Family in Town

At least once a year, we try to see my sister Suzanne and her family. We would love to see each other more often, but usually it is only once a year. This year, Suzanne, Chuck, and Keagan came to visit us. It was a short 3 day visit, so we tried to get as much in as possible. While everything didn’t go as planned, (does it ever?) we had a lot of fun.

Chuck is allergic to cats so they have to stay in a hotel. They got in late Friday night, so we didn’t see them until Saturday morning. Keagan joined Hadley at Kindermusik class, and while Malia was in her class we walked around the Montpelier Farmer’s Market and then played on the State House Lawn.

Playing on the State House Lawn

Eating a croissant after music class

After both of the girls were finished with music class, we headed to Quechee for the Hot Air Balloon Festival. We stopped at the festival to see the disc dogs and then headed over to the Quechee Gorge. The kids loved splashing in the gorge and climbing over all of the rocks.

Watching the Disc Dogs at the Quechee Hot Air Balloon Festival

Resting at the Quechee Gorge

We climbed out of the gorge and headed back to the festival. We were worried that we wouldn’t make it back to the festival in time for the balloons because of the 45 minute traffic jam to travel 1 mile. We did make it back and grabbed some fest food before heading over to set up our tent and have a picnic dinner.

Eating the rest of Hadley's corn dog

While I love the Hot Air Balloon Festival, the weather can be very detrimental. While it was a beautiful day, it was too windy for the balloons to take off. While we were waiting to see if the balloons would take off, the kids played in the tent, climbed on Chuck, and went for a “train” ride.

Riding the train

Playing ball in the tent

Who needs a jungle gym when you have Chuck

They ended up blowing up one balloon just so people could see it, but it didn’t take off. It was disappointing that we didn’t get to see the balloons, but we kept busy and added to our list of adventures.

The next day was Father’s Day. We debated going back to Quechee, but it was windy again so we didn’t want to make the drive for the balloons to not take off. We decided to have a relaxing day and just play in the backyard. We got out the bounce house and the kids had a blast playing with Gideon’s new bocce ball set.

Helping Daddy open his Father's Day presents

Playing in the bounce house

Playing in the sand box

Bocce ball

Keagan trying to pull Hadley up the slide

Goofs

Two years ago.  The last time they visited

Cousins

For dinner we headed out to the Royal Orchid for Thai food and then before bed the kids played Elefun and Hungry, Hungry Hippos.

Walking to the car after dinner

Elefun

Hungry Hungry Hippos

They had flown into Boston, so Monday we planned to head there for the day before they had to leave on Tuesday morning. Malia woke up with a fever though, so Gideon stayed home with her. The trip to Boston was an adventure in itself. We stopped twice for bathroom breaks and once because Hadley got motion sick and threw-up. A trip that normally takes 3 hours took over four, but what do you expect when traveling with two little kids.

We grabbed lunch at Quincy Market and then went to the New England Aquarium. Hadley really enjoyed looking at all of the fish and was super excited to touch the sting rays, which she was too afraid to touch when we visited in February.

At the Aquarium

Playing in the touch tank

Going to see the seals and sea lions

Petting the sting ray

Watching the harbor seals

After the Aquarium, we found a city park where the kids could play. They loved the giant sand box.

Before we knew it, it was time to return their rental car and get them checked into their hotel. We had dinner and then Hadley and I started the drive home. (It went much quicker since she slept the whole way). While not everything went as planned, we had a lot of fun.

Cuties

Silly faces

What Keagan is thimking:  "She's so weird."

Even though it may be another year before we see each other again, I always look forward to it. I love seeing the girls getting to play with Keagan and it is so nice getting to catch up with Suzanne and Chuck.

10 Years

It is hard to believe, but last Friday Gideon and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. Since we have a very big trip coming up in July, we decided to stay closer to home and visit Montreal. We had heard a lot of good things about it, and while it didn’t quite live up to its expectations we still had fun.

The girls did great on the drive up, which gives me hope for our July trip. Upon arrival, we found out just how hard it is to find parking downtown. After parking, we exchanged some money and then went to the information center. I knew where we wanted to go, but we needed a map to help us get around.

We had a quick (and expensive lunch) and then headed off to Old Montreal. We were going to take a bus, but we found out that the buses in Montreal are not very reliable, so we ended up walking. Old Montreal is very touristy with souvenir shops and expensive eating places.

Notre Dame Basilica

Malia fell asleep on the way to Old Montreal

Her new pose for all pictures

We were all getting tired at this point, so we decided to check out Mount Royal. It is a city park designed by the same person who did Central Park in NYC. We took the Metro, but there was still a several block walk to the park. Again there wasn’t much to keep the girls occupied, so we didn’t stay long.

Playing at Mount Royal

We headed back to our car to find our hotel. The parking garage we had found was surprisingly close to our hotel. It still took over 30 minutes to get to the hotel though in rush hour traffic. After getting checked-in, we set out for dinner. The area around our hotel (Latin Quarter) was much more European than Old Montreal. We quickly noticed a theme at all of the restaurants, expensive meals. We found a place to eat and then headed back to the hotel to rest.

On Thursday, we had promised the girls activities that would keep them more interested. First we headed to the Biodome. It is a habitat based zoo/botanical garden. It was a unique experience. We had a lot of fun looking for all of the animals. Malia loved spotting animals and saying “Look Daddy.” We were able to get really close to some of the animals.

Very much like me, the girls are very clumsy. We had a lot of tumbles and trips. At one point while I was comforting Hadley from rolling down a hill (accidently), Gideon walked Malia face first into a tree. Even though we left with two skinned knees and a black eye, we all had a lot of fun.

The bird greeted us as we entered

American porcupine

Olympic Stadium

My plan for the afternoon was to visit the Science Center. When Gideon tried to buy tickets though, we were told that the Science Center is mainly geared for older kids and teenagers. There would be very little for the girls to do. The lady at the information center had mentioned the Biosphere, so we decided to check it out. While there wasn’t a lot for the girls to do there, it did have a great water room where the girls had a blast.

Seeing how much water it takes to fill a bathtub

City view from inside the Biosphere

Malia's turn to haul water

Walking on water

On our way home on Friday, we stopped at Parc Safari. Parc Safari is one of our favorite places to visit each summer. We went straight to the Safari Adventure, only stopping to feed the giraffes. It is always so much fun to feed the different animals. Malia wasn’t as excited as I expected. Instead, she was more interested in making sure the animals didn’t get her carrots and celery.

After the Safari Adventure, we had some vegetables left, so we fed the giraffes some more. Then we headed into the zoo. The girls still love climbing on the statue animals, and I love seeing the lions in the tunnel enclosure.

As we were finishing up the day by the Deer Run, Hadley scraped off a scab, which promptly started bleeding. We ended up calling the first aid station for a band-aid. Hadley got the royal treatment from the medics.

Even though we ended the trip with a few injuries and it wasn’t what we expected, it was still fun. And whenever we think back on our 10 year anniversary, we will remember spending time together, having fun, and maybe even a few of the bumps and bruises.