They even let us have fun
Posted in family news by Liz on November 1st, 2011 at 12:55 pm.
While I know you all harbor images in your heads of how hard we are working here in Quebec to learn language (and oh boy, do we work hard!), we did enjoy a mini-break from classes this past week, and took a couple of day trips – one to Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont, and one to a nearby zoo!
We are two and a half hours from Waterbury, Vermont, where the Ben and Jerry’s factory is located. It was a beautiful drive through the northern part of the state – the leaves were past peak, but the contrast of the evergreens, bare brown branches and pockets of aspens which were still bright orange and yellow was striking! While I didn’t take pics out of the car, you should google “Stowe Vermont” to see a quintessentially charming Vermont town that we drove through – we hope to go back there to visit sometime this year! Gabled houses, Victorian style, festive displays of chrysanthemums and pumpkins… it was beautiful!
But of course, our destination for the day wasn’t Stowe, it was Ice Cream Heaven! After we arrived, the adults spent a couple of minutes by the cars, getting diapers bags, purses, etc… but the kids just couldn’t wait – they raced on up the stairs towards the ice cream!
Here’s the entrance to the fabled factory…
We took a tour of the factory, which included a video on the history of B&J’s, a tour of the factory floor, and a healthy-sized “sample” of the flavor of the day, which was Triple Caramel Chunk. Yumm! Then, just because we were there and you just have to… (right?) we also ordered small servings of ice cream from the scoop store – I chose a test batch of Pumpkin Pie, which I heartily approved of, while Tim enjoyed some Chocolate Fudge Brownie.
After our treats, we let the kids play on the playground while the adults took turns checking out the “Flavor Graveyard” – a mock cemetary to lay to rest the discarded Ben & Jerry’s flavors. Among the deceased were “sweet potato pie” and “peanut butter and jelly.”
And of course, if you’re just hankering to pretend to be Ben or Jerry, there’s the obligatory “stick your head here” photo op!
Next up, the zoo!
Language learning makes you younger…
Posted in family news by Liz on October 27th, 2011 at 5:08 pm.
Then… we were set free to pick some apples! We each came home with a bag of Spartans, since that was what was in season at the time. We also took time for a photo op of some of the kids…
The view was beautiful, the air was crisp… and then came the best part: pie! It was so beautiful – and delicious!
And of course, I had to do something with all of those apples we picked, so I got started on that after we got home, and baked some pies of my own! I made apple strawberry, strawberry peach, and plain old apple spice pie… which was the best. yum!
My little boy’s all grown up! kinda.
Posted in family news by Liz on October 23rd, 2011 at 10:50 am.
Brief post today, as I don’t want to spend too much of my Sabbath on the computer, but I’ve been meaning to upload these pics of Jacob’s first day of school!
Here he is modeling his chosen outfit…
The family waiting for the school bus (he was really excited about the bus)!
Getting on the bus… a little apprehensive…
Once on the bus, he thought it was pretty cool (although he did admit later that he fell off his seat at least twice because the ride was bumpy)!
His school is in an English speaking town that is nearby. He is in kindergarten this year, and in a bilingual program. He has two teachers in two classrooms; one day he has class with Mrs. Guthrie in English, and the next day he has class in French with Sylvie (who goes by her first name).
He seems to be really enjoying school! He’s learning French colors and numbers, and is picking up basic vocab like hello/goodbye, yes/no, etc. We were puzzled for a few days at some of the seemingly random vocab he was coming home with… see if you can guess how he learned these words!
Wolf. Wood. Naughty. Pig. Fall. Brick.
Figure it out yet? They were reading “The Three Little Pigs” in French!
As you are able, please pray with us over the next couple of months as we try to decide if it would be best to keep him in this bilingual kindergarten program in January, or if we should switch him over to a different local school that would teach in all French. There are pros and cons both ways!