Aboard Astraea

My sister, Lizze, wanted to get Sully a special treat for his 3rd birthday so she took us all out to Dutch Wonderland! It was Natalie’s first trip, but Lizze, Mom and I had fun reminiscing about our times at Dutch Wonderland as kids – milking the cow with an udder full of water and riding the roller coaster, log flume, and the crazy upside down spinning house. Sully was just over 3 feet tall and got to ride some rides by himself. He had to be accompanied on others which was great because we each got to take turns riding different rides with him. Our most memorable ride was on the Log Flume where we all rode down the flume together and got a big splash at the end!

The log flume! The sign said you don’t get wet but at the bottom of the big hill we got a little splash! Sully didn’t know what to expect on the big hill, but at the end exclaimed, “That was FUN!”

Continue Reading →

To celebrate Sully’s birthday we asked family to give Sully a gift of a fun day out together instead of toys. My parents wanted to take Sully to Strasburg Railroad in Lancaster, PA. We got lucky because when we were visiting in addition to their old steam locomotive, Thomas the Tank Engine was in town with his friend Percy as part of Day out with Thomas!

The whole family visiting with Percy

We rode Thomas for about 20 minutes. Anything much longer would have put the kiddo to sleep or he’d have gotten restless.

An Amish man was out working his field while we rode the short train ride

The conductor came by and let Sully listen to his pocketwatch

Nana and Sully riding together

After riding the train and meeting Sir Topham Hat, Sully played with toy trains and other kids

Riding a toddler sized toy Thomas

While we were in Loganville I helped out with family projects -cutting the grass, pulling an old plow off the tractor, mulching Grandma Ness’s garden and painting the tractor shed roof. There was time for fun though, I asked Grandma if I could fire up Grandpa Ness’s old Farmall A tractor from 1942, she said I could. The battery was dead, but it started on the first hand crank!