aidenbrooks.com

I’ve been very behind with our websites and blogs lately, but I’m finally catching up!  At the beginning of this month we took a vacation to Lancaster, PA.  Aiden had been there before, but he loves trains so much that we figured he’d enjoy going back.  We all had a great time!  We stayed an entire week but found plenty of things to keep us busy.  The kids were even entertained by the hotel room!

On our first full day there, we visited the Choo Choo Barn, which is a huge model train layout.  The kids really enjoyed watching the trains go by.  Aiden loved it so much that Rob took him around it a couple extra times.

Monday we went to the Strasburg Rail Road and spent the entire day there!  We bought all day passes, so we rode the train 4 times.  The kids even took their naps on the trains that day.  The all day passes also allowed unlimited rides on the mini train and cranky cars.  Aiden loved the cranky cars and rode them over and over and over. 

On Tuesday we went on an amish farm tour.  Aiden really enjoyed it there… there was a nice playground, and lots of animals.  Aiden especially loved the baby animals and kept commenting about how cute they were.

Wednesday we decided to go to Dutch Wonderland, which is an amusement park for families and kids. Despite the terribly hot weather, we have a great time!  The best part was that we bought  2 day tickets, so we knew we’d be able to go back again.  Aiden loved going on the rides, and even rode on the roller coaster and log flume!

Thursday we were pretty exhausted from the park, and it was hot again, so we had a more relaxing day.  We did go to see a train museum, which Aiden really enjoyed.

Friday was our last full day in Lancaster, and our 2nd day at Dutch Wonderland.  It was another fun day, and a little more bearable since the weather wasn’t so hot.  We were there counting down to them opening the gates, and stayed until the rides stopped.  What a great day!

All in all it was a fun trip for all of us!  Check out the rest of our vacation pictures here.

So Aiden was thinking about where the stray cat goes during the day and said “he swims in the lake!”…. After some more thought he added, “yea swims like a brick”

We haven’t been taking too many pictures lately (it doesn’t help that Aiden usually hates having his picture taken), but I finally posted some new pictures.  Actually, most of these taken on my new iPhone, I guess it’s handier to take pictures with the phone, and the quality isn’t bad.  There’s also some pictures from our visit to the zoo on July 10th that are new.  You can view the pictures on Aiden’s picture page, and as usual, here’s the sneak preview:

This is Aiden’s footwear choice for the day… “feet cups”.

Last weekend, Aiden and I were in the front yard. I was loading the car while he was playing. As a couple walking their dog is coming up our street I hear Aiden call out, what sounds like, “Hey Dad, look at those two assholes!”.

Stunned, I look up, but they are hopefully too far away. I said “What?”. Patiently he walks over and points to the gas tank door and says again, “Gas Holes, both cars have Gas Holes”. Much relieved, I say, “Oh. Yea, that’s pretty creative, but most people call them Gas Tanks.”. “Tanks? Ok. Gas Tanks,” he says.

I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with all the pictures on my camera, but finally the camera is empty and pictures are up.  Check out Aiden’s latest pictures on his pictures page!

On Wednesday, we went to the Binghamton Zoo for the 2nd time this year.  I have a family membership, and it’s well worth it since visiting the zoo is something we all can enjoy.  We started off our visit by visiting the goats, which is one of Aiden’s favorite parts:

Aiden was even able to see some animals up close!

Right outside the zoo, there’s a carousel, and Aiden was thrilled that it was running this time (it wasn’t open yet the last time we went to the zoo).  We ended up riding it twice, and Aiden even rode on a horse like a big boy!

We had a great time!  Check out the rest of our pictures here.

A couple weeks we took a little day trip down to the Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA.  Aiden loves trains so we thought he’d enjoy seeing all the trains up close.  Unfortunately when we got there, it was pouring rain, so we all got drenched, but otherwise we had fun.  We went on a train ride, saw lots of trains, and even got to go into some of the train cars.  It was a nice way to spend the day, and we hope to go back again sometime soon.  Click here to see the pictures from our day!

Last Thursday Aiden, Madelyn and I went to visit the Binghamton Zoo for the first time this year.   Aiden had a blast!  He really enjoyed seeing all the animals, and we even had a picnic lunch at the playground.  Then we had an ice cream snack.  We spent 3 hours there and visited most of the exhibits twice.  I bought a family membership to the zoo, so we expect to be making lots more visits.  Click here to see the full set of pictures from our day!