Thanksgiving in Vermont

Some images of our holiday...

Sunset through the window screen.

We got our turkey this year from Stonewood Farm in Orwell.  (Their oldest was in my 5th grade class last year.)  There's something special about a locally sourced turkey, even if I don't eat it...

And Zoey and Dan brought home brewed beer all the way from Michigan.  Quite honestly, one of the best pumpkin ales I've ever had, in addition to the other, also very good option.

Trying to show a progression of snow...

Our cup runneth over with squash, onions, and assorted fixin's for one of the most looked-forward-to meals of the year.

 

Got the progression on this side of the house!

Visit to a Friend's House

Talk about a play date! Esme, as you can likely tell, was midway between heaven and disbelief. I really don't think she could have imagined herself actually riding a horse...









And the scenery. The Green Mountains off to the east, the Adirondacks to the west, and a little girl, jazzed on life.





(Please bear with me while I try out a new blog app. I may have to go back on the computer to edit, position photos, and add more text.)

Our Trip to Atlanta

 

It was a ridiculous idea from the start:  we'll get up at 3AM, get to Burlington airport by 5AM, and be on a flight to Atlanta by 5:45AM.  We did get to the airport in time to grab muffins and yoghurt for the flight, but only barely.  Here we see Esme on her second airplane trip.  (The first was a two leg journey from SE Michigan to Burlington in June of last year when she and Tina flew together after I'd packed, driven, and unpacked the U-Haul.)
All things considered, a moment of crying when she had to take off her shoes and her stuff went through the scanner is a great outcome.  The remainder of the trip to John and Raney's place was essentially smooth and painless.  (Aside from the aforementioned getting up at 3AM and the accompanying sleep-depraved weirdness.)

Atlanta airport provided us with several nice situations, such as the opportunity to point out that Esme had been in a plane, then a train (the Plane Train at ATL), and would soon been in an automobile.  This gave us more amusement than it did her for some reason, but she's never seen a John Candy movie, so that can be forgiven.

Upon arrival at Camp O'Keefe, Esme was shown every avenue towards fun and excitement.  It only occurred to me much later that I never did get a photo of the actual reason we went to Atlanta in the first place.  No pictures of my sister's Rehearsal BBQ at the park.  No pictures of the wedding, nor the ensuing party.  There were certainly photos taken at those venues, but not by me.  I was having too much fun then to bother with such frivolities.

This is JohnO, driving Esme off-road through the leaf piles.

On Saturday, while Tina and the female side of the event were having the Bachelorette Brunch, Esme and I went off to Home Grown to have lunch with my dad, who happened to be passing through on his way from NC to MS.  (Note to those who don't know my family very well.  My dad is not my-sister-getting-married's dad.  I'll leave it there, because to start trying to explain the various relationships amongst the two individuals getting married would require knowledge and effort.)  This particular photo was actually taken for Cheer and Trevor's sake, or at least their panda.

What can really be said about this photo?  Irish tomfoolery.

Esme led Tina and I, on our last day in town, to a nearby park that JohnO and Raney had taken her to the previous day.  I was really impressed that she did so, since I'm not really aware of her having ever given directions before, nor having memory of how to get to a place after having only been there once.  I choose to see this as a sign of intelligence, spatial awareness, and personal interest.

The little pink car that Esme drove around herself when no one was able to push her in the other pink car.

I don't even know how to start to describe this situation.  "There was a toilet being used as a planter..." doesn't seem like a good way to start a caption for anything.

Heading home after a fun weekend.  And Morgan, I'm not sure at all how R's hat made it into E's possession, but we'll get it back to you sometime.

Back home, with Esme swinging in the crabapple tree while I climb the red maple.  Esme was inspired, and she climbed our two apple trees later this same day.

Thanks to family, friends, and other relations for making it a special, poignant, joyous weekend.  (And I hope I don't have to fly with a 3 year old again any time soon.)

Spirit in Nature Trail, Ripton, VT

     A few weeks ago, we set out to find a small set of hiking trails.  We found serenity and fungi.  Whether that's a literal metaphor or not, here's the trip.

You can't tell, but there's a 15 foot drop about two feet left of Tina's foot in this picture.  Parenting can be nerve wracking! 

The mushrooms were otherworldly!

This fungus was about as big around (in all dimensions) as a Kennedy half-dollar.

This one had just interacted with Esme.  I know the feeling.

It got a little chilly, so Esme borrowed my fleece.

A maze of stones.  There were prayers and wishes at the center.

     Hope you can come visit us sometime soon.  We miss all our family, friends, and peeps!

Apple Picking at Champlain Valley

     Last weekend, we went apple picking at Champlain Valley Orchards.  We discovered Silken apples, of which we still have a dozen or so to consume.  Crisp, sweet though slightly tart, would go great in a pie, but they're unlikely to last since they're so good to gobble up!

I wore my new Inside Scoop shirt from the Brandon ice cream parlor.

Those are the silken apples

Those of you on Facebook already know this picture...

These are those Silken apples!

Esme made a friend while we were there, and loved dancing on the flatbed trailer.

Thanks Champlain Valley!

     

Brandon's Harvest People

     Every fall, many citizens of Vermont put out these 'people'.  Esme was enthralled, and we had to visit many of them to have her picture taken.  I thought this was going to be a fun hour or so, but by the time I realized just how many of these folks there are in our new hometown, I started taking wider angle shots to capture more than just the one she stood near.  (And now there are more of them...)  This day's adventure was about three hours.

There are four of them in this picture.  Can you find them all?

Two more in the background here...

One Esme's size here, while three others wait to cross the street.    

This is our local scoop shop, where Esme gets her 'pink ice cream'.

More from the town green across
the street.

The town green was filled with them, not to mention the wedding couple
at the Brandon Inn.

And a few days later, more started popping up.  We may need to take another walk...

PS  This was supposed to be posted last Saturday, but the blogger interface from my phone doesn't seem to like uploading 20 full sized pictures at a time, nor does it seem to save drafts.  (This is my 3rd time attempting to post this.)  And now it has been over a year since my last post.