The Queen's Rambles

We went totally non-traditional this Thanksgiving and met up with long-time Ameri-Swede friends in Lancaster, PA. They live near Manhattan and we live near DC, so it was a great place to meet up–an easy drive for both of us.

Dawn is an American with a Swedish husband, T. We’ve known each other via LJ for close to 8 years or so. They have two kids, Max (5) and Mia (21 months), so it was a perfect match-up for our little family. The boys hit it off great and the girls didn’t kill each other, so what’s not to love? I think Max really liked Erik, but he wasn’t sure how to express it so he kept kicking him. Erik likes to fight, but he wasn’t sure what to make of that. He is in an “I don’t want to be in trouble” stage right now so it was hard for him to control himself. He tried so hard to do the right thing, but it didn’t always come out right since he has no tact and would tell Max he didn’t want to be by him. Parenting is hard. You get through one thing, then you have to teach the next thing.

I never thought he’d hit a stage where he didn’t want to be in trouble, but it’s really nice. He is such an enjoyable, pleasant young man right now. I am savoring every minute of this kid. Let’s hope it lasts.

T was recently diagnosed with celiac (I need to connect Dawn with Jennifer), so we didn’t enjoy the bounty of Amish food. It was probably better for our wallets and our waistlines anyway. We had to stick with chains that would have a gluten-free menu and some understanding of how to prepare gluten-free food. Amish fried chicken and shoo fly pie wasn’t up to gluten free standards. I never did get my Amish pie, but I came home and made a pecan pie that was probably better anyway.

We did enjoy the bounty of PA entertainment. I can’t believe Hershey Park and Dutch Wonderland are only a couple hours away from us and we’ve never been. I will never get used to East coast distances. I always think of a trip as being at least six hours. I’m on Remote Oregon Mountain Travel times. I need to get with the States That Are Smaller Than Oregon Counties Time. We need to explore more.

Anyway, the parks had really wonky hours for the holiday weekend, but we went, we saw, we conquered. We left a ton of stuff un-ridden, but there’s always next time. We thought we did pretty great to spend 4 hours at each park with toddlers who were on the verge of melt-downs by hour 3.

I think the absolute favorite thing for all the kids was a patio full of building blocks. I want to buy a bunch of these blocks, rent out space at the mall and charge admission. If the kids at Dutch Wonderland were any indication, I would be rolling in the dough within the month.

It was so much fun to connect with Dawn again, and see her family. I think Mike really enjoyed speaking Swedish with T. I’m sure they must have commiserated about their bossy American women. Who knows? I only speak kid Swedish. I can’t follow an adult conversation.

We did have a couple of bumps in the road.

We were staying at a nice hotel that included a children’s playground.

You people had to see this playground. It was a death trap. I don’t know how they got this playground past safety inspectors or insurance inspectors. It did not pass muster. I could point out at least six things that would get the playground shut down here–they had three swings crammed into a spot designed for two swings, they had a swing that was inches away from a park bench, a swing that went by a castle window that kids could easily stick their heads out of, a rope climber with much too large holes, big openings on the play structure that were way too high. It was terrible. I’m writing them a letter. I can’t believe they haven’t been sued over this playground.

Erik was swinging “super man” style instead of on his butt. Elsa was in the baby swing next to him. Mike and I were both standing right there, but at the time I didn’t realize that the swing set was not set up properly. He twisted his swing around, Elsa’s swing went crooked and BANG. Her swing hit him in the head.

He got quite the goose egg and a small cut. Thankfully it barely bled, even though it was a scalp wound. It was such a long walk to the front desk for an ice pack, that I think Erik forgot he was hurt by the time we got there.

The other bump in the road could have turned scary.

On Saturday we were getting ready to leave for lunch when we all heard a bang. The people in the car next to T and Dawn had slammed their door into their car, leaving a dent and scratch. First the people offered T money, then they called over their travel companion who claimed to be a lawyer from NYC, then they called the police and denied the whole thing. They were so frustrating. They tried every excuse in the book, even after the police officer opened their door and showed them it was an exact match. Then they offered T a measly $25. As if! They tried to say that it couldn’t have been them because we didn’t know which child slammed the door into the car. Of course we didn’t. We were focused on the door, not a gaggle of tweens.

I was really glad it didn’t escalate because they were very loud and pushy. I was worried they were going to punch T in the face, then Mike would have to jump in. Mike and T are both small, Swedish men. A fight would not be in their best interests.

It took forever to take care of the whole thing, but at least no one was hurt. We just had screaming kids in the cars, and hungry adults talking to the police officer.

I’d have to say Dutch Wonderland was the highlight of the trip. It was designed for younger children, which was perfect for us. It was not as fancy as Hershey Park, but it didn’t need to be. The kids got to ride things designed just for them, without the help of an adult. They couldn’t ask for anything more. Erik even said he wants to go there for his next birthday. I told him we could do that instead of a birthday party. I would love it if he really agreed to that next year. Birthday parties are way too stressful.

I have a lot more pictures, but I haven’t had time to edit them. I’ve been doing a mountain of laundry, making pie, and checking items off my ever growing to-do list today. A weekend away is delightful, but the aftermath makes a woman tired. Hopefully I’ll get to photos tomorrow, or maybe Dawn will post a few. They were taking pictures with a fancy camera.