Vacation house

Sunday, August 2

So, we left for the White Mountains area around noontime, and it was about a 2-hour drive from where we were. Check-in time for the resort wasn't supposed to be until 3 or 4, and my parents were planning to arrive around then. When we got to the resort, we decided, just for kicks, to see if they'd let us check in, thinking they wouldn't, since everything is in my parents' name. But lo and behold, they did.

They gave us a key and directions which took us across the street and up a steep hill. I was a bit confused, since I was assuming we were getting a condo or something like that--you know, one big place attached to a bunch of others. But we pulled into the driveway and saw this:



A whole entire house! I mean, when I thought about it, it made sense--my mom had said there were 3 bedrooms and a loft, and that would be a lot to fit into a simple condo. There were other houses up on this hill too, but they were far enough away that we felt like we had the entire hill to ourselves. Tony and I unloaded the car and had fun exploring the place while we waited for my family to arrive.

When you first walk in the door, you see the sunken living room.



To the left of the living room was the dining room area--nice big rustic table with plenty of chairs. And, see the deck through the glass doors?



This was the view from that deck. So pretty.



Back inside the house... to the very far left (if you're still standing in the doorway) was the kitchen. And that's my grandmother, from Iran, who also joined us for the week. (She'd never met my brother-in-law or nephew before this trip.)



The kitchen was gorgeous. As soon as I peeked inside, I exclaimed, "This kitchen is so pretty, it makes me want to cook!" And Tony just laughed. But seriously, it had real granite (or some kind of stone) countertops (all shiny and pretty), a flat-top stove with burners that heat up instantly (I forget what that's called--you can see how little I know about kitchens), and a stainless steel fridge.

Off to the right of the living room was this sun room, separated by a sliding glass door. Tony and I were psyched to see the hot tub... and were saddened to later discover that we could not use it, since the owners of this house don't allow others to use it. Bummer.



There were 2 sets of spiral staircases in the house--one leading to the basement and one leading up the loft. Ari was a bit timid about the stairs at first... but then she mastered going up them, and 5 minutes later, mastered going down. My brave girl.



So here's the loft, and my crazy brother Pete. I nearly fell over when he posed for me like this--he usually refuses to pose for pictures, either hanging his head or covering his face to avoid being seen. He jokingly told me that I was only allowed one shot of him like that... and it turned out to be true, since he refused to cooperate with any of my pictures the rest of the week. Anyway, the couch he's sitting on had a pull-out bed, which he slept on. It was originally going to be where my grandmother slept, but once my parents saw the steep staircases, they decided she was better off down on the couch, where she wouldn't have to navigate the steps alone.



To the left of where that couch was this little nook, where Pete parked himself for most of the week with his laptop and computer games.



This was the master bedroom, also up in the loft, where my parents stayed. There was a bathroom up there too, but I didn't get a picture.



And here's what you could see when you hung over the edge of the loft and looked downstairs. It was also fun to toss soft objects down at unsuspecting people on the couch. (Not that *I* would ever do something like that, though...)



Down in the basement were 2 rooms. This was the room that my sister Mary, my BIL Josh and my nephew Matthew shared.



And last but not least, this was our room. There were 2 sets of bunkbeds--Ari slept on the bottom of the one off to the right that you can't see in this picture, Tony slept on the bottom of this one, and I slept above him. I can't remember the last time I slept in a bunkbed. College, maybe?



I won't bore you with a picture of the bathroom in the basement, but it was nice. Very pretty stone countertop. There was a dry-heat sauna in the basement too, but we never bothered with it.

Anyway, my parents, grandmother and brother arrived about an hour after we did, and Mary and her family arrived about another hour after that. After we'd all gotten a bit settled in, we headed to the resort's restaurant for dinner. And now that you've endured all the boring house photos, I shall reward you with photos of cute kidlets.

Ari and Matthew (who is 16 months old). I think I caught him at the beginning of one of his famous cheesy smiles here--I promise, he is not sneering at her.



See? There's that cheesy grin. It cracks me up every time. He is such a goof. Kind of like another kid I know.



Last picture. Don't know what Ari is doing... waiting impatiently for our food, maybe?



After dinner, we all just chilled at the house. So Sunday was a fairly uneventful day. But we made up for it the next day.

To be continued...