A Visit to Amish Country

 So, ever since we arrived in Virginia, we have heard people talk about the amazing Sight and Sound Theatre in Lancaster.  We had a free weekend and tickets were available so we decided to make a quick trip. And we also have some sweet friends who we haven't seen since we lived in Hawaii the first time, so it sounded like a great idea. Of course Lancaster is also known as Amish Country. It was a great learning experience for the boys to see how differently people can live. 

Our first stop was at the Central Market. It is the longest running farmers market in the country.  We of course had to try the famous Shoo Fly Pie. It was delicious! Chris and Abram enjoyed sampling all the beef jerky. Its their favorite. 

Then we toured an Amish house and learned all about their way of live. Even though this place was set up for tourist, it was very informative and the boys had a fun time exploring. 

That evening we went to see our play... it was absolutely amazing! Every year they do a different story and this year it was Queen Esther. We spent the week before reading the story in the Bible, so the boys loved seeing it come to life. It was a 2.5 hour play and the boys loved every minute of it. It was so grand, with elaborate sets, live animals and singing. We can't wait to go back next year when they do David. 

We took a drive around town on Sunday morning before we met our friends... we saw buggies and horses parked outside of a church (pretty neat sight) and we drove through some of their covered bridges. Lancaster is such a beautiful town and so very interesting! 

We met up with our friends, the Burrs, at a park on Sunday afternoon. We met David and Erin in Hawaii before any of us had kids and now between us we have seven. It was so great to spend the afternoon with them and let the kids play while we caught up!

Our final stop was at the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery because who doesn't love a fresh pretzel? We learned the history of the pretzel, how it is made and we even got to practice making them with our dough. Such a fun stop! 

We are so glad we made the trip this weekend... between the play, pretzels, seeing our friends and learning about the Amish we packed a lot in and enjoyed a fun weekend adventure!