Fair warning: this post contains a ridiculoust number of photos of the kids, like about 639,905. If you are not an auntie or grandma to these dear children, there is a very good chance you will be bored. (Unless you just love ADORABLE KIDS, in which case, you're in the right place.)
Alright. Vermont, a month+ ago. We visited Katie and Ethan to help Katie celebrate her birthday a little early (she turned 31 on October 20).
Their apartment:
Kathryn loooving the lentil soup Katie made. I think she ate three bowls.
Eating lentil soup and bread. It was cold and rainy the day we arrived, so it was the perfect welcome lunch.
Mom and Dad got some babysitters for our kids (yes, we need more than one baby sitter for our crew, so Mom got two sisters from the church out there in Burlington - they were very nice) and the grownups went out to dinner for Katie's birthday! Yay! Eating out that did not involve cleaning french fries up from the floor when were done and asking the waitress for crayons while we waited and did they have any sippy cups? It felt very luxurious. I wore lipstick.
Dad with his trusty Mini-Mag. Believe me, that man finds more ways to use a flashlight than anyone I know. As we were getting ready to leave Katie and Ethan's place to head to the restaurant, I was having a hard time locating my shoes in their mudroom - Dad whips out the Mag-Lite. We got to there and as we were waiting at the bar for our table, someone dropped a glass in the dimly-lit restaurant - Dad is immediately ON IT with the Mag-Lite, assisting the waitresses in finding the broken pieces. And then, of course, here's your menu, sir. Why thank you, let me just get a little more light on it here...
You get the idea.
Gorgeous.
The next day we were planning on going to church but we discovered that it was Stake Conference there and since it wasn't our stake and we had a truckload of kids who weren't going to be thrilled with sitting still for two hours, we bailed on that plan and went to Shelburne Farms ( www.shelburnefarms.org). It's this amazingly huge farm complex that was once owned by some super rich family that is now a non-profit education center and still a working farm. We didn't really know what a cool thing we were about to do, so we were like, "yeah, the weather's clearing up, we should go to that farm, that sounds ok." OK??? It was awesome. The weather was ideal (cool but not cold) and we were juuust past peak foliage so it wasn't super crowded. It was great.
Plus, it was apparently Tractor Day, a yearly event where they drive in a bunch of tractors and other vehicles and parked them on the lawn and kids and everyone can climb in them and pretend to drive them. It was great.
Dad was interested in this rope-making demo. The guy who was running it really gave Dad a run for his money in the Department of Absurd and Odd Comments.
Betty wearing Katie's hat. What was that? Did I just hear a chorus of "awwwww?" 
More around the farm.
Waiting with Nain for their turn to milk the cow.
Kathryn the milk maid.
And Vivian the milk maid.
We took a little hike up the wooded hill behind the huge barn. Along the way they had a storybook that could be read in installments on the path (laminated pages on little signs) and some little shelters like this that the kids liked.
Kathryn the milk maid.
And Vivian the milk maid.
We took a little hike up the wooded hill behind the huge barn. Along the way they had a storybook that could be read in installments on the path (laminated pages on little signs) and some little shelters like this that the kids liked.
This is a little out of order...it's at the end of the little hike, coming out of the woods back to the farm.
The fam at the top of the hill.
Awww.
Double awww. Or puke, whichever. (I can't help it. I still really like him, even eleven years later.)
Katie and Dex, top of hill. Lake Champlain in the background.
Betty exploring.
Viv and Katie.
On the way back down we took a different trail and found this apple tree with the most delicious apples! Curtis climbed up to get some of the good ones, as the drops were a little suspect. 
Katie and Dex, top of hill. Lake Champlain in the background.
Betty exploring.
Viv and Katie.
On the way back down we took a different trail and found this apple tree with the most delicious apples! Curtis climbed up to get some of the good ones, as the drops were a little suspect.Careful Curtis! Our health insurance coverage isn't that great!
All in all, we had a great trip - thanks, Katie and Ethan!
