This past week we were lucky enough to have not two but THREE grandparents come visit us: my mom's mom, Grandma Whitesides, joined my parents for a fall visit to the Northeast! I've been bugging Grandma Whitesides to come visit us since we moved here three years ago, and we're so glad that she decided to come! She's a very spry 87-year-old, and we certainly put her through her paces trying to take it all in. Here's a run-down of what we covered:
Grandma Iverson knows that the way to a boy's heart is through his stomach. So, we started off with some Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Halloween spiders.
We let Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma go do the main Boston sites unencumbered by our toddlers. They made it to a lot in two days: the Old North Church, Paul Revere's House, the Old Statehouse, Boston Common, Fenway, Lexington Green, Louisa May Alcott's home, Walden Pond, Sleepy Hollow Cemetary, the North Bridge, and I'm probably forgetting a few other things in there as well.
When the weekend arrived, we viewed it as our goal to give them the most picturesque view of the Northeast possible. I think we succeeded:
First stop: Eastern Point Lighthouse on Cape Ann. Neither of the grandmas were too sure about the 30-foot drop on either side of the breakwater down in to the ocean, but it's the only way to really see the lighthouse!
Eventually they got used to it. :) We had a great picnic out on the rocks, overlooking the harbor, lighthouse, and the Atlantic Ocean.
Next up was Rockport, MA. Just a fun, little ocean town. This red lobster shack is called "Motif No. 1." Seriously.
The intrepid travelers on the end of Bear Skin Neck.
We were really glad that we got warm enough weather that we needed to buy some ice cream! Henry performs the classic suck-out-all-of-the-ice-cream-through-the-bottom trick.
Our last stop of the day was Nubble Light in York, ME. They claim it's the most photographed lighthouse in the U.S. I don't doubt it.
Sam thoroughly enjoyed any and all attention he got from our visitors! Also, in this picture you can tell that the lighthouse is on an island, separated by maybe 50 feet of water from the land. They have a little rickety tram that takes the lightkeepers across the void.
After church on Sunday, we drove up to Lyme, NH and stayed in a great little Bed & Breakfast. The breakfast was incredible--I'm still dreaming of the apple cinnamon pancakes with real Vermont maple syrup. Mmmmmmm. After breakfast on Monday morning, we drove through Hanover, NH, home of Dartmouth College, then headed on down to Sharon, VT to see Joseph Smith's birthplace.
Here are the boys and Eva (whom we happened to run in to!) sitting on one of the original stones from the Smith's hearth.
Sam and me in front of the obelisk, which was erected on Joseph's birthday 100 years after he was born, in 1905. It's 38 1/2 feet tall, one foot for each year of his life. We had a great visit here, and would recommend it to everyone!
We then decided to drive to Sugarbush Farm, in Woodstock, VT. Happily, we took a few wrong turns and ended up on a dirt road that looked like this. It was astoundingly beautiful.
Jenn snapped this out our car window on the drive.
Somehow, we didn't take many pictures of Sugarbush Farm. But, as you can see, we all enjoyed it, even Sam. We got to try 14 different kinds of cheeses that they make, as well as 4 different varieties of pure Vermont maple syrup. They also showed us how they tap the trees and make the syrup. Can you believe that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup? They just boil it down until it is exactly 67% sugar. In my book, anything that is 67% sugar is likely to be amazing. Pure maple syrup was no exception. Aunt Jemima just can't hold a candle to it!
We were so glad to have such a good visit with such great people! I was especially glad that my boys got to bond with Grandma Whitesides, whom I admire more and more all the time. Thanks for coming Grandma and Grandpa and Grandma!
