We are thrilled to get time with our favorite adventure family while they are in the states for a short period of time. While we couldn't get them over the weekend - it was wonderful to be able to take off the work days to get the time with Brian that is very RARE!. we capitalized on this Monday holiday to hit the Brownstone water park. Its a first for us and something new for them to see. Its an old rock quarry with zip lines, cliff jumping and cool slides. The McCulloughs left VA at 4AM to meet us here when the gates opened.
The video what goes with some of this blobbing is pretty fabulous - Chris sent Drew flying, I feel off trying to blob Brian and the kids enjoyed the antics.
Love this photo of the gang back together again - IN FULL
We packed a cooler with sandwiches (ski style) and some of the best pickles around - and of course twislers. There was an eel under the cabaña that was popular. Macy, Shane and Nick climbed the cliff to zip line down. The adults rocked the zip line racing too.
WE got home and prepped Shane for his baseball game. We went out to see it and left Brian home to give him a second to pull life together with all their travels and activities. He befriended Wendy and ordered some delicious pizzas for up to grab on the way home.
Love the vibe of these kiddos back together. it doesn't take long to get reacquainted.
Tuesday morning we packed up and headed to a VRBO in Burlington VT. Its a state that shockingly the McCulloughs have never been to! Farrah and I scored these 2 as travel partners. They were pretty on the travel duties.
And all about the travel snacks reward. Random assortment?!
Our VRBO was walking distance to a trader joes, chipotle and easy to get to UVM.
The weather was rather dreary which is somewhat normal for VT. Here is a little view with Lake Champlain in the background.
This crew isn't interested in getting in - just checking it out.
First night of exploring - finding a pubb-ish dinner followed by a little Ben and Jerry's
Nice capture Farrah
This begins the tour of New England Ice cream.
The next day was a foggy adventure hike to Sterling Pond. It was a rainyish day that you sorta needed a jacket but hiking made you want to take it off.... It was windy at the top and VERY foggy. You really couldn't see the pond at all.
A googled sent of photos is MUCH different.
Next we drove over to the Van Trapp family lodge to walk the grounds and have lunch. This is a bucket list item for Farrah!
Beautiful grounds - it would be fun to stay and road bike or cross country ski!
I loved this sign.
Lunch at the Van Trapp brewery - Love capturing this photo and comparing it to this one taken 12 years prior.
Love these 2 pals together. Love how different they are and confident in who they are. What a treasure their friendship is.
As is this friendship - these guys found another brewery while the kids mini putted.
Wednesday night we had reservations at the Hen of the woods. We tasked the kiddos to do their own dinner. They were hysterical, ordering from Chipotle and grabbing drinks and desserts from Trader Joes. Their evening was blissfully filled with binge watching Stranger things. This was a capture from Macy of Tate crossing the street while on his phone?
We escaped for a dinner out on the town
Every night was a Eurchre night! Farrah is becoming quite the card player.
Ice cream stop #2 - after a successful Drew baseball game!
I couldn't resist grabbing these candy cigarettes' and having the kiddos pose. Loved hearing them discuss which end is supposed to go in your mouth. Love that they had no idea.
Photos like this will never get old for me. The kids will, but not the capture
The adventure continues with the Travelers Championship. They all dressed in golf attire and off we went. Love the vibe in this photo and how comfortable they are with each other.
It was a pretty warm day - we hit up the wine tasting tent, the putting contest, chipping contest...
found someone willing to pose with us. Farrah and I need signs like this more often than the average crew.
these guys were wisely positioned as the golfers came off the course.
We loved the vibe of life this week. It was truly a blessing to have quality time with the whole family and do life with them. Wonderful we were each able to make the time a priority for these lifetime friends!
Saturday morning they packed up and headed to MA to visit her grade school bestie - we headed to Portland ME for a Leadbetter birthday celebration.
