A Little More of Fall....

So before the Advent season kicks into high gear, I wanted to share some more "fall" with you. I still haven't shared our whole Vermont trip with you.

I don't think I've told you before how much I loved Vermont. Oh...I have? I did?? Oh, sorry. Well I do.

So this was a day we spent at Shelburne Farms. And I use the term "farm" lightly. The farms I've spent time in England and South Dakota are farms. This was an estate that oh-by-the-way has sheep, cows and makes their own cheese.

It's 1400 acres. A Vanderbilt estate whose grounds were designed by the same guy who did Central Park. Ya, it's no ordinary farm. We hopped in a wagon for a grand tour of the estate. Check it out...

So this is the "house". The summer house for the family, when they wanted to get away to the country after being in New York. Nice, eh? It backs up to Lake Champlain and you can see the New York Adironacks on the other side of the lake. It's now a working B&B, and if I had the opportunity or the funds to stay as a guest, I would!


Here's the back....


And the view from the back....




We did decide to splurge a little bit and we all (4 adults and 4 kids under 4) had brunch in the house. This restaurant is a fine china kind of place, so we had an adult sitting on either side of a child, and we brought in our arsenal of car toys for everyone to play with. We only had one drink spill, and overall it was quite a success! We took the last reservation time, so we were practically the only guests eating, so that helped too.

It was an amazing breakfast. Everything was homemade and farm fresh. Tyson enjoyed his pancakes with real Vermont maple syrup...


Then we took a little time to let the kids play off their maple syrup and fresh orange juice high.


And then onto the "barn". No, this isn't the house. This is for the animals.



Here is our transportation. The kids LOVED it.




Tyson and Evan checking out the big tractor tires. Although I have to say, this tire has NOTHING on the South Dakota tires I've sat in.


The barn is now used for educational purposes. They host all sorts of children's programs throughout the year. This is also where the farm makes their own cheese. The whole place is geared towards children and the children's farm, so there was plenty for us to see and do.



We got to meet and pet a baby calf...


...play dress up....


...go inside the largest chicken coop I've ever seen....


....play "farm"...with John Deere of course....


....and meet and milk a cow!






Oh, and Ava and Wade learned how to identify different kind of animal poop. You never know when that life skill may come in handy!


And then back to our wagon to finish our tour back to the visitor center to taste all the homemade cheddar.

If you ever get the chance, a visit to Shelburne Farms is a must!!!!


Oh, and this is Tyson on the wagon ride. I entered my kids for the Gap casting call, and this is one of the pictures of Tyson I entered. Can't you see him hanging in Gap Kids windows nationwide???!!!


Happy Day after Thanksgiving!!

I am my father's daughter...

I am my father's daughter.

I look through magazines and pull out articles on places I want to go. I keep them in a 3 ring binder in plastic sheet protectors. Yes, I am my father's daughter.

The biggest difference is that I look through magazines like Country Living, Cottage Living (I cried when they stopped publishing it, but I have ALL my copies), and other such magazines. I think my Dad mostly looks at RV magazines. But at the core, we're the same.

So for our Vermont vacation, I pulled out my binder and planned pretty much our entire trip around a great article in Country Living featuring the Lake Champlain region in Vermont. Voila! I knew where we were going on vacation.

American Flatbread was one of the yummy restaurants featured in the article. If you ever find yourself in Burlington, go check it out. Local ingredients, real wood oven and homemade beer (not that I had any).

Burlington is a great town. Just don't forget your Birkenstocks.

Ben & Jerry's

My three favorite flavors. A trip to Vermont is not complete without going to the Ben & Jerry's factory for a tour and taste!

Lake Placid

One of our favorite day trips we took while in Vermont was to Lake Placid, NY. The ferry from Vermont, across Lake Champlain to NY, was just about 10 minutes from the house. The kids were so impressed that cars could go on a boat ride too.



Here's some fall foliage on our drive to Lake Placid. Amazing! We felt like New York had more reds in their foliage than Vermont did, and some of the reds were almost pink. It was amazing.






Did you know Lake Placid is where the "miracle on ice" was? The 1980 USA hockey team winning gold? I tend to be horrible at remembering those facts (even though I saw the movie) unless I've actually been there. Can you imagine what the 1932 Olympics were like??


So for some reason, the only time Wade and I actually shop for ourselves is when we're on vacation. We hit it big at the Bass store on Main Street. BUY 1 PAIR OF LADIES BOOTS AND GET 2 FREE!!! Yes, you read that right. I got 3 pairs of boots for the price of 1!!! So here is Ava catching up with Wade to give him his wallet back. Thanks Wade. I LOVE my boots.





Pretty nice view from the golf course, eh?



Yes, those are the ski jumps.



I only made Wade "PULL OVER!!!!!" about 10 times on the way back to the ferry. But I think it was worth it, don't you??