October 11th

Ahhhh, the vacation is winding down. We saved the itinerary for last. Today and tomorrow are full days. Here we go.....

Shelburne Museum is so much fun. It is acres of Americana and History. There was some cool exibits on while we were there too, Ansel Adams, need I say more. All these things to see and I honestly think things like jumping off a bench were some of the kids favorite moments.

Sign over the entrance to the covered bridge that is now a part of the museum.

Old School House in the museum.

Todd's nature photography.

Can you imagine school like this? They were so fascinated that school used to be held all in one room and was heated by a stove, etc.

Our little Oompah Loompah.

Another highlight for the kids. The very old but well maintained carousel. This was what Dallin asked about all day long. After this though we went into a looonnnnggg building that housed an entire circus parade of miniature figures. It was really cool.

Beautiful Stop on the road.

Then on to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory. We were so excited to learn about making Teddy Bears and of course, get one of our own. Dad used to be a "Bear Counselor." What a fun place to work.

Here we are on the tour.

The first in a series of "put your head in the hole" photos. Keep your eyes open for more.

After leaving the Teddy Bear Factory we suddenly decided to hop onto the ferry across Lake Champlain to New York. So we drove to the ferry dock and drove onto the next ferry that left in 5 minutes.....

A view of Vermont from the ferry.

Fun times on the ferry.

Arriving in New York. As we drove onto the dock in New York, Lauren loudly called out from the backseat, "Welcome to Yew Nork!!!!"

We started driving along the road in NY and saw this little open lawn with a beautiful tree and fallen leaves. We pulled over and took pictures and played for a while. I'm sure we were on someone's property but we didn't get shot at so we figured we were okay. It was fun.

So we wended our way along the Adirondaks and then to a different ferry crossing where we managed to make the last ferry of the day from that crossing back to Vermont. We were outside of the car for a few minutes, but it was really cold with the wind on the water so the kids spent most of the ride in the Secret Service car playing with their bears.

Jonah was asleep so we left him in the car. We were only like 6 feet away from him so he was safe. Yes, we can be responsible parents :-)

When we got off the ferry we were starving. We happened to find an amazingly good Churrasqueria, in Burlington of all places. We talked to the kids about the fact that we were taking them to a grown up restaurant and that they needed to behave. I don't know exactly what we said our how we said it (I wish I would have recorded it for future use) but they were so well behaved. We were so impressed with their behavior!! They were calm and pleasant and polite and ate lots of food and lasted for about 3 hours!!!

Hi guys!!! Now that it is time to sleep I am totally awake. Let's play.

October 10th

A nice thing about long vacations is that you can wander and not always be on a schedule. We set out on a day of wandering about the countryside and stopped at the Round Church in Richmond, VT.

We happened upon the Moulton Family Farm along the road. They had all manner of vegetables for sale, along with berries, maple syrup, etc. We were sad that we couldn't buy any squash or large pumpkins, but the kids were able to buy a few gourds. We spent quite a while hanging out with Farmer Moulton. He took the kids to see his pigs, taught us about how they harvest and make their maple syrup, let the kids pick through his cart load of gourds for their favorites (and gave them a few freebies beyond what we had already paid for), and chatted with us about his family (all his sons are involved in the farm and live within a short distance). We bought some maple syrup from him as well.

Holy Pumpkins!!!!

We went for a walk around Indian Brook Reservoir. There wasn't an official distance posted but we figure it was about 3 miles (???). The kids great until the end. Dallin was a machine and had a blast the entire way. Lauren on the other hand did well until she told us for the 2oth time that she was thirsty and informed us that if we didn't get her something to drink she was going to scream. This picture was pretty cool with the clouds reflecting in the water. You couldn't see it in person, but it showed up in the photos.

Here we are with the requisite sticks and mushrooms. We found all kinds of interesting mushrooms and lichen. Lauren wanted to make houses out of them, but the best we could do was to carry them around on our sticks. It was fun to explore the forrest for new things.

Two handsome guys.

Todd was showing the kids how cool he is by running up the tree. I'm sure you can picture how the landing was. The second time, was better and he landed it with a little more grace. After this we went to a beverage and got a drink (before Lauren screamed :-)) and homemade cake slices, yum! (What a great dinner, we had to find some better dinner later.)

October 9, 2010

Race Morning

We started the day with a race -- a kids fun run for Dallin and Lauren and a 10k for Todd.

Dallin and Lauren had a blast...apparently Dallin kept turning around to look at Lauren and kept giving her a thumbs up.

The kids enjoyed their awards.

Then Todd ran his 10k (6.2 miles). He said it was a five mile warm up (he said he took it wasy the first 5 miles) followed by a 1.2 mile hard run.

Then we enjoyed the fall foliage.

Followed by a get-together with some of Todd's family friends Don and Roberta Wheeler...Roberta taught Todd's primary class at church when he was three and they have remained close ever since. We spent the afternoon with them and then went to the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Waterbury, Vermont to try some of B&J's goodness...

Vermont

Today we headed out to Chapin Farms for some apple pickin'. To our dismay, their u-pick season had ended 2 weeks before. We decided to get some apples that had already been picked and some yummy apple cider. We hung out at the barn for a little bit before heading out to a different apple orchard.

Our little "pumpkin." Jonah had a blast being in the pumpkins. He was so happy just hangin' out.

People, these are what apples are supposed to taste like. Cold, crisp, and mmmmm good.

Lunch at Al's French Fries, a Burlington hot spot.

The littlest bumpkin on the farm.

Apple Picking at Adams Apple Orchard.

"Eve and the forbidden fruit."

Mom and Lauren enjoying the fall produce.

Pick a cause, any cause. Tree hugger, war protester, etc. you name it, there was probably a sticker for it.

After we picked apples and had lunch we went for a walk around Red Rock Park. The three muskateers had sword fights with sticks. We had some nice views of Lake Champlain.

After our hike the kids were hungry so we headed to downtown Burlington. Here we are having one of Dad's favorite foods from Nectar's. Gravy Fries. They were a hit! Even Jonah got in on the action and loved every bite.

Lady and the Tramp.

Hanging out on the waterfront of Lake Champlain