Our Five Ring Circus: Family Road Trip to Pymatuning Deer Park and the Linesville Spillway

Thursday, August 3, 2017

Family Road Trip to Pymatuning Deer Park and the Linesville Spillway

Family Road Trip to Pymatuning Deer Park and the Linesville Spillway #Pennsylvania #Travel

Summer Break is coming to a rapid end, so I made the decision to focus on having fun with my kids! In order to do so, I had to cut back on the time I spend blogging until my kids head back to school. I feel like I have been juggling my kids, work, and other commitments all Summer, and I needed a break so badly. I needed to spend time with them, and the break is so worth it. We have been having so much fun, and we even went on a family road trip yesterday!


Before sharing our adventure, let me pause for a second to wish my beautiful Lily a happy SIXTH birthday! I can't believe my baby girl is already 6. She is such a joy and makes us laugh very single day! Stay tuned for her birthday interview, photoshoot and recap of her special day!

Pymatuning Deer Park

Lily got an early birthday present yesterday! We went on a fun family road trip with my parents to one of her favorite places: Pymatuning Deer Park! Deer Park is a family owned and operated interactive animal park, featuring both exotic and domestic animals, a little over an hour away from where we live.

My dad used to take me to Deer Park many times each Summer when I was a child, and now he takes my kids. The last time we all went together as a family was when Liam was almost 1 and Lily had just turned 3, so it has been far too long! It was definitely time for another family road trip!


Visiting Deer Park is always very nostalgic for me! Most of the exhibits are the same as when I was a child, and I loved going there no matter how many times we went. The first thing you see when you walk through the gates of Deer Park is a huge, wooded area full of deer. They all swarm the fence because people feed them, so you can pet them. Deer are one of my favorite animals, so petting and feeding the deer is what I love most about it! 


Pymatuning Deer Park

Liam was so young when we went 3 years ago, so he didn't remember any of it. This time he fell in love with the deer!

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

He loved them so much that he refused to walk away from them. We literally had to pick him up (which he wasn't happy about), and walk away from the exhibit!

Pymatuning Deer Park

Thankfully, there was plenty more to see and Liam took off running! We fed the monkeys, the ducks and the bears.

Deer Park 

We picked out a few new favorites, including the "cow with pigtails" and the ugly porcupine!

Pymatuning Deer Park

What's awesome about this animal park, is that there are lots of animal friends to pet along the way!

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

My youngest three fit right in...

Pymatuning Deer Park

The kids had fun exploring the school house, jail and covered wagon I used to love so much as a child! The stuffed bear, however, still wasn't a hit!

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

After we visited most of the exhibits, we took a ride on the Deer Park Express. When I was a little girl, I loved riding on the train. I thought Liam, my train-loving boy, would love it, but he was surprisingly scared until the train started moving!


Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Deer and Emu roam free around the tracks, and the emu will walk right up to the train and take food out of your hands. There are also wolves in an exhibit next to the tracks.

Deer Park Express

Liam ended up loving the train ride, and said choo choo every time the conductor blew the whistle. I have a feeling he would have stayed on that ride all day long, but we still had one big thing to do: visit the kiddie zoo!

The kiddie zoo is full of farm animals that kids can pet, feed and handle! When I was a child, the goats roamed free, and you can feed them bottles, but now they are kept in pens. It's still fun, though!


Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

There is also a budgie barn in the kiddie zoo, but it was closed during our visit. Lexie got to feed them when she went with my dad two weeks ago, though! We also opted to skip the pony rides. I'm kind of glad, because I'm still missing my horse very much, and it would have been hard to watch.

The hit of the kiddie zoo this year was the baby ducks! Lily informed me that we were going to buy her a baby duck for her birthday and "that's final!" (Sorry to disappoint, but our home is not equipped for a duck at this time!) They sure were cute, though!

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

Pymatuning Deer Park

After a few hours, it was time to leave for our next destination! We said goodbye to the deer, then visited the gift shop for a souvenir. We had such a great time, and it was extra special since my parents were there! (My mom came along, too, but she is famous for skipping out of pictures! Unfortunately, Grant couldn't miss work.)


Family Road Trip to Pymatuning Deer Park

Family Road Trip

Our next stop was at the nearby Linesville Spillway! The tagline for the spillway is "where the ducks walk on the fish" and it's 100% true! No matter how many times I see it, it's still fascinating...and completely disgusting.


Linesville Spillway

There weren't as many fish as usual this time, but the kids loved throwing bread to the fish that were there. They can literally devour a full loaf of bread in just a few seconds!

Linesville Spillway

Linesville Spillway

Down syndrome

We didn't stay at the Spillway for long, because it was really hot outside and my kids were starving. We drove through Conneaut Lake and talked about how awesome it would be to go out on a boat, but we ended up at Cracker Barrel instead! It was a good alternative. After our meal, we began the long trek home. We were all exhausted last night after a fun day!

We had so much fun on our family road trip with my parents! I feel so blessed that we live near my parents, and that they are incredibly involved in Dylan, Lexie, Lily and Liam's lives. The memories we made together yesterday, even through the stressful moments while wrangling four kids, will last a lifetime!


Family Road Trip

Motherhood


Family Road Trip to Pymatuning Deer Park & The Linesville Spillway #Travel #Pennsylvania


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6 comments:

  1. Deer park looks like a place my kids and I would love! So many cute animals! That porcupine is so funny!

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  2. Wow that looks like so much fun!

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  3. Oh what a fun place! It looks like the kids had a blast! And yes, you are lucky to live close to your parents. I don't know what I would do if I didn't live near mine! We see them at least a couple of times every week, sometimes more!

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  4. It's all about the memories... What a fun place. How cool that your kids are enjoying the same place you did as a child! Enjoy spending time with your kiddos before school starts. How is it that summer break has almost ended??

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  5. What a fun place to visit and so sweet that y'all were able to go on a road trip together! I'd love to do something like that.

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  6. Oh my gosh look at all t hose fish!?!! Love fun road trips like that!

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