Unofficial Start to Summer

3 kids in a small tub: Haley, Aiden and Francesca

Memorial Day Weekend lived up to its promise as the unofficial start to summer this year... after weeks and weeks of cold and dreary weather it was finally hot and sunny (with an occasional severe thunderstorm thrown in there for good measure). We headed up to Vermont for Saturday and Sunday to help open the camp on Lake Champlain and visit with HaPa and Grandma. The opening chores get finished pretty quickly when there's a good crowd to help, so we had plenty of time to visit with the Turner-Nocito-Bruhns clan and relax with a few beers on the porch. They have had so much rain up there that the lake is still incredibly high. I don't think we'll even see the cement dock this year since its 7+ feet under the lake right now, the highest water any of us has ever seen there. All the farmers' fields in the area are flooded too, and many roads are closed due to wash outs.

Walking the "loop" at camp

Mr. Aiden's Wild Ride

Haley and her HaPa

After the t-storms

On Sunday Andy and I went for an early morning birding excursion on Piney Woods Road to locate a Golden Winged Warbler (check) and a Blue Winged Warbler (skunk), among other good birds. Then we all headed to the Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington where Bob displays his life's work - a collection of incredible wood carvings of all of the birds found in the state. The detail work is amazing it seems like it must take forever just to carve one bird, and he usually carves at least two (the male and the female) of every species. Bob has been carving birds since he was 17, and he's now 91 and still at it. Amazing.

Birding at the Birds of VT Museum

Lunch was in the adorable town of Bristol, at Snap's Diner, where Haley ordered her first real item off a restaurant menu (mac n' cheese and applesauce, which she enjoyed immensely) and the rest of us were also very well fed. Then we explored Rocky Dale Gardens and splurged on a few perennial plants before saying goodbye to the grandparents and heading home for a day of chores on Monday. Mowing, planting, cleaning, weed whacking, power washing, and other chores ruled the day, but we also fit in a trip to Elkins Beach just for the smiles we knew we'd get out of our two great kiddos. Why do we always seem more tired after our "restful" weekends?!

Rocky Dale Gardens

Fun at Elkins Beach

Elkins Beach