Family
Heartfelt updates about family milestones and everyday moments. From taking Mazie to college and annual visits to the Renaissance Festival to Swedish‑pancake breakfasts and VR outings with the kids, this category celebrates togetherness.
- 7:30a Good morning! Coffee at Fairgrounds.
- 8:40a Breakfast at Wildberry. 30 min wait for table already.
- Walk all around “The Bean”, Millennium Park and surrounding area.
- 1:00p Pick up car.
- 1:22p First time at Home Run Inn pizza.
- 2:34p Enter Indiana.
- 3:04p Visit Albanese Candy Factory.
- Now in Eastern Time.
- 6:13p Pass Through Indianapolis.
- 7:45p Gas and snack stop in Columbus, IN.
- 8:54p Enter Kentucky, crossing the Ohio River.
- 9:18p Checked into the coolest Airbnb in Louisville, KY.
- Tyler picked one of the six starting numbers, 3!
- Jamie got to be part of the mentalist section, selecting three items at random from the audience: REI Member card, Tyler’s retainer box, and back scratcher. Watkins got them all!
- Tyler got to shake the dice in the shot glass. Rolled a 6!
- Mazie got to pick the order of the cards that went up his sleeve and into his pocket.
- Tyler identified one of the 10 cards, 10 of ♠️.
- 9:09a: Depart Treehouse.
- 9:22a: Enter New Hampshire!
- 9:45a: 1h 15m wait for table at Polly’s Pancake Parlor. Switch up plans.
- 9:50a: Worst coffee ever at REDACTED. 😤
- 10:40a: Flume Gorge hike. Amazing! Wow! 🤩
- 12:00p: Return to Polly’s Pancake Parlor after calling ahead this time!
- 12:30p: Seated at Polly’s.
- 1:00p: Pancakes!
- Check out downtown Littleton, NH and shopping.
- Found ourselves a bit without a plan in the late afternoon. Mazie suggested we park along the River and Tyler and her could jump around the rocks. Tammy suggested I get a coffee so I get an iced coffee, sparkling water, and a bottle of water. Dehydrated! We had a nice hour or so with our feet in the water and the kids playing.
- At the end of our tranquil River cool down time the kids were getting out and Mazie fell into a bit of water. Nothing huge, but it happened to have a pocket of baby leeches! When she stood up we though she had algae on her legs, but they were actually baby leeches and she justifiably FREAKED OUT! We spent the next bunch of time clearing centimeter long baby leeches off her legs and calming her down. Whew!
- Delightful dinner at Schilling Beer Co.
- Tyler: 3 OREO Pancakes.
- Mazie: Buckwheat chocolate chip, Oatmeal buttermilk blueberry, Gingerbread walnut.
- Tammy: OREO Pancake, Corn and Coconut, Oatmeal buttermilk chocolate chip.
- Jamie: Buckwheat blueberry, Corn with coconut, Gingerbread with walnuts
Tyler and I had an awesome time at the Dude Perfect 2021 Tour! We got tickets two years ago but it was moved due to COVID-19. The show was great. Funny skits, great tricks. Awesome Father-Son time! Shake Shack for dinner before. 🤩
Creativity on Shoes with Kicasso
On our final evening in Indianapolis we did a completely new thing — we painted shoes! Kicasso is a one of a kind experience where you take a plain, white pair of sneakers and express your creativity with them. We had a blast and it was a great experience for us all.
We all took very different paths. I made what may go down as the geekiest shoes ever commemorating the 200th issue of the Weekly Thing. Tammy hit on her favorite color, green, and kept it simple and awesome. Mazie tends to take a lot of time, she likes to be a perfectionist. She created a great multi-color pair with light touches of color and glitter. Tyler went all over with the color and was the only one that decided to paint the whitewall of the soles as well, which he sort of wanted to undo but its paint! 🎨
Overall it was a fabulous 2.5 hours and we had a great time expressing our creativity with our shoes! The folks behind Kicasso aren’t aware of anyone else doing this, so if you are in Indianapolis this should be on your must do list!
MEA 2021 Road Trip Day 2: Chicago to Louisville
Weather: Wonderful weather. Sunny in Chicago. Clear weather for entire drive.
Part of MEA 2021 collection.
Mazie and Tyler both love Home Run Inn frozen pizza. We made a point to try it “in real life” in Chicago, skipping the freezer aisle for the first time. Everyone loved it and thought the frozen option was amazingly close to the “real thing”.
Another amazing night of magic with Dennis Watkins at The Magic Parlour! My third time and it still blows my mind.
This is up close magic and we got to be part of things:
If you are in Chicago I highly recommend taking the whole family to this.
Related: Magic Parlour via Zoom.
Mazie did some parking lot driving for the first time tonight! We found an empty parking lot and did start / stop, figured out some basic turning, and a little backing up. She did really great!
Tyler introduced the family to Machi Koro tonight and we had a great time playing it. Easy to learn, fast to play, and fun strategy options.
Mazie doing homework.
Mazie: Dad, do you know what a polyatomic ion is?
Me: Ahhhh, no.
Me now reading Wikipedia.
Officially entered into that stage where your kids homework is too hard for me.
Tyler and I after our team won today’s Edina Soccer match. I’ve been having a great time coaching the boys. They’ve won all four of their first games. ⚽️🤩
We made some more Things 4 Good Candles this morning. 🕯
Mazie’s job was cutting down wax for the melting pots. She had some fun with the wax while doing it. 🤩
Mazie made a Peach Melba Pie today. “I’M A PIE” 🤤🥧
Varmont Road Trip Index
In the spirit of Harper’s Index, here is our index for the Vermont Road Trip.
Airbnbs stayed in: Five
Miles driven: 3,777
Spent on gasoline: $475.70
State border crossings: 19
Road Sign Math winners found: Ten.
Miles of Appalachian trail hiked: One mile, twice.
Cheeseburgers Tyler ate: 10
Ratio of all Cheeseburgers that Tyler ate: 10 of 18.
Count of boats on: Four.
Floathaus,
Sailboat,
Canal cruise,
Donut boat
Ice cream shops: Nine.
Photos taken: 2,958
Percent of photos taken by Jamie: 54%
Count of books purchased: Nine.
Number of towns visited: 20
Accord,
Albany,
Cleveland,
Douglas,
Fennville,
Hoosick Falls,
Kingston,
Littleton,
Manchester,
Montpelier,
New Paltz,
Pittsford,
Rochester,
Saratoga,
Saugatuck,
Shaftsbury,
St. Johnsbury,
Woodstock (NY),
Woodstock (VT)
Museums visited: Five.
Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium,
Historic Huguenot Street,
Woodstock / Bethel Woods Center for the Arts,
Hildene,
Rochester Museum & Science Center
Count of clothes Mazie bought: Five.
Ratio of clothing purchases by Mazie: 5 of 7.
Number of baby Leeches on Mazie's legs: Over one hundred
Jump to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 of Vermont Road Trip.
Best Ice Cream of Vermont Road Trip
On our drive back we went back and each of us picked the favorite ice cream we had on our Vermont Road Trip. It was interesting to me that we all picked a different place!
Mazie: Key Lime Pie at Sleeping Giant on Day 4.
Tammy: Mint Chocolate Chip at Kilwins on Day 14.
Tyler: Sea Monster at Charlie’s Around the Corner on Day 13.
Jamie: Peanut Butter Chunk at Greater’s on Day 1.
Express Yourself Art Barn
We love to visit Express Yourself Art Barn when we are in Saugatuck. They have a ton of great projects and the people that run it create a great space and are incredibly helpful. We decided to all do pottery painting today. Tammy and I did three decorative lanterns in various rainbow effects, Mazie made her own garden stakes, and Tyler decided to do a Turtle Bank!
We have to have them shipped back to us. Hopefully everything makes it in tact! 🤞
Vermont Road Trip Log: Day 10, Monday
Weather: Nice, clear day. A bit hot in the afternoon with temps nearly 90 °F.
Jump to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 of Vermont Road Trip.
Polly’s Pancake Parlor was delicious and the busiest place we’ve eaten at on our trip, by a long shot. 🥞
Flume Gorge
This morning we drove from St. Johnsbury over to New Hampshire for the day. Our first event of the day was an amazing 2+ mile hike to see the Flume Gorge. Due to COVID-19 they were requiring tickets and timed entries. When we got there people were actually queued up to get in which seemed surprising to me. As we made our way up the gorge I realized why this was such a popular hike. The route was stunning, which immaculate paths and great wooden staircases going right up inside the gorge itself! I kept wondering what this must be like in the Spring when so much more water must be going down it.
The pictures below are in order as you start at the bottom of the gorge and hike up further until the waterfall at the very beginning of the gorge.
At the bottom of the gorge the water spreads out over this broad granite.
Family photo towards the bottom of the gorge.
Here the gorge is coming out of the boulders and starting to go more vertical.
Crossing one of several bridges as we walk along either side of the gorge.
The elaborate walkways and stairs are impressive to take you directly up the gorge.
Stairs going up through a narrow passage in the gorge.
My favorite photo from inside the gorge with all the lush greens and the walkways.
Family selfie with the falls at the top in the background.
Tammy and Mazie in front of the falls at the top.
Inside covered bridge crossing the Pemigewasset River.
Covered bridge above the pool along the Pemigewasset River.
Here is our walking path totaling 2.3 miles.
Dog Mountain Chapel
When Tammy was researching our Vermont Trip she ran across a place called Dog Mountain just outside of St. Johnsbury, VT. Dog Mountain is a 150 acre private mountaintop spot created by Stephen Huneck and his wife Gwen, as a place for people and dogs to enjoy themselves. Unfortunately we don’t have Lucky with us on this trip, but we still wanted to visit Dog Mountain to check it out.
One of the special places on Dog Mountain is the Chapel. In the Chapel people place photos and notes on the walls to honor the dogs that they have had to say goodbye to. It was an amazing spot, and when Mazie took a pen and put a note on the wall for Chase it made me shed a fresh tear for our great dog that we had to say goodbye to in 2018.
Bread and Puppet Theater
I don’t know if we would have ever found Bread and Puppet Theater without a recommendation from our friend Ellen but it was well worth the additional drive to Glover, VT. Bread and Puppet has been putting on political theater since 1974 in this location. The performances feature funny and serious skits, people on stilts and giant flags, and of course puppets of all sizes and shapes.
The “stage” and the band warming everyone up for the show.
A flag performance.
The turkey skit was the funniest of the show.
Giant puppet that was part of the Domestic Resurrection Circus after the main event.
Mazie and I got some bread with a heavy garlic butter shmear.
Why do they serve bread with the theater?
“We give you a piece of bread with the puppet show because our bread and theater belong together. For a long time the theater arts have been separated from the stomach. Theater was entertainment. Entertainment was meant for the skin. Bread was meant for the stomach. The old rites of baking, eating and offering bread were forgotten. The bread became mush. We would like you to take your shoes off when you come to our puppet show or we would like to bless you with the fiddle bow. The bread shall remind you of the sacrament of eating.” — Peter Schumann
I also enjoyed the spirit of the Cheap Art Manifesto.
Pastime Pinball
If you are any kind of a fan of pinball, Pastime Pinball would be your heaven. There is an amazing collection of pinball machines over the years, and they are all maintained perfectly. Everything works, and the game play is just as it was meant to be. They even had one of my favorite machines from my youth, Cyclone. And my favorite one that I played there was the Metallica Pro machine.
Tyler playing one of the older pinball machines..
Historical pinball section, all in great working condition.
Royal Flush pinball machine with clear acrylic case.
Modern pinball section.