vacation in vermont

I think I could enjoy a vacation anywhere, as long as I'm with my favourite people.

But I have to tell you, Vermont made it easy to feel like we were on vacation. Winding tree-covered roads through the mountains, green, lush, quaint, and complete with mountain hikes, winding rivers and friendly people. Restful.

Our first stop: to spend a few days with Tim's mom at the cottage. We took Tim out for dinner on his 41st birthday. I love these photos from the dinner table.

So I don't know what you use for directions, but I've come to rely on google maps a fair bit. Funny story. Our travel directions took us to Minden, then Lake Placid in New York (where Tim finally signed up for his first Ironman next summer --woo hoo!) and then down to Vermont and back up to Zurich. 197 steps to follow in total, I think. We followed google's lead to a tee on the way down to our resort since they had given us no reason to doubt their accuracy. And though I plugged in the exact address for the resort, our final few turns led us up a winding, potholed dirt road to a single dwelling. We had arrived. NOT! (I don't think I've used that phrase since the eighties.) We laughed all the way back to the interstate and found the resort ourselves. Thanks for the laugh, Google.

We finally did arrive at Ascutney Mountain Resort. The highlight of the resort was a brand new park which Maia loved, and fabulous fine dining, which we took advantage of twice with the girls. Too bad the outdoor pool was closed all week. I have found myself describing our week as a 'B level resort' but an 'A rate vacation'. An nice place for a summer vacation, but no doubt a pretty fabulous place for a winter ski vacation. Maybe one day when the girls are older...



The view from our window was pretty sweet in the morning when the clouds were just rising off the mountain. Quick story. I took the porch shot below from the same place we were standing our last night, looking up at the stars, when we heard some shuffling by our feet. We looked down. First glance, I thought it was a white squirrel. But then I realized we weren't in Exeter, home of the white squirrel.... we were in Vermont. And the creature at our feet was... a skunk! Needless to stay, our stargazing came to an abrupt ending.

When you're two months old and two (almost three) years old, there are some pretty sweet ways to travel up a mountain. (Note Maia's arms in each shot.)

The view from the top of Ascutney Mountain was worth the effort. And afforded the only family picture from our trip, now that I think of it.



The view from the top gave us a bird's eye view of our resort. See it between the trees? It's no wonder the Von Trapp family settled in Vermont after they escaped Austria. Apparently it reminded them of home. So lovely!



You know those random, funny moments in life that you wish in retrospect you had caught on camera so you could tell the story? Well, this time I did. As we were descending the mountain, these two older men were starting their climb. What struck me was that they had no gear, no water, no hiking poles. Just a hand to hold and... a pipe? As we stopped to talk, the 'younger one' (on the left) explained, "This guy here is 92, and he's done this all his life." I'm not sure if they were father and son or brothers or partners or just friends. I just know that they seemed all at once completely unprepared, completely undaunted by that fact, and completely endearing.

I really ought to use the macro feature on my camera more often. This one is almost as good as a Krista photo. Almost.



We enjoyed some time in a nearby town called Windsor, right on the border between Vermont and New Hampshire. This covered bridge that spans the river between the two states is apparently the longest covered bridge in the US. It has an adorable sign on it that says "Walk your horses or pay two dollars fine." We confess. We didn't walk our Subaru.



Tim and I were amazed how well Maia kept herself occupied in the car. Between looking out the windows, colouring, reading books, singing songs, and watching mom and dad attempt to make animal balloons, she was a pretty happy camper for about 2500 km. Of course, the blanket was a good friend too.

And Eliana preferred to spend the ride either sleeping or letting the parent in the passenger seat play the 'soother game'. This is the game in which the parent twists and turns to get the soother in the mouth of the child without unbuckling, followed by a prompt spitting out of the soother, followed by baby's cry. Round two. Round eleven. Round twenty two. Ah, finally a sleeping baby. And a tired parent. The soother game.

But who can complain when the child in question looks this peaceful...

... and this cute!


Big sis gets all the credit for this one.

videos from vermont

We also took some neat little videoclips on our trip.

DRIVING ON THE BEAUTIFUL WINDING ROADS OF VERMONT
My apologies for the wind out the window. You'll have to imagine a quieter soundtrack for this one.



SAY CHEESUS
When "say cheese" gets a "sneeze" instead, Maia tries something new. "Say cheesus!" Cheese... and Jesus? Well, at least mom and dad were smiling.



TIDY HIKER
Maia can be a little particular about things being in their place. Apparently, nature could do better.



RESTAURANT CABARET
Maia likes to take the tunes she knows and make up her own (usually nonsensical) words. Listen how "Twinkle Twinkle" morphs beautifully into "Farmer in the Dell". These girls are a pleasure to take fine dining... most all of the time.

funny moments with maiers

I think I could write a daily blog about the funny things Maia says and does. They come and go so quick sometimes that she's often on to the next one before I think to write the last one down. Sometime I'll have to record one of her monologues that relay both her experiencial and non-sensical conversations with herself. Very entertaining. Here's a few moments from the last week:

While standing by watching Tim cut the lawn, she must have cheered for 5 minutes at the top of her lungs over the sound of the mower:

GOOD JOB DADDY! GOOD JOB!... WAY TO GO, DADDY!

Aunties Christine, Yolanda and Lianna have been traveling by plane quite often in recent months. So when Maia saw a passenger plane flying overhead the other day, she asked the most natural question:

Is there an auntie on there?

Maia thinks a lot about creative ways to convince us to take her to the park again (not that we need a lot of convincing). My favourite this week, which you must read with your most dramatic voice:

When I'm bigger, and Eliana is bigger, and Mommy is bigger and Daddy is bigger, we can go to the park.

At almost three, most of Maia's words are clear and easy to understand. But she's got a few adorable words that occasionally need translation.

play the PLANO = play the piano
a PETER sandwich = a peanut butter sandwich
CLAPPING SHOES = tap dancing shoes
the PEWTER = the computer
FIRECRACKS = firecrackers
there's a VERTABLE! = there's a convertible!

Shortly after contemplating the performance of a bagpiper who left a big impression on her:

A man can wear a skirt if he plays that instrument.

And an hour later...

That man is not taking me home with him.

By the way, if you ask Maia this week what she wants to be when she grows up, she'll tell you:

I want to wear a skirt and play the bagpipes.

Her new love is wearing little dancing outfits. No matter if they're too small. They're for dancing! Time to look into dancing lessons in the fall, I think!

first grin

I've been eagerly awaiting Eliana's first smile. I think I just captured it!

Eliana will be 7 weeks old tomorrow already and we hadn't seen a hint of a grin yet. Perhaps it's because she had a nasty case of thrush that caused a lot of pain in her mouth almost since birth. We finally figured it out with the midwife last week, and she seems to be feeding more contently now... phew.

It's early to try to define her personality, but she sure seems like a sweetie by nature. Usually pretty easy to comfort when crying. Often you just need to say her name and come near and will stop crying before you even pick her up. If she had words, I think she'd say, "Oh, just put clothes on me and feed me every few hours and I'll be a happy camper." Then again, her evenings and mornings can be somewhat fussy. Pretty normal stuff. We've befriended a bottle of gripe water and that seems to help.

I can hardly wait until this girl can communicate a little more. She's someone I'm really looking forward to knowing.