On our last morning in Vermont, we decided to let the campers stretch their legs before the long car ride home and headed to VINS, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, which was right up the road from our campground.
The center is perfectly designed to blend in with its natural surroundings, and the parking lot, buildings, and educational areas don’t distract from the beauty of the landscape.
The boys watched the songbirds being fed, and particularly enjoyed a visit to the bird hospital. The signs warned them to be quiet in the presence of the injured animals and I now have proof positive that my children can indeed whisper.
We were excited to see the raptor show, and although most of the content was way over the heads of our four-year olds, Max and Theo were gripped with wonder when one of the birds took off on the handler in the middle of the presentation.
The poor lad in charge was not too happy with the situation and kept trying to draw attention away from the missing bird and the nervous handlers with their walkie talkies. He obviously underestimated the tenacity of preschoolers. While he tried to soldier on, the boys (along with other young spectators) wondered loudly about the naughty bird. If the presenter had just told them that the bird was in a time out and could come back once he had apologized, we probably could have put that baby to bed.
While the boys were focused on the wayward bird, Jeremy and I were focused on all of the camp posters advertising what seemed like a pretty incredible experience for the little guys. Just imagine, we started saying, we travel somewhere cool and the boys go to a camp and we could…oh, the possibilities are endless…we could rock climb, sky dive, NAP!!!!
Camp or no camp, VINS offered us the perfect Vermont blessing that we encountered throughout our entire trip: the landscape was beautiful, the boys had a blast, and we all learned a thing or two.
See you soon, Vermont.
