Thanksgiving in Vermont

This year we had Thanksgiving just the three of us. Last week we hosted a "Pre-Thanksgiving" for a group of friends (no pictures, since having 10 adults, 5 three year olds, and 3 two year olds over for a full meal of turkey and stuffing is fun, but also madness) so we decided that "real" Thanksgiving should be a bit quieter.

We rented a house near one of our favorite towns in Vermont. The house was fabulous - it is actually a converted barn on a large farm property:











Henry loved the fact that they had goats, a cow (Lola), and dogs for him to play with:





And, a tire swing:





For Thanksgiving dinner, we drove to Grafton to eat at a nice little hotel they have there:





Once again, Henry only ate rolls and pumpkin pie.

We spent our days making pancakes:



Enjoying the fireplace:



Playing:



And generally relaxing. A day of shopping allowed us to meet Santa!



Henry was very firm in his request for a monorail. Santa seemed confused by the request.

We took a day trip to Woodstock, where Henry has always enjoys the covered bridge:





And we went to a local farm museum:




Where Henry was very excited to go on a horse drawn carriage ride:




As we were heading out, it started to snow!




The ride home started out picturesque:



But got scary as we headed through the mountains. At one point, our car hit the ice and skidded across the road (we were only going about 5 miles per hour and traffic was stopped - but still scary). At only 7 miles from home, we became stuck when they closed the mountain road we were on due to the ice. So, for a few hours we got to hang out in a parked car with this view:



Henry was a trooper, and many, many, many verses of "Wheels on the Bus" and a few salt/sand trucks later they re-opened the road and we made our escape.

The area we were staying didn't get much snow at all, but Henry still had a ball playing in it:






It was a great Thanksgiving!

Weekend

We had a nice, warm (for November!) weekend this week. It was one of those great, very relaxing weekends where there isn't much to do - we all need that every now and again.

Saturday was mostly filled with yard work:




And in the evening we sat in our newly de-leafed backyard to roast marshmallows one last time before the REAL cold comes.

Sunday we had a birthday party for Henry's friend Adele. It started at a local park:





Before moving into the birthday girl's house. They had a great idea and filled one room with bubble wrap for the kids to stomp on:




And of course there was cake:

Stick Figures

I am oddly proud of Henry right now, because today he *finally* made his first "stick figure" drawings! (Hooray for representational art!!!!) Henry loves art and doing art projects, but thus far has preferred throwing a lot of paint or crayons or stickers on a piece of paper and calling it good. He had a brief moment of glory when learning how to draw circles, and then another when learning to write his name, but then he would go right back to his colorful swirls.

Today we pulled his craft bins out (since it was pitch dark at 4:45 PM and we had to fill the time somehow), and Henry decided he wanted to "make a witch" (he is obsessed with witches - don't ask). I sprang on the opportunity to try and have him draw the human figure in some form. You can see the progression here-

First attempt (not quite sure what happened here - scissors and googly eyes were involved):




Second attempt - becoming slightly more recognizable:




Third attempt - he got it!:



Final drawing. The witch on the bottom even has a witch's hat. He is an artistic genius:

Sculpture Park

We had a great weekend with a fun visit from Nana and Papa! The weather has turned pretty cold and raw (and the new 4:30 PM sunsets are not helping much), but on Sunday we decided to brave the chill and headed out to the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park.

It is a very neat museum set on a lovely lake:



Henry started off riding his bike aorund before heading in to look at the art:




Some of the sculptures you can walk through:



Some you can play music on:





Others are just there to be admired:





Henry loved looking at the different sculptures as well as running around the grounds:




He did not cooperate for photos, though:




After a while the cold drove us in at one point for a hot chocolate break:



It was a very fun day during a very fun weekend. We all had a great time and thank to Nana and Papa for the visit!