Farm Living is the Life for Me

This past memorial Day, Rob has the unfortunate task of doing a complete inventory for work and I decided the best way to help him complete the monumental job was to get out of the way and to take Romi with me. We planned an all-day outing to Lancaster, PA.  Steven jumped in the car that morning and the three of us set off for an adventure.

 Annette (the GPS) made the odd decision to take us 75 miles away all on surface streets and two-lane highways.  It may have taken us a bit longer, but it was a beautiful drive.  We had winding roads and verdant hills and scenic vistas.  Romi even looked up from his iPod every now and then to enjoy the views.  I felt a bit odd--read voyeuristic--checking out Amish country.  How would I feel if people turned the Chasidic Jews into a tourist attraction?  Oh, wait....  In any case, I felt guilty about how fascinating it was to spy a horse-drawn plow and people dressed out of the movies working their farms.

We arrived in Strausburg and went in search of some food.  Many of the local eateries were combined with motels, so that scared us off.  We are also intrigued but intimated by "traditional" Amish fare since we doubted it's status as vegetarian-friendly.  Instead we settled on the local, inexpensive and very friendly pizzeria. After lunch we headed to our farm tour.  It wasn't quite what we expected, but turned out to be wonderful.  Laura was a laid-back and informative tour guide, and this being spring there were baby animals galore.  They ranged from kittens to bunnies all the way up to calves.  We learned all about the milking process, held baby ducks (no Heather, I can't quack like one), and took a liking to the two-week old goats.  The tour was capped off with a wagon ride, pulled by a tractor.

We returned to town in search of ice cream.  The corner store made homemade waffle cones and they tasted as great as they smelled.  I almost caved and bought Rob some butterscotch peanut butter, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  The nostalgic candy display had everything from Bit-O-Honey to candy necklaces and dots.  I was most excited to see Mom's beloved Clove and Black Jack gums.

Ice cream consumed, we got in the car to find Misty Creek Goat Dairy Farm.  Romi fell instantly asleep, which was good because we had no idea here we were going.  We drove through suburban farm country, a mix of Amish and non-Amish.  We spied horses and buggies, Amish kids on bikes, and honor fruit and veggie stands.  We found the farm and Steven waited in the car while I went into a tiny room complete with a refrigerator full of the best-tasting goat cheese samples ever.  The little room was completely unattended, it just had wares on display (including goat milk soap).  I settled on a plain but scrumptious goat cheese and a blue cheese.  To pay, you sign your name on a clipboard, write down how much you bought, and make your own change in the cash drawer.  I enjoyed the experience almost as much as I am enjoying the cheese!

A Stick and a Rock

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but my baby-turned-toddler has morphed into a boy.  It's beautiful and wonderful and I wouldn't trade it for anything, but it certainly is a different world! 

Romi may be a "big kid," but there are times when he still has trouble putting himself to sleep, especially if he manages a catnap during the day.  If he tries and isn't successful, one of us will go into his room and do the "relax your feet, relax your legs" game to see if we can't get him on his way to dreamland.  The other day, Romi was struggling to get some shut eye and told Rob that he needed help getting his body to sleep, simply requesting, "Abba, please unfold me."

One of the best things about having a kidlet is to discover all the things he knows.  Romi loves to "read": and "spell" and do simple math problems.  He's fascinated with the alphabet and new vocabulary.  I was curious, however, how much his reasoning skills had developed and as he walked around counting, I asked the little man if he could count backwards.  He quickly assured me he could and to demonstrate, continued his upward counting while walking backwards.  He honestly had no idea why I found this so damn amusing.

A true story:

Rob and Romi were driving to school when Romi spied a lost dog (no Heather, not the café) poster on a telephone pole.  He asked Rob what it was and Rob explained that someone had lost a pet and was hoping to find it so it could come home safe and sound.  Later that day, I had picked up Romi from school to take him back to the synagogue with me.  Seeing as it was such a beautiful day, we drove through the park, which houses the Maryland Zoo.  The zoo had recently begun a summer ad campaign, with large posters hanging from light poles around the park.  Romi carefully identified each zoo animal, penguin, lion, zebra, until he exclaimed, "Wow!  The zoo has lost a lot of animals!"

A snippet of my life:  Rob, Steven and Romi are hanging out.  I come in, look at Penny and exclaim: Who put tape on the dog's head?!  The irony was that I really had to ask.  It could have been any one of them.  Bets on who was the dog-tape perpetrator?

It should come as no surprise that Rob loves to torment his son.  When his birthday came around and Romi began to discuss gifts, Rob insisted that we were getting him a stick and a rock.  This went on for days.  My son, however, is a quick learner and yesterday, when I inquired what Romi wanted to get Rob for Father's Day, you guessed it, his suggestion: a stick and a rock!