Hectic Holly Days

      I had the most eventful whirlwind of a holiday weekend. Between having a snow day before Thanksgiving, to going home, back to work, back home for a baby shower, to a xmas gift show, and back to work again, I'm certainly glad to have a chance to sit and reflect. I have a very nice Nikon camera that I took tons of photos with, but I think I captured some sweet moments with my iPhone as well. 

Finding time to decorate on the Snow Day.

Lunch feels more special on a snow day, no?

Making crafts too!

Sparrow always enjoys when we can stay home with her. (more treats!)

Home :)

Snail rolls!

A Thanksgiving mantel I threw together for my mom.

Being home means time spent with my baby cats.

Managed to squeeze in some time at Christmas Village. It was FREEZING. 

My convoluted plan to make it all work out.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday! Now to do it all again at Christmas! Oy vey :)

Going, Going: Crummland Farms, MD

      It's not autumn until you get to do some sort of festive fall activity, am I right? I was so worried I'd spend another year not getting to do something this year, but we managed to squeeze in some time at a farm. I love farms, they're such a cute mini community. Everyone there was so friendly, and talked to us as though we were old friends. 

      The main reason we visited was to try out their excellent corn maze. This thing was hard! Couples beware! You will argue about where you are, and where to go. Haha, we did bicker, but we did end up finishing the maze. It took 2 hours! Yikes, they don't kid around. We had to cheat to find two of the checkpoints. One reason being, there was only one way to get to one, and you had to go right into the center of the maze. We would have never figured it out. The second reason being, we simply were running out of time.

      The sky was fairly overcast most of the time, but when the sun came out it was a beautiful experience. Especially when we made our way to the lookout bridge, and could see the entire maze, as well as the farm.  

      There was a lot of opportunity for some photo shoots. If you want to have some great autumn photos, try doing a corn maze, they make for a great background for portraits.

After we finally made our way out of that, there were still a lot of fun things to check out. They of course, had some animals to pet and see. The llama there had a baby she was nursing. Adorable. And I personally love goats, they have the best personalities. 

      We got to go down a huge slide, play in the hay, compete in the duck races, and generally enjoy the farm. A great day trip, I'm so glad we found the time to go. We didn't get to ride the tractor to the pumpkin patch, but we did go home with 2 pumpkins to carve. 

      If you're in the Maryland area, check out Crummland farms for sure. They also have scary attractions there once the sun goes down. Maybe next year :)

Going, Going: Knoebels

      Summer has always been that cliche season where you get all your vacations in and done. I think all the seasons deserve that treatment, (maybe not winter though) even if you're just taking a mini-vaca, or a quick day trip. Here's one of my cliche summer trips, the old standard, a visit to an amusement park.

      Sometimes I think of Knoebels as a secret, other than family and childhood acquaintances, no one has ever seemed to have heard of it. It's deep in the central Pennsylvania mountains, situated in the actual woods themselves. That might seem odd, for an amusement park to be in a forest, but it provides some much needed shade from the summer sun. And makes it just that much more unique. 

      I've been coming here since I was very little! Knoebels has always been free admission to enter. No long lines waiting just to enter the park, you just stroll in. All the rides take tickets, purchased at little old fashioned ticket booths. 'Old Fashioned' is probably the best way to describe this park, but don't confuse that for being lame, or just for little kids. They have plenty of coasters, and thrill rides. I always enjoy the two wooden coasters, The Phoenix and The Twister, though I haven't tried the newest one, The Flying Turns. It's currently the only wooden bobsled coaster in the US (possibly the world?). 

      My favorite thing about coming here isn't just the rides, it's all the little details. The rides aren't just fun, they're beautiful. There's always neat additions to find and discover. I love this lion water fountain, and my old friend, Nessie can be found in one of the camp playgrounds right outside the park. 

      This was actually on my birthday, so it was a really fun and awesome day. I try to come here once every few years. Not much changes, but sometimes when you want to go back to childhood memories, that's exactly what you want! If you live or visit the Northeast, try giving this blast from the past a chance.