Friday, September 21, 2012
Vacation Part VI: Vermont -- 8 years later
N&A: On August 21st, we said so long to the Hope family and drove back to Vermont to celebrate Mama and Papa's 8th wedding anniversary.
N&A: First we visited the Round Church in Richmond, where they actually got married.
N: Then we went to visit the Herskowitz family. Mama and Papa celebrated their wedding reception at their place on top of a hill in Williston. I loved hearing the story of how Benjamin (2nd from left), who was Mama and Papa's three-year-old ring bearer, dropped the rings just after the minister said, "Benjamin, may we have the rings".
N: And I loved hanging out with Benjamin and Yanni on the trampoline and the tightrope and swimming with them in their pond.
A: Ditto on the trampoline -- except I liked it better when I had the trampoline to myself.
N&A: We enjoyed dinner with friends and a famous Lake Champlain sunset at Breakwater's. Wolfgang led the snowshoe hike on which Mama and Papa met! And Ryan and Aaron are native Vermonters who we got to know in Idaho.
N&A: We crashed at Meg and Shawn's and spent the next day swimming and playing with Eleanor and Adele.
N&A: Here's dinner! Meg has a Martha Stewart gene (as in she has a talent for preparing very tasty food and serving it in a very aesthetic way -- she's not likely to end up in jail). We also loved getting to catch up with (most of) the Yagers!
N&A: Our last day started with a snowball fight on the beach at Leddy Park and a dip in Lake Champlain and ended with a flight out of Burlington. We also caught up with Steph and Ross for lunch (they just bought a house in Montpelier!) but forgot to take photos with them.
Sunday, September 09, 2012
Vacation Part V: Saratoga/Wilton
N: This was the part of the vacation that I had been looking forward to for months! Visiting my buddies Andrew and James (and their mom and dad) in Wilton, New York, near Saratoga Springs. Although we were all born in Vermont, we got to know each other when we all moved to Boise about the same time. I was very sad when they moved away to New York last summer. We played non-stop for two days.
N&A: Eileen took us to breakfast at the track in Saratoga. Every summer since this track was built in 1864, the fancy folks from Manhattan have come up to watch the horse races, see and be seen, and hob knob. If you show up for breakfast you can watch the horses warming up and get a little of the excitement without the crowds and the dress code. We also had a taste of one or two of the many natural springs that bubble up around town (fizzy!) and saw the lovely old buildings where folks used to come up and "take the water cure".
N&A: We always thought these guys holding signs were tacky lawn ornaments. Boy were we wrong. They are jockeys holding up the names of famous horses. You can get your own personalized one, but it will cost you upwards of $600. Guess we'll stick to flamingos.
N&A: Eileen took us to breakfast at the track in Saratoga. Every summer since this track was built in 1864, the fancy folks from Manhattan have come up to watch the horse races, see and be seen, and hob knob. If you show up for breakfast you can watch the horses warming up and get a little of the excitement without the crowds and the dress code. We also had a taste of one or two of the many natural springs that bubble up around town (fizzy!) and saw the lovely old buildings where folks used to come up and "take the water cure".
N&A: We always thought these guys holding signs were tacky lawn ornaments. Boy were we wrong. They are jockeys holding up the names of famous horses. You can get your own personalized one, but it will cost you upwards of $600. Guess we'll stick to flamingos.
Vacation Part IV: Weller Pond
N&A: The train ride from NYC to Essex, VT was 9 hours. This was long but pretty painless because we could move around as much as we wanted to, and we made friends with a couple of other kids, including Carly from Shelburne, with whom we played "hide the knome" and "hide and seek". We spent a day catching up with friends in Burlington and Winooski (Noah was amused to learn that Winooski means onion in Abenaki), barbecuing, flying model airplanes, and waiting out the rain. The next morning we headed out with Doris, Bernhard, and Thomas on the 13th annual Weller Pond canoe camping trip.
N: I was captain. I sat in the middle and made sure the motor (Mama) didn't slack off. I also pointed out turtles. Anna sat in front with Mama and ate grapes and pretzels. Papa sat in back and steered.
A: Here I am using my potty. I can say "potty", and I let Mama and Papa know when it's time to use it, though not always with enough advance warning and with some occasional false alarms. I used my potty in lots of places on this trip, including Penn Station, Battery Park, the train to Vermont, and the Chicago and Burlington airports. In other places where I made potty requests (such as NYC subway stations) I had to go ahead and use my diaper.
N: I was captain. I sat in the middle and made sure the motor (Mama) didn't slack off. I also pointed out turtles. Anna sat in front with Mama and ate grapes and pretzels. Papa sat in back and steered.
N&A: Doris and Bernhard and Thomas have done some iteration of this trip every year for the last 13 years! Bernhard and Thomas even built their own wooden canoes.
N&A: Here we are at the campsite (photo by Bernhard). Aside from the humans, there was a busy woodpecker, some cheeky chipmunks, spooky-sounding loons, and a couple of float planes.
A: Here I am using my potty. I can say "potty", and I let Mama and Papa know when it's time to use it, though not always with enough advance warning and with some occasional false alarms. I used my potty in lots of places on this trip, including Penn Station, Battery Park, the train to Vermont, and the Chicago and Burlington airports. In other places where I made potty requests (such as NYC subway stations) I had to go ahead and use my diaper.
A: This is me enjoying the water.
