Vacation part IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, & XI

So I am going to finish up our ten day vacation with one big blog because I have lots to post about since we have gotten home and I am tired of thinking about all of the pictures I lost. Clint and I went back to using our old digital camera and after using the Panasonic it was really difficult. No word from the police. There were eleven petty larcenies in our little burg. We went on e-bay (blessings for e-bay) and bought the exact same camera- minus the vacation pictures. It came in the mail on Wednesday and yeah! I was surprised how much Clint missed it since the picture taking thing is really more of my hobby. So here is the vacation round up:

Part IV- the marble museum. VT and NH are known for their quarries. They use slate, marble and granite like we use concrete. We bought two grill stones for the grill, salt and pepper shakers, Clint got a business card holder for his desk, and Abby got a worry stone, and I got a rolling pin. The stone was unbelievably cheap compared to the prices here. We are considering bringing some home for the kitchen counters on our next vacation. Even with the increased gas prices it would be a deal. They had a box of scraps you can rummage through and take a free piece. Abby got a beautiful piece of white marble, i am not sure what it's intended purpose is yet. Clint got a piece of green marble to be used as a trivet, and I got a large flat thin piece- now three pieces for stepping stones under our rose arbor. Part V- Abby's Aunt Kris and Uncle Brian's. Abby has an aunt and uncle on her mom's side that live in NH. They have nine children so she has lots of cousins. They graciously invited us for the afternoon and dinner. Lucky for us Kris also keeps a blog and she took and posted pictures. http://yankee-mom.blogspot.com/ She posted pictures from our trip last year as well. If you click on relatives you can find that post also.

Part VI- VT Wildflower Farm "The seediest place in VT". We left Killington and headed to Burlington where we went to the The VT Wildflower Farm. Caelun slept in his stroller while Abby found a shady spot and read a book. Clint and I walked around and looked at the flowers. We came back from our walk inspired and bought lots of seeds. We will keep you posted as to their progress.

Part VII-Echo Aquarium and Science Center on Lake Champlain. I can not recommend this place enough. We spent an entire day here and there is something for kids of all ages. Both Caelun and Abby absolutely loved it. It is very interactive. I took some wonderful pictures but alas I can only show you what I found on the web. We enjoyed Lake Champlain very much but it is very small for a Great Lake. We were surprised that you could see across it. When we were discussing this several of the locals chimed in that they didn't realize how big the other Great Lakes are. Clint used a reference that worked pretty well. He told them that you could float VT in Lake MI and you can float VT and NH in Lake Superior.

Part VIII-Horsford's Nursery. Clint and I really enjoyed this. The kids hung out on a hammock while Clint and I looked for plants we can't readily find in MI. We came home with a couple which actually made getting back into the country from Canada a bit interesting. We had to produce receipts, and swear they came from VT not Canada. We also came home with a catalog the size of a phone book.

Part IX the ferry. We took a ferry across Lake Champlain from VT to NY. It took twelve minutes, and you never loose sight of land. It was cool but not like taking the Badger across Lake Michigan to WI. Clint hadn't done the ferry thing before so it was particularly interesting for him.

Part X NY. We drove through NY and got to see the Adirondack Mountains. We stopped and looked at waterfalls and John Brown's grave which is outside Lake Placid. The grave is located on his farm and the buildings have been preserved. The historical significance was well documented. Abby was nonplussed, Caelun slept, but Rover found it interesting.

Part XI Uncle Lee's and my cousin Stephanie's open house. After leaving NY we headed back to MI stopping off at Flint for my cousin Stephanie's college open house. She just graduated from UofM. We stayed with Uncle Lee in his wonderful five thousand square foot house. Abby had the third floor secret room behind the swing out book shelf all to her self. Lee gave Clint and I the master suite. Talk about five star accommodations and it even happened to be our anniversary. The next day we headed back to our wonderful little burg. It is great to go on vacation and travel and it is also wonderful to come home.