Devin and I decided to make the most of our last four weeks in the Boston area by really sightseeing. So this weekend we went to Vermont. It was so much fun! We mostly took it easy, relaxed and played with Heaman. He was a great little traveler. He slept until after nine both mornings we were there! (He made up for it by getting up at 7:30 this morning).
Our first stop was to tour the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory. If anyone knows Devin, they know he loves Ice Cream. He passed that down to Jonas-who love, love, loves Ice Cream! I love Jonas in this picture. You have to click on it to see his silly face, and I love the little chubby arm sticking through. The people behind us were laughing while we were taking the picture.
This is the infamous Green Bus. Ben & Jerry once tried to travel the 50 states giving away free scoops in this bus. It burned to the ground in Ohio. Guess they didn't make the 50 states!
Next Stop: The Trapp Family Resort. This was the "house" the Von Trapp Family (The Sound of Music) built when they came to America after WWII. I really wanted to go inside, but Jonas was sleeping and needed the rest, so we just drove around. It was HUGE-as you can see. (This is a bad picture). During the winter they have a snow shoe shack and you can take tours of the area via snow shoe. That sounded like fun! The area has a bunch of Villas-as they call them. They sleep about 30 people. It would be fun to stay there, but the cost for one night was almost $300.00. Our Marriott was good enough!! The view from up here was amazing. One of the best things about Vermont was all the green grass and the trees. It looked like spring everywhere we went. That's nice for a change!
Then it was off to an Apple Cider Mill. The have the Cider Press on sight so you can see them making it. It was Saturday, so they weren't working, but it was a really neat little store. We bought Maple Syrup, Apple Cider Donuts, and this fresh Apple Cider. Jonas thought it was pretty good too. It was a little too sweet for me. It burned your throat because it was so sweet.
This is a covered bridge like you would see in a Country Living Magazine. It was pretty neat, although I think Devin could have driven a bit faster over it. It looked really old. I was a little nervous about it's strength. There was a river running pretty swiftly below.
The highlight of our trip was taking Jonas swimming at the hotel. He LOVED it! He was mad that we had to hold him. He wanted to play all by himself. Looks like we will be spending lots of time in a pool this summer. I knew we should have stayed in Arizona!
Jonas in his new swimming suit.
He was really happy I promise. He just didn't want to be held!
Our last stop was at The Hope Cemetery. The town is a granite mining/carving town and so the cemetery had some very interesting headstones. Soccer balls, race cars, figures of the person, head sculptures, hearts, pyramids....it was truly amazing! I want to be buried in a room like the one above. I hate the thoughts of being underground (even if I am dead!). This particular room only has one person housed here. He thought his family would join him, they were all cremated instead. The doors have glass in them so you can look inside, but don't worry you can't see anything scary. Not even the coffins. The are put in big "drawers"- for lack of a better word. The grounds keeper said for about $25,000 I could have one of these-in 1942-the year it was built. It's probably ten times that much now. Guess I better start saving! Anyone want join me?
It was a fun trip even though it's always nice to be back with your own things. Next weekend...New York City!! :)
We hope you have a great birthday! We are so thankful to have you as our Brother, Uncle, and Friend. Even though you take crazy pictures with our camera and we don't know about it...we still love you! We hope your day is full of fun. We love you so much and miss you like CrAzY! Give Aunt Natti hugs from us!
This was looking to the West of Manhattan as the sun was starting to set.
Its hard to see how high up we really were. There were times that it was scary if I thought about it!
I love this picture of the men having a lunch break. How scary is it that they don't have harnesses on or anything? Yipes!
Looking across to the Empire State Building
Jonas was much more interested in his Graham Cracker that having his picture taken. All that green to the right of me (not my jacket) is Central Park.
He wasn't so sure about the slide at first, but he loved it by the time we left.
Our baby (who is growing too quickly) rocking in the Massachusetts Rocking Chair.
He loved to turn these puzzle pieces. When he got tired of sitting up, he laid on the floor and turned them with his feet. What a silly kid!
After our annoying wait at the airport in Boston, we finally made it. After we checked in at the hotel, we headed for 5th Avenue where all the stores are. This is Devin and Jonas at World of Disney. It was three floors of fun, fun, fun. It had so many fun things. See the Witch from Snow White in the background?
This was another BIG toy store. It was fun to walk through all the toys. Remember the Piano that Tom Hanks plays in Big? It was here that he played it, and it's still here. I took a picture, but didn't post it.
The Apple store was down-stairs. We didn't want to fight the crowds so we didn't go down. The apple in the picture is suspended in the air.
I stopped at the Tiffany's store, but didn't go in. Jonas needed to stay outside. It was nap time.
Devin and Jonas (and a woman's backside) in front of the entrance on the Manhattan side.
Guess who fell asleep? It was SUPER windy. I didn't post the picture with my hair flying all over to prove it, but I should have!
Sadly, you can't read his sign, but it was hilarious. It said: "Jennifer Aniston won't go out with me because I don't have enough money. Please Help." or something like that. It was a good one. We saw a lot of creative homeless signs while we were there!
This is the sight where the World Trade Centers once stood. It was surrounded by tall construction fences so you couldn't see anything. There is a visitors center, but it was really busy so we didn't go in (that, and we're cheap). There is such a heavy, sad feeling in the area. It was a major eye opener for me to actually see the sight. The pilots knew what they were doing. The WTC were surrounded by several buildings in the area, and yet they hit them just right. It was sad to see it, but a great reminder of all the heroes that emerged that day. There is an NYFD right across from this picture and there were lines of people getting pictures taken with just a few of the heroes from that day.
The giant Toys R Us
I took this for Mom and Kaylee. Wicked, and Sbarro's Pizza :)
This was our Hotel! Right in the middle of Times Square. It was a really nice place! The elevators went SOO fast that my ears would pop as we went up or down.
Another shot (I took like 1000)
The Polar Bears were very active while we were there. They were swimming around, playing with their toys and being very entertaining. It was fun to watch them!
These little turtles were everywhere in this pond. What they were lacking in animals, made up for in turtles (if you like them anyway).
Then we rode the Ferris Wheel inside Toys R Us. The store is amazing itself. Three floors and then the Ferris Wheel in the middle. It has a life-size Barbie house (that Devin wouldn't let Jonas go see..silly) and a big mechanical T-Rex that most of the little kids were scared of. It was a fun store just to walk around!
Jonas wasn't sure about it at first. He wanted to stand up and look over the side, but the workers kind of frowned on that, so he was mad that he had to be in the seat-belt. Once it got going, he loved it. But he was mad again when it slowed down for us to get off.
This was our last day in the big city. Devin had to finish up a few things at work, so again Heaman and I were on our own. We asked for a late check-out at the hotel, but Jonas was so used to being out and about that by 11:00 I couldn't take his crying anymore. If I even walked by the door and we didn't go out, he would scream. So we checked out, left our bags at the hotel, and headed for the last few things we wanted to see. We started with M&M world, and guess who fell asleep? So I saw it on my own while Jonas slept in the stroller. It was cool, nothing fancy. Just like Vegas, but in New York.
Then we walked to Central Park to see if we could find the Carousel. Our map wasn't very detailed (and I can't read a map to save my life), so we got lost a few times. Devin was able to leave work a little early, so we waited for him to ride with Jonas. The carousel is really old, but really cute. It was only $2 to ride it. As you can see, they had a great time.
Then we ate, picked up our bags, and headed for the Airport. It was a good thing we left as early as we did too because the traffic was really bad and it took us over an hour to get to the airport. Riding in a New York Taxi is crazy enough. Add traffic to that- I was pretty sick by the time we made it to the airport. Jonas fell asleep and slept the whole way..thankfully! Here he is saying that he will be one soon! :) Actually he was trying to touch the camera..but I thought it was funny!
