On with the trip. What can I say, but that we LOVE Vermont. The kids were talking last night about how they want to move there permanently...the little two at least. And I have to apologise for the dreadful photos...snow is not easy to photograph.
We arrived in Vermont to this:
a mountain of snow. And while this was where the drive had been ploughed, there was still a good 2-3 feet on the ground and the most gorgeous icicles hanging from the roof tops.
Ella and I immediately took Honey for a walk out in it. It was crunchy on top with a soft powdery layer underneath...lots of fun for walking on as your foot would suddenly drop down into the soft snow.
Did I mention that Ella is a snow bunny? That girl will play out in the snow for hours and hours...it was the same when she was a baby. So she had a ball. And Honey is the happiest dog in the whole world in VT. Not only does she get to roam around and smell all the wonderful smells, but she gets to play in the snow. I've never seen a dog enjoy snow so much. She and Ella were just gorgeous out there together.
On Sunday Matt and Oscar went skiing...Matt for the first time, Oscar's been a few times. It was a glorious day with lots of sunshine.
Here they are soaking in the hot tub afterwards. I love the idea of an outdoor hot tub, but it just was never quite hot enough for me...I like to boil myself.
On Monday the others all drove home. It rained most of the day, and was miserable, but after they left, it cleared up and the snow had softened up enough for us to make the most awesome kickass sled run ever. Remember that big pile of snow? It started there and ran all the way down to the bottom of the garden. It took a lot of digging, reinforcing and rerouting to make sure the kids didn't end up hitting trees, but it was worth it. Remi did actually hit the trees a lot the next morning when the track was icy and faster, but with a lot of snow shovelling we managed to make a bank on that turn.
I really couldn't get a photo of the whole track as it was so long, but you can see Kit at the bottom in the first photo and Remi zooming down backwards in the bottom one. And that's up the right way...that's how steep it was. Honey quickly caught on to this game and would bark once at us at the top of the track for us to go and then run down behind us trying to catch us...sometimes she would be in front, but she always stuck to the track.
It snowed that night and all the next day...a terrible photo of Matt scatching his face, but look at all that snow falling.
The day after the kids all went skiing...we'd only been able to book them into ski school for 2 days. Ella started off in the bottom group, Kit the next bottom, while Remi was doing runs right away. Oscar was already to the stage of going off skiing by himself. Matt and I had a fun day just hanging out together...we came home to play with Honey (I did sled runs with her, because I am just a big kid). At the end of the day, Kit had improved heaps, and Ella was still learning to do turns.
They all went again the next day, including Matt. I didn't get any photos of them skiing as I had so much gear to lug around for them all as it was, without adding my camera. By the end of the day, Kit had done a whole bunch of runs and ELLA had done her first one too. Now remember, when I had my first lesson last year I only did one run and I fell so many times that I haven't been back. Well here were all the kids zipping down the mountain. Ella had fallen heaps too and was scared by the mountain too, but it was slippery by the end of the day, and I was just so proud of her for even having a go. Needless to say, all the kids are now totally addicted to skiing and are talking about our next trip. I'm thinking I might have to hit the gym and train up to have another go, otherwise I'll just be the pack horse!
We left in the snow today....poor Matt had a difficult drive and we passed 3 bad accidents along the way. It snowed all the way until we were back in CT. And by the time we got home there was still snow on the ground, even though it was raining! Snow....A good 6 or 7 inches of it! That's the most we've had all winter. So even though we left the snow we still have some.
I even had to shovel the path when I got home so we could unpack our bags.
And while I was getting ready to download my photos, I thought I'd better take a quick one of this gorgeous girl's gap...this came out last week. So cute. Notice too that she's wearing a pair of her special earings she got from daddy for Christmas.
And this photo I forgot to turn, but you get the idea. Honey often has to share her bed with Kit.
I hope you had a great week. I love to go away, but it's always nice to come home too. Sorry if there's any mistakes in this post, but I really need to go and hop into my own bed.
Mistakes in that blog...happiest dog in the world...some debate about that around here.
ReplyDeletea gang
I am SO ENVIOUS of your trip. Of the fact that you can just drive up to Vermont to ski. Why do we live in this country of ours I ask myself sometimes?
ReplyDeleteWell, as for moving up to northern New England permanently....let's say it would be nice to see this kind of snow on a vacation you know is going to end at some point rather than be living in it....for what seems like an eternity.
ReplyDeleteHot tub looks good, though.
Well that looks like a fabulous holiday and well needed to blow the cobwebs away! None of my blog comments get up, so I'm trying again. How gorgeous for the kids to go sledding! (and the parents) They seem to making great progress with the skiing - and so does honey.
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