amish country

matt was going to golf with his dad after the soccer game but when papa had a last minute trip come up for work, he had to cancel. so we decided to take nana to "amish country" and go exploring. "amish country" is about 100 miles of roads, stores and attractions where there is a large amish and mennonite population. we had never been before and were given a few recommendations on places to stop, but i really don't think that we could have made any 'bad' choices of stops. our first stop was the warther carving museum. it was a tad pricy to go on the tour so we thought that we would wait until papa was with us since he would probably enjoy the carved train models most. just the one in the lobby was impressive! mr. warther was a knife maker (the family still makes fine knives) and carved fully-functional model trains out of wood and, later, ivory. the nuts and bolts, everything. i guess there is an 8-foot model carved entirely out of marble on the tour.

anyway, we did not go on the tour but we still enjoyed exploring the grounds which were very picturesque with gardens and small buildings.

this is the "button house" which was the original 'museum' and later where his wife created her button art.

there were a few trains on the property for the kids to climb into and explore.

"we miss you, papa!"

we were all pretty hungry, so our next stop was lunch! we went to der dutchman and the line was out the door (of course, noon on a saturday probably wasn't the best time to go), but we were sat relatively quick. the kids loved the wax strips that came to entertain them while we were waiting on our meal. i had the best piece of baked chicken i have ever had in my life. the kids ended up eating most of it and they even commented on how delicious it was. we will be back!

enjoying some honey sticks nana bought them at the bakery at der dutchman.

how beautiful is this view from the restaurant?

and, of course, we saw horse drawn carriages everywhere! there was also almost no cell reception most of our trip. i guess the amish aren't really a target market for good reception...

we spent a long time trying to find an old fashioned soda shop that we had gotten directions to from a friend but without our phones to find the actual name (which i found quite easily when we returned to the modern era) we just picked the next place we saw with an ice cream sign.

i love this picture of manning watching mason eat his ice cream

we all rode in the same car so i got to ride in the back with the kids. manning decided to give me this headlock hugs that i thought were incredibly awkward and thought i would take a picture. and then i realized that we could have some fun taking 'selfies.' here are some of the keepers (the first one is a chokehold):

our last stop was at a hardware store that has practically everything - including lots of non-electric options - that was a lot of fun to explore. inside they had an exhibit of carvings by a local craftsman. they were amazing 3d pieces each carved from a single block of wood. the pictures don't do them justice.

mason was excited to see a "lego" sign on the front door and we found him the "lego loft." notice daddy photo-bombing behind him.

madelyn and nana rocking while we waited for matt to pull the car around and get us.

the wax strips were extremely entertaining in the car too. maddux and madelyn were building all sorts of things...

we had such a great time! while the kids weren't totally appreciative of the scenery during the drive, it was really beautiful. we will be doing this again - maybe as soon as this fall when the leaves change. love.