Wish You Were Here - Part Deux

Now that I'm home, I can edit some pictures and regale you all with a very long winded account of more of our decadent two week vacation in New England. Ready? Actually, I have to go back and read where I left off. One moment...(insert Jeopardy music here)...

Ah yes:

Wed July 30th
No pictures for this day. Use your imaginations if you will. I dragged the boys to the car rental place and picked up our car. We got our things from the hotel, weeping a sad goodbye to the cushy luxury therein (sigh). We drove up to New Hampshire to my sister-in-law's house. I have to tell you, with all the rain they've been having along with the natural tendency for lush greenery, it was crazy towering green stuff. The tall green trees and soft grass were enough to make me start looking at all of the 'for sale' signs up there. Until - that is - I recall my sister-in-law calling me during our early Texas summer to complain about yet another 18 inch snow fall. Yick.

We got there safely and got to hang out with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Which is odd - it's my ex's sister. And we're best friends. So she's really my friend. But she's my kids' aunt. And she's technically not really my sister-in-law any more. Either way, we're still family to each other. It was awesome being with her and her family. They rock.


Thu July 31st - Fri Aug 1st
On Thursday, the boys, my kinda-sorta-sis-in-law and I drove to the NH/VT border to meet my former mother-in-law. She was treating us all to a night at this killer gorgeous lakeside resort. She got us a big huge room with a balcony over looking the lake, the docks, and the little beach. Man, this place rocks and we're already talking about next year.

This is a view of our room. Two queen beds and a fold out couch.

Check out this bathroom! It was bigger than some hotel rooms I've stayed in!


It was rainy and overcast but it's so gorgeous up there, who cares! They have the lake, an indoor pool (which we used when it rained), an outdoor pool (which we never found), tennis courts, bikes you can sign out, canoes, row boats & kayaks you can borrow. You can rent a pontoon boat tour of the lake (which we did), rent a speed boat for skiing, tubing and/or wake boarding (we all went tubing - even my boys!). They have pails & shovels for the kids to use on the beach. You can borrow life jackets for the wee ones. They have a full golf course and a daytime kids activity camp type thing in case the parents are golfing (or just lame parents who don't want to really vacation with their kids). It really is an amazing place.

This lake view is a panorama from 4 different shots I took from our balcony. It totally rocked.


On Friday afternoon, we said our goodbyes, packed up and headed back to New Hampster. But that short visit was one of the punctuation marks of our trip! Thanks Nana Linda!!!


Sat Aug 2nd
After our romp in Vermont, we were ready to do nothing. We spent the day running around barefooted in Auntie's backyard enjoying that soft soft New England grass. The boys fought over who got the hammock and whose turn had been too long. Five of my six nieces & nephews all showed up with their significant others for a cookout.

The men (and I use that term loosely) played horseshoes. My boys learned how to not run in front of someone hucking a large curved piece of metal. We relaxed in the myriad of outdoor lounge chairs.

Lil' Bro is a quick study when it comes to chilling.


One of my nieces has a 16 month old son with the same name as Pokemon Boy. So that was fun - calling for the Big or Little one. We made and ate way too much food and it was just an awesome time. I love that my boys got to see and be with so many family members.

Here's a shot of Pokemon Boy and Baby E. She one niece's first baby. Which is so weird because my niece was 4 when I met her and I still think of her as a little red headed 6 yr old!



Sun Aug 3rd
Good grief. I knew I should have kept a journal while I was up there. I honestly can't remember what we did this day. And I have no pictures from this day. Oh wait...it slowly returns. It was our first day with nothing to do. So we slept in. We got up late and took our sweet time getting started. More bare footed enjoyment of the afore mentioned soft grass was had. We drove...somewhere. Can't recall where. Man, I'm getting old in my old age.

We did stop at the cute little general store in the town center to visit a "kid" I've known since 1991. This kid is now like 23 and out of college and is about 37 feet tall. He's a really awesome guy. He was amused to meet my kids. And I was amused to think that he was about Pokemon Boy's age when I first met him. Phew. Things like that can make me feel old. Except for the fact that I refuse to mentally age beyond 23.

Sunday night, my nephew and his awesome girlfriend (keep her, dude!) came to hang with my boys. My sis & bro-in-law took me out to dinner. We had - get this - TexMex! In New Hampshire. And it was pretty good, too. I love enchiladas no matter where they were made.


Mon Aug 4th
We had another sleep in morning with a nice slow start. We finally had some clear weather (lots of rain while we were up there). So sis-in-law took the boys and me to a local petting farm. My boys love animals. As long as they're on TV or in a movie. When they see them up close and personal (and climbing all over you to get the bag of feed you have), they're not such huge fans. Lil' Bro spent the whole time in the chicken coop with his hands firmly planted in his pockets. He liked watching the eggs hatch (under glass). He wouldn't handle the young chicks that were there for handling. The roosters and chickens were ok because they were behind chicken wire.

The bunnies were petted by both boys. Bunnies are safe. They are too tired to jump on you. Or too traumatized by the other kids that just left, shrieking. And if they do jump on you? Come on. They're BUNNIES, for the love of Pete. So I was happy to see at least one animal willingly touched.

Pokemon Boy did actually pet one sheep through a fence. They are overly zealous in their greeting skills due to the afore mentioned bags of feed they give you when you enter the place. They hear or smell it and come running. And if a small child is between them and the bag of feed? Woe to the small child. Lil' Bro became a pinball between about 4 such hungry sheep. But he survived to tell the tale.

Here is Auntie/Sis-In-Law, Random Sheep, Pokemon Boy & Lil' Bro.



Tue Aug 5th
Everyone had to go back to work. So the boys and I slept in, did some laundry, packed up the car and headed back to Boston. I will save the last leg of our trip for another post because I have to get to bed.