The Jones Girls

On Monday July 6th my friends headed out back home to Boston.    Cliff’s sister, Teresa and her dad came over for a visit.   It was a short visit.  

Cliff offered something that all wives dream of.   He offered to babysit the girls so Teresa and I could go out for a pedicure and spend some time together.  I called Teresa and she came over in a flash.   Before I knew it we were on the road, just us 2 girls, laughing like 2 crazy women getting out of the psyche ward.   

We drove to the Rutland Mall and walked around.   We relaxed in a salon and had our pedicures done.  Then we ventured to KMart to get a birthday present for a neighbor whose daughter who was turning 1 year old.  

Then we had lunch and some super delicious alcoholic beverages…Mud Slides.  YUM!!  I think that was my favorite part…drinking…LOL!!

It was so nice to have some sister girl time with my sister-in-law.   We vowed that we are going to make this an annual tradition.  I love you Teresa!!

On Sunday, July 5th we had a day packed with lots of fun.  

At 9:00am we ventured out to a friend of ours, Phil Webster, who helps caretaker a farm.   Everyone got to ride a horse and surveyed all of the grounds for cows, sheep and 2 adorable well-manored dogs.  My friend from Boston is a city girl and she was tickled pink to be on a farm and even more amazingly, sitting on top of a horse riding!!

We walked over to the barn and were pleasantly surprised to find it was so clean and tidy, probably more so then the way some people might keep up their living rooms.    Phil Webster takes great pride in that farm for sure.

We visited boarded horses and pet their noses and learned some interesting facts about horses from Phil.  Then we visited a baby calf that was being weaned from its momma.   It was so cute.    The girls saw some roosters and chickens walking around and found a chicken coop in the barn.   They really enjoyed watching the chickens.  Phil surprised us and gave us 6 freshly laid eggs straight from the nest, eggs were still warm.     I was told I needed to clean the eggs with warm soapy water and because the were so fresh they could not be hard boiled.    I was so excited, I had never eaten fresh eggs before!!

After our time on the farm, we headed over to The Magic Forest located in Lake George.  This mini amusement park is geared for toddler-aged children up to age 7.    Lots of cute rides.  The place is a blast from the past from the mid 60’s.   The girls had a blast and we closed the place down at almost 5pm.

Then we rushed home to prepare for the Triplets and Daddy Cliff’s birthday party.   Daddy took out the bouncy house that we had purchased for the triplet’s birthday party last year (that we never got to use last year because of all of the rain!).    We picked up a couple of trays of sub sandwiches and a cute Nemo birthday for the triplets and a cute little cake for Daddy Cliff.   My sweet friend Wendy brought her famous and delicious homemade beans, potato salad and mini weenies with bbq sauce.    We partied like it was no body’s business and had a great time.

It was a very busy day in Vermont that day.

So we had plans to leave the house at 8:30am to be in Poultney by 9am to watch the parade.    Yeah, those plans flew out the window – who were we kidding?

So our Boston friends and us managed to pile out of the house and hit the road at about 9:30am.  We reached Downtown Poultney and made it in time to see the parade.  This is where the parade ends.  Normally we watch the parade where it begins and then drive down to downtown Poultney after the parade ends.  I kinda liked seeing the parade in downtown Poultney, that way I don’t have to leave the house so freakin’ early in the morning.  Sleep is the name of my game 🙂

Well, when the parade started going, wouldn’t you know it…clouds came out from nowhere and decided to laugh in our faces and pour the biggest rain drops that I ever saw!!    So we all huddled under a maple tree to protect us from the killer rain drops.   You should have seen us.  It looked ridiculous.  You would have thought we were keeping safe from a typhoon or something.   We were determined to ride out the storm under that maple tree.    God Bless that Maple Tree.

After the parade we went shopping at the Original Vermont Store.    Of course I spent more money that I had budgeted, but I just love the great stuff at that store.  They have a charming room decorated in the Christmas theme…a year round Holiday shopping treat for sure.   While I was doing my browsing and shopping, the girls played in the room with all of the stuffed animals.  When we had to leave they did exactly as I requested and put all of the animals back on the shelves.    They made me such a proud mommy shopper!!  Way to go girlies!!

We took our friends to visit and tour a beautiful and historical castle in Whitehall called Skene Manor.   We were surprised to find a wedding was underway.  They still were giving tours though.

I was so proud of our girls.  They followed directions as we climbed several flights of stairs and were very careful not to break anything as we toured all of the rooms.   Way to go girls!!

If it weren’t for some generous and caring Whitehall residents, the Skene Manor would have been bulldozed.     A resident took a $10,000 mortgage to purchase the Skene Manor and save it from being sold on the auction block for back taxes.    Then many of the area’s residents donated time and money to refurbish the historical mansion.    Thankfully the Skene Manor is now listed on the state’s historical books and now is protected from perishing in the future.

After we finished our tour for Skene Manor Castle, then we ventured over to Lake George which is about 1/2 hour away. 

We barely made the 2:30pm boat tour of the Lake on the “Mohican”.    It was a 2-1/2 hour tour of the lake.    We had lunch on the boar and the girls hung from the chandeliers like little pirates.  They loved being on the large boat.   Cliff was more ready to get off of the boat then the girls were.  He was ready to get off about 1 hour into the boat ride.

After we got off the boat we got ice creams and did some window shopping.    What a great day!!

On Wednesday July 1st our friends from Boston drove up to spend 5 days with us.   They have 1 year old twin girls.

We grabbed our walkie talkies and gave them a car tour of our area.    Nothing beats good old Cliff giving every little detail about the area on the walkie talkie tour.    Beware, you might hear all about his life history on the tour too.  God I love my husband, bless his little heart.

We ended the the day with making everyone homemade spaghetti and meatballs and my famous Kimberladas.  Let’s see if I get any questions about what Kimberladas are…

On Tuesday, June 30th, we took a pretty drive about 2 hours north of our house in Vermont.  We drove to Shelbourne, VT, home to the Famous Vermont Teddy Bear Factory.

The girls were so excited to make their own teddy bears.   They got to choose from over a dozen colors of bears.   Savannah and Miranda picked red bears.   Maryssa picked a pink bear.  Amanda picked the cutest bear.  It is a cute green dinosaur teddy bear.

They got to put a special heart inside their bears, then flll them with stuffing and there was a helper there to do the final stitching of the bear.  They got to cut the “umbilical cord” which was the thread closing up the bear.  The girls each received a birth certificate for their bear.   It was so cute.

Then we all got a tour of Factory and learned how they make Teddy Bears, the history of the teddy bear and all of the different and interesting things that we had no idea about Teddy Bears.

We got some great pictures too.  Then we drove off just when it started sprinkling.    About 15 minutes into our drive, we saw super dark clouds and then drove right into a thunder and lightening storm.  The storm was right above our car.   The girls were amazed and intrigued by the thunder followed by a flash of lightening.    We drove the whole 2 hours through the storm.  

When we were driving into our neighborhood, it looked like the whole place was ambushed.  Trees were uprooted and it was a mess.     Turns out while we were having a blast at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, a category Narly Ass Storm hit our town and blew it all up.  The electricity had been out for about an hour. 

I have to admit I was happy to know that I was not home when that all happened.   I just cringe at the thought of entertaining our 4 girls with no electricity in a huge storm.   

We had locked our front screen door and locked our front door and the only other way to get in the house was through the garage door with an ELECTRIC  OPENENER.    We couldn’t open up the garage door so we were basically locked out of our house.  

We were about to high tail it out of there and Cliff managed to slip his hand through the screen and unlock the door.  See, I knew husband are good for something!!  LOL!! 🙂

I lit a bunch of candles and then walked the girls upstairs.  We got pajamas on and I got them all in bed.    The electricity finally went on.

Good times in New England for sure!!

We slept in till about noon.    Then I dressed the girls in their cute matching outfits and Daddy Cliff took them to a little fast food place called Scarlottas.  This place is also a car hop..something you just don’t see anymore these days.  A true gem of a place with good food and even better cheap prices.

While Cliff was showing off the girls, I unpacked the boxes of clothes.  Yes I said boxes of clothes, not suitcases of clothes.   You see, it is easier to pack the clothes in boxes and mail them out 2 weeks ahead rather than packing them in suitcases and schlepping them through the airport.

Besides, with all 4 girls in car seats. there is simply no room for luggage.   The airlines rape us for $25 bucks per bag each way to fly the suitcases.  It is more convenient and about the same price to mail them.

Now how did I get so side tracked about our boxes vs. suitcases?  Oh yeah, I remember, the airlines suck beans and don’t give a rats ass about their customers.   Ah, that felt good to get off of my chest.