Monday, August 20

I can't believe that August is over half over! This month has gone really quickly. I am so ready for school to start! We've had a good time this summer, but I'm ready for a bit of a break.

We had a quiet day at home today. We spent time cleaning house, reading books, and playing in the back yard. The day has been very cool! The high temp was supposed to be 70, but I don't think it quite made it. Rachel is having a friend spend the night tonight. It's the first one she made here - the girl we met at First Methodist.

Sunday, August 19

We tried out our 4th church today. I really liked this one - at least as much as I saw of it. It's called Grace Chapel and it's a large congregation with loads of kids and families. We got there right at 9:00 (time for worship to start), but it took awhile to find out where the kids should go, get them registered with name stickers and check-out slips and a pager for David, and get them delivered to their respective classrooms. It was very well organized!! There was an information desk where you checked in and gave information about family names and kids ages. If we'd had more time, we'd have gotten the kids pictures made for their name stickers. There were lots and lots of volunteers working in all the classrooms! The kids said it was ok, but we didn't get to their classrooms until 9:30 - so they had missed half of the experience. I slipped into worship just as the sermon was beginning. I sat up in the balcony which was crowded - and the downstaris looked quite full. The preacher was very good. His sermon was part of a sermon series on tough questions and this week's question was concerning why God allows human suffering. I liked a lot of what he had to say. The service ended with one song - led by a worship leader who played piano and sang, accoustic guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and 2 additional vocalists. This service is not billed as "contemporary", so I would really be interested in seeing what the contemporary service is like. Afterward, I didn't talk to anyone, but did pick up information packets about the church, kids' programs, and women's Bible study which meets during the week and has child care. It's funny, but the large churches we have been to have been very welcoming on a large scale, but not very friendly in person. The small churches have had people who are extremely friendly and talk to you, but not much to offer for families and kids. I'm still praying about where we're supposed to land for the year. I'm not looking to make deep connections, but I would like a home-base for the year.

That afternoon we went to the house of one of the fellows. It was in Cohasset, MA. It's the town where the movie Housesitter with Goldie Hawn and Steve Martin was filmed. I actually recognized the town common, church, and duck pond from the movie!! The house was very nice, and there was a lot of interesting (in a good way!) art work. It made me think of the Ballews!! We grilled out and visited for the evening. Rachel got to go on a boat ride, which she enjoyed very much. Jamie had a tough time, because there weren't any kids his age there. David had a terrific time because the family has a large Thomas collection!! On the way home, we stopped by Dairy Queen!!! It's the first DQ I've seen up here! Boy was that M&M Blizzard heavenly!

Saturday, August 18

A day that didn't quite turn out as planned. We had planned to go back out to Wingaesheer beach for the day to give Tim quiet study time. We did go, but it was very cold, and very very windy!! When we arrived at the beach at 9:30, the temp was only 62, but the weather had predicted a high in the mid 70s. So, we sat in the car for about an hour - Susan has a DVD player in her van, so the kids had a snack and watched a movie. We decided to give it another try at about 10:45. It was a little warmer, but the wind was gusty! It was so painful to walk along the beach because the sand was blowing so hard into your legs. We even walked down the beach to see if conditions were any better on the leeward side of the rock formations. They were a little better (no stinging sand), but still strong winds blowing everyone and everything around. So, we took a picture of our group from the US and Japan and called our friend from Mexico (who hadn't made it to the beach yet) telling her that we were giving up. She suggested that we travel a little farther north to Rockport and have lunch there. This is Rockport, MA and it was a very picturesque little New England seaside town. We ate lunch at the Fish Shack, and I had my first ever cup of clam chowder. It was quite good!! A lot like potato soup, which I absolutely love!!! After lunch, we walked out to the point and looked at all the little shops along the way. This is definitely a place I'd like to visit again without children!!

Friday, August 17

Finally, a stay home day!!! We needed it, too! We slept in, watched tv, and worked around the house. We did go out to the library and to the pool for about an hour in the afternoon, but both were very low key.

We walked down the road to Chicken Express for dinner. I got BBQ wings! They were good, but not as good as Zaxby's or Wings!! We ate dinner in the living room so we could watch the world premier of . . . .

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2

My kids have been looking forward to this night all summer long!! Jamie even had me write it on the calendar and promise not to make any plans for that night. It was fun to watch the movie together (the first one was better). Jamie's favorite number was the baseball/dancing number. He loves "musical arguments" as he calls them.

Thursday, August 15

We went to the Franklin Zoo in Dorchester.

Jane and her kids John and Hannah went with us (Jamie was very happy to have a friend for this outing). We arrived at the zoo at around 10. It was a much bigger and nicer place than the Stone Zoo we visited in July. It had a terrific butterfly house which was full of flowers and butterflies (mostly monarchs right now) and had peaceful music piped in. I think I want to go back and just sit alone sometime!!

We also saw ostriches, a baby wildabeast, gorillas, camels, and a lion (just to hit the hilights).

The zoo also has a petting zoo, but we didn't spend any time there.

We brought our own lunches, but ate them in mortal terror. The zoo was full of yellow jacket looking hornets. They came swarming as soon as we pulled out food and drink. Amazingly, no one got stung!!

It was a hot and humid day (by Boston standards) - the temps were probably only in the upper 80s. I guess our bodies are adjusting to the climate here, because we all were hot, sweaty, and thirsty!

The zoo has a great play space for kids, which we visited after eating lunch. It also has a train ride, which we waited for. . . and waited. . . and waited. But the train didn't come in 45 minutes, so we gave up and headed on home.

David was very disappointed, but he didn't fuss too much. I think he was hot and tired enough to be ready to get in the car and get a drink.

Wednesday, August 15

We had a busy day with lots of activities today!! We started the day by doing a little house cleaning. Then we went out to lunch as a cleaning house treat. After lunch, we went to swim at the Arlington Resovoire. It's a lake that has a special swimming area separated from the rest of the water. The water is treated and filtered, and there is a small stretch of beach for the kids to play on. We went with Jamie's buddy from the Sloan kids (John) and his family. They have a membership there, like we do to the Belmont pool. They had a terrific time swimming and playing in the sand. They all worked together to make a huge hole in the sand and filled it with water. The girls especially enjoyed this project.

Tim spent the day on a schooner doing a team-building activity (sailing the schooner). It looks like he had a terrific time, but was very tired when he got home!

That night I got to go out for a girls' night dinner. Boston and Cambridge celebrate Restaurant Week - actually 2 weeks - but it's a time when you can go eat at any restaurant for a fixed price of $30ish per person. The menu selection is more limited, but it was good!! We went to a place called Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge. I started with wine and bread. Then came a chilled zucchini soup that was cream based and pretty good. I don't think that chilled soup is really my thing, but I had never tried any until that night. The main course was a skirt steak cooked with corn and potatoes. This was melt-in-your-mouth delicious!!! Dessert was some kind of chocolate cookie and a flan-like chocolate decorated with cocoa powder and chocolate sauce. Very nice presentation!! It was a lot of fun to sit and visit with several of the other partners with no kids interrupting. I got to visit with one girl from Iran, one from Montreal, and two from the Boston area.

Tuesday, August 14

We drove out to Wingaersheek beach today. It's a very pretty beach north of us. The day was sunny and clear with temps in the upper 70s. It makes me feel sorry for the Alabama crew who have had temps in the 100s for several days and don't have any relief in sight!!

David loved playing in the sand!! We built sand castles, and he knocked them down. Jamie and Rachel enjoyed looking for hermit crabs in the tide pools. Rachel also had a terrific time "body surfing" and collecting sea shells. Jamie sculpted a frog out of sand, but I missed getting a picture because the tide came in faster than I did.

After a picnic lunch, the kids all played in the water. David even decided it was ok to get wet!! Jamie, David, and Ethan played some games that Jamie made up for them. It was so sweet for him to help them have a good time!! One game involved throwing wet sand at the waves and another involved jumping over them. Rachel, Madeline, and Constanza all got buried in the sand. Then David decided he needed to be buried too. No one wanted to leave, but we had been out all day and didn't want to get stuck in rush hour traffic going home. So, we got ice cream, showered off, and headed back home. On the way home, we stopped in at the local farmer's marked for some fresh corn on the cob. It was delicious!!! We will definitely have to go back to this beach!!

Monday, August 13

Ok, so I need to have a marathon blogging session to get everyone up to date on the week. We've gone and done so much this week!! We didn't have a stay home day until Friday!!
Anyway, the week started with doctor visits on Monday. We saw our new pediatrician for well visits for starting school. She is very nice and spent a lot of time talking to everyone to get to know us. I think that we're in good hands for the year. Jamie finished the visit with getting 2 shots: Dtap and chicken pox boosters. He was a very big boy!!

As a reward for enduring shots, we went out to the mall for lunch at the food court. We also went to the clinic there to get David's blood drawn for a lead screen. That was not fun!! Apparently David has too much "stuffing" to make finding a vein easy for the nurses. They were very good with him and only stuck him once, but they "tied up" both arms looking for a good vein. I held him in my lap, and he squeezed on his toy Thomas. He cried, but did great! We drove home in a thunderstorm, and then went to Bertrucci's for supper. Rachel got to make her own pizza and thought that was the greatest!!

August 12

On Sunday, we went with a large group from the Sloan Fellows to Six Flags New England. This park is a Six Flags and a water park combined. We arrived at the park at about 12, and it took us 1.5 hours to get parked and in the gate. We grabbed some lunch and took off for the rides. David had a terrific time riding the Marvin Martian space ship ride over and over. He also rode the cars ("No, mommy, its a green truck," says Chooch) and the train about 3 times. We spent most of the day at the water park. Rachel had a great time on the lazy river with Hannah and Lina, Jamie rode several of the slides and Typhoon (a water coaster) with John. Both of the older kids enjoyed the wave pool too. David liked looking at the map best of all. He played in the water a little, but there was too much spraying and splashing for him to enjoy it too much.

After our time in the water park, ate dinner and then made a b-line for Thomas Town. It had three rides and a gift shop - all of which David thoroughly enjoyed. Julie actually called in while we were riding Bertie the Bus. I answered because I thought it was a little kids' ride and would be easy to talk for a second while David was enjoying the ride. Wrong! This thing went around in a circle like a mini ferris wheel, but faster. I had to tell Julie I'd call her later. Rachel and Jamie rode the sky buckets with Tim, and then Rachel joined us in Thomas Town while the big boys went looking for a roller coaster. They rode Catwoman's Whip. They were going for the Superman coaster, but it had already closed down for the night (a park employee told us that the park closed an hour later than it actually did). So, we may have to go back sometime. I'd kind of like to go around Halloween, but we'll see.

After closing time, we got snacks for the ride home and started walking for the car. We walked, and walked, and walked. Tim jokingly said that we had parked in Connecticut. When we left the parking lot, we saw the sign for the state line about 100 yards away.

August 11

On Saturday, we went on a family canoe trip down the river in Concord and to the Old North Bridge (of "the shot heard round the world" fame).

We went to the South River boathouse and rented a canoe for 5. We rode downstream for about 30 minutes, then stopped at the Old North Bridge and had a picnic lunch.

The bridge has the Minuteman Statue on one side and a monument to the two British soldiers killed there on the other. On our way downstream, we saw lots of big, beautiful houses, ducks, geese, and a bunch of turtles sunning themselves on the rocks. Rachel was very excited about seeing the turtles and named each one we saw. David had a great time riding with his hand in the water and picking up grasses and twigs that we rowed by. The day was beautiful, sunny and not too hot. But we all got pretty warm on the way back upstream. On the way back to the boathouse, we saw a deer and a blue heron.

After all the strenuous exercise, we decided it would be nice to go on in to Concord for ice cream. Then we walked around the town square. Tim took us to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to see Author's Ridge, where Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott all are buried. From there, we drove along "Battle Road" where Paul Revere made his famous ride and was captured. We stopped in at the visitor's center and watched the movie about the battle of Lexington and Concord. It was very good, and gave the kids (and me) a really good idea of the whole story.

There's still a lot more to see in Concord, so I'm sure we'll visit again. I definitely want to canoe again when the leaves start to turn!!!!

August 8, 9, & 10

Wednesday. . . hot, humid, and rainy. A good day to go to the movies!! The kids and I went to see Underdog. It was cute. Afterward, we went shopping for some more "big boy underwear" for our little potty trainer. He selected Thomas undies. We spent the rest of the day and evening at home. We ate sandwiches for dinner because the kitchen was too hot for cooking in!!

Thursday was a georgeous day here! The highs were in the mid 70s, humidity was low, and the sun was shining. We went to the grocery store in the morning and then to play at the park after lunch. We went to the playground at Rachel's school with a friend of hers we met at First Methodist. The kids really loved this playground. It has lots of interesting things to climb on. There is a tire bridge, a suspension bridge, and a "web" made of chain and wood. There was also sand!! David, of course, spent most of his time playing in the sand. He brought his Larrymobile with him and had a great time burying it. We hung out for about an hour, and then had to come home to get cleaned up to go to MIT. There was a cookout for the Sloan students and a couple of other graduate programs. Jamie got to play with his friend, John. Rachel and the girls tried to get in on the game that they were playing, but Jamie shooed them away. I think he's had way more than his fill of girls this summer! He just needed a little GUY time. He's growing up so much! His chin has started breaking out, so we bought Sea Breeze and cotton squares for him at the store. It's time to start cleaning his face like a teen. Youch!!!
Rachel had a good time at the cook out playing with all the little girls from our group. And, they were ALL wearing pink. I guess pink is the girl color across all nationalities. I spent a good bit of the time visiting with Alp, the husband of one of the Sloan students. He and his wife and daughters are from Turkey. We talked about schooling and the differenced between here and there. He feels that we start teaching our kids much earlier than they do. He said that their kindergarden is like ours used to be: no one was expected to begin with knowing letters, numbers, etc. He also says that here the children are much more outgoing, and he likes that. He said that one thing they do there is that they don't have a cut off date for entering school, but the children are grouped according to their birthdays. So his older daughter, who has a birthday in December, is in a class with other kids who also have birthdays late in the year. She will actually lose a year by being in the states because of missing the cut-off date.

Friday
Susan and I thought we'd take the kids to the Franklin Zoo just south of Boston. The weather had a 50/50 chance of rain, but we decided to risk it. Well, it started raining when Susan got to my house, and continued to rain through lunch. We drove on out to the zoo on the chance that it wouldn't be raining there, but it was. So we decided to head to the mall at Natic, which is supposed to be huge. Well, we ended up taking the long, long way around and got lost less than a mile from the mall, so it took 1 1/2 hours to get there. Fortunately, Susan has a DVD player in her van, so the kids were fine. We also had snacks from our planned zoo visit. We arrived at the mall in time to eat lunch in the food court and head home. Oh, well. It was an adventure, and we weren't just sitting around at home on a rainy day. Since the kids were such troopers, and didn't fuss or complain about our thwarted plans, we rode our bikes to the ice cream shop this afternoon. It was a short ride, but very enjoyable. We ate at Bugaboo Creek for dinner tonight. It's actually chilly here tonight. Right now the temperature is 59 degrees!!! We've had the air off and the windows open today. Tim talked to Laurie today and heard that the temp was 108 in Auburn!! Makes me glad to be in Mass today!

August 6 & 7

On Monday we went to a fabulous sculpture park with some of the partners and families. It was not too far from our house and the weather was terrific!! The Decordova is a sculpture park, museum, and studio/classroom facility. On Mondays the museum is closed and there is no admission to the sculpture park. Our little group met at 10 and began to tour the grounds. There are many acres of open, green space with large sculptures scattered around. The kids enjoyed the freedom of running in the open spaces and playing around the trees and artwork.

David loved the sharks that were hanging from some trees.

The girls all loved a huge tree that had boughs that came out and

touched the ground, making a little cave around the trunk.

Jamie's favorite sculputres were Pegasus and My Three Lillies.

The kids also found a large rock that they used as a slide. David enjoyed playing in the dirt at the foot of the rock. We wandered around for about an hour and a half and then had a picnic lunch on the grounds. After lunch, we made a group picture, and then David and Ethan found a large pile of dirt to play in. David was absolutely filthy!! He even kicked up a cloud of dust when running back to the stroller to leave. We're definitely going to have to go back there again!! It was so pretty to see such green spaces, and I bet it will be really pretty when all the leaves begin to turn.

After the picnic, we headed home and got in just in time for the bottom to fall out. It rained on and off for the rest of the afternoon, so the kids and I just stayed in and enjoyed watching PBS kids. (After a good bath for David, of course!!)

After supper, the kids and I went on a good bike ride up to Jamie's school. We rode around in the parking lot for awhile and then tried to go home a different way. We got a little turned around because Belmont has a strange habit of not putting road signs up on the main roads. I guess everyone is just supposed to know where they are. We asked directions of a runner and made our way back home.

Today was house cleaning day. The kids and I worked hard this morning to get the place tidied up. They've been really good about cleaning their rooms each week and doing a couple of extra cleaning chores. David and Rachel decided to clean together, and did very well!! I was so proud of Rachel for working with David patiently. After that, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at McDonald's. Then we came home and conducted a Skype call with Grannie, Beth, JT, and Karen to wish Beth a happy birthday. The kids were just wild!! They love to do video phone calling! Since the weather was pretty, we went to the pool for the remainder of the afternoon.

After supper, we walked over to Belmont Methodist Church for stories, music, and magic on the lawn. Apparently this is something the church does every summer as an outreach to the community. The night was nice with a cool breeze. The singer played guitar, ukelelee, and banjo and sang lots of cute kid songs. The magician went on after that. He was really silly, but really good. He travels all over and has even performed at the White House a couple of times. David, Rachel, Jamie, and I all enjoyed the evening!! We walked home and then started getting ready for bed. I may finish Harry Potter tonight. I've only got about 60 pages to go. We'll see if I can stand to get through the rest in one sitting (emotionally).

We got a card from the Vineyard today. It was a form-type note from the pastor and included a $5 card to Starbucks. The card said that they serve coffee and tea as a part of forming relationships, and to have an extra cup on them this week. Hartselle could do gift cards to Java Jays for visitors instead of a loaf of bread or pie. HMMMMM.

Sunday, August 5

By jove, I think he's got it!! At least he's got it if he's not "too busy". I'm referring to David's potty training, of course!! We had a great day on Saturday! We even ventured out to the grocery store in our big boy underwear. Of course, we had to stop half way through our shopping to go teetee. But the grocery store we go to is fairly new and the bathroom is clean. We didn't have any accidents at all on Saturday.
Tim and I actually had a date Saturday night. We found a baby sitter on sittercity.com. She will be a senior this fall and is an education major. Tim and I went to dinner with some friends. We ate at a Portuguese restaurant called Atasca in Cambridge. It was a neat experience. Our "hosts" for dinner are from Portugal, so we got their recommendations for wine, appetizers, and the main course. We had a red wine to drink that was not too dry, so I enjoyed it. We had sardines, seafood croquettes with black eyed peas, squid, and clams for the appetizers. My main course was delicious!! It was a cod dish - broiled in garlis and olive oil and served with smashed red potatoes. This is a traditional Portuguese dish. The red potatoes are smashed first, and then baked. Tim had a beef dish which was also very good. We dined with friends from Brazil, Portugal, France, India, and Mass. Dinner was at 8:00, and Tim and I were the first to arrive - on time, even! The "hosts" were 20 minutes late!! We tried explaining that we are typically the ones to arrive late at home. Maybe we're really European instead of American. It was a 3 hour meal and very enjoyable. Especially since it's the first time Tim and I have been anywhere alone since May. We did think of all our T&D friends, since they also met Sat night.

Sunday we got up and went to the Vineyard church that meets in Somerville (about 10 min away). The church immediately made a good impression with a parking attendant and special parking for first time visitors and people with children under 5. The attendant told us where to take the kids. The preschool kids were in one building, and the older kids were in the same building as the worship service to begin. Both locations had someone to check the kids in and give us a numbered pass for collecting them at the end. The worship service was very contemporary - it began with one song "Blessed be the Name" and then went straight in to the sermon. The pastor was good, he had notes for us to fill in as the sermon went along. It was the conclusion of a sermon series on miracles. It was definitely a seeker-type service. After the sermon, a member of the prayer team came forward and said that they had been praying during the service and felt called to pray for . . . and listed several situations. Then they invited anyone who wanted prayer to meet with a member of the prayer team in the back and the band began to play. We sang several more songs, and then they took up the offering, had a benediction, and the service was over. There was no Sunday school for adults, but the welcome packet did list the days and times that small groups met - there were 3 or 4 pages worth of groups! The kids had Sunday school during the worship service, and both enjoyed it! It was the biggest group of kids we've seen on a Sunday morning. Jamie and Rachel both want to go back again, so we probably will. David enjoyed himself so much that he used his pull up instead of the potty.
We went to the pool this afternoon- to get out of the house so Tim could have some study time. I met a lady from Lousiana who has moved to the area with her family for her husband to go to school. David played with her daughter while she and I talked about Mass winters.
Tonight we went to Frank & Susan's house for dinner. We had pizza and ice cream in a very relaxed atmosphere. The kids all played well together. David went to the bathroom there, but then also had an accident. He said he didn't come tell mommy he had to go because he was "too busy". Oh well! He's still doing way better than I was afraid he'd be doing.

Friday, August 3

Whew!! We've had two full days! The first (Thursday) was full of potty training. We stayed at home all day and worked on going "teetee" in the potty. David is really getting the hang of it. We started the day naked from the waist down, and then switched to big boy underwear in the afternoon (so we could get outside for a few minutes). We did go through 4 pairs of the underwear, but I think we've about got it figured out. David even pooped on the potty!! I was pooped myself from playing cheerleader all day.

On Friday, we had an outing to the Aquarium. Several of the partners were going with their kids, so we decided to go tool. I put David in Spiderman pull ups and off we went. He did great! He didn't get Spidy wet all day. We went teetee at the aquarium, at home, and at the Cheesecake Factory (where Tim took me for dinner since it was 100 degrees in my kitchen last night)!! I am so proud of our little Chooch! We're back in a diaper to sleep tonight, but I'll put his Pokemon big boy underwear back on in the morning.
What did we do at the aquarium?? Well, we went to see Dinosaurs in 3-D, which was pretty good, but a little technical for the kids. Then we ate some lunch and toured the facility. The jellyfish, sea dragon, and sea turtles were still our favorites. We headed home about 3. Tim took us to dinner and then to a fellows party. It was a nice evening.

We are also now trying out a new service called sittercity.com. It is a great website for finding babysitters in your area. The site lets you post a profile for your family, look at babysitters' profiles and resumes, and post jobs you want filled. I am impressed so far. Sittercity also runs background checks and lets you rate the sitter and comment on how you thought he/she did. Yes, there is a guy on the list. I'm thinking about giving him a call to set up an interview. I think it would be fun for Jamie to have a guy come stay. The whole interview thing is wild though! I've always known the people I was asking to come babysit and never interviewed a potential sitter. Thankfully the site gives you a format and a good, long list of questions you might want to ask when doing an interview. I'll let you know how it goes.

Wednesday, August 1

We're baaaaaaaaack!!!
We had a terrific time in "Sweet Home Alabama". For the first week that we were there, though, the skies were cloudy and rainy rather than blue. I guess that we brought the rain with us from up north. Our weeks were filled with eating at all of our favorite places (Dairy Queen, Las Vias, China Wok, & Zaxbys); 2 weeks of swimming lessons; several sleepovers; a trip to see the new Harry Potter movie; several visits to the Hartselle swimming pool; family gatherings; jumping on Grannie's trampoline; the Books a Million Harry Potter book 7 party and midnight release; a mother/daughter tea party; a college reunion; a trip to Point Malard water park; awesome worship music; a baby shower; and lots of hugs from dear friends. We loved seeing everyone!!! Thanks for all you did to bend your schedules to include us in your plans!

Our trip back to Belmont went well and was relatively uneventful. We have had a good couple of days here. Our first day back, the partners had the July birthday party at the sprinkler park in Belmont. The kids had fun reuniting with the new friends they've made here. Today we stayed at home most of the day. We're working on potty training with David. I'm afraid that with him I'm just going to have to "suck it up" and stay home for a week so he can go around the house naked from the waist down. He does ok if I don't put a diaper or pull up on him- he even came to me and told me that he had to go "teetee". But, as soon as the diaper or pull up goes on, he doesn't tell me until he is already wet.
We went to the Belmont pool today for about an hour late in the afternoon, and then Tim took us to dinner at a neat little Irish pub in Somerville. Now, all is quiet. The kids are in bed and Tim is working on a paper. I'm ready to jump back in to Harry Potter. Sniff!!