The family going to visit Santa.

Our Christmas Tree - 2005. Decorated with help from Emma.

We had Thanksgiving at Uncle Tod's house this year. Holly, Tod and Morgan have been hosting Gampa Earl, Aunt Lucinda, Uncle Davinder, Austen, Beerinder, Janet, Heather & Zack along with us. It's been a house full w/ 4 little girls, 2 of them still babies. The babies have actually been good, with periods of no crying to be heard.

Uncle Tod and Aunt Holly cooked thanksgiving dinner. There was turkey (brimed - yum), a chestnut stuffing, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes with toasted paprika, peas, cranberry gelatin, and a hole lot of succotash. Emma got her own place at the table with her own name card. She got to sit between Daddy and Aunt Heather.

Emma likes the peas and the turkey. Daddy made pumpkin cheesecake and lemon cheesecake. Emma likes the lemon and Mommy likes the pumpkin.

Emma found it hard to be the "big girl" in the house especially since the younger girls were not ready to play with her on her terms. Emma was really nice to her baby sister and younger cousins. Morgan had her family birthday party and got some cool presents. She did a good job opening them even when Emma had to help a little.

Erin was a good baby and enjoyed being held by all her relatives.

Daddy had a pretty bad cold and talked in a strange voice most of the time.

Daddy, Mommy, Emma and Erin got to sleep in Morgan's room (which Emma referred to as "My Room"). Emma got to sleep in the modified crib with one side removed. She slept all night without falling out. Erin got to sleep in a Moses bed and Mommy and Daddy had the air mattress. This was nice accommodations considering the number of people in the house. Uncle Tod had even setup a tent inside in the library.

We got the first set of pictures of all 4 cousins together.

We went to see Austen this afternoon on the way home from a visit to MD. Earl hosted the Tennis tournament and we also witnessed the wedding of Christopher and Julie. Emma also really enjoyed her visit with Ganma Jean, Gampa Joe and Great Grandmom. She said she wanted to stay at Ganma's.

For our last day of travel we continued down US 7 through MA to CT.


We had lunch as a nice place next to a covered bridge along US 7 and the Housatonic River.

We arrived home around 2:00 PM.

Today we had a fun morning at the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. It was really a nice place. Emma got a new doggy named Emily. She put a heart and a wish inside and then they stuffed it and sewed it up. The tour was also fun.

We then travelled down US 7 to Middlebury, then over VT 125 to Hancock. We had lunch at the Old Hancock Hotel.


After lunch we went down VT 100 to Rochester to visit the Gillespie's who we knew from St. Philip's in Tucson. They have a house in VT and visit Tucson during the winter. The house and land were wonderful. He built and designed the house himself.

We then when back VT 73, and then south on US 7 to MA. We stayed the evening at the House on Main Street in Williams, MA.


It was quite. Probably the most expensive and least impressive of the B&B's we stayed at.

We went to Chopsticks for dinner. Mark has sushi and Emma and Jen had fried rice.

This morning we tried to get all of our wet gear into the car and headed back to Burlington.

We got on board a train trip from Burlington to Shelburne on the Green Mountain Railway. It was sorta a let down since there was not much to see, but it was a train ride.


We had lunch at Shanty on the Shore which had some nice seafood. Mark and Emma ate fish and chips. Jen has calamari.


We arrived early to our B&B, The Elliot House. Anne and George were really nice to us and gave us a place to dry out. We also used their drier.

We went over to Shelburne Farms and Emma got to chase chickens around the yard.

We had a really nice dinner at Pauline's Cafe. This was the best meal of the trip. Emma had cheesy noodles. It was a $20.00 meal well worth the $20.00.

We had a nice evening at the Elliot House. Mark played some Bach on the piano.

This morning we got going and drove to Burlington along US 2. We had a decent lunch at a Thai place on the main shopping street.

We also walked about and found some toys and books.

We found a really nice grocery store called the City Market. We picked up some dinner and supplies and headed north.

We drove up US 2 to Grand Isle and North Hero State Park. We checked in. When we got out to setup the tent, swarms of mosquitoes attacked us but we got out the bug spray. We got everything setup and had a nice time in the tent for the evening.

Overnight it rained, but we didn't get too wet. The tent leaked a little around the zippers. Emma had a blast sleeping in the tent. Jen slept on about 7 layers of various folded blankets.

Today we went to Ben and Jerry's factory tour. Emma had fun on the playground.

At the end Jen and Mark had ice cream, but Emma was too busy playing with another boy her age that she refused to eat any.

We had a relaxing evening at the hotel and ate at a really nice Mexican and Indian restuarant called Marsala Salsa in Waterbury. We through the Mexican food was just about the best we had eaten since Tucson.


We finished off the evening in the park.

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Emma was hiding so she didn't have to leave.

Today we stopped at the Vermont Toy and Train Museum in Quechee for a train ride.

We drove down US 4 and then drove up VT 12 all the way up through Randolph to Montpelier. We headed north east up US 2 to VT 215 to Cabot, VT to visit the Cabot Creamery Factory tour. We saw how they made cheddar cheese. Too bad it needed to be chilled or we would have bought some. Emma got a moose pop made of maple syrup.

We then drove back down US 2 all the way west to Waterbury.


Today we're staying in Waterbury at the Old Stagecoach Inn on main street.

We had a decent dinner Arvads
and went for a walk to the park.

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Emma has been a good traveler. She likes to read her books even if she missed some of the nice views.

Tonight we're staying at the Hotel Coolidge in White River Junction, VT.

We drive up from Ayer on I-93, but got off the interstate in New Hampshire. We had a nice drive through Lebanon, NH, crossing over the bridge into White River Junction, VT.

After dropping stuff off at the hotel, we went over to the trainstation to check out the little train history museum.

We went to Quechee, VT. There is a nice covered bridge there. We also went into the Simon Pearce gallery. We got to see them blowing glass and also walkted out on the terrace that overlooks the river and the damn.

We ate dinner at Fire Stones Restaurant. It was OK, but Emma didn't last through the whole meal. The meal was ok, but kinda heavy and nothing to write home about.

That evening we went back to the hotel. Emma, Mark and Jen all slept soundly in the big king size bed.

We had a nice, relaxing July 4 in Ayer.

Mark and Tod worked on planting trees. Actually, Tod did most of the work. We went for a walk around Tod's development.

We had a great cookout dinner.



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This morning Solan marked our car.

Solan was here.

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This morning we drove to Ayer, MA to visit "Morgan's house" and also Morgan, Tod & Holly. The trip was really nice. We should visit more often.

Tod could not give us driving directions to his house because his road does not exist on most maps at the moment. We got there using his directions and just guessed which development was his. Only took one wrong guess.

Emma slept most of the way.



This evening we watched the fireworks in Ayer, MA. Emma was very excited.

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