Olliebop Blog | Inspiration, Ideas and Information for Busy Families | Parenting Teens and Tweens

My heart is with my home state of Vermont, simply devastated by Hurricane Irene’s flooding. At the same time, one of our fondest memories of the summer is still fresh, captured in a Vermont meadow in mid August. I’d like to share some pictures of that day — pure cuteness, basically — knowing that happy times will again return to Vermont.  But there’s also a story here, of family and of new traditions…

Several weeks ago we attended the annual family reunion, held at my Grandparents’ Hancock, Vermont vacation house, fondly known as “The Castle.”  A shingled house with all sorts of funky roof lines, The Castle was designed by my stepfather, Dick, as his architectural graduate school project — and was built by the family as they camped in the meadow for a summer. In the group of scanned pictures here {I wish I had a larger version}, there’s Boppy proudly standing in the meadow. There’s also a shot of the house just framed, and beautiful Granny up in the bucket of Boppy’s beloved tractor. We’ll get back to that tractor in a minute.

This was a special place for Boppy and Granny, until they died in 2007 and 2008, respectively. When most people would flock to Florida in winter, Granny and Boppy would come to Vermont “until the wood pile ran out.”  The whole family has loved coming to The Castle, including wonderful Aunt Bobbie, whom we lost to cancer last year.  It’s been a very hard time for this side of the family.

Thankfully, Aunt Sue and Uncle Vic have taken The Castle under their wing as its new owners, which means that there’s still a special gathering place where we can regroup and continue family traditions. One of our favorite traditions once was the thrilling tractor rides that Boppy would give around the meadow — an assortment of his ten grandkids piled in the back of the trailer on the hitch. We would be bouncing along and Boppy would suddenly turn the wheel, put the tractor in reverse, and start backing into the river surrounding the property — eliciting shrieks from us all! It never got old. That trailer was nothing special to look at, but its plywood walls surrounded many a happy memory.

So, at this recent reunion, Aunt Sue and Uncle Vic declared that it was time to give the old trailer a makeover. It needed a paint job anyway, so they decided to let the next generation of kids — the great grandkids– have a go of it. We were missing just a few kids, but the crew that was there attacked the project with gusto!  {Look for the one unhappy face, below… priceless!}.

I’m not sure what Boppy would have thought of this have-at-it approach with his trailer. I don’t know that he would have endorsed such a free wheeling idea initially, but I bet he would have chuckled over the end product. And Granny and Aunt Bobbie would have loved it!

Related posts:

1. Feel Good Friday: A Beautiful Offering for Vermont Flood Relief
2. Just Can’t Help Myself — Sharing Some Silly
3. Summer Time Warp and The Smell of Freedom