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.
- 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.
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. ⚽️🤩
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.