Trip to Lancaster, PA!

In May we visited Lancaster, PA, for two nights.  We had such a great time visiting with my Mom and Dad, Irene, Scott and Lora and kids!  The weather was perfect and we thoroughly enjoyed shopping, playing mini-golf, and visiting the various sites.  Here are a few pictures:

                              The inside of our room at the Best Western, in Intercourse, PA.

 On the night we arrived at the hotel, we took over the outdoor patio and celebrated various birthdays.  What's a trip without our coffee time and a good excuse to eat cake and other yummy sweets?  Mike always laughs at how our vacations revolve around coffee and sweets...

                   Outside of the hotel.  We really enjoyed staying here and would do it again!

                                                              Jules and I at breakfast.

                                                         Lora and Scott and the gang....

                                                                 Mom, Dad and Irene.

                                     Jules ready to take Annika shopping at the local stores.

                                                              Yep, that's a real cow!

 One night a bunch of us spent three hours visiting some local Amish farms and businesses (part of something called "The Amish Experience").  Here is Irene and Jules at a dairy farm.

                                         At the dairy farm we saw this garden.  Cute idea!  

                        Waiting for Mike to finish buying my mother's day gift at the quilt shop.

 Group shot outside of the hotel's restaurant.  I confess to looking forward to breakfast every morning and ordering my oatmeal...

 Waiting for our buggy ride.  You can't go to Amish country without taking a buggy ride, right?

                                                                 Inside the buggy.

 Taylor, Jules and Jeremy squished in the front with the driver.  Even Pammy, Juliet's beloved penguin, is wearing a bonnet!

                                                Icecream at Lapp's Farm.  Delicious!

Jules and Jeremy riding the pony at the train restaurant we ate at.  

Juliet's 6th Birthday Party!

In May we celebrated Juliet's 6th birthday!  We are so grateful to God for giving us our little girl who constantly keeps us on our toes!  What started off as a small celebration at home with me, Mike and Jules slowly morphed over the days into an extended family party and finally a party with the girls in her class at school!  So, is this the American way of going over-board?  Nah!  After all, birthdays come only once in a year, right?
                                                  Jule's Birthday Celebration at Home (with Mom and Dad)

                                        Checking out the presents on the living room floor...

                                                        Fairy wings for dress-up...

                                              Trying out the new sleeping bag she got...

                                                            Well, what do you think?

        Mike putting up her new tent.  This was the number one item she wanted for her birthday.

Ready for a night out in her tent!!!  (I don't actually think that will happen for quite awhile yet).

                                                        Juliet's Family Birthday Party

  On the day of Juliet's family birthday party Jules got to go out and pick out a balloon from Party City with Dad.  This years was pink with a bunch of princesses on it.  A rather ridiculous looking thing, but the kind of balloon a 6 year old picks, I think.

Mike lighting the candles...  The weather was cooperating at this point, but I've realized that birthdays in May are always tricky, weather-wise.

                                  With her two birthday cakes.  Pink frosting was a MUST!

                                                                   The girl cousins...

                                                Looking for candy during the candy hunt...
                                      Juliet's Birthday Party with her Friends from School

 And finally, Juliet's class party.  Juliet wanted to have a "Princess Party" so here she is in what she considered her most beautiful princess dress.  Along with a blue blanket to use as a cape, she was set!  Here she is eagerly watching the clock on the stove waiting for the time to change to 10:00 - the time we expected her guests to arrive!

                                                          It's a heart cake this time!

                 With the girls sitting around the dining room table eating cake and drinking lemonade...

                                                 That's enough parties to last till next year....

Snookered!

I pride myself on being the type of gal that can say "No, thank-you!"  I remember years ago (before I was married) spending $40.00 on some Dead Sea hand lotion.  I'll never forget the feeling of indignation I felt that I had been snookered into buying hand lotion that I rarely use!  So, lesson learned, right?  Well, recently I picked up a pamphlet advertising Omaha Steaks.  Thinking that the offered deal looked pretty good ($40.00 for some steaks, burgers, hotdogs, chicken breasts and baked potatoes), I called the 1-800 number.  Bad mistake.  Let's just say that I got talked into $120.00 worth of steak, chicken, baked potatoes and I don't know what all.  I have never talked to such a convincing sales man (he had a southern accent; think that had anything to do with it???)  "Well, ma'am, I could give you this one-time limited special for a great price today.  Why don't you double the offer?"  Hmm, well, okay.  "Oh, and ma'am, if you were to add this other special, a delicious combination of various steaks, we could give you free shipping."  Well, that sounded good to me.  "Oh, and ma'am, it would be remiss of me to not mention that we have some delicious marinated pork chops for only $9.99!"  Finally, I had the sense to say, "no, thank-you," seeing that we rarely eat pork chops.  And so a couple of days ago, there was a knock at the door, and when I opened it, a large cooler sat on my front porch waiting to be opened.  It was at this moment that I wondered where in the world I was going to put all of this frozen meat?  Considering that I only have one small freezer it was an effort to stuff all of the "stuff" inside!  Be forewarned!  Don't open my freezer or you'll have a good chance of having frozen meat fall out and land on your toes!  Anyone else been snookered recently?

Palm Beach, Florida. Day 8-11

Palm Beach, Florida

                                           Nothing like having the entire beach to yourself!

 Out to dinner at the Key Lime House.  Don't ask how many pieces of Key Lime pie I had.  Sigh, just thinking of the pie makes me hungry!

                                                          Getting ready for the beach...

 Sunday night Mike made us a wine and cheese plate.  Here we are relaxing on the back balcony watching the sun go down over the inland waterway.

                                                              God's perfect painting!

                  Monday morning, and we were off to Johnny G's for a delicious breakfast.

 Okay, for all you folks that love those pregnancy poses, here's one for you.  Mike was going to sub for me as a laugh, but we decided not to.  Just pretend I am gazing off into the distance with a wistful expression on my face, hand on my belly and you get the picture....  :)

                                                                  Daddy and his girl.

                                                                  Lovin' the beach.

 In the lobby waiting for the elevator, another picture of Jules and Pammy.  I'm amazed at how many pictures Pammy is in!

                  Tuesday morning we went to a Playmobile store nearby.  Great fun for little girls!

                                                         Back at the Key Lime house...

                                                            AHHHH!  Its got me!