My little runaway - run, run, run, run, runaway

You know that song, right? It's been in my head since I started this post!

Did you ever run away as a kid? I totally did. “Fine. I’m running away!” I would cry. “What can I help you pack?” I think my mom said once.

The thing is, I’ve always been a tad paranoid, and there was no way I would leave and go somewhere by myself! Way too scary. So, I ran away to the car, van, or station wagon, whatever we had at the time. My method was to storm out of the door, sneak around the house and hide for a little bit just in case someone was watching and then creep over and get into a car. I remember once I was really mad and stormed out after declaring I was running away, and then I tried to get in our maroon station wagon, and it was locked! I remember thinking, “Now, what am I going to do?” It’s not like I could go back inside and get the keys. That was probably one of my shortest run away moments. There were times I seriously had to sweat it out in the cars on hot days.

I think the last time I ran away, I went the farthest I had ever run away to – the neighbors. Now, they weren’t right next door (their house was on 5 acres), I had to actually walk down the hill and then up the other hill. At the front of their house they had/have a small cluster of pine trees that made the perfect little fort inside; so I hid there with my Saltine crackers. Then Jim (the neighbor man) came home and spotted me (I totally thought I was hidden), and said, “Hello there! Everything alright?” I was soooo embarrassed I never ran away again…

Until last week.

Last Monday, I asked John to find out how many vacation days he could take and still have his Christmas vacation. I wanted to get away. He said he had two days, so on Tuesday, I asked him to ask off for Thursday and Friday, and his boss let him. Thank goodness. I’d been wanting to go back to Berlin, Ohio (Amish country) since I went with my dad and sister last year, and they didn’t want to go this year, so I was either going to go with my family or by myself, but John was able to get it off.

So, Tuesday night I spent almost two hours online trying to find a hotel. Who knew so many people were headed there that weekend. I eventually found a place that met all the requirements (pool & breakfast & less than $140 a night). The only drawback was it was 37 minutes away from everything, but it ended up being a really nice drive, and with the money we saved from finding a cheaper hotel we literally cut the cost of our trip almost in half.

We left on Wednesday after John got off work and made our first stop at my grandparent’s house, which was conveniently located along the way. Then, the next day we only had a little less than five hours to drive. We also stopped there for about an hour on the way back on Saturday.

My favorite thing from visiting my grandparents was when John asked Grandpa what bad habits my grandma had to break after they got married (they got married at like 15 and 17 or 18). My Grandpa thought for a minute, and was like, "I don’t know if I had any bad habits, I had already stopped wetting the bed." My Grandma cracked up! I haven’t seen my grandparents laugh that hard in a long time. It was really funny.

I know this picture is fuzzy, but it was so cute with Trevan hugging him.

This is where Trevan gets his ears from. Grandma didn't want me to take a picture of her.

It was busy in Berlin, but the only waiting we had to do was to taste test the cheese, and it could have been worse.
This is a classic picture from our trip, Trevan bugging Mallary.

My kids are so funny; I can't get a real smile out of them. I say, "Cheese," and this is what they do. They both look constipated.

John got some gummy snacks for the kids, and I asked Mallary if she needed help carrying that bag, and you would have thought she was carrying millions of dollars - she was not going to let go of that bag!

We went to a pumpkin patch that had a lot of animals. Mallary found her favorite - a little puppy for sale.

That's how big of a pumpkin it took to hide my belly.

This is a classic Mallary look she gives to strangers, and anyone else (even the messy hair). Like, "What are you looking at Mister?" She just holds it too, like it is some kind of staring contest. She's pretty funny.

We took a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins. Mallary was a little worried when we first got on the wagon. It was really bouncy.

Trevan loved it.

Our first pumpkin we chose.

I was looking for the perfect tall one.

Mallary trying to pick up a pumpkin that weighed more than herself.

Do you like her pumpkin picking attire? We were planning on going to the pumpkin patch the next day, then we heard it was going to rain the next day so we decided to go ahead and do it this day. But those are really cute shoes.

Our two 31 pound pumkins!

I wonder how much that large pumpkin would have been?

This is the stand off. Trevan and I were already in the car, and John was trying to get Mallary to come on.

Mallary did not want to leave the animals. She's like, "I wonder how long I can stand here until Daddy will come get me?"

There was such pretty fall foliage, and I really didn't take any pictures of it, except this one.

I've been dreaming about these for a year now. Sweet potato fries with a yummy caramel sauce. I thought when I ordered them before they came on a smaller plate, so I ordered two of them. They were both this size. That was pretty funny. Needless to say we didn't finish them.

The next day was totally rainy - ALL DAY. But, what do you do on a rainy day? SHOP! That's exactly what I did. John would drive me places, occassionally come in too, but he would wait in the car with the kids. He's so great. We stopped at the Guggisberg Cheese place and saw them making cheese. Home of baby swiss cheese - my favorite.

A miniature house with a scary doll hanging out of

The largest Amish buggy.

This is how easy it is to take a picture of our kids.

This is where we ate dinner the last night and had FABULOUS fondue!

Totally better than The Melting Pot, and I love The Melting Pot. It was so much fondue, we couldn't even finish it! You see my drip down the side of the bowl?

Going out to eat with our kids on this trip was CRAZY! In Berlin, most of the tourists are older people, retired, etc. You don't see many strollers or many kids so when we walk into a restaurant, everyone smiles as we pass, and you hear, "Oh, how cute," "Look at that little girl," etc. etc. When I hear that, I smile, and think to myself, "Oh, you just wait till the three ring circus starts." Mallary is a three ring circus all by herself. Our kids were crazy, and barely ate anything - it's like they knew they were the entertainment for everyone. Ugh! I was so done with going to restaurants with them and John missed THREE exits on the way home adding an hour to our trip making us have to stop for dinner. (I asked John if he needed me to read the directions to him, and he was like, "nope, I got it." Five minutes later I said, "you just missed your exit," which he replied, "oh, no, it's coming up." He has an issue with not reading the road signs...) So in the last restaraunt I asked John, "Will it offend you if I sit at a table by myself?"

Here is one token picture of the trees, and it wasn't even a really pretty spot, the other two pictures I took didn't turn out very well. But, I'll always see the pretty leaves in my memory.

It was seriously so nice to get away. The scenery on the drive was beautiful. It was so peaceful - well, as peaceful as it can be with a 5 year old and a 2 year old fighting over who will or will not hold the DVD player, or who is touching who’s seat. Are you kidding me? I had no idea that would start at this age!

I don't consider myself to be spontaneous anymore, but this was a great spontaneous trip!