vermonty python

this shouldn't surprise you but i just had a fabulous weekend. i went to vermont. for those of you who do not know... i was a nanny for a family in slc while i was in school. they are delightful and since i didn't get to see them while i was home in july, i decided to visit them in one of m y favorite places in all the land....shrewsbury, vermont and i decided to drag mark along for the adventure and also for the 9 hour drive and also because he is cool. so, we left work at 1 and started our "9 hour drive". it turned in to 11 and 1/2 but it was fun and i got to add a state to my state count. i have now been to new york people. all we did was drive and here is proof of that.... and mark even let me rest all my chins on his shoulder.

we finally arrived around midnight to a dark and quiet house and made ourselves at home and went to bed. on saturday, we were awakened by very excited children very early in the morning. we ate breakfast and then we went out to survey the land and see all the sights since mark had never been there. i think he liked it because it is BEAUTIFUL. we also tried to catch frogs and salamanders and tadpoles but we were not very successful.

after that we got ready for the day and drove into rutland to go to the farmer's market and pick up some things for dinner. zev and mark and i ran into walmart to use the facilities and we were looking at cards that play music and we were all into them and then zev turned around and was in heaven when he saw all the princess cards. he is totally in to princesses and pink and mark and i got a kick out of his enthusiasm. we stayed in rutland for a while and then headed back up the mountain and went swimming. after this, we looked like complete hell. we stayed in our swimsuits and had sweet hair and played with the kids and every once in a while, i would look at mark and just giggle and then get a glimpse of myself in a window or something and gasp in horror at how atrocious i looked. around this time, zev found a 2 seater go kart in the barn so we dragged it out and pulled it up hills and rode it down. it was so funny. zev was laughing so hard, he couldn't even talk and mark and it was really fun. asa joined us later and i think kirstie was a little leery but we threw caution to the wind and carried on.

we may or may not have broken the go kart. then we had dinner with the lovely gulick and rosenfield peeps. here are some introductions: micah was there. kirstie was there

george and bobbi were there and they were great to let us stay in their beautiful house and eat their delicious food. and asa, zev and ezra were there. they are so cute and getting so big.

and of course mark and i were there. here is mark in all his beautiful glory. good thing i had the camera this day!!!

after dinner we put the kids to bed and hung out with the grown ups and went night swimming. it was pure delight. on sunday, mark and i got up early and went to church and then on the drive home we stopped and saw a covered bridge. it was fairly cool. when we got home, the kids were in the pool so we hung out poolside and i got to wear this:bobbi's friend martha down the road wanted the kids to come to her farm and see her animals so we all piled in the car and went to the farm to see the goats and sheep and cats (nasty) and asses. zev had his two "special girls" there

this is the nasty cat
this is what the nasty cat did to my eye and i was so nice to it.martha had this huge tire swing, so of course we took advantage. i let zev take some pictures....not too shabby but pretty funnythen we had another relaxing evening and went to bed and said our sad goodbyes and were on our way. we stopped in new york to visit mark's cousin and stayed for 4 hours and then we did this:

and a few rest stopswe arrived home very late and were tired for work but it was oh so worth it. best weekend i have had in a long long time. thanks rosenfields and gulicks and thanks mark.