Vacation 2011 - Barber Shop

On the way home from Ben and Jerry's, we stopped by Lebanon, NH where Micah works. Those who don't know, Micah owns his own Barber Shop and is doing really well at that!

The cute thing, to me, is that his shop is nestled in this little shopping area. And, you KNOW how much I love shopping areas!!

Here's his sign!

His place is nice and open and is really nice inside. Cara and the boys came just minutes after we did. Cara had a doctor's appt and her hospital is there in Lebanon.

While we were there, Isaiah and Caleb each got a haircut. Isaiah cut off all his curls! He looked like a different kid! After a little while, Micah started getting more customers, so we said our goodbyes and headed off for a couple more hours before heading back to their house. There was a Borders nearby, so we stopped there. I haven't been in a Borders or Barnes 'N Noble for 13 yrs at least. It was before we were married. And, I swear, the minute I walked in, I nearly cried. It was such a beautiful sight! Nothing like a giant bookstore to get my excitement up!! The kids loved it too. They love books almost as much as I do. I finally cut my stack of books down to 3 and each of the kids got a couple too. It was fabulous! I ended up buying 5 books during our trip and read every one of them. After we were done shopping we went back to their house, just as Cara and the boys were pulling in too. Micah came a short while later and we all enjoyed a nice evening at the house - complete with some delicious beef strogonoff, courtesy of my sis-in-law. It was a great day!

Vacation 2011 - Part 3

On Tuesday, the boys had their last day of school, Micah had to work, and Cara had a doctor's appt. So, since we were on our own for most of the day, we decided to head over to Vermont and visit the Ben and Jerry's Factory!



First thing we were greeted by was this huge Ben and Jerry's bus! Wish that bus stopped on my street daily!!

We, of course, had to take the tour, right? We were outside the door waiting, so I took a quick shot of the kids by the ice cream flavors display. Yum! Hard to choose just one!

The tour was fun, but the best part was getting the free sample at the end! We got to try "Late Night Snack" by Jimmy Fallon. It's got carmel swirl with chocolate-covered potato chips chucks. Delish! You can see, it's a pretty big factory!

We left the plant and went up the hill to the playground and the flavors' graveyard. These hold all the old/retired flavors.

Livie picked out her favorite - Wild Maine Blueberry. It didn't last long, but sure does sound yummy!

Noah was greatly mourning the loss of Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Dough. I mean, who wouldn't? It lasted only a brief 4 yrs.

Madie was crushed to see Purple Passion Fruit had left us a decade ago, only having graced this earth for a short 5 yrs.

The only thing that could take away the sadness of deceased ice cream flavors was to go eat some ice cream that was still amongst the living. Noah's face says it all! Flavor of choice? Cinnamon Bun!! There was a fight to get the biggest pieces, let me tell you! It was a fun morning for us.

Vacation 2011 - Mountain Beach Edition

After our fantastic hike, we met up with Cara at the house and headed out to Lake Sunapee to have pizza with her family.


This beach was nestled around the mountains and so peaceful and beautiful. I just loved the view, though I think the kids were too busy running down to the water to care about the view. ;-)

Cara's brother Jaben and his wife and son came as well as Cara's brother-in-law Ben and their 2 kids. And, of course, her parents as well. The guys played catch, while we either relaxed on the beach or sat around chatting.

The kids loved playing in the sand, but once they were given the go-ahead to hop into the water, they did. And, they didn't come out until it was time to go.

I mean, look at that great lake! No wonder they didn't want to leave!

Here is a picture of Cara's family. Her two sisters and her other brother weren't able to be there, but we still had a fun time meeting them all!

Vacation 2011 - The Mountain Edition

We're still on Day 2 here. Well, actually Day 3, if you count Friday's short drive to my parents. Let's just say we're still on Monday. That's probably easier, right? As I was saying....

Micah and Pete went golfing that morning and once they got back and we all had a bite to eat, we said farewell to Cara and her expanded baby belly and headed over to hike up a mountain that Micah promised would be worth the trek. He was right.



Thankfully, you get to drive halfway up the mountain. So, here we are at the start of our hike. We're already up and have an impressive view, though the picture doesn't give you the full glory of it.

Micah led us to the rocky path that we were to climb. At first, it didn't look too hard. It's rocky and you have to climb the rocks, but that was ok.

Then it got a little steeper and a little rockier. Not quite as easy as I thought, but we all made it. The kids bounded up there like professionals! They did an awesome job! Livie stayed mostly with Pete, so he could help her get up some of the rocks. Oliver, their black lab, came along and he looked like he was having the time of his life! He bounded up the rocks and would disappear into the woods, only to come out a couple minutes later with big smiles. He was so cute!

After a bit of a hike, we came to a small clearing of rocks. Yet another impressive view, even higher up the mountain!

Pretty land they live in, isn't it?!

But, that didn't compare to this!!

Once we got to the top, we didn't just have a small opening to view through. We had the whole 360 shot going on and, you see those mountains in the far, far distance? Yeah, that's Vermont. Absolutely gorgeous! You can see all 6 of the kids were having the time of their lives up there!

The thing I loved about it most was the unfettered view we had. No only could we look around in a big circle for miles and miles, the land below was barely spoiled by modernation. With the exception of a few tiny roads and houses here and there, it looked almost like it would've looked when the first settlers got a glimpse from the top of this mountain. The forests and land are still as beautiful as they were 300 yrs ago. Fantastic!

We made Micah take a shot of us, because who knows where we'll be next time we get a chance to hike to the top of a mountain like this and see such an amazing view! Wish there was some way to capture it's beauty. Guess you'll just have to head over to NH yourselves and have Micah and the boys take you up!

Here's a little video I took to try and give you a better idea of what it was like up there. There was a lot of wind, as you'll notice, but it was still absolutely perfect weather for it!

Vacation 2011 - Part 2

On Sunday we woke up and took our time getting ready. We had just a 7 hour drive that day, so we didn't need to get up at the crack of dawn to get going.


When we stopped for lunch, we had to take our NY rest stop photo. The difference between this one and the one in OH are the mountains in the background!! I love the forest-covered Appalachians. Gotta say though, I've seen the Apps in a lot of different states and always thought they were beautiful, but I never REALLY saw them in all their glory until we entered VT.

This is the first thing we saw when we entered VT. Look at that big, looming Green Mountain straight ahead. The Green Mountains were spectacular!! Absolutely gorgeous!! If I hadn't dropped my camera in the ocean (that's a later story), I would've taken some pictures of them on the way home. We left on Thursday evening and the fog was starting to cover the mountains and it was beyond words. So, as you can see, I fell in love with VT. And, it wasn't just the mountains that grabbed my heart, it was the history! We went down these small roads through these little towns that would say "Est. 1671" or "Est. 1720". Wow! We saw all these colonial houses, that you KNEW were around during the revolution. One church said "Est. 1771" and I turned to Pete and said, "I bet you anything that some of the revolutionists met there!" For someone who loves history as much as I do, it was thrilling.

We finally got to Micah's around suppertime and they were just getting everything ready for us to eat. Perfect timing! The kids were already having a great time together! Just so you know for future reference, Micah and Cara's kids are named Caleb (8), Isaiah (6), Mason (4), and Emma (any day now!). ;-)

We took our tent with us, so we could go camping and since it was brand new, it had this box in it. Mason loved it, so I cut eye holes in it and he walked around like this robot for a while. I eventually added arm holes, so he wouldn't fall over and smash his face. He also decorated it as well, later on in the week. It was really, really cute!!

Since we decided to camp out the first night, Micah took the boys and set up their tent as well. So, I camped out for the first time ever! And, honestly, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was a really cool night - in the 40s - which was perfect camping weather! When I woke up the next morning, Pete was looking at me with this huge smile on his face. It was so funny! He was so excited that I went camping!

The kids had so much fun exploring their yard. Micah and Cara live in the middle of the woods. They live at the end of a long driveway, down a long, bumpy road, so it's very quiet there and the kids had the freedom to play without the need of supervision. It was wonderful for all of us! They got to be kids like we used to be when we were their age.

Caleb and Madie played the most together. They had lots of fun adventures and had a ball!!

Micah had to show me his motorcycle. He works 45 min away, so riding this on nice days saves lots in gas for him. Plus, I know he loves how fun it is!! He offered to take me a ride, but I wasn't quite that trusting yet. I mean, let's be honest. He had every excuse to get me back after what I did to him when we were kids. ;-)

Each night, we had the kids hang out in the boys' room and watch movies together to get them ready to quiet down for bed. They had a great time together!

The first morning we woke up after camping all night, I went to the house to go to the bathroom when Caleb and Madie pointed out to me that there were these HUGE moths by the door. I, of course, despise moths, so I was not terribly thrilled to see them blocking my entrance into the house, but once I got inside, it was neat to see them. They really were beautiful (again, from inside a plate glass window, of course). I found out later that these are Luna Moths. The biggest of their kind. Livie, my bug girl, was over the moon (pardon the pun)!

There were actually THREE of them that morning, so all the kids took turns playing with them for a good hour or so. See those happy faces!

Each meal, the kids all sat together and laughed and chatted and had fun. It makes me sad that they don't get to see each other more often, but at least we pack in as much fun as we can when we ARE together.

It was funny how often the kids paired off by birth order. Of course, they all played together at different points, but Livie was usually with Mason, Noah with Isaiah, and Madie with Caleb. Here, Livie is with Isaiah, playing outside.

Their favorite thing of the week, was playing in the woods. Yes, they got a million bug bites, but that didn't stop them. There is a fort in the woods, so they spent a lot of time on that. Again, it made me so happy to see them have the freedom to play like we did when we were kids. So much of that is lost nowadays. It was the best part for me of this whole trip! I took most of these pictures while Pete was out golfing that morning with Micah. When they got back we headed out to go hiking, which will be my next post later today. :-)

The Falls

Just a short video to show you how close we got to the Falls when we were down below. Amazing, isn't it?!!

Vacation 2011 - Part 1

We're back!! We just spent a fantastic 9 days taking a road trip out to see my brother and his family in New Hampshire. I took tons of pictures, of course, so I will be breaking these posts down by days. This is entitled "Day 1" (I'm so creative, aren't I?).



We left Friday after supper and went to my parents, so we could wake up early on Saturday and have already cut off 3 hours off our time. We had SOOOO much stuff to take (some back just to IN to drop off), that we had to pull out the additional middle seat and have the kids all in the front row. We've never done that before.... and, now we know why. See those smiling faces? After 3 hours, they weren't smiling so much anymore. NOW I know why we got in so much trouble during road trips as a kid. The key is NOT letting them sit next to each other. If they all have their own space, it's not a problem. So, this little shot was taken right as we were getting ready to head to Nana and Papa Ds. We rearranged everything once we got there, so they each had their own seat again. ;-)

Gee - do you think we have enough stuff in our van? Hmmm....

Like I said, we left bright and early on Saturday (aka 6:30am) and the antics started right away. I had an entire bag of games and activities for the car. What did they choose to play with? Bags on their heads. Hey, to each their own, I always say!

We stopped shortly after we left for a quick breakfast. Biscuits and gravy.. YUM!

Had to take a picture in each state, so this was our Ohio rest stop pic. I must say, of all the rest stops we've visited over the past couple of years, Ohio wins the prize for nicest rest stops - hands down!

We decided, since we were swinging by the Buffalo, NY area, we had to go up to Niagara. I'm the only one in this family of mine that had ever been there. Granted, that was over 20 yrs ago (gulp!), but at least I could say I'd been there. We got to Niagara around 2 or 3 that afternoon and the weather was perfection! Here the kids are in the square at Niagara, by the Niagara hotel. They have a really beautiful downtown area.

OK, this is the part where I openly admit I wanted to kill my husband. Not kill, really, just maim. He wanted to go to the island that is between the falls. I was fine with that until I realized we had to cross over a bridge that went over the raging rapids that lead to the falls. I am (1) scared of heights and (2) scared of water - specifically when my kids are involved. So, crossing this bridge was not my favorite thing. I think I nearly squeezed Noah's hand off by the time we got across. You'll notice I'm practically pushing Noah into the railing, so I can stay as far away as possible from the edge. My kids weren't bothered in the slightest though and loved every minute of it. I eventually crossed that death trap... I, uh, mean BRIDGE and my fear/anger quickly died down, but it wasn't a pleasant crossover, let me tell you! In his defense, he said he never heard my (many) cries of "I can't do this!!!" that I shouted back at him. ;-)

This is one of the pictures he took of the water below. It's amazing how calm the lake is until it gets closer to the falls. Then it becomes a raging torrent of water!!

The bridge that brought us back over the water, because YES we had to cross BACK over, wasn't nearly as scary. They had a big fence as the railing, so I couldn't as easily imagine a moose coming out of the forest and lifting us in its antlers and tossing us over the side. Hey, it could've happened!

So, here we are back on the mainland. We are getting close to the falls at this point. You could hear the water moving. It was really cool and my nerves were starting to calm.

I mean, look at this beautiful, peaceful park. It was a fantastic place to be and, like I said, the weather was perfection!

They have this big park surrounding the falls and all these beautiful flowers, that I don't remember being there in the 80s. They really have made it something special and more natural. This is right before the falls begin and still on solid ground.

My nerves started up again when we began walking by the railing overlooking the falls. It's basically a shear drop-off at this point and I began to worry about those moose again! After a couple minutes though I calmed down (once again) and was able to enjoy the rest of our time there. Noah LOVED looking through the bino things.

It's so cool to see the falls up close like this!

The girls walked around with me, while Pete and Noah continued to look through the binos and take pictures.

They thought this place was awesome!!

And, look at me! I actually stood by the railing too!

The girls wanted me to take a picture of this seagull. I thought it made for a nice picture and you could get a better feel of how pretty the flowers and park is.

When we stood by the railing, we could see people below us at the bottom by the edge of the falls and decided to get down there and see it from another perspective.

We had to walk across the bridge above and come down an elevator to get there. Can you believe we came down that whole way?!

We took a path up to the side of the falls. If there had been any wind that day, I'm sure we would've gotten wet, because of all the spray coming off the falls.

This was the end of the staircase they had in place. We were lucky enough to have a gal offer to take our picture for us. :-)

After that picture, we climbed back down and we had Noah show us the bridge up ahead before we went back up the elevator and headed back to our car. We really wanted to take the boat out, but were quickly running out of time.

Once we got to the top of the elevator, I took this quick shot out the window, since it was such a great aerial view of the falls. We left a short time later and drove another hour or so before we stopped at our hotel for the night. It was a long day of driving, but at least we got to see something cool on the way out!