (and even that was good and I'm picky about my coffee), jams, and syrup. After the hosts prayed, they fed us family style. First came the fruit tray-- filled with bananas, watermelon, cantelope and red grapes. Then came the peach cobbler, hashbrown potatoes, ham slices, scrambled eggs, buttermilk, blueberry AND chocolate chip pancakes. The grand finale: steaming caraffes of cocoa. I mean, it was a dream breakfast. I was so full I couldn't eat another thing until 4:30pm and breakfast had been at 8:15 (and did I mention I'm pregnant with twins which is generally code for "I eat all day.") After breakfast we went outside for the kids to enjoy complementary horse and tractor rides. The owners of this place love children and it's so obvious and so wonderful! We then drove down to Root's Farmers Market where I bought a very cute berry and grapevine wreath for $5.95 (a steal!) and of course some famous Amish whoopie pies. We came back to the farm with Anne feeling pretty lousy but with enough energy still to ride bikes (they have a garage with several kids and adult bikes and helmets) and swing with Drew while we put Elle down for a short nap. Then we drove into Strausburg to see the trains and have dinner. By then we had 2 very ill children who didn't eat any dinner so we came back and they were in bed by 6:30. We've already discussed returning here again because we really have had a great time. The bull calf we fed was strong but totally adorable especially when he would miss the nipple and end up with milk dripping down the front of his head, the exercise is good for me =), and Anne gets sick literally every time we travel so it wouldn't matter where we went.
There are a few cows ready to birth ANY DAY. We are able to watch if it happens while we're here. HOW COOL IS THAT???
