Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Monday, Sept. 25

My, how the time just flies by! We've had a good week here in Mass. The weather has been quite nice. Sunny and warmer for the past week.


David and I took a day trip to Drumlin Farms on Tuesday. It is a Mass. Audubon preserve area that operates like a real farm. There are lots of animals - farm, native species of birds, and other forest critters. We went with a few friends from MIT - Susan, Mina, Natalia, Misha, Kumiko, and Hiromi - plus kids. It was a lovely day!! The weather was nice and cool for the first part of the day, so David had to wear long sleeves (his new Buzz shirt). It warmed up a lot as it was sunny and clear.


We visited the animals and took a hay ride around the farm. One of David's favorite parts was the garden where they had places for kids to dig and tools to dig with.







He was all about the dirt!! It was very traumatic to leave it to go see the chickens. But, in the end, he enjoyed looking for the crowing rooster (there was one in the coop). Then we had a picnic lunch and took a hike up to the top of the Drumlin. You're supposed to be able to see the Boston skyline from there, but there was too much foliage that day.

Jamie began drum/mallet lessons on Wednesday. His teacher actually lives just up the street, so we'll walk to lessons for as long as we can stand the weather. On Thursday, Rachel got her violin. (We're renting a violin and a drum set for the year.) Belmont schools begin a strings program in 3rd grade, so she'll have lessons once a week at school. She was trying to play every time I turned around on Thursday! At one point, she apologized, but I told her that I was glad she couldn't keep her hands off the violin. I hope that it continues!! Tim says that he was the same way with his first trumpet (age 6).

On Friday, the partners got to attend a class with the Fellows. We went to macroeconomics lecture given by a crazy Venezuelan. He's actually an excellent teacher! He has lots of energy and is very enjoyable. He did a simulation of what happens when there is a run on a bank - and how that system works. I learned a lot! Afterward, we had dinner with the Fellows and Partners. The kids had a new babysitter, whom they liked very much. I got her from an online babysitting service called sitter city. You register and then can search for babysitters in your area, read their profiles, check references, etc. It's a nice way to find a sitter when you don't know any!!

On Saturday, we had a lazy morning at home. Then around lunch time we set out for an overnight adventure. Rachel has been asking to stay in a cabin all summer. So, we drove up to New Hampshire in search of one. We found a cute place in Weirs Beach - the cabins are actually owned by a family from Louisiana. They relocated after the Hurricane Andrew evacuation. We got to have a fire, as the nights are very cool in NH, and we made smores. We even got to watch the Alabama game on ESPN. Jamie asked about getting to watch the game before we even brought it up. It's so much fun having another Bama football fan in the house!! Even David enjoyed watching the game. He cheered with us at all the appropriate times. I just hate that it had to end the way it did. Oh well, it was still a pretty good game.



We also got a new member of the family on Saturday. Brian and Kirsten had their baby - a girl. Everyone did just fine!

Sunday morning we got up and drove farther north to Franconia Notch State Park.









What a great way to welcome the fall!! We hiked in the Flume Gorge. It was so pretty.



And the leaves smelled so good.

















The skies were a beautiful blue, and the maples are all changing color.
It was a little cooler than we expected, but we warmed up while hiking. After hiking for a couple of hours, we went to ride the cable car up Cannon Mountain.


















It was freezing at the top!!! And extremely windy! We walked around the rim of the mountain and up to the observation deck. It was really neat to walk the path through the small evergreen trees on top of the mountain. And it smelled like Christmas!! Tim pointed out that this is probably what Clingman's Dome in the Smoky Mts. would have looked like before the trees there died. An amazing thought. David and I could hardly stand to be up at the top of the observation deck. The wind was so strong and cold (and out of the north)! We headed down fairly quickly and found shelter in the trees - but in a sunny spot to try to get warm. Once the whole family joined us, we went back down to the snack bar and had hot chocolate all around. After that, we went looking for a place to let the kids play putt putt. We found a spot in Lincoln - Hobo golf. Jamie got his first hole in one and was so excited!! Then we headed back home.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Sunday, Septermber 16



















Today we went to Honey Pot Hill Orchards and went apple picking with a group of families from MIT. It was a georgeous fall day!! The rain from yesterday moved out and left sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s. The orchard is huge!! There were tons of people there! I was expecting something smaller - more like the pumpkin patches in North Alabama. This orchard has acres and acres of beautiful apple trees of many different varieties. It also has a pear orchard, but we didn't go there. It has a petting farm with goats, rabits, chickens, ponies, and the 3 little pigs complete with houses.
There is also a hedge maze copied from a famous one in Europe. We went on a hayride around the orchard and visited the farm store for apple cider doughnuts and caramel apples.








Then it was off to pick apples!






Jamie really enjoyed himself! Picking good apples in the late afternoon requires climbing high up in the trees, and Jamie is an expert climber. He was very selective about the apples he picked and so didn't end up filling his bag.










Rachel climbed up the ladders to get her apples and filled up her bag. David pulled apples from the trees from where he could reach from the ground. This boy is afraid of heights. He wouldn't even try to pick apples from mommy's shoulders. He was too scared to let go and reach up for an apple. So, he got apples from the ground (some of which mommy discarded) and from low-hanging branches. He kept on picking, even after his bag was overflowing!





He also had a first - he actually ate an apple he picked. It was a smallish apple and a little sour, but he ate on it for about an hour! I've never been able to get him to eat apples before. Maybe this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.




So, now the only question remaining is. . . .



what am I going to do with 13 lbs of apples???? The kids and I will eat some and some for an apple pie, but then what?

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Saturday, September 15

ROLL TIDE!!!!!

We just finished watching our first Alabama game of the season. (Yes, ESPN actually aired Alabama football here in New England!) What a game! We were thrilled with the beginning of the game, disgusted with the second half until the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter. Wow!! Jamie stayed up and watched with us. He really got into the suspense too - and the victory dance at the last touchdown.

It has been a good week. David continues to enjoy his class at preschool. The weather here has been sunny and in the 70s all week, until today when it was rainy and colder. I'm loving the fall weather here!! Tuesday night Tim and Jamie finally got to check out the Boy Scout troop here. It was their first meeting of the new year. Jamie said that there are some guys he has classes with in his patrol. I think he is finally making some good connections and making friends.

Rachel rode the bus to her friend's house on Thursday afternoon after school for a playdate. When she came home, the friend's mom said that lots of kids live in their neighborhood and most of them already know Rachel. So, she's doing great making friends!! She had another playdate with another little girl in the same neighborhood who is also in her class at school. She came home telling me all about how they made a life-size board game to play today.

On Friday, after preschool, David and I came home and had a picnic lunch outside. It was sunny and gorgeous! Then we went for a short walk - with him riding in the stroller. I am hoping to get into a good routine and walk a lot while the weather is still nice. I sure need it!

Tonight we also got to "skype" with some friends from Alabama. The kids had a fabulous time fighting over who could talk and act crazy for the camera. Tim and I finally had to send them out of the room so we could talk to the other adults. It was really great to see them all!!!!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Monday, September 10


David's first day of school was today. He was excited about going. We actually got to go on Friday and meet his teachers and play in the classroom. He didn't want to leave when our time was up!! Last night when I told him that he was going to go back to play at his school, he did his sudden intake of breath in surprise and gladness. He did great going right in and getting down to the business of playing. He made coffee and played with the blocks to start his day. I came home and worked at cleaning house. Things have gotten a little out of control with the weeks leading up to the start of school being so busy. I did treat myself to some entertainment while working, though, Rick and Bubba play loud and clear over the computer with my broadband connection. It made me feel like home!! So I cleaned for about an hour and then walked down to Starbucks for a Pumpkin Spice Latte as a treat. Yum! And it was cool enough here today to really enjoy it!! Then it was time to go get David. He was tired, but he didn't nap after we came home and ate lunch. I tried, but he wasn't going for it. He really should have, though, because by 5 he was pooped and extremely grumpy. Just in time for me to need to be in the kitchen getting dinner together. Arrgh!!! Needless to say, he crashed hard at bedtime.

Yesterday we went out to Glouchester, MA (on Cape Ann) for a New England Clam Bake at the home of the director of the Sloan Fellows program. The homes out there are huge and georgeous!!! I had my first lobster, too. I'd never eaten a whole one before. Luckily, there were people sitting at out table who knew the best way to crack that sucker open. It was good. It helped to take our minds off of the home front. We have some amazing friends who are completely remodeling our house while we're here in MA. They deserve medals of honor for bravery for even attempting the task!! I'm extremely excited!! I have absolutely no nack for home decorating, so not much has changed in our house since we moved in over 12 years ago - except that the two pack rats living there have bred three more little pack rats and we have more stuff than three families would need!! I'm just trying to think about how much we're going to enjoy the changes - especially getting rid of our lovely pink carpet!!! Thanks, Julie and Michael! We love you! No matter what ends up in the dumpster!

Saturday we went to Peabody to get more stuff. After years of ordering from CBD (Christian Book Distributors), we now live less than an hour's drive from the warehouse! They had a big sale on Saturday. It was amazing! I could have wandered and looked at everyting for hours, but the kids were with us, so we kept our visit short. They have another sale in November, and Beverly Lewis will be there signing books. On our way out of town, we got a call from the Australian couple we met at church the first of June. They invited us over for a BBQ. It was a nice way to end the day.

Jamie and Rachel are still enjoying school. Jamie seems quite happy - he's even been singing a lot lately. He really likes several of his teachers. He had a good bit of homework tonight, but he stuck with it and got it all done. We had to research how hot dogs came to America and his name. Rachel is busy making a family tree for school and learning about family traditions that came from different cultures. She's going to be learning about Mass history in social studies this year. That's going to be lots of fun because we'll all learn a lot about the area while we're here.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Thursday, Sept 6

The first day of school.

Today was the first full day of school for Jamie and Rachel (finally).



Rachel and Miss Sullivan, before school.
Did you catch her outfit? It's the first time we've ever worn long sleeves on the first day of school!! It was chilly - highs only in the lower 70s.




Rachel actually had a half day yesterday. Her teacher is Miss Sullivan (a first year teacher) who seems very nice and well organized. We got to visit her classroom last week. The kids line up outside on the playground, and the teachers take them in to the classrooms. David, Jamie, Rachel, and I all went together to wait for Rachel to go inside. Then we did a test run of driving out to David's preschool at that time so I'd get a feel for how much time it would take with morning traffic. It only took about 10 minutes to get there, but it took over 20 to get back home. I'll have to experiment with the best ways to go to avoid the traffic. I let Jamie decide what to do that morning since it was his last day of summer. He wanted to come home and play something with just me (and David). We decided to play a game of Mario Party on the game cube, and, of course, he stomped me!! Then we played a rousing game of tickle monster. Jamie is really getting good and sneaky with his tickling. He's gotten to me several times lately. His reach is now almost as long as mine. During all of this crazy fun, I realized that I had no idea what the procedure for pick up would be for Rachel. So, I called the school and found out that the teachers walk the kids back out to the playground. We went back to the school at 11:30 and picked up a smiling Rachel, who had made 4 new friends. I actually won't have to worry about pick up and drop off any more, though, because she is going to be riding the bus to and from school this year. It stops three houses down from ours, so we're going to give it a try. It makes me a little nervous (having never ridden the bus before). Tim says he did in 3rd grade too and loved it. Just stretch mama's comfort zone even more!!!










Rachel after her first day.






Jamie will be riding his bike to school. We have ridden there many times this summer to play on the playground, so I'm not too worried about him doing it. I went with him this morning, becuase I wanted to check out the traffic and because we didn't really know what to do today. Jamie got a letter telling him the name of his homeroom teacher, but that was it. He went into the cafeteria and sat with the 6th grade. The kids were dismissed as a group from there. It made me so nervous to watch him go since I don't know the teachers, he didn't know any kids, and he didn't know where he was going. But apparantly he made it fine. He starts school at 7:55. So, I rode back home in time to put Rachel on the bus at 8:00 (her school starts at 8:30). Thankfully, Tim didn't have class this morning, and was able to stay at home with David during all this. By the time I made it back to the house I was really teary. I told Tim I needed a doughnut. So, I walked down to the bakery for some comfort food.

David and I had a good day. We went to play at a nearby playground with his friend Ethan. Then we went and did the grocery shopping, came home, ate lunch, and cuddled up for a rest. David didn't go to sleep, so we played with the pillows. It's a new favorite game of his to play rocket ship with the pillows. He builds a rocket, then we get in among all of the pillows. He stands up and says he sees aliens and planets, so we have to hide under the pillows. We do this over and over. He loves it!

Then it was time to ride on the bike to go get Jamie who gets out at 2:15. He said that he had a good day. He likes his teachers, but he didn't make any friends. He said that he didn't really talk to anyone today. I'm worried about him, but not paniced. Just keep him in your prayers - that he'll find his place in his new school.

Rachel came home on the bus at 3, and I met her at the stop. Tomorrow they'll both do it on their own. Sigh. . . . They're growing up so fast.

I also realize that from here on out, this year is going to absolutely fly by!!!

Tomorrow David and I get to go see his preschool classroom and meet his teachers. He starts school on Monday. He'll go MWF 9-12. So, maybe with a little more time on my hands I'll start doing a little better with keeping the blog up to date.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Saturday, September 1

Was I just saying that I can't believe that August is half over??? Now it's gone!! We've had a couple of very full weeks here in Belmont! The kids and I visited the North End on Wednesday, August 22. Tim had his final exams for the summer on Thursday and we went to the Survival Party that night. Then we had a quiet day at home on Friday and headed out for vacation on Saturday. We were out of pocket Saturday (8-25) until Wednesday (8-29). On Thursday, Rachel and I finally got her class assignment. Her teacher is Miss Sullivan, a first year teacher who seems very organized. She actually was having an open classroom on Thursday, so Rachel got to pick out her seat for the first day of school while we were there. She will have about 23 kids in her class. We also got a supply list which was very short (pencils, colored pencils, 2 glue sticks, kleenex, and hand sanitizer). We went shopping for school supplies on Friday and Rachel kept asking what about. . . pencil box, crayons, scissors, etc. And I kept telling her that they weren't on the list. We also got Jamie's "team" assignment for the year. In 6th grade, the students are divided into teams of about 50 kids with 2 teachers. Jamie will be on the gold team this year. His teachers are Ms. Bourke (homeroom) and Mr. Guarente. We won't find out about supplies for him until the first day of school, but they will give him an assignment book that day. I think that they'll both be ready to start next week.

We have also been enjoying meeting and playing with the grandchildren of Jan & Don (our landlords). They have one son (with kids ages 11, 7, & 4) and one daughter (with kids ages 3 & 3 months). Jamie had a fantastic time playing with Dylan (7) and trying to make Kaylee (11) laugh. The whole family was in from Thursday till today. Hopefully we'll get to see them again. The family of 3 lives in Connecticut, so that's a possibility. The daughter's family lives in Seattle, so this was probably our only chance to meet them.

Friday night, Tim & Jamie went to a Red Sox game. They didn't have tickets, they just went to the stadium and tried to buy some after the game started. They finally got tickets for only $15 over face value (cheap seats) and went in for the game. Jamie says that it was a lot of fun. They ate Fenway hot dogs for dinner, had soft pretzels, and - of course - peanuts and crackerjacks. They stayed through the 7th inning stretch, and then decided to head on home. They didn't make it home until 11 even with leaving early, so I'm glad that they decided not to stay. The Sox didn't have a great game, anyway - they lost. Oh well, at least the boys had fun. Rachel, David, & I went to eat Chinese and then went to the mall in search of a new pair of crocs for starting school. We found her a pastel teal color, which she loves. We also bought David a pair - green and blue with Mickey Mouse holes. He is loving them. I am loving the fact that he finally has a pair of shoes that he can put on by himself!!

Today we went to Boston to the Public Garden. It was a beautiful day for it!! A cool front came through last night, so the highs were only in the 70s, and there was a wonderfully cool breeze all day!! The skies were beautiful blue. The Public Garden was crowded, but not horribly so. We did see two different sets of wedding parties taking photos in the park today.




We walked around a bit admiring all of the flowers and roses and then got in line to ride the Swan Boat. David loved the boat!! We all did!!
After our boat ride, we walked around a little more and over to the statue of George Washington. David wanted to take pictures of all of the statues.















Then we made our way over to the "Make Way for Ducklings" statues. The kids all had fun climbing all over the little ducks. We were all ready for a snack after that, so we hit a sidewalk vendor and got soft pretzles, drinks, and candied nuts. Yum! While looking for a shady spot to eat our snack, we happened upon a hammered dulcimer player. He was great! He even stopped and did a song that got the kids involved. He did "The Marvelous Toy" by Tom Paxton and gave the kids instruments to play at specific times during the chorus. They loved it! He also told us where to go for good family Irish music on Monday nights. We'll definitely have to give it a try!

We left Boston and drove out north of town to a land reservation to do some walking. It was georgeous! A huge area surrounding a lake. The first thing I noticed when entering the reserve was that you could smell the fallen leaves. That was my favorite part!! The main trail going all the way around is paved, so David was able to ride in the stroller. There are also lots of little trails that branch off from the main trail. At the lake there is a great area for picnicing with a playground and beach. We didn't walk all the way around the main trail because it was getting dark. We did walk for about an hour, though. I'm sure we'll visit there again, especially as the leaves begin to change. We came back to town and grabbed some supper at Bertucci's (a chain Italian place up here). Then we came home and Tim logged on to the computer to see how Alabama was doing in the first game. We thought about our Bama friends and missed them all!! We are very excited that the game went so well. So,
Roll Tide!!!!!!!!

Well, I think that's it for today. I know that I still have a lot of catching up to do. I also have a ton of pictures from our vacation. I'll work on getting those up this week. Until then,
Hugs and Kisses from the McKelvys!