Getting Lost in The Plains

On Saturday, after watching Tommy run an amazing race, The Busy Bryants headed to The Village of The Plains.  I won't lie...The Village of The Plains sounded like a horror movie title to me.  But as it turned out The Plains is nothing like a horror movie.  It's more like a Norman Rockwell painting.  Small, quant and seemingly stuck back in time this place was the perfect spot to stop and get lost.  And get lost we did.  But what do you expect when you walk into a corn maze?

The Corn Maze in The Plains has to be one of the very best mazes/pumpkin picking/children's play areas I've ever been to.  There was a small shop with goodies, lots of play stuff for the kids, a hay ride, pumpkins ready for the picking and a giant corn maze of course. 





 
Before heading into the maze there was a briefing....basically they told us that if we got lost they would see us tomorrow...haha.  Actually they gave each group or family a tall flag and said if we got lost and didn't want to keep walking around in circles to wave the flag and they would come get us.  There were six stations in the maze that would give us clues.  You had to answer a question at each station and if we answered right then we got pointed in the right direction.  We must have answered right  because we found our way out.  I didn't time how long it took but when we went in Emma was awake and walking.  By the time we walked out she was snoozing hard in our arms. 

The maze is located a little east of Manassas right off of I-66.  And this particular maze does moonlight maze hunts that seem pretty cool.  General admission was $9 for adults, $8 for 12 and under,  3 and under free.  The hayride, maze and all the play equipment (there was a lot for kids to play on) was included in the price.  There was a concession on site with hotdogs, hamburger, chips and drinks.  Over all I really enjoyed this place.  So if ever in The Plains during the end of September or October stop by. 

Monday Love

It's a rainy and cold Monday but the weekend was beautiful...and full of adventure.  A visit to Manassas Virginia and The Plains had us screaming our heads off and scratching our heads at the same time.

Nothing like a hundred or so kids running to bump up the excitement level



Plus a little visit to a big corn maze and pumpkin patch



And Emma trying out some
big girl socks




If anyone sees Mark in there...tell him to come home!


It was great weather for the outdoor parts of our weekend.  And the cold weather hit just in time to get inside with a cup of hot coffee and pumpkin scone from Starbucks :)  Life is good.  Happy Monday and start to another week.

Back to the grind!

After such a great Holiday and so much fun with family and friends, it is back to work time for us.  However I am happy to report that with the coming and now going of this festive season The Busy Bryants will now be back up to getting out and seeing more of Virginia (and who knows where else).  We do have a small matter of New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, my birthday, and one open house to host....before the comings and goings....get going.  Last night while formulating some ideas about what we would like to do in January I started thinking about this last year and everything that has happened and all the places we have been.  I forget just how busy we are until I think back on all that we have done.



We welcomed in the year at Smith Mountain Lake.



We travelled to Williamsburg by ferry for Father's Day



We camped at Todd Lake



We visited Virginia Beach.



Mark and I had a weekend away in Leesburg.



Visited Manassas.



Hiked the Blue Ridge Mountains.



We biked the Virginia Creeper Trail.



We did a one day marathon wine tour in the Great Neck region.



Visited friends in Harrisonburg.



Took in some culture at a plantation.



Attended a few festivals.



Did I mention we visited a few wineries?



All in all it was a great year.  We made so many great memories and the good part is I have them documented on here for us to read about whenever we want to take a stroll down memory lane :)







Visiting The Plains

The view of the grounds at Great Meadows Event Cener

October 1, 2011 Tommy, my oldest, had a cross country meet in The Plains, VA.  The meet was held at The Great Meadows Event Center and let me tell you....it was gorgeous!  Mountains in the distance, green grass all around and a tiny village that made my heart melt!  The event center is actually owned by a foundation and their intent was to keep this area open for use by the public.  From the looks of things there are horse competitions here as they have horse jumps set up around the property. 

We stayed in Manassass the night before the event at the Quality Inn Manassas.  It was a decent room and since we had went up right after work it really didn't matter to us as long as it was clean...and it was.  It was also quiet!  Even with a group of teenagers running around we got a good night sleep.  I woke up early and figured with all the kids staying at the hotel (kids going to the meet that day) their would be no breakfast left.  But the Inn kept breakfast stocked and put out more food as needed.  There was the usual donuts, bagels, toast, fruit and coffee.   But they also had bacon and hard boiled eggs.  The bacon was paper thin but if you had a taste for something salty with breakfast it at least hit the spot.

We had gone up expeting Saturday morning to be chilly.....but it was down right cold.  And windy!  I had taken a sweater but I really needed a coat.  Mark and the kids stayed in the bus most of the times.  I got out to cheer on the girls as they took off then went back to the bus to warmed up until the boys ran.  I loved watching them all take off.



A shot of the boys as they took off

 And I think the cold was actually a help to the runners.  Tommy and at least one team mate shaved off two mins from their times!  I think they ran so hard just to stay warm :)

Tommy approaching the finish line


As the boys were finishing the sun came out and we all started to warm up.  With the sun shining even Emma to come out and cheer on her big brother. 

Emma and Mommy trying to stay warm



More of the Great Meadows Event Center

This entire area has so many historic things to see and visit.  It probably needs a week all on it's own.   Being in NOVA it's close to D.C. if you ever plan a visit there.  I am sure Tommy will be running here again so I will be making an effort to spend more time taking in all that they have to offer :)