Part two

On the 4th, we met Jamie and Laura in Winooski for breakfast at a place called Sneakers.  Other than a 45 minute wait and under done bacon, it was a nice place to eat.  The Winooski falls are right off the center of town and of course I took water boy off the see them.  It was quite hot for 11 in the morning but we enjoyed the view.

.

We went to the ECHO Center after our walk.  We took Baylor here when he was 9 months old. 

This time he was much more involved in the experience. 

Of course getting him away from the water was the hardest part of the experience. 

But we lured him with the promise of ice cream, which is called a cree-mee in VT.

We found the schedule for the ferry and caught the next trip across.  We had originally wanted to take the lake cruise but it was closed due to technical problems.  The ferry was cheaper but not narrated. 

We did not take our car on it but next time we go up we are going to plan on crossing with the car. 

We picked up some popcorn and a drink in preparation for the two hour round trip. 

This is Port Kent, NY.  The cars and some passengers got off and new ones got on.  We meet a nice family traveling from KY to ME.  It was the gentleman's 70th birthday on the 4th and we had a nice conversation with him and his wife. 

Baylor had a good time, testing his independence.

And catching bubbles

Giving his new teddy a piggy back ride

Until he crashed in Mommy's arms. 

We walked to Uncle Jamie and Aunt Laura's place for some dinner and to say good bye.  We had to leave quite early in the morning on Thursday.

This is Baylor's rock pile he left on the porch.  I am not entirely sure why he was collecting them but is kept him entertained. 

On the way out of town, we stopped at what will hopefully be Jamie's restaurant in the very near future.  It is about a block and a half from his place on the same street.  We hope to have some smoked chicken tacos there very soon! 

In two weeks we went to Oakton, VA, Hershey, PA, and Burlington, VT.  I wonder where we will go next! 

Day 12 to 16 of Summer

We took a vacation to Vermont to visit Jamie and Laura for the 4th of July holiday.  Lori was able to leave work early on Sunday and we headed to New York to find a place to stay for the night.  It is a good eight hour drive to Burlington and we find it works best to split the trip whenever we can.   I did not have many items to entertain Baylor but I found a dry erase crayon set in the basement we had never opened and whipped that out when he needed some entertainment. 

We picked up some local maps and hotel books at a rest stop and Baylor was using his map to direct us. 

This is the bridge at Crown Point where we cross Lake Champlain.  It was being rebuilt for the last year and we were hoping to ride the ferry across instead.  The bridge was ready and we had to drive across but it set in motion our promise to find a boat to ride while on vacation.

On Monday around 3:30 we arrived in Burlington and checked into our hotel.  We have never been to their apartment and we found it to be a little boy's playground.  It is at the end of Battery Street right at the rail yard. I am sure living in a rail yard has its pros and cons.  The cons being there are trains running 50 feet from your front door, dump trucks driving past all the time, and lots of dust and dirt every where.  For a three year old, these are all pros!   Their apartment building is an old warehouse that is now chopped up into many apartments with a lot of character and characters living there. 

Tuesday after a late breakfast we went for a walk on the bike path and headed for a beach.  It was about a 15 minute walk the way we walk and Baylor was ready to go!

Along the water is a lot of huge blocks of marble.  Vermont has marble quarries and I can only imagine most of the blocks are rejects but some had carvings on them.  My favorite was the sun.

The beach area is sandy and shallow for quite some way out.  Baylor was hesitant at first because he did not know what to expect but after he figured it out, he was running and splashing everywhere. 

After Baylor's nap, we headed to the pier right across the road to see their neighbors preform.  Dwight and Nicole live in their building and are really great people and performers. 

Baylor even did some dancing! 

And some running around the pier, throwing rocks into the water and generally being three. 

We had his face painted and he became Pirate Baylor.

He has been putting his hand on his hip lately, and I think he gets that from me! 

He was playing with all the kids or at least trying to interject himself into their games.  It was great to see because the sitter is really worried about his ability to interact with kids.  She just needs to see him like this and there would not be any need to worry.  This little girl was a perfect playmate and they had a lot of fun together. 

After dinner, have I mentioned my brother is a chef and meals are always delicious, we heard the air show going on.  Jamie and I tool Baylor out to see it and ended up staying out there for the rest of the night.  I did not have my bigger lens with me so it was hard to get any really good photos but you get the idea. 

While we were sitting there, Jamie's upstairs neighbors were playing.  It is a very musical building! Another possible con is the apartment practice room is right about Jamie's place. 

Baylor was happy when his little friend from the playground ended up sitting right next to us for the fireworks.  They ran around and played until the show started.  She actually decided to sit on my lap with Baylor for the whole show. 

 

Fireworks are hard enough to photograph but even more challenging with a street light in our line of sight. But we enjoyed the show just as much with the lights. 

to be continued....