This year was a milestone birthday for me- 40! I decided to do something a little special. I took a trip to Vermont to see Paul and his family, and then from there I went to Louisville, Kentucky to visit my Peace Corps friend, Anna.
Paul was having trouble finding childcare throughout the summer, so I agreed to come visit and babysit.
I flew in to Burlington on Friday afternoon, the 23rd of July. Paul and Orion picked me up at the airport and whisked me away to their house in Montpelier. Paul and Sarah left right away for concert with friends they were going to, and the kids and I ate dinner, read some books, and got ready for bed.
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| Aurora wearing the small fabric tray I made her as a hat |
Saturday, July 24
Sarah and Paul took us all up to Burlington for lunch at a friend's house, where we spent the afternoon. The house was lovely and old, the yard was beautiful, we all had a nice and relaxing time.
Sunday, July 25
We went up to Sarah's parent's house in Glover for lunch and to hang out, then for dinner we went to their family friends' lake house, just around the corner. We had hamburgers, people swam in the lake, and we enjoyed the perfect weather.
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| Aurora and Sarah wading in Shadow Lake. Orion scrubs the rocks. |
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| Orion, GrandMarie, Grandpa Topher, and Aurora, relaxing before dinner |
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| Watching Mom take a swim with her friend in Shadow Lake |
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| I would love to eat breakfast here! |
Monday, July 26
First day of childcare! Aurora went to her nanny, and Orion and I went to St. Johnsbury to visit the Fairbanks museum. The Fairbanks museum is a collection of things generally from around 1900 that Franklin Fairbanks brought to Vermont. It's in a big, old, stone Victorian building. The main floor is mostly taxidermied animals and birds, and Orion was surprisingly interested in these. There are also some interactive science-y experiments for kids on the main level, like a gear wall, a heat camera, and a circuit board. We enjoyed our time on the first floor. The second floor has a gallery that looks down on the 1st floor, with a variety of random artifacts from the Fairbanks collection, like bird skulls, knives, artwork from far-flung regions, etc.
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| Really into the stuffed birds |
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| You can rearrange all the pieces to get the balls from top to bottom |
After exploring the artifacts, Orion and I went a show in the planetarium, about Dinos of the Arctic. We were the only people in there. He was pretty pumped about the movie being shown on the dome above us, and how long of a video it was (30 minutes).
We went back to the car to get our lunch that Paul had packed for us, and ate on the lawn of the museum. Then we explored their small butterfly house and Orion spent quite a bit of time building a tin foil boat and iterating on his design, testing it in the wave tank. That activity was probably a highlight of the museum for him.
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| We could have tested how many pennies can go on the boat, but he stopped at 5 and called it good. |
After we did everything in the entire museum, some things twice, we walked to a nearby convenience store for snacks for the drive home (about an hour). I had told Orion it was Tia Laura day, and we could do whatever we wanted! His first request was could we buy a minivan and I had to put in some guidelines: We can do whatever we want, as long as I have enough money for it, we are in time to pick up Aurora from care, and it doesn't break any rules. He was quite offended by this last guideline, as IF he would suggest anything that breaks any rules!! At the convenience store I told him he could pick out a treat for the car, and he picked gummy worms. I picked popcorn. Loaded up with junk food, we got back to Montpelier and had a bit of quiet time/nap time before picking up Paul and Aurora.
Tuesday, July 27
Today we dropped Aurora off at the nanny, and Paul off at work, then Orion and I went to his friend Rowan's house for a playdate (after stopping by Shaw's grocery store where O picked out a fruit salad to take to their house). Unfortunately, I didn't have exact directions, nor an address, to her house. I also don't have very good cell service. So Orion guided me most of the way there, but once we were in the neighborhood, he said he wasn't sure about the rest of the way. I called Celeste (Rowan's mom), but couldn't get through. I called Paul and he told me to drive up a particular street. At one cross street, Orion yelled to turn there, but Paul said no, I was to turn at the next stop sign. After driving a fair piece out into the countryside, I could tell I was about to lose cell service. The last thing I heard Paul say was "turn around!!" I turned around, and when we got back to the intersection, I turned, even though there wasn't a stop sign like Paul had said. Orion found the next turn, and in a minute, we were at Rowan's house! I texted Paul to tell him we made it.
Orion spent a few hours playing not only with Rowan, but with Rowan's brother Liam, and their friend Axel. Celeste and I chatted. Rowan and Orion took me up to their fort in the forest and played for a while with their 'wood chipper'. Orion also requested a wood chipper for his birthday at this point.
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| Working hard at the wood chipper |
We all had lunch together, and then I read the kiddos a few books for quiet hour. Orion and I went home then, and had our own quiet hour. We did some crafts in the afternoon, mostly making birthday cards for Paul and Sarah.Then we picked up Aurora from the nanny and went to see Paul at work. He had a few things left to do so we put on hard hats and watched him at work. It was pretty interesting, he works for the Vermont Evaporator Company and that day was working on getting barrels ready to be turned into...something...that has to do with processing maple syrup at home. We enjoyed watching him work.
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| At the Vermont Evaporator Company |
In the evening, we opened a suitcase of clothes someone had sent to Sarah to see if she wanted anything. We all tried things on, with Orion winning the fashion contest by finding a dress that matched his dragon wings, so now he has a dragon robe costume! After the kids went to bed, Paul and I had just enough energy for one round of Wingspan.
Wednesday, July 28
Topher and Marie day! Today I drove the kids up to Glover so we could spend the day with their grandparents. Having three of us for childcare was a wonderful break for all of us. The kids played in the sandbox, did play-do, and played with these cool dress-up dolls.
I put Aurora down for a nap (which means I took a nap, too), and then Orion and I played outside. He thought up a great game- "let's play where you're the kid and I'm the adult". YES. He made me breakfast, drove me to school, and took me to a playdate on the porch with my friends Topher and Marie while he went to work (picking weeds along the driveway). It was an easy game for me, and he enjoyed it a lot.
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| Orion peruses my crossword puzzle book at the concert |
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| Sarah and the kids in birthday crowns at the concert |
Thursday, July 29
Today Paul stayed home with me and the kids, and we had a low-key day. Paul mowed the lawn- they have a LOT of lawn. I hung around with the kiddos outside, Orion and I moved things out of Paul's way, and Aurora mowed behind him with her toy mower. Orion found a toad and a red eft.
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| Aurora mowed so much lawn today! |
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| A toad!! Also, Orion's shirt is on backwards. |
It rained in the afternoon, and Orion and got in bed to read for a bit and both fell asleep.
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| A well-earned rest |
Friday, July 30
Today was a chilly, rainy day. We took Paul to work, and then Orion asked if we could do a morning tubby time. Turned on the hot water, and he spent probably an hour playing in the tub. Aurora wasn't interested in staying in quite that long, but she was happy to sit outside the tub and read with me while Orion played. We took naps and watched nature videos during quiet hour.
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| Tubby/book reading time |
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| Aurora played hide-and-seek in the shower curtain while Orion stayed in the tub |
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| Paul and Aurora |
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| Paul and Orion |
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| S'mores!! |
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| Paul, is that stick really the right size for roasting a marshmallow?? |
For dinner, we ordered burgers and fries and ate outside at the picnic table, then made a campfire and did s'mores.
Saturday, July 31
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| My last morning for early morning snuggles and video watching |
My last day with the Vermonters. The day was very laid back. Paul and Sarah had lots of chores to do, as they are leaving for the cabin at Barville Pond in a couple days. I read some with the kids, played outside with them, and had time to sit around by myself and read. I gave Orion some birthday presents from me and my parents, since I won't be there for his birthday on Wednesday. We built a machine and he took pictures with his new digital camera.
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| Building a centripetal force machine |
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| Orion LOVES his new camera! |
Paul and I ran some errands in town, then he took me to the airport in Burlington for my flight around 3:30pm.
I flew to Louisville, Kentucky to spend a few days with my Peace Corps friend, Anna, and her family. My flight was uneventful and Anna came to pick me up at the airport. We got to her house around 10 or 11pm. Her daughter Isabel, who is 3, was waiting up for me. I said hi and then pretty much immediately went to bed.
Sunday, August 1
Anna and Kyle and Isabel took me to breakfast at the Logan Street Market, which has various vendors and a large communal eating area. We got bagels and Isabel ran around; almost no one else was there. Then we headed up to Charlestown State Park, just over the Indiana border, for a walk in the woods and a bit of letterboxing. The woods were beautiful! I found them to be very amazing, unlike anything I've walked in before. I saw a cardinal, but no pileated woodpeckers, which is what Anna was hoping we would see. We took Isabel to the playground for a while, then went for lunch at a brewery on the Ohio river.
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| Anna found a salamander! |
After lunch we headed back to their house and hung out for awhile, and shortly, Adam arrived! He drove down from his family cottage in Michigan. When he got here, we took a nap, then went for a walk around the neighborhood with Anna and Isabel. They live in a beautiful old part of Louisville, and every house is fun to see.
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| Sophie the Cat enjoys lounging in the middle of the stairs |
We had grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and veggies for dinner and watched the Olympics.
Monday, August 2
Today was my birthday! Anna took Isabel to daycare and then Anna, Adam, and I went to brunch in downtown Louisville. Kyle had to go out of town for a conference. Brunch was tasty, but I had too much food leftover, of course. We stopped back by their house to stick things in the fridge, then we went to the American Printing House for the Blind and went through the Braille Museum there. I had been the last time I visited Anna, and thought it was really interesting. Anna and Adam enjoyed it this time with me, and we learned how to type our names in Braille.
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| Birthday froyo! |
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| Their neighbor's house- they won an award for best garden |
Our next stop was the Falls of the Ohio state park, mostly to find a letterbox, but also to learn about the limestone riverbed and the history of the Ohio river shipping industry. It was getting very hot and muggy by then, and I asked if we could get frozen yogurt. We went into downtown Jeffersonville and got fro-yo! We were still stuffed from brunch, so we skipped anything resembling lunch and went home and took naps.
In the afternoon we walked about 20 minutes to Isabel's school to pick her up, and walked home, which took quite a while. For dinner we ordered fried chicken, then we watched some more Olympics.
While Anna was trying to put Isabel to bed (which can take several hours), Adam and I drove down to the waterfront and walked along the string of parks there. It was a lovely evening, breezy, warm, not too humid.
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| Breezy on the waterfront! |
Tuesday, August 3
This morning (around 11), Anna, Adam, and I went on a tour of the Evan Williams distillery. It was a delight. They talked about the history of the Louisville bourbon industry, taking us through various 'scenes' including the waterfront in the 1800's and downtown during prohibition, when the only alcohol allowed was medicine from the pharmacy. We did a taste test, during which I affirmed my belief that I don't care for bourbon.
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| Old[-timey Pharmacy |
Wednesday, Aug 4
Today we just drove aaaallll day. We thought about stopping at interesting places, but in the end, we just wanted to get home. Arrived at my house around 5:30pm, safe and sound after an excellent trip!
