Vermont

What fun we had in Vermont!  We spent a long weekend in early August at Mimi's house and had such a good time.  This was the first time the boys had been to her house when the weather was actually nice enough to play outside (and boy, was the weather nice!)  The last couple of years we have spent Christmas up there when there is tons of snow on the ground and freezing temps.  This summer, however, I was searching for any destination that would take me out of Philadelphia's humidity.  Vermont was an excellent choice.  I think that we will make this an annual trip and stay longer in the future (if that plan is okay with Mimi...).

Sam and Aunt Joey making silly faces...

Hey, hey, hey, Hollywood!!  (a song we sing whenever the boys wear our sunglasses)...


We got to see quite a bit of family and friends during our short trip.  Uncle Chuck and Aunt Lisa drove over from New Hampshire on our first full day in Vermont.  We had lunch and a nice visit with the two of them as well as Stan and Arlene Ramsden--good friends of Paul's family.  Paul's cousin David, along with his wife Lori and their two beautiful kids--Alex and Kate, drove down from northern Vermont the following day for lunch and a swim.  And of course no trip to Vermont would be complete without spending oodles of time with Koa, Joey and Neki.

Paul with Uncle Chuck and Stan  Ramsden

Star Lake

This lake is right through Mimi's backyard.  It is so pretty and peaceful, and the kids had a ton of fun splashing and swimming.

Max with Alex, Kate and Koa

Kate and Sam

Once Sam found that David would help him keep his squirt gun loaded with water they became fast friends...

Sam with David

My boys definitely take after my side of the family when it comes to salt.  I am sure these pictures make my mom (and all of her side of the family) very proud!



The boys had so much fun playing in Mimi's driveway.  She had quite the selection of toys--tricycles, tractors, bikes, strollers.

Max's favorite toy at Mimi's house...



Until Koa inspired him to learn how to ride a two-wheeler...




Koa was so nice to share his bike with Max, and Max was very motivated by Koa's ability to ride a bike without training wheels--so much so that he learned himself before our trip was over!

We knew that given our crazy lives at the moment (broken foot, pregnancy, never-ending to-do-list,  etc...) we wouldn't be having a birthday party for Sam this year.  So,we decided that since we would be in the company of family we should do some celebrating a little early for our favorite almost-two-year old.

Sam's birthday dinner celebration

Birthday Cupcakes!

Best Buddies!

All in all, the trip was a blast! The pics don't even begin to do justice to all the fun that was had.  I guess that right now, since I am so immobile with the big belly and broken foot and all, I don't get very good or as many pics as I would like.  Also, the commentary is a little weak compared to blog entries past.  Let's just say I have a LOT to do before this baby comes, and if I don't get these last entries in fast they are never going to make it... (don't be surprised if another update to the blog comes within the next day or so!)

The Rest of Utah

On one hand, our wonderful, fun-filled Utah trip seems so long ago. Yet, on the other--didn't August just FLY by? I can't believe it is September already, and I seriously can't believe that by the end of this week I could have a baby!

I am almost so frantic about getting everything done that I don't know where to start--be it with the blog entries I want to finish or the house cleaning and baby preparation that need doing. A major drawback to this "urge to nest" is that I can't. I can't do hardly any of the things on my huge to-do list--my foot and my husband won't let me. But, at least I can sit and blog--who knows, maybe I can get all caught up before #3 arrives...

This is the last Utah entry. We had so much fun and did so many things in those 4 weeks that nothing is in chronological order--I have just been including pics and events in categories.

We can call this first one the "Fun times in Grandma's Backyard" category...

Grandma Jill bought a slip-n-slide and a little pool for the boys (and their cousins).

My boys couldn't really figure the slip-n-slide out--Max would get a running start and then totally stop at the top and carefully place himself belly down on the mat. When he failed to miraculously slide down to the bottom he became very upset. Sam just liked playing with the spraying water.

Max really enjoyed the pool, though, and loved jumping into the water.

For the first few days, Sam was PETRIFIED of the dogs and the horses. In fact, he was so scared that he wouldn't even go outside without me holding him. Anytime a dog (my parents have three and Jake has one) would come near him he would panic. But, he slowly became more and more comfortable with them...

And by the end of our trip he and Gus were best buddies!

When Sam wasn't playing with the dogs, he could either be found jumping on the trampoline,

Or spraying everything (and everyone) in sight with the hose. He LOVED the hose. He would literally make a beeline for it every morning and start squirting.

He gave Papa's truck a good washin' on more than one occasion, and all of the grown-ups got soaked whenever we were outside.

My cute, ADORABLE, silly kid.

Gus (one of the dogs) caught a blow snake and grandma showed it to the grandkids. Everyone was pretty freaked out (mostly because it wasn't quite dead yet) except for Max--he thought it was quite cool...

The boys also got some awesome (and much needed) haircuts from Aunt Kellee...

Even though it was done outside on a super windy afternoon, I would have to say that Aunt Kellee gave Max one of his best haircuts ever!--thanks Aunt Kellee!!

I will call the next category "Miscellaneous Cuteness" since that is really the only reason I am posting these next three photos...

Or, maybe I should call it "The Chocolate Monster" since Sam is drinking chocolate milk while eating a chocolate chip cookie and slurping chocolate pudding. Hmmm... I guess anything goes while at Grandma's!

"Gramma Grape and Grandma Great"

It is pretty cool that Max and Sam have two great-grandma's. They both loved going to my Grandma Turner's house in Kanosh or taking a walk/bike ride down to my Grandma Bonnie's house in Holden.

And the final category: "Fun in the Canyon".

We always enjoy going up Maple Hollow Canyon for dinner. It is so pretty and peaceful there, and the food is always so yummy!

And, there is a really fun/scary swing for the kids to play on...

Look at little Sam soaring through the sky!

I think it was a bit scary for him--he much preferred riding on Jeslyn's lap...

Our first trip up the canyon happened to fall on my mom and dad's 35th anniversary...

We got to hang out with Emerson and Gramma Grape on both our trips up Maple Hollow...

And my Grandma Turner, Aunt JoAnn and cousin Brady came with us on the second trip. That night we grilled steaks...

Which Judd REALLY enjoyed!

The kids had fun running around, throwing rocks in the stream, and getting really dirty.

Alright, I am finally finished with Utah. Now, I need to move on to Vermont--another exciting and fun-filled trip. Maybe I will even get to it before I go into labor...