Vermont 2013: Day 3

We spent my birthday in Vermont this year. We often travel on my birthday but it's been many years since I've celebrated with my sister. She always makes it extra special!

The day started off with a trip to a local blueberry farm 

to pick our own berries!

It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny.

The Charlotte Berry Farm had about five different varieties of blueberries. We sampled and picked all of them!

Will is not the hugest fan of blueberries. In fact, if you look closely at this picture, you can see he brought a book to read!  

Fortunately, it turns out that Will likes to pick blueberries and eat them, if they are crunchy enough. And you can bet the blueberry farm had plenty of crunchy berries!

Mmmmm....good!  

We had such a fun morning picking berries

and came home with exactly three pounds. 

Our next adventure was a hike up Mount Philo.

It is quite a hike, up about 650 feet, or some 60 flights of stairs (if you are wearing your Fitbit!).

We were all over-dressed in pants and we were working hard, so we had to stop and rest a couple of times,

but we made it!

Oh my, the reward at the top was this amazing view of the Lake Champlain Valley.

I accidentally put Henry's water bottle in my bag without closing the cap and it leaked everywhere. It made for a good excuse to sit and rest at the top for a bit while everything dried in the sun.

 All ready to hike back down!

I love this picture of Henry resting on a boulder.

After our long hike, we treated ourselves to lunch at the Vermont Pub and Brewery, a craft brewery in downtown Burlington.

We never let our kids drink soda, but there are a couple of exceptions. They get ginger ale on airplanes and root beer when we visit breweries that make their own. So while Gene and I enjoyed some experimental brews, the boys sipped root beer!

We were all beat after the morning, so I am pretty sure the afternoon involved a nap (for me) and some media time for the boys. We had to gear up for an evening out!

Amber arranged for a couple of babysitters and then she and Tom took us to dinner at the Bearded Frog in Shelburne. The food was delicious and the company was better! We always enjoy being with Amber and Tom and are sad that they live so far away.  After dinner, we drove through Shelburne Farms 

and Tom showed us the Brick House, which is part of Shelburne Museum.  

My little sister!

Amber got a cake, 

so we saved it for after our dinner out and let the kids stay up late to help eat it.

This was the perfect way to spend my birthday, in a beautiful part of our country and with some of my very favorite people. 

Vermont 2013: Day 2

Our second day in Vermont was spent on the farm! We started out at Shelburne Farms, and saw this awesome osprey nest right outside the farm gates. Henry and are were especially excited when we saw one of the parents bringing back breakfast in his talons!

We had a ten-minute walk up to the Farm Barn.  

Can you see the barn in the background? It is probably the fanciest barn I've ever seen!

We spotted these wooden totem poles on our walk up.

We got to the farm a bit early and had a quick snack 

before hiking up Lone Tree Hill. It was the first hike of many on the trip!

Henry found the Spirit of Christmas, version 2.0.

At the top we were rewarded with a beautiful view of Lake Champlain.

Back down at the farm, Aunt Amber and her kiddos joined us, but they visit the farm often and knew what they wanted to see, so we explored mostly separately. We made sure to watch the Chicken Parade.

You are allowed to hold the chickens 

but these girls can be hard to catch!

Henry caught a friendly hen.

Inside, we found sheep

and this sweet cow named Starlight.

The boys each got a turn milking her!  

We learned that these cows produce six to eight gallons of milk each day and only need one gallon for each calf. Shelburne Farms uses the rest to make cheese!

The  boys were so fascinated by the cheese-making process.

Even though we'd been sampling cheese all morning, we couldn't resist lunch on the farm. I loved this sign so much I had to take a photo. "Eat Real Food" is my motto too!

We bought cheese curds to fuel us 

on our walk back to the car.  

Shelburne Farms wasn't our only farm visit for the day. We also got to visit Bread and Butter Farm, a real working farm in Shelburne, for their Burger Night!

We explored their greenhouse, which was full of kale and basil and other green goodies,

and found some bright sunflowers outside.

Amber's family joined us, and we all enjoyed burgers and fresh salads, all raised and grown right there at Bread and Butter Farm.

Our day on the farms was fantastic!

Vermont 2013: Day 1

We have been on vacation for the past two weeks! We started our journey in Vermont and continued to Maine. It was a busy trip but we enjoyed beautiful weather, spent lots of time with family, and saw so much! We all had an amazing time.

The boys were so excited about our trip. They had been counting down the days since mid-July. They even found the airports exciting. As Henry said, flying is fun because a) you get a soda, b) you can watch lots of movies, c) you get to see beautiful sights, and d) you are FLYING!

We spent our first day in Vermont at Shelburne Museum, where Uncle Tom works. The museum is so unique. It is spread out in a village-like setting, with art and artifacts in historic buildings like the round barn, Ticonderoga steamboat, houses, a lighthouse, and more. We were there all day and still didn't see everything!

As you can see, it was quite a chilly morning. The boys definitely needed their sweaters and kept them on all day!

We got there a few minutes before Aunt Amber and her kiddos so we just enjoyed the cool morning weather.

We visited the rail car, the Grand Isle,

and then headed over to check out the steamboat Ticonderoga. Yes, it is on land!

The Colchester Reef Lighthouse is in the background.

The museum is so great for kids because there is plenty to explore and lots of wide open space for running around. They found an apple tree and red lip bench!

My adorable niece Ella

and sweet nephew Leo.

We spotted this busy bee outside Owl Cottage.

After lunch, Gene and Tom snapped photos of the four cousins on this Alice-in-Wonderland-sized chair!

We stumbled upon a wishing well, and fortunately Aunt Amber had some change in her bag.

Ella found the perfect place to perch in a barn.

She and Uncle Gene had a tea party!

We visited the covered bridge

and found a massive spider web.

One of our last stops was the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building, to see Impressionist paintings.

We also took a break for stories at the Colchester Reef Lighthouse.

We slowly made our way back up the hill before heading back to the hotel to relax before dinner with Amber's crew.

Shelburne Museum is a fascinating place and it was a great way to start our summer vacation!