Vermont

it was so lovely to be in some cooler weather, but that didn't stop us (the kids and Matt at least) from swimming. We met a guy Matt knows and his family. They used to live in Australia- in Manly but are back in Boston now. They have 3 kids, 2 of whom are called Matthew and Georgia (very confusing). Anyway, we had lunch with them and then they took us to this awesome waterhole. There was a 20 foot jump into the stream at the bottom.

Oh and they had 2 blue heelers who spent the whole time barking at the kids.

Remi was actually more scared than the other boys, which surprised me. Ella didn't jump off the 20', but went off the 10' and 15' instead.

It was really lovely there- we worked our way down the stream stopping at different pools to jump and swim. We went back to their house and had dinner. So nice to meet such down to earth people. Bit far away in Boston, but hopefully we can get together again in VT.

On Sunday we went for a bit of a hike with our friend Shorty who was up staying at his house (where we stay) without his lovely wife. It turned out to be quite a long hike (which I loved but the kids moaned and groaned a bit towards the end).

I saw these lovely mushrooms that I will have to paint sometime. Don't they look like little toasted marshmallows!

And these ones look so fairy like.

Our destination. One of the few walks I've done in VT which wasn't entirely uphill one way and down hill the other.

Another day we set out in search of some falls we'd heard about with good swimming holes. As we walked in there was a sign saying more than 10 people had died on the falls and swimming was prohibited. And yet there was a ladder down into one of the pools and people everywhere.

I didn't go in, though I was tempted to- but I'd left my bathers in the car. It looked so clean and lovely. But it was cold- all the kids were coming up gasping.

Remi did jump from one spot, but it wasn't an easy place to swim so we didn't stay long.

The rest of the time we spent house hunting. Yep, we're looking for our own little place in the state that we love. As a holiday home of course. And we think we might have found it. We're waiting for a contract to be accepted- hopefully by tomorrow. And then it's just the building inspection and mortgage approval to get through- this house buying business is nail biting stuff. And while I won't share photos of the house yet, I will say this- it's SO NOT what we were looking for. But it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Intrigued....????