Fun and Food
Berlin, OH - Events of Tuesday, August 30 to Wednesday, August 31, 2016
On Tuesday morning, we headed out to Der Dutchman Restaurant in Walnut Creek for their breakfast buffet. Their buffet is one of our favorites anywhere. The buffet includes scrambled eggs (with numerous toppings like cheese, mushrooms, onions and peppers), two kinds of potatoes, fried mush, pancakes, French toast sticks, sausage gravy and biscuits, grits, two kinds of sausage, bacon, fresh fruit, jello and/or pudding, cold cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, fresh fruit, frozen fruit slush, cinnamon rolls, donuts, coffee cake and more. Yum!
After breakfast, we drove a few miles south to Keim Lumber in Charm, OH. In addition to the usual lumber and building materials, Keim has many types of exotic hardwoods, unique home improvement items you don't normally see in the big box stores as well as lots of hard-to-find hardware.
Keim Lumber
Like the last time we were at Keim with Lydia, the nice lady at the information desk near the entrance gave Lydia a balloon. The balloon came in handy to keep Lydia entertained while the adults were looking around the store.
Lydia with her balloon
From Keim Lumber, we headed up the road to Hershberger's Farm Market where they have a rather large petting zoo. We usually go there on a Saturday when Lora, J. Michael and Lydia are at Scenic Hills for the weekend, but it was really nice to go to Hershberger's on a Tuesday when there was hardly anyone else there.
J. Michael supervising Lydia while she pets a goat
We're not sure who likes the petting zoo more - Lydia or Lora.
Lora and Lydia feeding a miniature horse
Lora and Lydia feeding a foal
By the time we were finished at Hershberger's, it was time to head back to Scenic Hills for Lydia's lunch and her nap. For dinner, J. Michael grilled up some yummy burgers. It was too warm for a campfire, so we all just hung around after dinner. Lora, J. Michael and Lydia headed back to their trailer when it was time for Lydia to go to bed.
A couple of posts ago, we told you about taking Lydia to Planet Bounce in the Pittsburgh area. Well, Margery found another similar place in nearby Wooster with what looked to be more things to do for younger kids like Lydia in addition to bounce houses. We headed there on Wednesday morning only to find they didn't open until 3 p.m. Apparently they had just changed to their fall hours since the local schools were back in session and hadn't yet updated their website or Facebook page, both of which still said they opened at 11 a.m.
We had a very disappointed little girl on our hands, so Margery did some fast research (gotta love smartphones) and found the Kiwanis Christmas Run Playground was only about 10 minutes away. It turned out to be a great playground that had just opened earlier this year. The playground equipment has a nature theme with rustic trees, logs and rocks made from fiberglass for the kids to climb on and through.
Kiwanis Christmas Run Playground
Lydia started out on the small slide.
Lydia on the small slide
She quickly graduated to the roller slide right next door. Lydia, and a great number of the other kids, really liked the roller slide because not only is it fairly fast, but it also gives you a bumpy ride.
Lydia on the roller slide
Lydia wanted to cross one of the rope bridges and much to her parents' dismay, Grammy let her go for it. It took a good bit of adult supervision to make sure she didn't fall through, but Lydia loved it.
Lydia crossing a rope bridge
Lydia and Lora up in the tree house
Lydia and Grammy on the swing
The playground turned out to be just as good, if not better activity than the bounce house. Not only did Lydia have a great time, but Lora didn't have to do quite as much work to help Lydia like she did at Planet Bounce. Best of all, the playground was free.
On our way back to Scenic Hills, we took a slight detour through Millersburg to stop for a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant Margery had found online recently. La Palma has been in downtown Millersburg for around 11 years. Because La Palma is located just past the main intersection where we always turn to go to Walmart, we never drove past the restaurant and didn't know it was there. La Palma gets pretty good reviews, and good Mexican restaurants in Amish Country are pretty few and far between so we decided to give them a try.
La Palma Mexican Restaurant
We started off with the traditional corn chips and salsa. The corn chips were pretty good - warm and fairly crisp, and the salsa was excellent. It was nice and chunky with plenty of fresh cilantro and with just a little bit of a kick.
La Palma has a variety of lunch specials for around $8 and dinners for around $11 to $13. Most of us got lunches and added an a la carte item for variety and for a little something extra to eat since we didn't plan to have dinner later. Everything was delish!
Paul with his burrito and chili relleno with Lydia in the background
With our bellies full, we headed back to Scenic Hills for Lydia's nap and for an evening of relaxation. We had another interesting outing planned for Thursday. Stay tuned.
Kiwanis Playground does look so nice and so very clean.
I knew Lydia could cross over that bridge, but Margery, you did outstanding. You still have great balance! At our age, we need to celebrate that...lol
Posted by: Marsha | September 06, 2016 at 07:26 AM