Cider

One day during our Vermont trip, Thom John went up to the Stowe resort to go downhill skiing, I took the kids to a Cider Press to watch how fresh Vermont apple cider is made.  During the drive to the cider mill, I let the kids have a turn with the camera. Seany took some nice shots of the town of Stowe:

And when Clare got her turn with the camera, she took about 75 selfies!

When we got to the mill, we watched a short video about how cider is made, then we watched the actual press in action!

This mill uses a cloth and rack press to squeeze out tons of cider every day.  The kids were mesmerized by the whole process and we watched a few racks get pressed all the way through.

Cider getting squeezed out:

The chopped up apples getting spread on the racks before being wrapped in cheesecloth, then topped with another rack with chopped up apple wrapped in cheesecloth and again and again...

There were free samples of the freshly-pressed cider, of course which the kids thought was delicious!

A cold hike and a cold treat

When we woke up our first morning in Vermont, we found that it had snowed a teeny tiny it overnight.  But it was enough that the kids were super excited!

The day was bright and COLD - only about 17 degrees but we kept warm by going on a hike.

Grummy, Pop Pop, Daddy and Sean stuck together and kept a good pace for a good long time and up some steep inclines.

Mommy stuck with Clare while we went at her pace which involved a few breaks for snacks and to smash any icicles we came across.

At some point, Clare and I decided to turn back since the inclines were getting a little steep and we were going pretty slowly.  We knew the rest of our party would catch up and they did!

The kids had built up quite an appetite on the hike despite all the snack breaks (something about the cold weather...) so we made a stop at the Ben & Jerry's factory for a tour and some samples.

We had to wait a bit for our tour to start, so we walked around the grounds and took photos:

We stopped at the flavor graveyard to mourn discontinued flavors like Aloha Macadamia and Rainforest Crunch.

Finally it was time for our tour and cameras were forbidden in the factory.  The works were shut down anyway since Ben & Jerry's gives its employees the last two weeks of December off anyway.  Finally, we were given samples of Salted Caramel Blondie ice cream.  Sean was a trooper and choked it down (he really only likes Mint Chocolate Chip) and Clare loved it so much she charmed her way into a second sample!

Crafting and a new snack

When picking up our CSA box last Saturday, the farm had out samples of red, orange, and yellow watermelon.  Clare decided she liked yellow the best and Sean wasn't really a fan of any of them - he's more of a cantaloupe kind of guy...

After we get our "farm box" and whatever else (e.g., extra tomatoes and white sweet corn), we got ice cream!

We went home with a yellow watermelon, btw - it tastes just like a regular watermelon but it's yellow. Strange.  But tasty.

The kids got to work putting together a birdhouse kit and painting it - they we so nice to each other despite sitting in the same chair (which could have gone very badly)

We also did this melted crayon canvas craft - we hot glued crayons to a canvas and then melted the crayons with a hair dryer.  Once the desired level and pattern of melty-ness was achieved, the canvases were done.  Note - the crayon will SPLATTER everywhere.  This is an outdoor/garage craft for sure.

Bat-a-Thon

A couple of weekends ago, we went to our town's Rec Baseball fundraiser, the Bat-a-Thon.  Almost immediately after arriving, we spotted the Phillie Phanatic.  Sean was able to get a minute with him:

This is not the first time Sean met the Phanatic - once when Seanybear was little, I took him to the BIG Shoprite near us and while we were in the dairy aisle, the Phanatic came along, leading a conga line down the aisle.  He gave Sean a high-five and threw a few boxes of Tastycakes in our cart - Sean was delighted at seeing the "green giggie!"

Anywho, after rubbing elbows withe Phanatic, we met up with Sean's team for the batting part of the Bat-a-Thon.  I could tell that these boys were not "little kids" since they could actually sit in a row and wait their turn to bat :-)

 

After batting, Seany got a medal from his coach:

Once everyone n his team had a turn batting, the team assembled for team and individual pictures:

It was a hot, muggy day.  So we got the kids some water ice while we hung around to watch Sean's teammates participate in a pie-eating contest.  Right before the contest started, Sean said he wanted to be in the contest too.  So we asked for a vanilla pie for him and set him up in his spot-

After about one minute the boy to Sean's left was declared the winner.  Sean and the other boys were pretty upset at not winning the contest but they got over it pretty quickly.  Clare was happy to help Sean finish his: