This weekend we packed our things and headed up to Vermont for a relaxing weekend in Manchester, Vermont.

Long time readers, will know that this our home away from home. My family has a home in Manchester which we spend many weekends at during the Summer and Fall months. Since my family rents out the home for the entire winter, we have discovered a few different spots in Manchester over the years for winter weekend getaways.

Due to work meetings, we didn’t leave NYC until late Thursday evening. We stopped for dinner in Larangeville, a small town about an hour hour and half outside the city, just off the Taconic Parkway.  Thanks to the help of Yelp, we dicovered a small Bronx style pizza restaurant, Sonny’s Ristorante & Pizzeria. We enjoyed a delicious pizza and salad before hitting the road again.

Thursday night Bo and I stayed at the Equinox Resort, a full-service resort in the heart of Manchester.  The perfect way to begin a long weekend, we slept in and relaxed at the spa on Friday before meeting our friends at noon for lunch at Marsh Tavern.

Following lunch the guys headed to ski while we relaxed with Eloise at the pool and then headed to our house for the weekend.  The small, mountain home provided the perfect home for a relaxing weekend.  Friday evening after the guys skiied, we enjoyed a double date at Ponce Bistro, a BYOB restaurant in town.  An eclectic restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, the cuisine is influenced by the owner’s Brooklyn and Puerto Rican roots. Since we all enjoy sharing and tasting as much of a menu as possible, we shared three appetizers and three entrees between the four of us. The rice and beans, thai scallops and beef stroganoff were our favorite dishes.

Since both Elizabeth and I are pregnant, neither of us could ski this weekend. While the guys skiied at Stratton we shopped around town, entertaining her two year old daughter, Eloise, for hours by making snow angels, exploring town and reading books at the amazing Northshire Bookstore.

Saturday afternoon a family friend watched Eloise while we relaxed with prenatal massages at the Equinox Spa and lunch at Cilantro’s.  A fresh, green, local Mexican fast food restaurant, their taco salads were incredible and packed with flavor.

Saturday night we spent the evening playing games with Eloise and watching the Australian Open before cooking an Asian inspired dinner together and heading to bed early.

This morning we woke up and parted ways bright and early, as Bo and I headed back to the spa for a few more moments of rest and relaxation before driving back home.

It was a wonderful weekend in the mountains that has us planning and scheming our next Vermont weekend. I have a feeling Baby Girl Diamond will be enjoying a few Summer weekends up in Vermont, taking in the cooler weather and fresh air, during my maternity leave.

Your turn: What did you do this weekend? If you have children, did you travel for weekend trips while they were quite young?