Slow summer fun

More time taking it easy--met with high school friends and colleagues for a catch up--and the kids were THRILLED to catch an inchworm and a toad---and met up with an English friend who gave the kids very fun goodie bags (Hi Jill! :),  tried to go ride the Lowly worm ride at the outlet malls--but it wasn't there anymore (Grandpa had given the kids a whole tube of quarters--some of which the ride ate), got an ice cream, ran into the cousins at the outlet mall, and practised our math counting all grandpa's change--oh and cousin races down the driveway in wheelchairs Grandpa got at the dump (yes, redneck fun)-AND by 6pm, Isla had gotten pretty good at using her new skipping rope. (Thanks Jill!). Ailsa is practicing with hers. 

Friday Nights

The fun continued with more toad catching, tree climbing (on the state house lawn), roller derby watching (Ailsa was obsessed with it!), new sparkly shoe buying, cousin-time. 

It was a bath night for sure and they were all asleep within minutes. 

A full house

Everyone is here! We spent the day playing with cousins.  Grandma has a very full house with 14 extra people at some points. 7 of their 9 cousins were here too. It was 'every man for himself' finding your own spot to sleep last night. 

Slow, summer days

There was crazy, heavy rain yesterday and tornado warnings. The kids got to play with their cousins and just have a slow day--complete with bug hunting and acorn art creation. (And Cheetos eating--hence the selfie picture showing her orange tongue). 

Starting things off with a bang

Our first Monday here and we hit the ground running. The compulsory trip to Target, to get all of life's essentials and ogle and awwww over all the things we can't get at home. It wasn't as pleasurable as I'd drempt it being, as I had the kids with me and we had a schedule to keep to, but it was productive none the less. Then filling up the car with petrol, a trip to Dunkin Donuts and a quick search for discount amusement park tickets at the pharmacy.  We got home in time to change in to our bathing suits and head over to an amusement/waterpark.  We had a ball! Lots of rides, the water park was clean and well-kept and aimed at an age that was perfect for my three--no 15 year olds shoving them off rides, etc..  By 4pm 8,000 kids from camps had left the park  and it was fabulously empty! We stayed until almost 7pm and the kids got their fill of rides. We went out to dinner and then did the super-cool red-neck family thing of watching the turtles in the lake after we ate. It was magical summer-fun! The kids got bathed--to get all the chlorine, sunscreen and dirt off them and they were asleep within minutes.  What a super fun day with our favourite 'fake cousin.' 

Cousins!!!

The biggest reason we make this trip is so the kids can know their cousins. 11 months of the year they thrive on the stories from the summer. Yesterday we finally met up. And it was just as much fun as they'd been hoping. It was a few hours spent running around their house and yard playing, seeing their talents and getting pedicures from older cousins. Fergus is the constant shadow of Thaddeus and keeps calling Mary 'Rosie.' 

Animal parade around the house.

She's really good and let Ailsa have a go! 

Vah' mont

Up at the crack of dawn, eagerly announcing 'Today is the day we see our cousins!', hotel breakfast by 7am, and on the road by 8. A quick trip to Red Rocks park and a little morning hike thru the woods to see Lake Champlain, then more car time as we headed south to the Ben & Jerry's factory. We got there before they opened but had a fabulous time playing on their monster playground and visiting the graveyard of deceased flavours. The samples were great and the kids for tshirts, before we hit the road again. We had to stop in South Royalton for a potty (and fudge) break and despite plans to go to King Arthur's Flour factory, only mum wanted to do that, so was out voted. We drove over Quechee Gorge, for our first Dunkin Donut and then lunch in White River Junction. More driving took us by our cousin's house--who weren't home, but they had a fun turtle on their walkway...we made it to our fake cousin's house and had a lovely afternoon running around, playing on the swingset, playing in the bouncy house and having a cookout. Lovely to feel so welcome 'home.' Woken up this morning to rain! Time to consider our rain options. It's still warm though, so not too bad. It's nice to feel like you belong somewhere :) 

America bound

We had a nice drive thru Quebec. It's a beautiful part of the country--very flat and agricultural with amazing stone houses. We played at a sugar shack, waiting for it to open so we could ask if they had a gift shop--instead of a giant buffet, that only Ailsa was interested in....they didn't have a gift shop but sent us down the road to a lovely farm stand type store where we bought maple sugar candy, fudge and fresh strawberries. The biggest hit was the sliding benches--my grandma had one we loved as kids....I'd move there--if I spoke french. Then waited for almost an hour at the border to cross in then US and oddly, all the rural flatness gave way to wooded hills. Not sure if it because the land wasn't cleared or managed, but it seems weird that the 'border' was so stark. Pike's River is a fun little town though. Lots of driving down thru Vermont and we cleaned up at the rest stop that had leaflets of things to do in Vermont. It was so late in the day by the time we made it to Burlington, we skipped the lake museum and just did the teddy bear factory (we'd stopped at a diner in Milton for a late lunch and treat at 'Madeleines' bakery). Then we found our hotel, gave up on the idea of dinner, bathed everyone, couldn't get the tv to work so just said it was time for bed. 7pm is a perfect bedtime for jet lagged children and their overtired mother--who was never cut out to be a single parent! We're excited to see cousins tomorrow and finally hit a target for basics (we've been living off of hotel shampoo, kids toothpaste and the two hair elastics we brought with us). I've never flown over and gone this long without mexican food, a trip to Walmart and some 'home' food. It's a very different trip than any of my previous ones! 

I think my favourite line of the day was after a lady asked me if we wanted to do the tour at Vermont teddy bear, ailsa got very excited and said 'she speaks English!!' The lady laughed and I had to explain we'd spent a day travelling and in Amsterdam airport, then two days in Montreal.  The kids really didn't get the idea of 'the border,' as Ailsa kept asking when we were going to America on a plane. (Ferg just had to pee when we were in the queue for the border, so I had to let him go on the side of the road--with all the other cars watching, classy? No. Necessary? Yup!)

We need one of these rope cages!

The magic glider benches

The border