By the Scoop Ice Cream Parlor

 Our new favorite place to visit is the "By the Scoop" ice cream parlor in Bowley's Quarters! This ice cream joint is what I envision an old fashioned ice cream parlor would be like (but since I was born in the 80's I can't tell you from personal experience). All of the ice cream flavors are made from scratch and we have not had a "bad" flavor yet. The flavors are always changing (which is exciting), but some of the more interesting flavors we've sampled include: Berger cookie (vanilla ice cream with big chunks of the Baltimore favorite Berger cookies), Fluffer Nutter (peanut butter with marshmallow), and peach cobbler (peach ice cream with pieces of peach and cake). They also have all the traditional flavors of ice cream you would expect and sorbet if you are trying to count calories. In addition to just ice cream they have homemade waffle bowls (dipped in chocolate or not, with sprinkles or nuts), hot waffle sundaes, and banana splits to name a few. In their refrigerator you can also buy old fashioned soda in glass bottles (for some reason soda just tastes better when it is in one of those bottles).

This ice cream parlor is extremely kid friendly, a must for us. They have little tables for the kids to sit at while traditional 50's television plays shows like "Leave it to Beaver." Caleb had never seen black and white television and it lead to a great conversation! The picture above was taken after a trip to the Maryland Zoo and boys both enjoyed birthday cake ice cream, a tasty vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles in it.

Parents can sit back, relax, and actually taste and enjoy their ice cream as their is a large wall chalkboard for kids to draw on when they finish their ice cream early (that always seems to happen!). Blake could have played for hours with this chalkboard if I would have let him! By the Scoop is located at 105 Carroll Island Road, Middle River, MD, 21220 (directly across from the Walmart in the same shopping strip as Fish and Chips/Gamestop). Their pricing is very reasonable with kids scoops only costing around $2. Visit their website www.bythescoop.com for more details. I also recommend liking their facebook page at www.facebook.com/bythescoop. They post "scoop alerts" on their facebook to let you know the new flavors that have been added. Let me know what you think if you get to go!

Choo Choo Barn

Last year a friend generously gave us "Choo Choo Barn" tickets she had won from a local radio station (thanks Lori!). Last weekend we finally stopped by and it was AMAZING!


Caleb and Blake really enjoyed it... but let's be honest, so did Mommy and Daddy! The man who creates this train garden each year is some type of magician! Before this train garden I had only been to local gardens. None of them are even close to this one! Trains stop to let others pass. A fire engine pulls up to a house, puts out the fire with real water, and then drives away. I couldn't believe it!
One of our favorite parts was this replica of Dutch Wonderland. The details from the water boat ride to the moving Skylift were amazing.

Choo Choo Barn is located just down the street from the Strasburg Railroad. Admission is $7 for adults and $4 for children. See www.choochoobarn.com for more details. We will definitely be going back as the display changes yearly!