VT Trip

We Rowes have been up in Vermont visiting Nana and Gramps for the past few days, and the girls are having a blast.  Not only have they got to do some of their favorite Vermont traditional activities, like skipping stones on Lake Champlain and swinging on the tree swing Gramps built, but we also got to attend the Vermont Maple Festival in St. Albans.

The festival started out right up Julia's alley: with maple cream donuts!

Afterwards, we visited St. Albans Historical Museum and it was Julia's dream come true.  There were rooms that were re-creations of, as Julia would write, the "aldin" days, including a school house, a medical office, and a boutique.  There were 18th century nightgowns and hats and dolls and cradles and all sorts of artifacts.

There were also all sorts of mannequins throughout the museum, like these:

MADELEINE: Wait, Mama, are they all, like, PETRIFIED or something??

You can see that Madeleine is with the program as always.  Yes, these mannequins are real people, who, like in "Harry Potter," have been hit with the Petrificus Totalus Spell.

After the museum, we enjoyed the kiddie section of the festival.  First up were pony rides:

Madeleine remained rather stoic while on the pony, but Julia spent the whole time beaming with radiant delight.  I mean, if one of the highlights of an average day is galloping through the living and dining rooms so she can think about things, just IMAGINE all the fantastical thoughts going through Julia's head when she was on a REAL galloping animal!

Next up were carnival rides, which the kids LOVED:

 Only one ride was for kids taller than Madeleine, so I rode with Julia:

Madeleine, of course, sobbed her little heart out over being left behind.  Meanwhile, I struggled to control my motion sickness.

JULIA: Mom?  Are you feeling cautious?

ME: (sarcastically) Yup, I'm cautious.

JULIA: (nervously) Okay, but try not to barf on me.

Okay, honey, I will be CAUTIOUS in my attempt not to let NAUSEOUS stomach unload on you.

On our drive back to Nana and Gramps' house, Madeleine sought to once again reassure me (or, really, herself) that she won't be moving out once she's an adult.  This came after a similar conversation last night:

MADELEINE: Mama?  When I grow up, I'm gonna have a husband, but...I'm still gonna live with you.

ME: You are welcome to live with me. But you'll probably want your own house.

MADELEINE: Well Mama?  How about I live NEXT to you.

ME: Okay.

MADELEINE: (face crumpling) But Maaamaaa!  Can Daddy make the houses that are next to us SMALLER, so we can fit my house?

ME: Well, maybe we can build another house for you in our backyard.

MADELEINE: (brightly) Okay!

Anyway, tomorrow we head back to our house and the back yard that will someday hold Madeleine's house, with her husband and babies.  Wish us good driving weather, light traffic, and minimal back seat whinings of boredom!