Candles, Candy, Crepes and Climbing

Last Saturday we visited the Yankee Candle Village in South Deerfield with my parents and my sister.  It's sort of like the Disney World of candles.  Not only are there acres of candle shopping, but there's also a mock-up of a Bavarian village with a giant rotating Christmas tree, a miniature Christmas village setup with a series of working model trains, the "Black Forest" room where it "snows" every four minutes, an FAO-Schwartz-type giant toy store, a candle museum where you can make a wax model of your hand, and much much more.  It was a bit of a sensory overload for the girls, but they loved it.  Here are some pics.

M & N test some swings

Grandpa and a giant cow catching a frisbee

Grandma and the girls watching the "Candle Mountain Boys" (animatronic country singers with instruments-- N kept reassuring herself that they were just "pretend mans" not "real mans"... I think she found them fascinatingly scary)

N with a big smile in the princess castle at the toy store

N requested a "pop" from the candy store, and since she had been such a good girl, we obliged

L rides with Mama

N the pirate

L rides with Daddy (looking slightly overwhelmed)

N feeds the zebra at the toy store

The next day, everyone was feeling pretty tired.  To use a family phrase, "We didn't want to have to do anything." Maybe we were being lazy, but M and I decided to take a family mental health day.  We didn't pressure ourselves to get the girls ready and out the door for church.  I made us some crepes for breakfast and we ate them with jelly and blueberries inside, and sprinkled them with sugar... mmmmmmm.  We left the laundry and cleaning that we normally do on the weekends for another day.  Instead, we took a little hike in the woods with the girls, and ate our picnic lunch atop a bridge over the highway where N had a great time watching the cars and trucks whizzing by.

We came back for naps, and then ended the day with a family viewing of "Aladdin" and a bowl of popcorn.  I can't remember the last day when I didn't feel a lot of pressure from myself to go somewhere or get lots of "stuff" done.  I think we really needed to take the time to just do what we wanted, on our own time.  Hopefully we'll return to worship next week refreshed.  

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Now I'm off to get caught up on the laundry we didn't do this weekend.