Aloha

I have a very dear friend who turned 3o this year.  Her goal was to be in Hawaii for it but she wasn't able to go.  So we decided to throw her a surprise party instead.  It was my first time ever planning one and it was a lot of fun.







I was having too much fun making sure we had everything together for Hawaiian haystacks and pina coladas that I didn't take many pictures.  Again.  But it was such a fun night!  And a fun time to celebrate my amazing friend!

Burlington

Ryan had a Friday off and we decided to take advantage of it and explore Burlington. We first went to Shelburne Farms, which had been highly recommended by one of my Mom's friends. It was a huge, beautiful farm and there was tons to see and explore. It was a pretty hot day so we just stuck by the children's farm. The kids got to milk a cow, feed a bottle to a baby goat, and meet lots of chickens and even a pony. On the hayride

chickens







Once it got close to lunch time (and the weather was getting nice and hot!) we decided to head out and get some lunch. We found the Burlington Chipotle (yum!) and then took some snacks to North Beach on Lake Champlain. It was GORGEOUS. We had so much fun swimming and playing in the sand, we could have stayed there all day!


Chipotle

 

check out these 2 bottom teeth!






By evening we packed up and left and headed over to Church St, recommended by one of Ryan's work friends. Its a fun street, closed off from traffic, with shops and restaurants. We first watched a fun juggling street show and then found a place to eat dinner. The weather was perfect for an outdoor dinner and the kids were even in a good mood, despite it being 9:00! Sawyer played "I'm thinking of an animal" the whole dinner so that kept us entertained.





 Ryan was picked to be in his show




Burlington was an awesome town and we will for sure be back!

babies everywhere!

At our church here in Vermont there were 13 babies born within 6 months of each other. One of the moms planned a fun brunch where we could get them all together in one place and lots of us were able to go and have a fun time. It was so funny to have so many babies in one place!


Here they are in birth order, from 3 weeks old to 6 months old. Only 3 girls in the bunch!

And here are the moms and babies. Please don't mind my lovely hairdo, I had rushed from the gym and, although I am showered, I didn't have time to get cute!

It is so fun for Clara to have so many friends!

(photos by Britta Davis Photography)

Occom Pond Party

One of the first things we did last year in our new home here in Vermont was go to the Occom Pond party. We had so much fun we made sure to put it on our calender for this year too. But it is amazing how different it was this year! The pond was frozen (luckily...it took a long time for it to freeze and it has had to close several times because of the warm temperatures we've had) but there was no snow! Very different from the 2 1/2 feet we had last year! So no sledding and no sleigh rides. (and also...no camera! I brought my camera but forgot the memory card! oops! So we're stuck with only phone pictures!)

Here is Clara trying to stay warm...she really wasn't a fan of the fleece suit!

penguin bowling

ice fishing

the castle slide. The kids can be kind of shy about things and Ryan led them up to the slide but then it took a while for them to come down because they kept letting kids go in front of them. Finally Sawyer sat up there and right as he was about to go down he turned around...either to say something to Kate or to look at her for encouragement...and he ended up sliding down backwards! He wasn't a fan and didn't go down again.

This year Ryan, Sawyer and Kate all have their own ice skates so we didn't have to stand in the big long line to rent. Which was nice because the ice skating only lasted a few minutes...

Sawyer in action

They had a place to roast marshmallows but it was basically just a pit of warm coals...who was in charge of this fire?

Clara ended up staying warm and taking a snooze

What a different winter we have had this year! Its amazing how scared I was to have a full winter here but now I wouldn't mind seeing some snow!

Spring is here!

This morning I was in a yoga class when I looked out the window and saw a blizzard. A blizzard! When I saw it I almost cried. And I've only been here since February...I can't imagine if I had been through the entire winter! But I guess that is what we get in Vermont! So to celebrate the first full day of spring we went in the hot tub.

I hope your spring started a little warmer! Wish me luck getting to the real thing!