Vermont:

We headed up to Vermont over the weekend to spend some time with some of our really good friends Bob and Chelsea who we haven't seen since our wedding. We had decided not to rush to get on the road Friday after Steven got home from work and instead would wake up first thing Saturday morning and make a fun road trip out of it. Well good thing we didn't leave Friday as my system had other plans... Something did not agree with me (typical) and I was extremely sick all afternoon and evening. I was praying that we wouldn't have to cancel our plans. Thankfully I woke up Saturday morning feeling like myself again, so I finished packing our bag, getting everyone ready, and we headed out the door! 

The drive from Newport to Vermont is maybe 4 hours and it was beautiful! 

Our first stop was to Fresh Tracks Farm Vineyard and Winery in Montpelier, VT. 

Steven and I love a good wine and are always up for a little wine tasting, so when he found this little place, we knew we had to make a stop. A wood burning stove, a snow covered vineyard, wine being poured, and a fabulous Vermont Cheddar Cheese... 

Sounds like the perfect combination to me!

As if the wine and cheese wasn't enough, we had a syrup tasting as well... Yes, syrup!

They make their very own right there on the property as well and it was delish. 

And yes we bought some of that too!

It was the perfect start to our little getaway!  

After the winery we grabbed lunch at Prohibition Pig in Waterbury, VT. Some friends of ours had given us the recommendation (thank you again Todd and Julia) and it was confirmed by the locals at the winery that it in fact was the perfect lunch spot! 

The food and drinks were amazing (I mean do you see that Bloody Mary), but any place is perfect when you have these two little faces starring at you! 

The last stop we made before getting to Bob and Chelsea's was to the Ben & Jerry's Factory. Ben & Jerry's was founded in Vermont so it was kind of a must-do. Though I am glad we made the stop so we could say we have been there, it was a little disappointing. We had no plans of taking the tour but were told they do ice cream tastings... Yeah, no. All we saw was a huge line wrapping around the factory. Needless to say, after walking in we wanted to walk out. We at least meandered through the huge crowd and headed to the Gift Shop where a freezer of ice cream was located, grabbed a tiny pint, the cutest little hand warmer ice cream coozie and wooden spoon, and an ice cream serving set for Charli's red kitchen, made our purchase and got out of there as fast as we could! 

Oh well, at least the ice cream was still good! ;)

We arrived to Bob and Chelsea's, introduced the kids (because we haven't seen them in so long this was their first time meeting the both of them), did some catching up, and headed to dinner! After the kids were down, we spent the rest of the night drinking, playing card games, and laughing way too hard! 

We woke up the next morning and just enjoyed relaxing by the wood burning stove and enjoyed a perfect Sunday Brunch at home that included Bloody Mary's and gluten free pancakes, before doing a little sightseeing! 

 Our afternoon consisted of spending as much time with our friends and checking out what Burlington had to offer! 

 We walked around the waterfront and then headed to Church street in Downtown Burlington!

Though it was a three day weekend, we wanted to get back home so we could enjoy a relaxing day having daddy home with us. So we said our goodbyes and got on the road. Steven and Bob had been tracking a winter storm that was headed our way so we wanted to get on the road early enough to hopefully miss it. As we were driving and entering into New Hampshire, we knew we didn't miss the storm, but in fact would be driving right through it. There were "Freezing Rain Advisories" posted everywhere on the interstate and I can't tell you how many salt trucks we saw (seriously all new for this Florida girl). I am so thankful that Steven has lived in the New England area before so has dealt with these types of Winter conditions while driving. What was supposed to be a 4 hour drive home turned into a 6 hour drive due to having to go 25mph the entire state of New Hampshire. 

We not only saw about a dozen rolled vehicles and accidents (into ditches, into snow banks, into trees, and even over a railing), and a truck that was right in front of us who hit black ice and swerved all over the two lanes of the interstate and I 100% foresaw it going over the railing of an overpass, but we too also had a little scare of our own... Charli and Crew slept almost the whole drive (seriously we have two amazing little travelers) but at one point Crew was getting fussy and nothing was working so Steven pulled off on the first exit he saw. We were going maybe 5mph as we pulled into a parking lot and hit nothing but thick ice. I'm pretty sure my knuckles were white and I was holding my breath. When our car finally came to a stop (after sliding for what seemed like 100ft) Steven and I looked at each other and took a deep breath.  Steven put the car in reverse to see what he could do and slowly started to work his way out of the parking lot, but the ice was so bad that as soon as he was in drive the car would start sliding and would not steer at all. Insert my white knuckles, me holding my breath again, and thinking we were all going to die! I am so thankful that nothing happened to us and that after a while of sliding around (and thankfully not hitting anything) we finally go out of the parking lot, and back on the road.

It was a very scary moment for me as I have never experienced anything like that but again I am thankful for the calmest most relaxed husband in situations like that. 

He kept us safe and got us home! 

We really had such a great time with our friends and are looking forward to them coming and visiting us in Newport! I'm also hoping we can make another trip to Vermont before we move to do some snowboarding! 

Thank you again Bob and Chelsea for a wonderful visit! 

Love you guys!