24 Hours in Vermont!

We played tourists this weekend! A few weeks ago, I read an article online about the best places to view the fall foliage, and Stowe, Vermont was listed as number one on that particular list. And as I looked at the accompanying pictures, I thought, "Wouldn't it be fun to take a little trip up there? It's not that far!" Less than an hour later, and we had booked a two-room suite in a little motel for one night. The price was totally reasonable, and it even had a little kitchen (stove, oven, everything). Not bad!

Gus arrived home from a business trip early Sunday morning (he had taken a red-eye flight), and we quickly got into the car and headed north. Gus slept for most of the three-and-a-half hour drive, but the kids were wide awake and very chatty. It hit us-- WE'VE been on vacations since the kids were born, but this was the first time that THEY had ever stayed in a hotel. Well, Nikos stayed in a hotel for Grant's wedding when he was a baby, but there is no way he would remember that. Needless to say, they were very excited to see what it would be like.

The drive up was just beautiful! Fall colors for as far as the eye could see. We stopped for lunch at a Dunkin' Donuts in Montpelier, then made the final climb into Stowe. Stowe really isn't that far from Montpelier (20-30 minutes), but I was glad we had stopped to eat. The traffic was terrible! It was a holiday weekend, and all the other Leaf Peepers were on the road. It was slow-going all the way to the motel. But we made it! And for the kids, it was love at first sight, haha!

They ran to check out their bedroom, which had two twin beds, its own bathroom, and its own TV. ITS OWN TV!!! They were absolutely beside themselves! Within minutes, they had each claimed a bed, and then climbed onto Maya's bed to watch cartoons. When asked what her favorite part of the trip was, Maya says, "Watching TV in our room at the motel." And Nikos' favorite part? "Playing with my action figures at the motel!" The motel was a big hit, apparently! It was old and shabby, but clean and cozy. And the location was fantastic, since it was right at the base of the mountains, with direct access to the Stowe Rec Path. I'd stay there again, though I wouldn't call it the highlight of the trip, haha!

After Gus took a quick shower, we got back in the car and drove up the mountain through Smuggler's Notch. There were a ton of cars out there, and some treacherous curves, but some amazing views. We got out a bunch of times to admire the views, and the kids enjoyed climbing around on the rocks and trees. Some of the trees had these crazy, curving trunks. There were waterfalls, rocky ledges, and all sorts of fun things to explore! It was absolutely beautiful!

At that point, the kids were begging to go back to the motel. They were seriously obsessed. So we did, for a few minutes, but then we walked out and explored the Stowe Rec Trail. Oh, and Nikos insisted that I take a picture of him and his "little deer friend" in the motel's backyard.


We had a nice dinner at a local space-themed pizza place, and then all four of us snuggled into the big bed at the motel to watch a movie together ("Rio," a gift from Gus' Brazilian coworker who had dinner with us over the summer). The kids went to bed as soon as it was over, and had no trouble sleeping in a different place. They are at a great age for traveling, now, I think! Which is a good thing, because they will likely be doing a lot of it in the not-too-distant future!

The next morning, we had breakfast in our room and took our time getting ready. Then we drove around and explored some more. We went to see the Trapp Family Lodge (as in, the von Trapp family, made famous by "The Sound of Music"). WOW. That is a swanky hotel, with an amazing view!! Sadly, my lenses were all fogged up because of the weather, so my pictures weren't as crisp as I'd like. But they defogged just in time to capture a beautiful rainbow! Then we drove down the mountain to the downtown area, for a few more pics. Such a beautiful place!

After that, it was off to the Ben & Jerry's factory! It was packed! We took the tour, and got to taste a potential new flavor in their tasting room ("Maple Me Happy"-- maple ice cream with semi-sweet chocolate shavings. Delicious!!). We explored the grounds, then headed up the road to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. It was also packed, but we were able to get some lunch there. And, they had really excellent apple cider doughnuts. Heavenly!!!

And then, it was time to head home...

We were only there for about 24 hours, but I think we will go there again sometime. It was beautiful!!

Photo Overload

I don't even know how I am going to limit the number of pictures in this post, I really don't. I have taken SO MANY pictures over the past few days. A bunch of portraits (inside and out) of the kids on Wednesday. Then, after preschool on Thursday, I dragged them out to the Rail Trail for an impromptu (and very brief) photo shoot with all the pretty fall colors. It started to rain after about 5 minutes, though, so we dashed back to the car and I vowed to return!

This morning, we picked apples (so, of course, I took more pictures). And after lunch, the kids were in a good mood and the weather was amazing, so we zipped over to the Rail Trail again. The lake right by the parking are is looking pretty spectacular!! We collected some pretty leaves, and ironed them between wax paper when we got home. At any rate, I'll let you figure out which photo was from which day (hint: they're in chronological order, haha!). But I am going to make them smaller, so that people don't have to scroll down for an hour to see them all. In fact, I'd just click on the first one and view them in the Blogger picture viewer, where they will be much bigger. Some of these will be going in frames, for sure!

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Rainy Day

Yup, it was a wet one! The morning was actually dry, but the kids were at preschool. It was a new experience for me-- this was the first time that both kids have been at preschool and I was home alone! I've always been busy... getting a haircut, going to the dentist, hanging out with Gus' parents, doing a photo shoot. But today, it was just me and a big old empty house! I actually used the time to get all my photography files (contracts, receipts, etc.) organized and take care of some client communication. I felt like I was really running a business! I mean, I AM running a business, but today felt more business-like than before. It was fun! I also got all the details taken care of for our upcoming overnight trip to Vermont. I can't wait!!!

Anyway, the morning sped by, and soon it was time to go get my little munchkins. I love that they can BOTH tell me about preschool now, and that they fill in little details in each others' stories. They have this shared experience that I am not really part of, and it's really cool! They both burst into the "Five Little Pumpkins" song on the drive home. Lots of giggles. They love preschool!

We arrived home, though, and I noticed something in the grass at the edge of our property that I had been meaning to check out for a while now. It was something dark on the grass, but the only time I ever noticed it was when I pulled out of the driveway, and I would forget about it by the time I got back home. And, um, there are some HUGE mushrooms over there. HUGE!!! Big enough for a toad to actually use as a stool, haha! Gus needs to mow. But they are kind of cool, even if they are fungi...

Shortly after I snapped that picture, it started raining and never really stopped. I decided to take pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes. I learned from the monthly preschool newsletter that the kids do not wear their costumes to school. The school actually celebrates ALL holidays (part of embracing diversity, which I think is so cool), but some kids get scared by the costumes. Instead, they put together a "Halloween Book," where all the kids bring in photos of them in their costumes. Then they look through it, try to guess who's who, and just generally ooh and aah over it. And, well, my photographer self wanted GOOD pictures. I think I'd like these more if we could have gone outside, but Nikos was super cooperative, for once. So I think we will use these!

Later, as we watched the rain coming down, I turned off the tv and announced that all our brains were getting mushy. Nikos suggested that we bake cookies. Sugar cookies, to be exact. I found a ghost and a pumpkin cookie cutter in the cupboard, so we went with that. And, as I was mixing the dough, Maya started singing. In Greek. It's the same song she always sings. And I always ask her if I can make a movie of her singing it, but today she actually said yes! She still seems a little camera-shy in the video, and she forgot some of the words (she really does know the song), but it's still video proof! For the record, Maya seems to be much more open to learning Greek than her infinitely stubborn big brother. Is he capable? Absolutely! But he just won't. Period. sigh... And then we actually made the cookies. I had planned to deep-clean my kitchen today. hahaha! Yeah... that didn't happen. But it was worth it!

TomatoFest 2012

Over the next few weeks, we'll be attending an AppleFest (featuring an Oktoberfest) and possibly a PumpkinFest, so why not call today a TomatoFest? haha!

The morning started out rather unpleasantly, as I had to wait for a repair guy to come and fix a leaking zone control valve on the boiler. The guy was very nice, and got it completely taken care of in about 2.5 hours. Still, I am not looking forward to receiving the bill! I know that the valve itself is a $100 piece, and then there were the other materials, labor, etc. ugh. Trying not to think about it! But this is the same company we have a service contract with (which doesn't cover the plumbing pieces around the boiler, just the boiler itself), and we're hoping to get a reduced rate because of that. But we shall see!

While I waited for the repairman to arrive, I went out to the garden and harvested a ton of tomatoes. I had been lax in doing this while Gus' parents were visiting, and some were already rotting on the vine. But I still hauled in a TON of them, and was determined to make homemade marinara sauce. I made an interesting sauce from cherry tomatoes a few weeks back, but it was just too sweet for my tastes. And I just bought a Foley food mill last week, so I was super excited to use that for removing the peels and seeds. Piece of cake!

So, once the leak was fixed, I washed and chopped the tomatoes, then threw them in a huge pot with some fresh basil (also from the garden-- our basil plant is a beast!!), an onion, some olive oil, garlic, and a little bit of salt and pepper.

I cooked it down for a while until it was good and mushy, ran the whole thing through the food mill (that's the fun part!), and then boiled it until it thickened a bit. Then I divided it into jars, one of which I put in the fridge (the rest went in the freezer). We had some for dinner tonight. It was AWESOME!!

Since I was already on a tomato kick, I went back outside and harvested several pounds of cherry tomatoes. There are so, SO many on our bush, but they are hard to get to! I got as many as I could. And then I made oven-dried tomatoes and packed them in olive oil, garlic, and basil. YUM!!!!!

Anyway... I've been on a food-processing kick lately, if you couldn't tell. I think that the food mill is just about the coolest thing. I made mashed potatoes with it the other night, and they were ridiculously light and fluffy. I didn't even peel the potatoes perfectly, but the food mill kept the pieces of peel from going through. I also made homemade apple sauce the other day, which is super delicious! I also used the mandolin and made oven-baked apple chips with cinnamon. So, so good. Oh, and I made a big vat or apple butter in the crock pot. It made the house smell fantastic! I just tossed that in the pantry with my jars of pickles, blueberry jam, and blackberry jam. I have a problem. :)

I think I need to buy some more jars, haha!

Company Picnic

The company Gus works for is celebrating their tenth anniversary this year, and they decided that this was grounds for a party. Fine by me! They planned a fantastic "family picnic" for today. We actually weren't sure if it would still happen, since it was raining up to (and during) the event, but they did rent a tent to cover the food/eating area. That, and most of the employees are originally from Holland, so they are a group that is accustomed to picnicking in rainy and cold weather, haha!

Anyway, despite it being in the 50s and raining much of the afternoon, we had a great time! They had a bounce house, which the kids were supposed to jump on before eating lunch, but it sort of became a lake, with all the rain water. Not fun! So everyone huddled under the tent until the food was ready, and then we ate. After that, we were surprised to learn that they had planned a "Pumpkin hunt"-- basically, an Easter egg hunt with a Halloween theme. They provided the kids with little Halloween buckets, and set them free to find as many pumpkins-filled-with-candy-and-toys as they could. So much fun! Nikos did pretty well, if you couldn't tell by the look on his face!

Later, we got to see and pet some animals! Gus had told his coworker (the one planning the picnic) about the group that came to visit our campground over the summer. She ended up calling the company and booking them. It was a huge hit! Everyone was very interested in the animals (even the adults), and it was perfect, since we were still stuck under the tent. We got to meet a bearded dragon, a leopard gecko, a chinchilla, a degu, a hedgehog, a porcupine, and an alligator! And yes, pictures were taken! Of course!

After that, the kids jumped like crazy in the semi-dry bounce house (someone found a large blanket in their car and did their best to wipe it off). And then it was time to go. I snapped this quick picture from the car as we drove home. Not all the leaves are turning yet, but our town seems to have more patches of fall foliage than the other ones around us. It is SO pretty! I can't wait for it to hit its peak!

Once we got home, Maya's voice got progressively raspier, and she was looking very tired. She felt a little warm, so she took some acetaminophen. She also developed a nasty little cough. Her buddy, Paige, had croup last week, and this seems like it might be a form of that. She actually wanted to go to bed early tonight, and is currently all snuggled in with her humidifier on full blast. I really hope she sleeps well and feels better in the morning! Sick Maya is really the sweetest, saddest thing you will ever see. Poor baby girl! --------------------------- On an unrelated note, I wanted to share this picture from yesterday. Our town had a Festival of Forgotten Arts. It was very nearly rained out, and it was pretty chilly out there on the town common, but we went for a little bit. We saw bees making honey, people spinning wool into yarn, an old apple grinder/cider-making-thing, people making scarecrows, etc. My mommy friend who has her own cake/cupcake business was there, so we chatted and got some cupcakes. And we bought local honey (REALLY local... from here in town). And Nikos wanted to sit on the tractor, of course. Who wouldn't??

And that was our weekend. It ended with a sickie, but it was a great weekend nonetheless. We are fully enjoying our first fall in New England!

Just Photos!

These are from my "little" camera over the past few days. We've been busy!! :)

Apple Picking!

It's been a busy few days! Gus' parents arrived yesterday morning, surprising the kids before they left for preschool. They were beside themselves! And then, while they were at preschool, our local landscaping company came by to "install" some plants we bought. They also cleaned up and re-mulched our front flower beds, so we are all set for the upcoming winter and spring. Super exciting! I love our new trees, and can't wait to watch them grow over the years!

After preschool, we all went to lunch at Friendly's (of course) and then spent the afternoon relaxing at home. Everyone was tired, so it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

This morning consisted of dance class (which Maya's entire entourage attended), followed by lunch, followed by apple-picking at a local orchard. It was a lot of fun, and I am sure we will be back again soon! The trees were big, the apples were crisp and sweet, and it wasn't too crowded, since it was a weekday. I took a ridiculous amount of pictures! But, without further ado, here are some. They are pretty self-explanatory!