Vermont 2011-2nd Photo Drop

Lots of pictures and a few words to describe them...This still isn't all the pic's and I am on a time crunch so that is as good as it will get.

Me, Sadie, and Saku.

Having fun on the Ortiz's water slide....

Saku, Jake, and Sam finding Waldo (remember those Where's Waldo books?)

Heading to the damn...

Following a really big fish....

Nee and Ben...

They found the really big fish. :)

On the way back...Tina or Mom had pic's of the kiddos going down the rapids (I was standing at the end to make sure they stopped) and I don't have those to post...We'll just have to use our imagination. :)

Anika, Aunt Tina, and Nee were in the kayaks.

Papa brought back a cute t-shirt for Anika and fun planes for the boys.

I have a million pictures of these in flight but I just picked one of them...

Nee and Papa also brought everyone a Lego set.

We went to our old stomping grounds (Lebanon, NH where we grew up) and meet some old friends for lunch at our favorite pizza place: Village Pizza.

Can you feel your arteries clogging?  It was soooo  yummy...

Then we went to the creamy stand we grew up on: Pete& Rogers (it is actually called Dairy Twirl but it shared a building with an oil company and their sign was bigger so everyone called it P&R) and I had my childhood favorite: Black Raspberry with rainbow jimmies.

I love how Saku is eying Papa's creamy in this picture. :)

Anika got the red, white, and blue.  It looks a little more purple, white, and pink but you can see what they were going for. :)

A hike up the old trail...

And the traditional picture at the old sign marking the old trail. :)

This is pretty much what Sadie looked like the whole time we were there...She was one happy doggie...

Throwing rocks and watching them roll down is always fun...

The others went ahead while Jake and I stayed a little longer.  Jake wanted to do some sketches.  I love this boy. :)

That is all for now and I am not even close to be done but this year is so I gotta get a move on...

Vermont...The 1st photo drop of many...

Way back in the summer (end of July) we packed up the car and headed North.  We try to go to Camp (a cabin on the lake my Grampa Smith built when my mom was a child) every summer and this was no exception.  Especially since we were meeting Nee and Papa there as they drove back from their 18 month mission in Seattle Washington.  I took tons of pictures since we were there for a little over a month this is basically the 1st week...

Jake, Sadie (then 7 months old and not having ridden in the car much), and I headed out on our 2 day, 18 hour drive to Vermont.  We stopped in Pennsylvania to sleep and Jake told the very friendly manager of the hotel that he couldn't wait to jump on the bed (it is a tradition-every time we go to a hotel Jake must jump on the bed since he can't jump on his own), to which she plugged her ears and pretended she couldn't hear him while laughing...I told him in in the elevator that you aren't supposed to tell them you are going to do it.  I guess they didn't care too much because they gave him a full size Hershey bar (we were one town over from Hershey) and he was in heaven!  Sadie was a good traveler since she was in her crate.  This is too much information but here goes anyway:  She would not go to the bathroom!  Finally that night at the hotel after taking her out 15 times or so, she went.  She held it all day because the poor dog had no idea what was going on.  She then went on to pee on the floor in the hotel!!!! She NEVER pees on the floor.  But I have to admit I cleaned it up and was happy the poor dog was finally going!  Any way...The trip went quickly and we had fun listening to the Chronicles of Narnia on CD. :)

We spent our first week at my Uncle Gary and Aunt Julie's house.  For what ever reason I have no pictures of it!!!  I think it is because we were having so much fun!  Just about every night after Jake went to sleep Mallory (my cousin), Aunt Julie, and I went on a walk in the dark with the dogs and laughed our heads off.  I LOVE spending time with them.  Motherhood has made my relationship with my Aunt Julie turn into a wonderful friendship.  I loved her when I was a child but as an adult I have found a great friend. We have a ton of fun together.  Tina and the cousins spent the first few days at Aunt Shelia's where we met up and the kiddos helped stack wood.

We also spent a lot of time at Uncle Ron and Aunt Sue's (Tina and her kiddos spent the rest of the week there) and had so much fun.  They have an awesome tire swing...

...and Uncle Ron helped them build a clubhouse.  Jake told me once "when Uncle Ron is around I feel like I have another Papa" and I am so glad.  :)  He is an amazing Uncle and an amazing extra Papa. 

We took a walk up to another part of their property where they have a pond and little cabin and passed this on the way.  I wish I got a picture of some of the more humongous vehicles that were working but I was too busy navigating the mud puddles that Sadie was swimming in. :)

We were very surprised when Sadie got right in the water and started swimming happily.  The day before we went to visit my cousin Drew and his girlfriend Margo at the lake house they were renting (no pictures for some reason...) and she was very hesitant to swim.

She did end up eating  (well trying to but we stopped her) the mama frog to these little baby frogs...I am so glad she didn't get sick...

It was some what chilly but it didn't stop us from kid's from taking a dip.  Yes I did just include myself in with the kiddos.  If there is water I will swim in it, no matter the temperature. 

The next day we went back to Drew and Margo's and I had to snap some pictures of Dakota (Mallory's dog) and Sadie.

Oh yeah and her are the kiddo's too. :)

The next day we headed to the Ben & Jerry's factory...

What is that man doing to Jake's t-shirt you ask?  Signing it!  We were lucky enough to meet Jerry. :)

Ben & Jerry's has a flavor graveyard and wouldn't you know it Tina and Aunt Julies favorite flavors didn't make it...

The next day we went to Grampa Smith's and waited for Nee and Papa to get there.  We were lucky enough to all have made a trip to visit them in Seattle, but it still had been a long time since we had!  I love this picture of Saku running back as quickly as he could to tell us they were coming.  The kids waited for a long time at the top of the hill to see them coming.

Dad and Sadie hit it off. 

Grampa Smith opened up his shop and let the boys build fun things...

That night we went to Aunt Sue's and she made a feast of yummy homemade pizza to celebrate our parents return.  No pictures of that for some reason...We all sort of took turns taking pictures and my camera wasn't used that night...I have to get my sister and mom's pictures because the hundreds I have just aren't enough...This is just week one in a very short version.  Get ready for a few hundred more pictures. :)