Category Archives: Travel

Family, Photo-A-Day, Travel, Vlog

All Good Things…

Pewter Fairy
Photo-A-Day #4391

Our last day at the Pollard Brook Resort and we started with a lazy morning where Allison, the kids to some extent, and I, finished the Marvel themed Funko Pop figures puzzle. That was a tricky one with many similar pieces that could have fit int he same places plus the layering of the figures into the image made it even more challenging. Our April vacations are pretty laid back and making a puzzle has become a yearly tradition. Last year was Marvel themed comic book covers and this time was the Marvel Funkos. We finished the puzzle before we went out for a late breakfast over to Peg’s in Woodstock.

Peg’s is a nice place but they only take cash so make sure that you have some before you go in or be prepared to use the ATM and get a fee charged. The food was good, the portions were adequate. I had stuffed french toast and it was really good. The bacon was also really good. Andrew and Eva worked on T-shirt designs for a Life is Good Contest.

After our meal we walked up the street a bit and checked out Fadden’s General store where we had to get some of their pure maple syrup. We had a little bit at breakfast and needed to get some for our pancakes and waffles at home. Then we checked out a couple other stores before heading back to the room. We stopped and picked up the bath fizzies that the kids made yesterday. Andrew’s were solidly packed little bath fizzies but Eva’s fell apart when we took them out of the molds. Not enough water. She was disappointed and I helped reassure her that it was okay and that we could always make them at home sometime. I think she was unhappy that hers fell apart but Andrew’s looked really good, but I helped Andrew so he had an advantage. We’ll know more for next time how to make them better.

Then it was back to the room to pack to go home and I had to complete a blog post for an assignment while the kids played and watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Then we drove to our friend’s house so that the kids could visit and Allison could visit. They moved a few years ago and we try and see them whenever we

Family, Food, Photo-A-Day, Travel, Vlog

Family Vacation – Day 3: Are We Tuckered Out Yet?

Our little geese with a rooster
Photo-A-Day #4390

Our third day on vacation and we are enjoying our time at Pollard Brook. Today we spent some time in the room and then the pool and later an adventure out for dinner. We started off the day with a very special activity. Back in 1999 LEGO started producing Star Wars sets. At the time I was working as a Residence Hall Director at Saint Anselm College. I also had a full time job. I had no girlfriend and no extra expenses. I had some disposable income and I went LEGO crazy. I also bought a lot of comics and Transformers. I bought the LEGO Star Wars sets with the specific intention that when the children, that I hoped I would someday have, were old enough to enjoy Star Wars that we would build these sets together. Andrew and Eva are both fans of Star Wars and are both old enough to build LEGO sets so it was finally time.

I packed the Star Wars LEGO set 7140 – X-Wing Fighter to be the very first one that we would make together. I also downloaded Star Wars: A New Hope onto my phone and was able to play it through the Chromecast on the TV, not without a lot of finagling, this thing does not seem to work right every time, nor does it work the same way every time. We watched Star Wars while building the X-Wing Fighter and had a great time doing it. We organize all the bricks by color and then take turns, by page to build the sets.

Eva did some more Stop Motion Animation and had me upload her three movies to YouTube. You can find her 1st Try (with my help), 2nd Try (all Eva) and 3rd Try (All Eva) on YouTube. She is very proud of them and each video represents a couple of hours work using Modibot and Stopmotion Explosion.

We had a simple lunch in the room and then went over to the pool. The kids love hitting the pool. We also used the Jacuzzi and it turned much colder today than yesterday, so that may not have been the best move. Then it was time for cleaning up.

We opted for an early dinner over at The Woodstock Inn and Brewery. There we shared an Onion Blossom. Allison tried a sampler flight of beers and you have to watch the video just to hear Andrew tell her to “chug, chug, chug!” Neither of us knows where that came from. Allison and I shared a Fisherman’s Platter. Eva had chicken wings and Andrew had a huge hot dog and mac and cheese.

Ten we headed back to the Pollard Brook Resort where there was an activity happening. The kids made some bath fizzies. Eva made some peppermint ones and Andrew some sage ones. I stepped in to help him out because he wasn’t quite getting the concept of how to mix up the bath fizzies. Things were flying out of his bowl.

We went back to the room and the kids played while I got ready for a Twitter Party. I try not to have to do too much work while on vacation but occasionally I am working on things so it cannot be helped. It was only a short party so it did not interfere with spending time with everyone.