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.