N.H. With Friends!

This past weekend was the Vt-NEA convention, which meant a long weekend for me and Ed! A few weeks ago, we finalized plans to get together with my old friend Sarah from UVM. We felt so lucky to get this same great VRBO in Winchester, N.H. (near Keene), since we had such a lovely time there last Spring. You might recall a blog post I created back in March, titled "Our New Hampshire Getaway". If you're ever looking for a nice lake house that can sleep lots of people, please check this place out. It's great!! We can even bring Zoe, which saves us money in boarding fees. The CT-based owners, Paul and Anne Harris, are so kind and accommodating, and seemed genuinely pleased that we wanted to return to their home. They even left us a complimentary bottle of wine from Stonington (CT) vineyards, which is so neat since Sarah grew up in Stonington! I thought I'd take some photographs of the house while it was still clean. Here's the master bedroom, overlooking Forest Lake:
A second bedroom:

And a third! This is the living room, leading into the sun porch, which can also double as a fourth bedroom:
There's a TV and tons of kid-friendly movies out there.The dining room and Great Room:

The kitchen. It's got everything! Looks like I almost caught Zoe "in the act!"

The Great Room, stocked with tons of books, movies, and cozy nooks to cuddle up.

The dining room, looking out over the lake:It was important that I took pictures, before this started happening:
Or this:The view from the top deck:

The hot tub!

Ed, Elijah, Zoe and I arrived on Friday afternoon to get the place all opened up. Our plan was to meet Sarah and her family at the Magic Wings butterfly conservatory on Saturday morning, which (located in So. Deerfield, MA) was on their way up to the house. This turned out to be a great plan, as Saturday was a rainy, dreary day. Here's Elijah, waiting for his friends to arrive:We killed some time visiting with a scarecrow:

And then they arrived! That's Sarah, Diego (4), Maya (2.5) and Sergio:
The boys checked out some pretty big goldfish:

Only one photograph of butterflies came out clearly. But I think they were mating, and that seemed somewhat tasteless to post on my blog. So here's a pretty flower instead:

Once Sarah's family got settled back at the house, we took the kids into the basement rec room to burn some more energy. Air hockey, table tennis, balls of every type to throw....
Even a kiddie slide:

And a whole dry-erase wall (although the marker fumes could kill you!)

Back upstairs, the kids played so well together. Fast friends!
Elijah was sound asleep by 6:30PM- he was so exhausted.

The next day, the sun was out! Thank goodness, as our children had resorted to this....Don't ask, I really have no idea...A beautiful day to get outdoors.

Later on Sunday, our other good friend Matt arrived with his family. He and his wife Anne have 3 children- Kaitlyn (7), Shannon (5) and Christian (4)- as well as one on the way (a boy due in January). They live in Westbrook, Maine and made the 3.5-hour drive to visit for just a few hours. They brought a delicious lunch to share, and then we set all those kids free outside. It felt like "Jon & Kate Plus 8!"

Here's our whole gang....It's been 14 years since we graduated from UVM...Who would have thought that all these years later, we'd be able to come together with our beautiful children for a fabulous weekend of pure fun?!?

I feel so lucky to have great friends who are willing to make such an effort to stay in touch. And no better place to come together than our favorite house on Forest Lake!