Family Fun, Finally!

 

April 25-29

 FRIDAY  I checked the computer as soon as I got up to make sure Randy’s family made the early flight to Burlington, VT.   Since they had tried twice before to get here, we were hoping that "third time would be the charm"!  They were assigned seats so Rhonda and I got ready, went to the Memorial and borrowed Osborn’s Expedition and went to Burlington to pick them up.  We were a little early so we went to Costco and bought a few groceries on the way to the airport.  We parked the car and went inside the airport as far as security would let us go to wait.  Soon we saw some little legs coming through the door.  Alex saw Rhonda and ran to her with a big smile on his face.  Mia followed right after so I put out my arms and she came running as well.  I picked her up and she laid her head on my shoulder and I could have melted!  I was afraid she wouldn’t recognize me after a six month absence. It sure was good to see all their family.  Luckily they had all their luggage as carry-on so we just went to the car and headed for McDonald’s (kids choice).  We made our trip back to Sharon a sight-seeing trip. 

  First stop was to Ben and Jerry’s ice cream plant a few miles outside Montpelier. 

The kids were excited to just run and play a little.  We took the little tour through the plant and received the little sample of ice cream at the end.


We then traveled to Montpelier and saw the State Capital (I have heard it is the only State Capital in the US where you can’t find a Mc Donald’s in the city). 

From there we took some of the less traveled roads to the Northfield area where we saw the three covered bridges in about a quarter of a mile, all going over the same river. 
There was also a pretty stretch of the river called “the falls”.  
 We then drove past Norwich University and showed them where we teach Institute.  Again, kind of fumbling our way and not knowing exactly where we were going, we made our way to a “floating bridge”.  
This is near the town of Brookfield.  Anyway it is a bridge that floats on the water and is about 100 yards long.  It is currently closed to vehicle traffic and is scheduled to be re-built within the next year.  We finally made it back to the apartment and the kids played outside with the neighbor girl, Tulula, while Rhonda fixed Swedish Meatballs/rice.  After dinner, we started making beds and everyone of Randy’s family ended up sleeping in the same room.  We had borrowed a “pack and play” from the Hart family in the ward and the boys slept on inflatable mattresses on the floor while Randy and Alena slept in the bed.   We were just glad to have them here and enjoyed their visit.   

Blowing the hot glass

SATURDAY     It rained a good share of the night and most of the day so outside activities would not be the best.  After breakfast, we loaded up and drove down the back road to the Simon-Pierce  glass blowing plant in Quechee.

On the deck at Simon-Pierce Factory

The kids were quite enthralled with the whole process.  We finally had to drag them away.    






 We went to the Cabot cheese outlet at Quechee Gorge and everyone enjoyed the free samples of cheese, syrup and popcorn.  The rain let up a little so we walked along the highway and looked at the Quechee-Gorge (Vermont’s answer to the Grand Canyon).  By then, breakfast has worn off and we headed to Wendy’s for lunch (or whatever you call it at 3:00pm).   From Wendy’s we drove towards the Claremont/Windsor area where we saw the “longest covered bridge” in the US. It looked like it was close to 200 yards long.  From there it was back to the apartment and enjoyed being together. 


 
SUNDAY    Since church starts at 10:00, we managed to get all of us there on time.  After a quick breakfast, we went to Sacrament meeting in the South Royalton Ward.  The kids weren’t especially excited about going to Primary so we just all loaded in the car and went to the Memorial for a private family tour. 
We ended up opening the center and staying until the Likes came to start tours.  We then went to the apartment where Rhonda had a delicious roast beef dinner prepared.  From there, we hardly left the premises.  The kids played outside on the lawn a little but most of the time we just visited and enjoyed being together.  As Randy started checking flights, the situation looked less likely that they would make it home on Monday so just before retiring for the night, they decided to stay and go home on Tuesday.

 

    

MONDAY   It rained a good share of the day today. We spent the morning looking at flights and just visiting around the apartment.  When it was time for us to go to work at the Memorial, we took Osborn’s Expedition and Randy took his family in our Subaru and went back into Quechee and hiked the trails a little.  About the time Randy’s were leaving, a man in a solider uniform came to the Memorial.  I invited him for a tour and he said he didn’t have time and just wanted to see the monument.  I followed him and we started talking and before you knew it, we were inside the visitor center talking about the restoration.  He ended up staying and talking with me for an hour and twenty minutes.  I was really impressed with this man.  We stayed at the Memorial until after the opening of FHE and then slipped out.   We met Randy's family at Applebee’s in W. Lebanon for dinner.  That about did our day as Randy wanted to get the kids to bed earlier so they would be rested for a long day of travel.          
TUESDAY   We got things rolling and after a quick breakfast we loaded up and headed for Burlington Airport.  It was hard to say good-bye but we sure were thankful for the visit.  (sidenote, the went from Burlington to Laguardia in NY, to Washington DC and on to SLC.  At SLC they finally got seats for Alena and all the kids but not for Randy, he had to call Blake and stay the night at his house and then back to the airport for the early flight on Wed. morning)  After we departed, we went to Costco with the plan to buy some new glasses but once I talked to them, I changed my mind.  We bought a few groceries and pills and headed back down the highway and to the Memorial for our shift.  We missed a little of the missionary-meeting but nothing serious.