We are back from our whirlwind weekend vacation! We took the boys on their first vacation of the summer to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to go to Dutch Wonderland. For those of you not in the know - Dutch Wonderland is an amusement park for kids 10 and under. The rides are smaller and not scary - and the one roller coaster that they do have is not for those seeking a thrill ride.

We left on Thursday around 4:00 - about an hour later than planned for our supposedly 2 hour drive. Due to traffic and accidents, we pulled into Lancaster after a 3 hour trip. The boys were remarkably good - even though the didn't enjoy the movies that I had packed for our new portable DVD player (Cars and Happy Feet) - luckily I had tossed in a couple of episodes of Signing Times, which kept them happy and silent for 45 minutes.

We stayed at a resort about 15 minutes from the park. I had chosen it because 1) I got a really good deal on it on Travelocity and 2) it had this great indoor water park for kids (not a big one - but a cute little slide and some spray things.) Of course, the day we get there, we realize that Grayson has picked up the stomach bug that Carter had earlier in the week and we wouldn't be responsible parents to take him into a swimming pool. So much for the water park. But they also had a pond with ducks and a little playground that occupied us for a while on Thursday night.

Friday morning of course we were up bright and early. We were thrilled that there was a Cracker Barrel near the park and we had to make a stop at our home away from home - Target - since it was apparent that we were going to need MANY more diaper wipes than we brought with us. *insert sad face here.* We were at the park for the opening and were happy that it was actually chilly outside (we would much rather be chilly than hot!) We rode the train, the cars that go around the track that the kids "drive" and we had to press the gas peddle, the tractors, and big slide that you go down on burlap sacks (when we finished with that Grayson laughed and laughed), the log flume (evidently not fun if you are Grayson or Carter), a plane ride, and the sky tram (think ski chair lift - and let me tell you how nerve racking it is to be suspended over the treetops with your toddler in a bucket with no seatbelts and just a bar that they could easily slide under. UGH.) The kids tolerated the rides. After a minute or so, Grayson would say "all done" "get down" 'get off" - not because he was scared, but because he was done. He'd ridden and he wanted to move on to the next thing. Carter was much more hesitant of riding the rides. He was much more clingy, but didn't cry - he just wanted to be held and reassured.

By then it was warming up and it was time for a snack and a trip back to the hotel for a nap. But of course that didn't happen before we had a stomach bug event that caused us to wheel Gray out in only a diaper (let me say that Gray seemed to feel fine. He probably wasn't 100% - but more like 90% - so we weren't forcing this kid to do anything when all he wanted to do was lay around.) They were both asleep before we got out of the parking lot. We went to the hotel to finish our nap (and get one ourselves!) and then back to the park for the last couple of hours. We rode on the monorail (which is not as nice as the Disney one - and not air conditioned - and by the afternoon it was much warmer) and the cars again. We decided to check out the water park area and found that it wasn't a pool where you get submerged, but an area with water spraying out of the ground, water dumping from above, and little slides (think 3 feet long) where the kids could slide. We decided that we could keep an eye on Gray and his diaper. Thank goodness for this. Grayson LOVED it. He was thrilled to run around and get wet. Carter warmed up to the idea of the water, but was never truly enamored. We closed the park down at 6 and headed back to the hotel for dry clothes and dinner. The kids were exhausted and conked out in record time.

Saturday we woke to brutally hot weather. We thanked our lucky stars that we had done the park the day before and planned on going to breakfast and then touring around the Amish country for a bit before getting the kids in the car around naptime and letting them nap most (if not all) of the way home. But of course Carter fell asleep right after breakfast (the kid cannot resist sleeping in a car after a full belly!) and he continued sleeping while we strolled him through the Farmers Market, bakery, and gift shop. He missed the entire Dutch experience. And of course since he took a ridiculously early nap, he was not interested in napping at all on the way home. Thankfully Grayson did, and we made it home in the originally planned 2 hours.

We arrived home to record breaking heat, so we let the kids play in the kiddie pool in our driveway (still not chancing Gray - even though things were seemingly getting better!) We put them to bed a bit early (for all of our sakes) and it seemed as though they were going to go down easily. But then, the biggest clap of thunder we've ever heard got them up and screaming. They both ended up falling asleep in our bed during a horrible thunder storm.

So now we are back in the swing of things. Trying to survive this ridiculous heat and trying to figure out our next vacation/long weekend. We think that we''ll try to go back to Dutch Wonderland in the fall when it cooler and the boys are a bit older. There is so much to do in that area!