Happy to Get Away

We've made it a tradition the past few years to take the week of Thanksgiving for vacation. This year we decided to stay in Massachusetts and rent a house in the Berkshires, an area we'd been anxious to explore. It was very nice to have a short two hour drive for our vacation!

How can I not snap a picture of that smile?

Our house was wonderful. Very spacious with nice room for all of us, a great kitchen, wood burning stove, and an enormous yard and wooded area (about six acres) - perfect for a lot of exploring. I did a terrible job of getting picture on this trip. One of these days, we need to get a family picture.

We loved exploring the little towns - such charm. We had lunches in historic taverns, shopped in old time country stores, saw picturesque churches and rolling hills. It was a wonderful time.

We spent a morning at the Berkshire Museum. It was as you'd expect. They did have a cute aquarium area with a touch pond that the kids loved. Our favorite exhibit was the 200 community decorated Christmas trees. Though I walked quickly by the one decorated with a silver garland - made of condoms... What?
It's great fun to watch Gabriel get right in there with the big kids.
Now, when the kids were asked what their favorite part of vacation was, they unanimously agreed it was the Bounce House playpark. We spent a cold afternoon getting rid of some pent up energy.

Yes, those are pink cheeks and sweat soaked hair!

We found a really neat nature center with a large beaver population. No beaver sightings but we did see their lodges and lots of trees in the forest that had been chopped down by the beaver. We took a family hike there and the big kids and Daddy were set on returning to hike to the top of the mountain!

Gaby and I took a nice nap on that afternoon!

The hikers are ready. Even the lady at the center was surprised that the kids were going to do the hike!

They made it!

Everyone was so proud to make it to the top and down again, 3 miles total. They told me that they could see New York from the bench. A stop at the ice cream store topped off their day!

And finally, some playtime pictures from adventures in our vacation yard!