We had the best get away to Stratton Mountain, VT earlier this month. Steven, Liam and I headed out Friday the 8th and returned Monday the 11th.

Two of us ski - the boys - but, I’m always happy to go along!

My husband scoped out a place to meet up with the family and have lunch in Kingston, NY at the Bowery Dugout Restaurant. It was a kitschy place with delicious food.

Every parent at the Rest Stop in NY State was explaining to their children what this was…. LOL!

Of course we stopped at a favorite haunt - the Gristmill Antique Center in Troy, NY. We happily came home with a Currier and Ives book and a lovely etching of a Street full of Chalets.

Since that weekend - If I say Man Of Kent every skier knows this great tavern located on Rt. 7 in Hoosick Falls, NY for good reason - it is not to be missed! The family loves seeing the Medford Lakes, NJ Canoe Carnival Trivet on the Wall. We have family there and our late Uncle was a force behind this decades old - Floating Parade!

We rolled into Stratton just as the sun was setting… We drove past the village on the way to the condo we rented in Stratton Springs.

The condo was lovely with 3 bedrooms 3 baths and a lovely open kitchen with dining over looking a great room. The garage has been converted into a games room complete with a multi use table: ping pong top over a pool table. Liam had a ton of fun hanging with his cousin!

Saturday the skiers set off - Steven, my niece Christina, Liam and my sis Noreen - with extra hand warmers - the temperatures were hovering in the teens - overnight the winds hit 50mph.

Stratton has a lovely village full of shops and restaurants. My BIL (who doesn’t ski either) and I ventured to the Village to meet the gang for Lunch - both days we ate at Mulligans. The menu has delicious tavern fare and really wonderful sushi!

Saturday evening we dined at Verde’. The atmosphere and the food were delightful!

Love this video - you’ll hear my hubby’s voice - Liam is skiing with my sister and niece.

Scenes from Sunday’s ski adventures! Look how delightful Stratton is! I can’t recommend it enough. On Sunday afternoon we hit some of the shops and brought home a cute poster for Liam’s room from the Stratton Clothing Company and I grabbed the most delectable treats from Coyote - a newly opened espresso and dessert bar featuring local products and goods from the Stratton area.

Bromley Mountain… during the ride home.

We stopped at Big Moose Deli and Country Store…. there is a whole lotta fun and tasty stuff going on in there folks! Another must stop!

We bought our supply of syrup here and a bunch of penny candy sticks too!

It was a wonderful long weekend and know we’ll be heading back to Stratton next winter. Huge thanks to my sister for making it happen!

Til next time!

Friends we spent the last week in September in Florida - if you follow me on IG than you saw a bunch of stories. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun I had, how lovely the accommodations were and how amazing the food was. It was a trip of a lifetime! Truly!

This was Liam’s first time on an Airplane. The Crew of our United Flight could not have been more delightful! he will have this memory forever!

M...I…C…K…E…Y…..

M…O…U…S...E…!!!

You can’t believe how thrilled we all were that the International Food & Wine Festival coincided with our trip!!!

The Beach Club Resort is amazing! To think it’s based on the New Jersey Shore tickles me to no end friends! It’s a quick walk to Epcot which was wonderful especially during the Food & Wine Festival. If you get an opportunity to travel during one of these festivals GO GO GO!

These passports were so fun! you fill in the country with a sticker once you enjoyed their treats!

While I know many of you have visited Disney before - I was surprised by the number of friends who like us were waiting for their kiddos to be a bit older - So here’s a rundown of our trip.

We did not include a meal plan with our reservation at the Beach Club Resort instead we included the Stone Harbor Club - a concierge lounge offering food and beverages. We also dined at Rose and Crown in Epcot, California Grill in the Contemporary Hotel and the Biergarten Restaurant in Epcot. We enjoyed lunches at the Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom, the Brown Derby in Hollywood Studios, Coral Reef in Epcot, Sanaa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and Skipper Canteen in Adventureland in the Magic Kingdom. On top of these lovely eateries we enjoyed the Kiosks in Epcot. We ate dinner twice by simply walking around and purchasing several small plates from different countries! The food was incredible! I mean seriously!!!

We had the Park Hopper feature on our Magic Bands - enabling us to simple scan our bands and fingers to enter Epcot, The Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom easily.

here we all are our first day! My sister- (who planned the entire trip), her husband and daughter completed our group.

Arriving Saturday we headed to Epcot for dinner and the Test Track ride. We had scheduled 3 rides/events per day through Fast Pass prior to our trip. Once these scheduled events are used you have an option of going to kiosks located in the parks and adding more Fast Pass events but, we never needed to do this - since we were traveling during the school year we were able to walk onto many rides with no more than a 10 minute wait time. Sunday we started our day with the best - Pirates of the Caribbean - I still don’t think my son fully understands that the ride is behind all those movies! We enjoyed the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, Tom Sawyer Island and lunched at the Liberty Tree Tavern. The rest of the group ran to make it to the 1:55pm Fast Pass for Splash Mountain. (Fast Pass allots you up to an hour.) From there they hopped over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We closed out our day with It’s a Small World. That evening we dined at the Stone Harbor Club and capped off the day swimming in the sandy bottomed pools of the Beach Club Resort.

When your son has battled Kylo Ren you share the image!

The Brown Derby In Hollywood studios. The Originator of the Cobb Salad did not disappoint! It was delicious.

Monday was all about Hollywood Studios. The boys got there early to sign up for Jedi Training (you have to sign up the day of) and Liam was speechless after battling Kylo Ren! I’m not going to say every ride or attraction made it on the agenda because we had to see it or do it… sometimes the crazy heat drove us indoors - this was the case with Muppet Vision 3-D - it was super fun - all the adults remember the Muppet Show it was great! After that we enjoyed the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. We didn’t have a plan for lunch that day and decided on the Brown Derby we only waited 10 minutes for a table and the food was super! A few went on the Tower of Terror while others walked around checking out the shops. Then we went to our 4pm Fast Pass for the very cute Toy Story Mania. We had a 6:50pm dinner reservation at the California Grill on the top of the Contemporary Hotel - which was accessed by monorail. We watched Fireworks while enjoying wonderful sushi. The Kitchen even accommodated Liam’s request for a plain Tuna Roll.

I Love Donald Duck and was thrilled Liam got to Meet him during our Character Breakfast! ( I highly recommend!)

The pools were so great! Here’s Liam in orange waiting to go into the water tube! there was a lazy river and a baby pool… so fun!

Tuesday started with a Character Breakfast! We were all thrilled to see Minnie, Goofy, Daisy and Donald. After that we headed to Epcot - the rest of the group went on the Soarin' Around the World ride - unfortunately my Vertigo prevented me from joining them. We did some shopping and headed into the Colortopia Exhibit by Glidden Paints - that was super cool. After walking around a bit more and grabbing some bites from the many kiosks in the World Showcase we headed back to the Beach Club Resort to enjoy the pool and dined at the Stone Harbor Club that night.

the most spectacular fireworks display ever!

Wednesday was Animal Kingdom day! There was a 10am Fast Pass for Expedition Everest! We enjoyed a lovely lunch at Sanaa Restaurant which is outside the park - in the Animal Kingdom Villas. The food a mix of African and Indian cuisine was delicious! After lunch we had a 2pm Fast Pass for the Safari and then a 3pm Fast Pass for the Kali River Rapids ride (you'll get wet & the seats are wet when you climb on board - It's a good last ride of the day). That night we enjoyed an amazing dinner and show at the Biergarten Restaurant in Epcot . After dinner we noticed all the small shopping stalls closing up and the lights going down. We were beyond lucky and thrilled to stumble upon the most amazing fireworks display I have ever witnessed! It was FANTASTIC - Walt Disney World Parks bring the Magic friends! Of course on our way back to the Beach Club Resort I needed to grab a Guinness and Baileyes Shake from Ireland! Slainte’

Coral Reef restaurant - the view the food! it was outstanding!

Thursday was a day filled with great experiences in Epcot! First up was a 9:55am Fast Pass for Spaceship Earth. I’m such a history geek I loved this ride and wished it was longer. We popped into the Journey Into Imagination with Figment which was amusing. Next we made our way over to Coral Reef for our 11:55am luncheon - fantastic food with equally fantastic views!

Thursday was also the day of Magic Band mishaps - after we got settled at the restaurant my brother-in-law noticed his Magic Band was gone. It was decided to enjoy lunch and then we’d circle back and look for it. While at lunch I visited the ladies room and to my horror my Magic Band was not on my wrist - thank goodness it was on the floor by my feet and the same thing happened to my husband. Well, the take away was to loosen the bands - even though they have double snaps we may have been wearing them too tightly for the very hot and steamy weather. Once loosened it didn’t happen again. I’m happy to report that after revisiting the rides we were directed to Guest Services and low and behold they had the missing Magic Band. Yay!!!

After that we went on The Seas with Nemo & Friends and enjoyed this great aquarium attraction. For dinner we walked around the World Showcase enjoying food and drinks from so many countries. We did a little shopping in Mexico - my son brought home a black skull and I a little orange kitty. We also took in the movie O Canada a 14-minute Circle-Vision 360° film - the vistas were astounding. We closed the day by enjoying the wonderful pools at the Beach Club Resort until past 10pm!

This was at the haunted mansion - we all laughed and thought of our late cat fred.

Friday our last day found us back at the Magic Kingdom. The Haunted Mansion was a 9:55am Fast Pass. There was a trip on Space Mountain for 1/2 the group while the other half had success locating a stuffed Porg! (Thank you Uncle Bobby). Then a ride on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Then I found myself wanting to revisit rides/experiences I enjoyed in Disneyland with my parents when I was 13 - and thank goodness my family were good sports. So next… we happened by the Country Bear Jamboree.

While most of us went onto the Hall of Presidents. My hubby and brother-in-law watched The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History which they said was very entertaining! Our 11:55 Fast Pass Jungle Cruise did not disappoint - even after being at the Animal Kingdom with real animals on Wednesday.

The Hall of Presidents. I loved it as a child and was delighted to share it with my son!

We had a yummy lunch at 1:05pm at the Jungle Navigation Co. LTD Skipper Canteen. Then we walked around and were amused by the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel and Mad Tea Party!

how sweet is this architecture??? sorta made me miss the chalet!

We has a 3:30pm Fast Pass for Peter Pan’s Flight. This was my favorite ride experience. I love the story of Peter Pan and we flew over my favorite city London. The boys did one more ride on Dumbo the Flying Elephant and then we were done.

We headed back to the Monorail platform and back to Epcot. We enjoyed dinner in the World Showcase one last time walking around enjoying small plates. We ended our time in France with the most delectable desserts and champagne!

Saturday it was up and out. The trip home was equally as fun as the one down - we enjoyed lunch at Ruby Tuesdays in the Orlando International Airport as a group and the flight was super fun! I love Airline travel and it didn’t hurt that my hubby surprised me with row 1 for this trip as a 20th Anniversary gift. I wouldn’t change a thing about this trip! Cheers and Huge Thanks to my wonderful Sister - who planned an amazing holiday for all of us.

Much Love and Thanks Sis! xoxo

Oh and Disney I’m counting down the next 5 yrs til we come back!