Thursday, June 21

Today we completed our aborted tour of the Mt. Auburn cemetary. They have a nice audio car tour with music and narration. One of the first stops is the Ballou statue - he was a "founder" of the cemetary. It reminded us of our Ballews!

The entire cemetary is wooded and lush. There aren't many flowers in bloom right now, but there are supposed to be many flowering shrubs and plants all through the cemetary. And the graves are also quite interesting and beautiful. There are wrought iron fences around some family plots, some mausoleums, and some family groupings enclosed with marble. The cemetary has both old and new, as it is still an operating cemetary today.

The sphynx was one of our favorite things. It is actually a monument to the Union soldiers. It was commissioned by another one of the cemetary "founders", Mr. Biggelo. One interesting fact is that he never saw his design completed because he went blind before it was finished. He could only feel it and remember what he had planned it to be.


We got out and walked around a couple of times. There was one part of the cemetary that you couldn't see from the road. It is called Dedication Dell. It is over a rise and has a pretty little pond down at the bottom. The surrounding hillsides have more graves and greenery.

We also liked this one that had the family dog carved from marble. The urn above it is partially "draped" and looks like a real piece of cloth covering it!! Jamie and I were impressed.

The tower is at the top of Mount Auburn. It is the center of the cemetary. It was also designed by Mr. Biggelo and honors George Washington. It has 97 steps that wind around inside. When at the top, you are 187 feet above sea level. There is a spectacular view of Boston from the top! The "founders" wanted the visitors to the cemetary to experience a view of "the city of the living from the city of the dead." That one really stuck with Rachel. The big kids enjoyed being at the top and looking at all the views. David, however, didn't want to move from the top of the steps. He was not at all interested in looking out. So maybe he is afraid of heights. We finally got him off of the steps for a picture, but then he was ready to go back down.

David has a good grip on Mommy's shirt!

The kids were really ready to go by this point, so we finished up the tour without walking around any more. We grabbed a quick lunch at McDonald's and headed home to suit up for the pool. Belmont is home to the "Historic Underwood Pool". I haven't found out why it's historic yet. It's a fairly nice pool divided into two halves. The right half is all shallow 1' to 3'. The left half has a deep end and a diving board.

The kids have to pass a swim test to get to swim in the deep side. Jamie passed after grumbling about having to take the test. Rachel didn't make it. You have to swim a square around the deep half without stopping or touching the bottom. She was angry and upset that she didn't pass, but she can take the test again next week. She just needs to work on building up her endurance. And, we're taking swimming lessons when we come home, so she surely will be able to pass the test after that!

Tonight, our landlord was on Jeopardy! We missed most of it unfortunately!! Maybe we can catch a re-run at a later date.

We went for ice cream after supper. We were going to walk, and started out that way. But, David started running and fell down. We picked him up and brushed him off and he was fine to keep on going. But then he tripped over an uneven place in the sidewalk (they're all very uneven!) and went sprawling. He bumped his sweet little head on the nose and lip. We had to come back home and clean him up a little after that. So then we decided to drive.

Speaking of driving. . . I paralled parked twice today! And I made it in both times. An accomplishment I am quite proud of, since I can't remember the last time I did it!!