Trip to VT

AKA: The Various Strange Places and Positions in Which Madeleine Conked Out:

Thanks to Madeleine's wild and crazy bedtime poses, Julia wound up forced to sleep with half her body hanging off the bed... 

Unfortunately, Madeleine literally missed the boat, as she conked out shortly after the ride began...

 

En route to visit Grammy in Montpelier, while holding onto her inflatable whale toy...


I'm not surprised she was so tired; both girls were hard at play from dawn to dusk while we were there, surrounded by so many fun and exciting opportunities (in other words, Kiddie Heaven!):

During our car ride home, Julia, inspired by the Spanish lyrics to one of the songs we were listening to, began asking questions about various foreign languages:

JULIA: Mom, what does "vengan a ver" mean?
ME: I don't know honey.  I don't speak Spanish.
JULIA: But Mama, how, if you don't speak a language, and you go to another country where they speak that language, how can you even know what language it is?
ME: Well, if you really have no idea what language it is, you can probably find someone who speaks English who can explain the language to you.  All across the world, it's very common for people who don't speak English to learn English in school.  So even if you were in a foreign country, you could likely find someone who can explain things to you in English.
JULIA: But Mama, how come people who speak Spanish can just hear something in Spanish and understand what it means ICKMEDIATELY?
ME: Well, it's just the same as when you hear something in English and you understand it immediately.
JULIA: Well, Mama, you know what I think is weird?  Most places that speak a language, the name of where they are SOUNDS like the name of the language.  But the only two that aren't like that are FRANCE and NEEDHAM.
ME: Well, what do you mean?
JULIA: Well, French doesn't sound like France, and English doesn't sound like Needham.

I then launched into a whole explanation of the fact that people in America speak English, but the people who originally formed the United States came from ENGLAND, where the official language is ENGLISH.

JULIA: But Mama, why did Needham feel like the king was mean and they needed to have a war with England?

Boy.  I know her home in Needham is pretty much the center of her universe, but I didn't realize she thinks of Needham as being single-handedly responsible for both the language of our entire country, let alone the whole war that even led to us having our own country in the first place.

Anyway, we are home at last, all in one piece, despite some MAJOR cranky-pants moments from the sleepyhead amongst us.  (For example: picture the sound of the whiniest, brattiest, most tantrum-y voice imaginable, then apply that tone to the following - otherwise benign - statement about music in the car: "MOM!  THIS SONG IS THE BOOOOOOXXXXXXERRRR!") 

At any rate, we thank you, Nana and Gramps, for a wonderful, fun-filled, perfectly summery weekend!