What happens in Vermont stays in Vermont, althought nothing ever happens

This past week was our annual trip to Lake George, NY with Paul's family. This year we added a few days in Vermont before heading down to the Lake. We had an early morning flight to Albany and drove to Rutland, VT for our first night. Rutland was probably the most commercialized town we were in our entire trip, although it was still pretty small and picturesque. I think the GPS we borrowed was set on secondary roads only b/c we never got near a highway. It was amazing how cute the little towns were, each with a historic general store and huge colonial houses and farms. Our next stop was Quechee for a hot air balloon festival where we met up with my parents (who happened to be taking a very similar vacation a the same time). We did some hiking, ate some local farm-fresh food, and had a very relaxing time wandering through Vermont with no schedule. Our last stop was Stowe/Waterbury where we hit up the Ben & Jerry's factory and the Von Trapp family lodge. We ended the trip with lunch with one of Paul's fraternity brothers in Burlington and then took the ferry across Lake Champlain into New York.

Lake George was warmer than its ever been so we spent a lot more time in the water. I learned to drive the new jet ski and Paul and I got the crap beat out of us on the new two person tube. We did some golfing and had a great breakfast at the Sagamore. After some arguments with the cranky guests upstairs and a visit from the Lake George fire department (for a carbon monoxide alarm with a bad battery), Noel was the winner of the annual Sponge Bob Square Pants Putting Invitational.

Overall the weather was great, and it was a fun an relaxing week. Now we just need to buy a vacation place in Vermont!

Engagement Party

Last night I had the pleasure of co-hosting an engagement party for my sorority big sister, Jenn, and her girlfriend, Austin. The party was at a coffeehouse/winebar in downtown Jacksonville. We had lots of yummy cakes (with lots of leftovers) and champagne. I think Jenn & Austin had a good time and it was nice to see some old friends too. Here's just a few photos.

Baby It's Hot Outside!

After two weeks of temps in the 90's the heat is here to stay...at least until November that is. Paul has adjusted to it much better than me since he has been spending nearly all of his free time working on the yard, the pool, or the pond. The backyard has been sodded, the pool has been cleaned, and our garden is growing nicely. Unfortunately it is so dang hot outside now that we mostly enjoy it from the view from the living room. Paul is going to start freezing bottles of water to put in the pool to cool it down.
Since we watched the documentary, Food Inc., we've been focused on eating organic dairy, wild seafood, and grass fed meat, so we've been hitting up the Fernandina Farmer's Market for the past two weeks. So far we've had all natural grass fed beef and pork and it was delicious! We've been bringing Mr. Tups with us to the market to try to get him socialized and I think he really enjoys his Saturday morning outing.
My parents came up for a quick visit last weekend to bring their new doggie, a rat terrier-chihuahua mix, to meet Stelly & Tups. As of now the dog's name is Sushi, but changes pretty frequently. Stella largely ignored Sushi but Tups was not so welcoming. They'll get to like her soon enough when she and Dixie (my parents' springer spaniel) come to visit in a few weeks.
This weekend I'll be co-hosting an engagement party in Jacksonville and we'll be getting ready for our trip to Vermont and Lake George. We're looking forward to the low humidity and chilly lake!

Fairways are overrated

Inspired by our trip to The Players we dusted off and emptied the leaves out of the golf bags and began frequenting the city driving range. My clubs are the ones I got in highschool for my brief stint on the girls' golf team, and Paul uses my dad's clubs - this just shows how often we've golfed before now. In the past few weeks we've been to the driving range a few times and played two 9-hole rounds. We've been walking when we play because its so much cheaper and good exercise. I only wish we had found this new hobby in November when its not hitting 90 every day. Of course we probably walk more than most folks since we zig-zag from one side of the rough to the other, we have no use for fairways.

Mischief fom the Pups

Stella and Tups have been keeping us on our toes this week. On Friday evening, I was sitting at the table waiting for Paul to get home when I heard something fall over in the kitchen. When I got up to investigate, I saw that Stella had climbed in the pantry and knocked over a box of dog biscuits and was scarfing them down three at a time. Tuppy then joined in, and while I was cleaning up Stella snagged three or four more and took them under the table to eat them one by one.

Saturday evening I came into the kitchen to find Stella wearing my underwear! That's right - actually wearing my underwear around her butt. I have no idea how she got them on her, I'm just surprised that Tuppy left them intact (he has a penchant for shredding underwear).

Paul's Next Birthday & Mother's Day

After a nice visit with Paul's parents, my parents came to visit on Saturday. They brought their present and my present to Paul with them: orange trees. We ended up keeping the lemon tree they had bought for themselves too. Paul has been dying to have citrus trees ever since we bought our house.

Saturday afternoon we went kayaking in Eagan's Creek, which was really nice and something we'll have to do more often. My parents took us out for a birthday dinner for Paul to a new place downtown called Kelly's Cafe. We had a nice dinner, followed by a walk downtown and a stop for for fudge, and then back home for Paul's birthday cake.

While Paul was at work on Sunday my parents and I had a swim in the pool and my mom and I did some shopping.

Paul's Birthday at TPC

Of course we had to celebrate Paul's birthday on his actual birthday too. As soon as I told my co-workers and boss that my in-laws were in town for a surprise visit they insisted I go home to spend time with them, so I made it back in time to have breakfast with Paul, Noel, Bernadette, and Britain and Chris (friend and friend's boyfriend in town for the party).

After breakfast our friends headed out and we went to The Players' Championship at Sawgrass. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time following Paudraig Harrington and Tiger Woods from hole to hole. Paul and I don't really watch golf at home usually, but it was a lot faster paced and really fun to watch in person. Those guys really book it, we had a rush to keep up! Unfortunately they don't let you take cell phones or cameras (or practically anything but wallet and keys) into the TPC, so this is our only photo and was taken in the parking lot on the way in. Once back in Fernandina we hurried to get cleaned up and out to Beech Street Grill for Paul's birthday dinner.