Thendara: Part 3 - The Summit

WE MADE IT!!! At the top of Mt. Philo is a nice park, camping spots, a covered picnic area (where we have even witnessed weddings) and view points. We relish sitting in the sun with a cool breeze and taking in the view.

Melanie and Jocelyn

A view of Vermont, you can see Lake Champlain in the far right corner.

Lake Champlain and the New York Adirondacks.

I love all the various shades of green and blue.

We have come on really clear days and seen twice as far.

After our hike we make an annual trip to Dakin Farms where we rejuvenate our blood sugar with samples of honey, maple syrup, cheese and sausage. A family favorite is maple frozen yogurt, and we never leave without summer sausage, aged cheese, maple butter, crackers and salsa dip for late night card games. It's turned into quite the tradition.

Thendara : Part 2 - The Ascent

Every couple of years our family decides that we really are made from strong stock and that despite our various stages of "out of shape" we can perform extreme feats of athleticism. Enter Mt. Philo, a very small mountain in Vermont, only 968' elevation, but the view is gorgeous. The hike takes about 40 minutes and is no where near extreme in the attempt to climb it, even Cameron and Brooke climbed it this year without any help on the way up. It's a fun little climb and brings out the adventure in us, even the aging and feeble.

Here we are mid-hike. L-R: Dad, Mel, Mom, Alex and a little bit of Jocelyn


More of the group.

Cameron and Brooke kept up well,

even if they did linger near the back of the pack

I think I used the self-proclaimed title of "hike photographer"
as an excuse to linger near the back as well.


Cam investigating some bugs.

Brooke maneuvering a giant rock

Me, Mel and Jocelyn Reyes checking out some glacier moved giant rocks

in the middle of our hiking path.

***OK, so I somewhat exaggerated our level of un-fit.

We all did just fine climbing this baby mountain.

Thendara : Part 1 - The Drive

Every year, for the last 13 years, the Morales Family has taken a vacation to Vergennes, Vermont. There we stay at the summer home of the Cahill-Price Family. My Dad is good friends with Dann Batting who, other than being my Dad's boss, is married to Susan Price. Since I was teenager Dann and Susan have invited us to come up to their family's summer home, which is named Thendara. This is one of my favorite places.

Thendara is just over 100 years old and features a huge dining room; where Luisa and I practiced waltzing, a library; where we now have movie nights, 4 bathrooms, some with claw foot bathtubs, 9 bedrooms and a wraparound porch, where we eat most of our meals. This porch has also been our setting for countless family portraits throughout the years. The house is right above Lake Champlain. It is absolutely gorgeous here. This year we went in June, which is still a little chilly for Vermont, but this year the weather was much better there than in Mass.

The drive to Thendara is about 3 1/2 hours if you don't stop. It is a bit of an undertaking and even though you are sitting for the whole time you arrive feeling vaguely carsick and exhausted. But that first drive up to the house is full of excitement. WE ARE ON VACATION!!!!

This is actually Mt. Phylo, a mountain that we climbed,

but I liked the open road look.

The driver.

The driver's favorite way the kids occupy themselves.

You should hear her snore.

Cheesy. Alex and Cam were backseat buddies.

We arrived to a rude awakening. Planet of the Apes was filming a 21st century adaptation of the original movie, at our place, during our vacation. Here are some of the cast members before we kicked them out.

What actually happened was within moments of arriving Brooke was inside looking for her favorite toys and came out with the mask on. I actually jumped when I saw her, it looks so freaky. Mel gave it a try as well.

mmmmmmm, Ice Cream

Every June the pre-school where the kids attend has an Ice Cream Social. I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some pictures of the kids and their friends. Sadly, Cam and his friends couldn't stay still long enough to take a decent picture. But we had a great time making sundaes and the kids enjoyed getting their faces painted.

Cam - showing off for the girls

He wanted a snake, I guess you could call this a snake.

Brooke and her friend McKenzie. Every other day they change from being

best friends to not speaking to each other. Drama, already!

Artwork!

I always thought I would be a gracious mother, overwhelming with pride at the masterful artwork that my children brought home from school. Little did I know that children with bring home every single scrap of paper that they color on, stamp, drool on, cut, look at or just cause it matches their shirt that day. I have been over run with papers from school. I started their own binders to put the special papers in and it was already overflowing by the time we got to summer. So we saved some for Granny, recycled some and took pictures of the ones that were cool but didn't fit well in their binder. Here are my budding artists.

Brookie with her chinese dragon.

Cam and a star covered in wax.


The kids loved learning about Chinese New Year and these are Cam's lantern and a hat showing the Year of the Rat, which is what he is.

Cam's class made chinese dragons too.

These were two of Cam's favorites.

Memorial Day!!!

Yes, it is August and I am going all the way back to Memorial Day. I have cute pictures from Dan and Erin's BBQ. It's fun having friends that you have known since high school and now you have kids together.

This is Drew with her Godfather, of all people, Dan!

Good luck kid!!

Cam the Monkey Man

Dan, attempting to be a monkey man. He got stuck and screamed for Erin, she came out on the back porch and said with a hint of exasperation in her voice "Do you see what I have to deal with?"


The kids w/ water guns. Watch out!

The kids w/ the hose. More dangerous.

Ben and Dan were dying to get each other wet.

"Momma, I'm freezing"

Me and Brooke soaking up the sun

Brooke took this shot. I love that you can see her reflection in my glasses.


Me, D! and Candice

See, even the grown ups like to have fun.

Summah School!

When I decided to take a class this summer I thought to myself "Hey, it's summer, why not take it a little easy." So I signed up for American Lit II online. I could not have been more wrong about having it easy. This was my most difficult semester thus far, which is saying something since I had only one class this semester and two every other. It was a challenge but I also really enjoyed being able to read Kate Chopin, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Henry James, Edith Wharton and T.S. Eliot. Now that I passed in my final yesterday I am going to do some major blogging to catch up. Here is to more nights glued to the computer screen.