lancaster

Justin has been selling in Lancaster which is about 1.5 hrs away. Neither of us are very patient when it comes to driving so he was going nuts driving 3 hrs a day by day three. So we decided to make a little trip out of it. I took the kids to a theme park/ water park called Dutch Wonderland last Wednesday. So many people out here have told us we have to go, and the kids just loved it. Jess, Erin and Tammy also came and took their kids.









That night we stayed in hotel room in Lancaster and Justin met us there. In the morning we saw Amish country. I was going nuts over the farmers markets, the Amish children being pulled in red wagons, the laundry on the line, the horse pulled tractors. I kept telling Justin, "I just NEED to hold an Amish baby." We went on tour of an Amish home and farm and learned about their day to day lives. I'm going to steal some facts off of Erin's blog because I have no ability to retain any informatin I learn so I have already forgotten everything:

*Amish is not a religion. It is a way of life. Most of their "rules" or customs are not a matter of righteousness, just lifestyle. Some things, like resting on the Sabbath and not taking pictures (graven images), is religious belief. All Amish are protestant.
*Amish are very much a part of the community. Only 1/3 farm. They can have any regular job, and use whatever they need to for their jobs (cell phones, etc.).
*There are fewer rules than I thought. These are the basics: They can ride on public transportation or in the car with other people. They just can't drive a car themselves, and they can't have electricity in their homes. They can shop wherever they want and buy whatever they want as long as they don't have electricity in their homes. They have to marry an Amish person, and there is no divorce. They aren't educated past age 15 (8th grade). If someone goes to college, they can't be Amish anymore. Therefore, there are no Amish professionals. The rules are black and white, the tour guide said, and if they don't want to live the rules, they can't be Amish.
*If people decide they don't want to be Amish, they can "leave" (i.e. not be Amish anymore). However, only 6% leave being Amish.
*The Amish are not out to convert anyone else. It is their lifestyle, and they rely on us for our lifestyle. They need professionals. They use our hospitals and doctors, and other professions that they don't have because of their limited education.


This little schoolhouse was so cute. Ellie thought is was so fun to pretend she was in school, telling me all the letters and numbers.







We stayed a second night and shopped the hundreds of outlets there. We found the cutest childrens clothing store called Pampolina. It's a European brand and they were having a sample sale so we got tons of clothes for Ellie for $8-$15, regularly $60-$100. We also got Cody a sweet gay guy shirt which you will see in the next post.