So anyone recall those words "Road Trip" once uttered back in Spring of 2010?
Well "The Fab 4" (that's the new name I've given us...) decided to give that road trip thing another try. This time we decided to drive our family to New England for vacation. What? It's only a 17+ hour drive with two young kids (but no dogs this time....phew!) so why not.....we're crazy enough to give it another try. It was a looong drive that consisted of approximately 325 x's "are we there yet?", "I' m hungry" and "I need to go pee pee. Again", about the same amount of potty breaks and more junk food consumed than I care to elaborate on!
And now that we're home, safe and sound, I am pleased to say it all went pretty well. We did have our share of adventures and excitement, which is all part of a really fun family trip with lots of wonderful memories. Now when I say adventures, well I mean we certainly had a few of them. Or misadventures....could be called either.
Our trip started out pretty well even though I almost botched it by claiming how well it was going within the 1st hour. (But no, I learned that lesson already - see Spring break 2010 again....) The kids fell asleep somewhere around the 2nd hour of the drive, all was peaceful in the car as we were drove along making darn good time. And then....then the winds picked up, the leaves on the ground were swirling about, rain pounded off and on and tree branches were flying around. Some lanes had big branches down which we had to swerve to miss. I drove on, white knuckled, through winds so hard I thought we may take flight if we got hit at the right angle. Onward we pressed at about 1/2 the normal speed wondering where this crazy storm came from.
We finally pulled off an exit to rest and stretch but once we got off there was just this quite darkness all around. The stores were pitch black, the streetlights all out.... it was just eerily dark and quiet. So we moved on a few more exists and found an open gas station. Turns out we drove through 3 tornado's that knocked power out and dropped trees onto the other side of the interstate.
And so began our vacation.....
17+ hours later we arrived at my parents house in Vermont. were all a bit rumpled and a lot tired but very ready for our next adventures! The weather was wonderful and the kiddos immediately wanted to head to the lake - before we could even get the suitcases out of the car!
We played for a few hours, then briefly returned to the house for dinner and went back to the lake for some night time swimming and rock skipping!
Where do you suppose we could be found early the next day? Yep, the lake.
We took a break from sandcastles and swimming to go for a canoe ride!
It was a fun adventure, the 1st time Sammy had been on a canoe and 2nd for Simone! Both the kids loved it and it was a fun time seeing the lake from a different perspective!
The next day we decided to try to pick some strawberries at a local farm. But the berries weren't ready so we went for ice cream instead!
Back at the house we visited Grammie at her store. And yep- her antique shop sure is named after yours truly. If you are ever in the NorthEast Kingdom please stop on by and say hi!
Right next to her antique shop is a cool new "little library". My
parents decided to try this out and it's been a big success! The box is
left unlocked and people can borrow and/or donate a book whenever they
choose. There are children and adult books alike and it's been a big hit in their little village!
Pappa Bob and the kids!
One morning we ventured to a playground for a bit of climbing and swinging.
And going around in circles.......
Which Sammy took to the next level.....
They drove a fire truck,
Climbed giant sand piles....
And took a walk with Dad.....
Which of course led to the need for some quiet play for a bit back at the house.
Of course the quiet only lasted for a very short time and then we were back at the lake for some more swimming and sand play!
There's much more to share in another post, like our canoeing
Until the next chapter....
J
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