May 31, 2008

Shipshewana - Our Mini Vacation


My aunt Gail and cousin Jer came in on Memorial Day. We cooked out and made homemade ice cream. My cousin and the boys went on a bike ride and we made a last minute trip to Target to get a couple of things for our trip.

We got up early on Tuesday and left at 8am. We stopped at McDonald's for a quick breakfast and then took the 2 hour drive to Amish country.

My parents and aunt went in my parent's suv and my cousin, me and the boys went in mine. We had fun on the way. We listened to cds and passed a lot of beautiful scenery. Only half of it is highway, the rest is back roads so we got to see a lot of Amish homes and farms. We knew we were getting close when we started seeing horses and buggies and laundry hanging outside.

We got there around 11am and since it was too early to check in to our hotel, we headed straight HERE to the Flea Market. It was a little chilly but we survived. As soon as we walked through the gate I saw a "hair" booth. A Chinese lady was putting hair extensions in a ladies hair and I stopped to watched. She told me to come in and sit down and asked if I wanted her to do my hair. I loved the lady's hair she was doing, so I told her I wanted something exactly like "that". She was awesome at matching the hair color with her pieces and did a really good job with mine. And the good thing is, it's really easy to do, so anytime I want a cute hairstyle but are in a rush, I can do that. We walked around and looked at everything, got a quick lunch there and then walked around again until about 4:00. Right before we left we walked by a jumping thing... anyway, no one would do it but my cousin. I would have, but I didn't want my hair to go flying out.

After that we went to our hotel (Farmstead Inn), unpacked, got ready and went out to get an early dinner. We ate HERE and it was very yummy. Everything was home cooked and it was family style, so they just kept bringing out bowls or plates of whatever we needed. We got chicken, baked steak, corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, noodles, a salad and bread. It was all so good!

After we ate we went back to the hotel and went swimming, sat in the hot tub, played basketball and ping pong. Then we went back to our rooms, sat and talked and decided we needed a late night snack, so we ordered Pizza Hut. Then we went to bed.

We all met down in the lobby at 8:15 am for breakfast. Our plans for Wednesday was to leave right after breakfast and go through all the little Amish shops in town. However, I had looked at a super cute Coach knockoff at the flea market the day before and decided I didn't need it. Well, after sleeping on it, I decided I needed it. So, me, my cousin, and the boys went back to the flea market. We got right by the gate where the purse vendor was and I went in and picked up the purse in less than 5 minutes. However, T2 saw an alligator he had his eye on the day before, so he got that and T1 bought a picture for his room that he had looked at the day before. I also found a Louis Vuitton headband so I picked that up also. It's a good thing we went back! :)

After that we headed for the little shops, found my mom and aunt and walked around with them. We went in one shop and there was a little Amish woman who walked by and told us to make sure we came upstairs and visited her, and that she had some things for us to try. So we walked upstairs and way in the back of the room she had a table set up of all these dips. We tried a bunch and they were all very good. I bought 3 of the mixes... a spinach dip mix, a BLT dip mix and I also got a strawberries and cream dessert dip mix. They're all real easy to make, you just add the mix to either sour cream or cream cheese.

Next, we went HERE and went through all the little shops and rode their restored 1906 carousel. Then we started getting hungry so we ate at a little Amish ran restaurant called Daily Bread. Then we rode the carousel again, went to Aunt Millies to pick up some candy and left. But not before we almost got stuck in the elevator. But we won't talk about that.

After that, we made one last stop at Antique Gallery. T2 collects old cars and he got an old Greyhound bus. I got two old Presidential spoons.

Then we were on our way home. We got home, went out to eat, sat and talked, then went to bed. My aunt and cousin left early the next morning at 7am and 2 hours later it was back to work for me.

It was fun and relaxing and we spent most of the time bent over laughing so hard our stomachs hurt. We had a great time!

Enjoy the pics below...

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