Snow, snow, go away...

Yeah, okay.  So, I know that I live in New England and that it is winter, but this is kind of ridiculous, right?  I'm so sick of all of this snow.  It really does seem that it will never ever go away.  You would think that with all this snow, I would have had plenty of time to, say, update a blog.  However, I am sadly delinquent.  I never knew quite how this whole blog thing would work, but I do know that I have read a lot of them and have several friends who are now blogging in 2011.

With all that said, I do plan to do better this year.  I hope to make at least 3 entries this year.  And several more pictures.  I would post some of all this snow, but I've stopped taking pictures.  I see no point in rewarding the snow by taking pictures of it looking all pretty and stuff.  Especially when you can't see the layer of ice hidden beneath it.

I would also like to take time now to recap a lot of the Drake happenings from the last several months that I have been blog MIA.  However, I am sad to say there is little that I really deem blog-worthy.  Hopefully, I will have things going on soon to blog and update.

Take care.  :)

The Tree...

So, tonight I go outside to get Charles to come in for the night.  I look in the garage and I don't see Nathan.  I look under the car and I don't see Nathan.  So, I yell quietly and don't get a response.  I figure Charles was in 'his tree' so I walked over and yelled for Charles.  Then I hear both Nathan and Charles laughing in the tree.  The thing of it is, I could hear them but I couldn't see them.  That is the thing about this tree and why it is so appealing to little boys and their dads.

Here is the tree from when we first got here.  Or at least shortly after while it was in the snow.  It looks pretty cool and big, but that is about it.  About a week ago, it started to get a few leaves and before we knew it, it was fully bloomed.  Now it looks like this...

I'm sure you can start to see why this would be the greatest play place for a little boy, but in case you can't, here are a few pictures from 'inside' the tree...

Also, once I got in there, I realized how big this tree was.  I don't think I really noticed that during the winter...

So, you can see that it is kind of big.  And that kind of brings me to tonight.  I'm outside (in a skirt!) and Nathan yells from inside the tree to go get the camera and come in there.  So, I do and I see that both Nathan and Charles have started climbing...

Now, I can already see that this is going to be quite the jungle gym for my boys this summer.  Nathan already has ideas of tree houses and stuff like that.  I'm not a big fan of the tree, because I know that there are all kinds of creepy crawlies in and around there, but I have to admit that I do like taking pics of it.

What Happens in VT, Stays in VT - but nothing really ever happens here...

I've tried blogging before and realized that I'm not very good at it.  However, I wanted to share our most recent adventure:  Vermont.  Okay, so it wasn't really an adventure.  Honestly, it wasn't all that eventful either, but it was fun and several people have asked about it, so I thought I would use this as an avenue to share what did happen.

We got off to a late start on Friday, since Nathan had to work a little longer than anticipated.  It was to be about a 3.5 hour drive so, we knew we would be late to check in and most of our trip was done in the dark.  Nonetheless it was fun.  We just did drive-thru for supper and ended up getting to Cavendish before 2230.  Because of this, we crashed almost immediately.

We were staying at The Pointe Hotel at the Castle Hill Resort and Spa.  It was nice enough, but not really anything special.  The Castle Hill Resort was beautiful, however.  We ended up getting up late and missed the 'upscale' continental breakfast at Castle Hill and since I had a spa appointment (my mother's day gift) at 1100, Nathan and Charles just dropped me off at the Spa and went to have breakfast in town at the Hatchery.

The spa was very cool.  It was in the old carriage house from the Castle Hill house.  It was a bit pricey for me, so I just used my coupon and only got an aromatherapy massage.  It was wonderful and timely, since I was having back spasms that day.  It also worked out so that I was done just as Nathan and Charles returned from breakfast.  The bad thing, though, was that I was absolutely starving and it was now lunch time.  After some minor searching and random guessing, we ended up at the Pot Belly Pub in Ludlow, VT.  It really wasn't anything fancy, but it was fun.  Nathan and Charles just ordered drinks while I got a delicious Jerk Chicken Sandwich.  It wasn't the best I've had (Ebbit's Field, Springfield, MO), but it was good.  One thing they did have that was awesome was their own brand of root beer.  Good enough in fact, that Nathan and I got a 4-pack to go.

We really didn't have anything planned to do, but Ludlow is known for being a resort town for Okemo Mountain during ski season.  So, we took the opportunity and drove up the mountain.  It was beautiful.  I can only imagine what it must look like when it is covered in snow because it was crazy beautiful all green and blooming.  It was very rainy, but to me, that only added to the beauty.  It was all misty and foggy.  I really enjoyed the drive.

I picked up a little tourist map while we were at Pot Belly and I noticed a cute little town nearby and thought it might be kind of fun to drive over there, so after we came down the mountain, we headed to Weston, VT.  As soon as we entered the town, we saw an old mill that had been restored and set up for tourists.  We stopped and even though the lights were on, the doors unlocked (mostly), and the sign flipped to OPEN, no one was around.  This was kind of creepy, but also cool since we got to look all around on our own.  They had lots of old equipment and a water wheel and also a really cool waterfall and creek.  I took lots of pictures.

There was also a 'Vermont Country Store' in Weston, so we stopped here after we finished at the mill.  It was very large.  I would describe it as a New England version of Hillbilly Junction.  They had some cool stuff and a whole lot of junk.  That is where I got the title of this entry - it was on a tee shirt there.  We spent almost 3 hours wandering around and looking at all the stuff.  They had toiletries, makeup, clothes, furniture, books, games, toys, and food, just to name some of it.  They also had samples, so we  had common crackers, cheeses, sausages, and fudge for our afternoon snack.  All in all, it wasn't a bad way to waste the afternoon.

We went back to the hotel to rest and freshen up before going out for dinner that night.  We didn't really know where we wanted to go, so we asked the front desk for a recommendation and they told us about a really cool Italian restaurant, Bella Luna, not far from the hotel, so we headed out.  It was so cute and seemed really nice.  We went in and the hostess told us that they had no tables available except in the bar.  So, now, we didn't know where to go.  I consulted 'the talking box' and we decided on Killarney Pub and Restaurant.  It was very cute and very Irish.  I had never really been to an authentic Irish restaurant and I'm glad this was my first.  It was so old and cool.  The restaurant part was pretty small, but it was fine.  It had a gigantic fireplace with an old pot belly stove in it.  Nathan decided to get a very traditional Irish dish - Bangers and Mash, while I got Chicken Jameson.  Charles stuck with his old standby of pasta.  It was all very good.  We had wanted dessert there, but decided to go to the local grocery store and get some ice cream.

We have started a family traveling tradition of all of us crawling into the same bed to watch tv.  Usually we try to find a good episode of something on Animal Planet or Pawn Stars or Dirty Jobs, we didn't have much luck this time, though.  After eating our mini-ice creams, we put on the History Chanel and watched some show about crop circles and ancient aliens.  Not sure how historical or educational you could call it, but it was pretty entertaining.

Nathan had already scoped out the Ludlow Baptist Church, so we got up the next morning in enough time to go up to the Castle Hill Resort for breakfast of scones and fruit and scrambled eggs.  It was very good, but the dining area was a little fancy for us.  We had a little bit of time before services started, so we drove around a little bit and we called my mom and wished her a Happy Mother's Day.  The church was very interesting from the outside and even more so on the inside.  The sanctuary was on the second floor.  The people were very friendly and we didn't have any 'interesting encounters' this time.  The sermon was also very good.

After church, we needed to head back to the island.  All Nathan wanted from our trip was to cross a covered bridge.  We tried to find one on our trip to New Hampshire, but ended up going to a lighthouse in Maine instead.  I didn't have the time or the internet connection to do the research that I would have liked to do to try and find one, so we had scrapped that idea.  However, since it was dark when we had arrived we didn't notice that there was one along our way.  It was in a really small town, but we got to cross it and visit the other Vermont Country Store.  It was mostly the same stuff so we didn't stay very long.  

Then we began the long trek home.  It was pretty uneventful other than trying to find a restaurant to eat lunch.  After several tries, we ended up at an Olive Garden.  It wasn't quite what we were looking for, but it was good.  I ended up finally getting the tiramisu that I had wanted Saturday night.

Like I had said before, it wasn't anything overly exciting, but it was such a great getaway.  It was what we like to do most, just get off the island and go somewhere and hang out as a family and see something beautiful and eat someplace fun.  I don't know where we are going next and I can't wait.