Sunday, April 20
Nanny & Papaw fly in. We come home for a bit and then take them on the tour of Mt. Auburn cemetary. It's a beautiful spring day, and the cemetary is beautiful with all the trees and flowers in bloom! We did a good bit of walking. Dinner at Bertucci's.
Monday, April 21
The kids are on spring break this week, so we're free to play. Tim has class. :-(
Tuesday, April 22
The kids and I take Nanny and Papaw to Cosi for lunch (at MIT) and have smores for dessert.
Nanny and Papaw take the trolley tour of Boston - the kids and I come home to rest and have a quiet afternoon.
Wednesday, April 23
We go to Walden and walk around the pond. It's hot!! Maybe even 80 degrees! We're going to be so hot this summer in Alabama!
We found Emmerson Hospital - where Bree was born - so Nanny could take a picture for Bree's baby book. Lunch at McDonald's in Acton.
We went to see the Old North Bridge.
Tim, Dad, and Jamie went in to Boston to see Blue Man.
Dianne, Rachel, David, and I went to Burlington Mall. Nanny and Rachel had time to shop for clothes for Rachel's birthday. David and I wandered around the mall, and David picked out a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for his birthday present from Nanny. Then we ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory - Rachel just loves Linda's fudge cake!
Thursday, April 24
Dad goes into Boston on his own and visits the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum.
Dad, Jamie, and I go to a Red Sox game. We got tickets from a Sloan Fellow who was selling his. Boston played the LA Angels and lost. :-(
Dianne stays home with David and Rachel and cooks dinner for company. Silvia, Flavio, Esther and Anna from Brasil come for dinner, and Esther spends the night.
Friday, April 25
Dad comes to MIT for Choice Points. We read A Doll's House this week. I am drafted to read "Nora" in the role play portion of the class.
After class, we come home and head out to Kimball Farms. Nanny told us about this place when we told her we were going to Boston for the year. She used to go for ice cream when she lived at Ft. Devens (pregnant with Bree). Now it has mini golf, bumper boats, picnic facilities, and a country store. We played a round of mini golf. David enjoyed helping everyone reduce their strokes on at least one hole by picking up the ball and dropping it in the hole. Tim, Rachel, and Jamie did the bumper boats and had a blast. The ice cream was delicious! Nanny polished off a huge cup of chocolate!!
Saturday, April 26
We went to play at Skyline park. It was much cooler and windy! Jamie and David had a blast going down the hill slide. Rachel tried her hand at kite-flying.
Lunch at Brother's Pizza. Dad ordered a cheese pizza with extra cheese, and BOY was it CHEESY!!! Then it was time to take Nanny and Papaw to the airport. They had an eventful ride home, but made it safely.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Patti, Kevin, and Sarah visit
Thursday, April 17
Tim's cousins from Chicago fly in.
Friday, April 18
Dinner at Legal Sea Foods near MIT and a walking tour of the MIT campus.
Rachel and Sarah hit it off fabulously and pick on Jamie mercilessly.
Saturday, April 19
Visited the Museum of Natural History at Harvard.
Dinner at the McKelvys' house.
Tim's cousins from Chicago fly in.
Friday, April 18
Dinner at Legal Sea Foods near MIT and a walking tour of the MIT campus.
Rachel and Sarah hit it off fabulously and pick on Jamie mercilessly.
Saturday, April 19
Visited the Museum of Natural History at Harvard.
Dinner at the McKelvys' house.
Morris' visit to Bahston
Friday, April 11 - Wed, April 16
The Morris family arrived in Boston on Friday afternoon. Rachel, David, and I were the welcoming party/taxi service. The most fun thing to see was Rachel and Beth running for each other across the baggage claim area. The Morrises and the McKelvy children spent the night at home (with a quick trip to Brother's for pizza), while Tim and I had dinner at the JFK Library.
Saturday, April 12
Trip into Boston - walking some of the Freedom Trail
Visiting Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market
The Morris family arrived in Boston on Friday afternoon. Rachel, David, and I were the welcoming party/taxi service. The most fun thing to see was Rachel and Beth running for each other across the baggage claim area. The Morrises and the McKelvy children spent the night at home (with a quick trip to Brother's for pizza), while Tim and I had dinner at the JFK Library.
Saturday, April 12
Trip into Boston - walking some of the Freedom Trail
Visiting Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market
Our favorite street musician was playing in Boston Common. He plays hammered dulcimer and guitar. He got the kids involved in playing strange and unusual instruments on Tom Paxton's "Marvelous Toy".
"It went zip when it moved, bop when it stopped, whirrr when it stood still. I never knew just what it was. . . and I guess I never will."
Sunday, April 13
We went to the Children's Museum and Planetarium.
We saw a 3-D movie about three flies who go to the moon on one of the Apollo missions. We also saw a program on lightning. It was a hair-raising experience for Jamie!!
We ended our day with the family laser show in the planetarium.
Monday, April 14
Tim and John attend class at MIT. Tim introduces John as "Sonja's wife's husband" or something like that - brain fried!!
I let the kids play hooky from school. Karen and I take the kids for lunch at Bertucci's in Harvard Square and visit the Curious George Store.
Duck Boat Tour - David sleeps through the whole thing. The rest of the kids get turns driving the Duck Boat in Boston Harbor.
Dessert at the Cheesecake Factory
Karen & John have a night out in Boston.
Tuesday, April 15
The oldest kids return to school. David and I take the Morrises to the Old North Bridge and the Minute Man Visitor's center.
Dinner party with several Sloan Fellows and families - total chaos but a nice time and good BBQ from Blue Ribbon in Arlington. Attending were Mikko, Minna, Kia, and Tatu from Finland; Adrien, Chloe, and Basil from France; and Susan, Madeline, and Ethan from US.
Wednesday, April 16
Rachel's school has "Walk to School Day" - so Tim, John, and Beth all walk to school with Rachel.
A teary goodbye is cheered by a visit to Ohlin's Bakery for doughnuts.
The Morris family departs for Alabama. Sniff!!
I went for coffee with several of the partners at Talk of the Town diner in Watertown.
Tim and John attend class at MIT. Tim introduces John as "Sonja's wife's husband" or something like that - brain fried!!
I let the kids play hooky from school. Karen and I take the kids for lunch at Bertucci's in Harvard Square and visit the Curious George Store.
Duck Boat Tour - David sleeps through the whole thing. The rest of the kids get turns driving the Duck Boat in Boston Harbor.
Dessert at the Cheesecake Factory
Karen & John have a night out in Boston.
Tuesday, April 15
The oldest kids return to school. David and I take the Morrises to the Old North Bridge and the Minute Man Visitor's center.
Dinner party with several Sloan Fellows and families - total chaos but a nice time and good BBQ from Blue Ribbon in Arlington. Attending were Mikko, Minna, Kia, and Tatu from Finland; Adrien, Chloe, and Basil from France; and Susan, Madeline, and Ethan from US.
Wednesday, April 16
Rachel's school has "Walk to School Day" - so Tim, John, and Beth all walk to school with Rachel.
A teary goodbye is cheered by a visit to Ohlin's Bakery for doughnuts.
The Morris family departs for Alabama. Sniff!!
I went for coffee with several of the partners at Talk of the Town diner in Watertown.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Week of April 7-11
April Orientation for the new Sloan fellows.
Unbelievable! It has been a year since we came up for orientation and began our Sloan Fellows experience!
Monday - Jamie and Rachel's final concert for Saturday school.
Tuesday - we have our host family over for dinner. Adela, Apollo, and Emily are a wonderful family!
Wednesday - partners' orientation meeting
Thursday - party for orientation
Friday - Karen, John, Beth, and John Thomas arrive from Alabama and
closing of orientation - dinner at the JFK Library
Unbelievable! It has been a year since we came up for orientation and began our Sloan Fellows experience!
Monday - Jamie and Rachel's final concert for Saturday school.
Tuesday - we have our host family over for dinner. Adela, Apollo, and Emily are a wonderful family!
Wednesday - partners' orientation meeting
Thursday - party for orientation
Friday - Karen, John, Beth, and John Thomas arrive from Alabama and
closing of orientation - dinner at the JFK Library
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Old Sturbridge village
Sunday, March 30
We didn't do much this weekend, since David was sick all week. On Sunday, we decided to do something outside, since it was sunny and the highs were predicted to be in the 40s. An absolute heat wave up here!! Spring has been the hardest season for me. We've had some sunny days, but they have all been very cold and/or windy. It makes me a little crazy to look out, see sunshine, go out to play, and be able to see my breath because it's only 32 degrees outside!!
Anyway, we made a trip to Old Sturbridge Village on Sunday afternoon. It is similar to Plymouth Plantation, but larger and set 200 years later. The village is the recreation of a New England village in the year 1830. There are houses, stores, churches, and farms which are all staffed with "recreators". There were new lambs at the farm - which were very cute! We even got to take a horse & buggy ride across a covered bridge. It was a terrific outing! I just wish we'd had more time.
We went to Johnny Rocket's in Burlington Mall for dinner that night. We came into the mall and saw that it was decorated for Christmas. Then we saw the signs that the mall was being used as a movie set for a new comedy starring somebody I "should" probably know but whose name I didn't recognize. It will be fun to see our favorite mall from here in a movie!
We didn't do much this weekend, since David was sick all week. On Sunday, we decided to do something outside, since it was sunny and the highs were predicted to be in the 40s. An absolute heat wave up here!! Spring has been the hardest season for me. We've had some sunny days, but they have all been very cold and/or windy. It makes me a little crazy to look out, see sunshine, go out to play, and be able to see my breath because it's only 32 degrees outside!!
Anyway, we made a trip to Old Sturbridge Village on Sunday afternoon. It is similar to Plymouth Plantation, but larger and set 200 years later. The village is the recreation of a New England village in the year 1830. There are houses, stores, churches, and farms which are all staffed with "recreators". There were new lambs at the farm - which were very cute! We even got to take a horse & buggy ride across a covered bridge. It was a terrific outing! I just wish we'd had more time.
We went to Johnny Rocket's in Burlington Mall for dinner that night. We came into the mall and saw that it was decorated for Christmas. Then we saw the signs that the mall was being used as a movie set for a new comedy starring somebody I "should" probably know but whose name I didn't recognize. It will be fun to see our favorite mall from here in a movie!
Happy Easter!!
March 23
(Also my mom's birthday!)
It was a chilly Easter morning!! The kids got up at the crack of dawn and came downstairs to rouse Tim and I from bed. They all enjoyed their Easter goodies from the bunny, Grannie, and Nanny & Papaw. They also read their cards from Aunt Dot.
After breakfast from Ohlin's bakery, we had our egg hunt. We had to bundle up to go out to search for the eggs! No PJs for this cold morning! David ended up with the most eggs because the bigger kids left the more obvious ones for him. But he did find one of the tougher ones that Jamie was searching for. Then we dressed and went to Payson Park for church. The church was the fullest I have seen it! There were over 200 people at the service. So crowded services at Easter is a common phenomenon here too. (I later saw in the Hartselle bulletin that there were over 1000 people in the 3 services on Easter morning. Wow!) The church was decked out with beautiful flowers - lilies, tulips, and hydrangeas in all colors. There was even a cross covered in daffodils! The colorful flowers were really pretty - especially since there is nothing blooming here yet! New England is still mostly brown with a little green - very bland. The service was nice, and concluded with a singing of the Hallelujah Chorus - which all were invited to join in singing. I went - of course. It was great!!
We had a delicious Easter lunch from Burger King. Then we set out for an outing to see a sugar shack - a place where Maple Syrup is made. March is sugaring season. We actually were there on the last day they were making syrup. The place we visited is a little "mom & pop" operation that gives educational tours of their sugar shack, complete with samples. We learned about how tree sap is turned into maple syrup - it is boiled down and greatly reduced. Sap starts out at 2-3% sugar and they boil it until it's about 67% sugar. The sugaring season has been a really good one this year. The owners said that there are usually 11 "flow days" in a good year - this year they've had 17!
Then we went for a quick walk in the woods - because it was a really beautiful day! After our walk, we came home for our ham dinner. Unfortunately David went to bed with a fever that night and we spent the whole next week home sick. He had a bad cold that developed into a touch of pneumonia. But we saw the doctor and got on an antibiotic before it got too severe.
(Also my mom's birthday!)
It was a chilly Easter morning!! The kids got up at the crack of dawn and came downstairs to rouse Tim and I from bed. They all enjoyed their Easter goodies from the bunny, Grannie, and Nanny & Papaw. They also read their cards from Aunt Dot.
After breakfast from Ohlin's bakery, we had our egg hunt. We had to bundle up to go out to search for the eggs! No PJs for this cold morning! David ended up with the most eggs because the bigger kids left the more obvious ones for him. But he did find one of the tougher ones that Jamie was searching for. Then we dressed and went to Payson Park for church. The church was the fullest I have seen it! There were over 200 people at the service. So crowded services at Easter is a common phenomenon here too. (I later saw in the Hartselle bulletin that there were over 1000 people in the 3 services on Easter morning. Wow!) The church was decked out with beautiful flowers - lilies, tulips, and hydrangeas in all colors. There was even a cross covered in daffodils! The colorful flowers were really pretty - especially since there is nothing blooming here yet! New England is still mostly brown with a little green - very bland. The service was nice, and concluded with a singing of the Hallelujah Chorus - which all were invited to join in singing. I went - of course. It was great!!
We had a delicious Easter lunch from Burger King. Then we set out for an outing to see a sugar shack - a place where Maple Syrup is made. March is sugaring season. We actually were there on the last day they were making syrup. The place we visited is a little "mom & pop" operation that gives educational tours of their sugar shack, complete with samples. We learned about how tree sap is turned into maple syrup - it is boiled down and greatly reduced. Sap starts out at 2-3% sugar and they boil it until it's about 67% sugar. The sugaring season has been a really good one this year. The owners said that there are usually 11 "flow days" in a good year - this year they've had 17!
Then we went for a quick walk in the woods - because it was a really beautiful day! After our walk, we came home for our ham dinner. Unfortunately David went to bed with a fever that night and we spent the whole next week home sick. He had a bad cold that developed into a touch of pneumonia. But we saw the doctor and got on an antibiotic before it got too severe.
Finally Skiing!
We finally took our first ski trip! We've been talking about going all winter but never made it until now. Tim got home from California early Friday morning (he took the red eye from CA). David had the day off from school, and Jamie and Rachel both had half days for Good Friday. We decided to go up to Sunapee in New Hampshire on the recommendation of some sloan friends with kids. We ate dinner at a Cracker Barrel. Yum!! We haven't had Cracker Barrel since last fall. We stayed at a hotel with a pool, so we checked in and suited up. The kids had a great time in the water!! Tim got a kick out of stepping out and getting a snowball to throw at the kids in the pool. :-)
The next morning, we got up, ate breakfast, and boarded the shuttle to Mt. Sunapee. David stayed in the daycare center because the youngest lesson age for skiing is 4. He went right in without even a backward glance at mommy.
Tim, Jamie, Rachel, and I headed over to the rental area to get registered for lessons and fitted with equipment. The whole process took over an hour!! We had fabulous help from several of the staff members who took pity on the first timers from Alabama. Then we were ready to head to the beginner area for our lesson. We signed up for the "Families First" program, so the four of us had an instructor to ourselves for a 2 hour lesson. It went really well. Tim had been skiing before, so he had a head start on the rest of us. Rachel picked it up like a pro. Jamie and I had the toughest time. We both did fine in the beginning. (Actually, keeping the skis under me wasn't as tricky as I had feared it would be.) Our trouble came when we went uphill a bit and were working on snowplowing to stop and then turning. That's when the majority of our falling began. I did ok snowplowing on a small incline (when I wasn't going too fast), but I had a tough time when my speed picked up! My ballet trained legs really had a tough time turning in rather than out!! Jamie couldn't get his skis turned out enough either. I did ok with turns to the right, but for some reason, I never mastered turning left. I fell almost every time I tried! By the end of the lesson, we were exhausted and HOT. We were way overdressed for the day, but we didn't know any better. The last part of our lesson was learning to use one of the lifts for the smallest of the hills (Lemon and Lime). This lift was like a moving sidewalk, rather than a chair lift. We went down a couple of times, and then called it quits. We went to grab some lunch, and after that felt energized enough to go try again for another hour. By the end of the day, everyone was happy with the whole experience. I look forward to giving it another try sometime. Maybe we'll get one more chance this winter. It has been an exceptionally good year for snow here in New England.
We came on home on Saturday night because the kids wanted to spend Easter at home.
The next morning, we got up, ate breakfast, and boarded the shuttle to Mt. Sunapee. David stayed in the daycare center because the youngest lesson age for skiing is 4. He went right in without even a backward glance at mommy.
Tim, Jamie, Rachel, and I headed over to the rental area to get registered for lessons and fitted with equipment. The whole process took over an hour!! We had fabulous help from several of the staff members who took pity on the first timers from Alabama. Then we were ready to head to the beginner area for our lesson. We signed up for the "Families First" program, so the four of us had an instructor to ourselves for a 2 hour lesson. It went really well. Tim had been skiing before, so he had a head start on the rest of us. Rachel picked it up like a pro. Jamie and I had the toughest time. We both did fine in the beginning. (Actually, keeping the skis under me wasn't as tricky as I had feared it would be.) Our trouble came when we went uphill a bit and were working on snowplowing to stop and then turning. That's when the majority of our falling began. I did ok snowplowing on a small incline (when I wasn't going too fast), but I had a tough time when my speed picked up! My ballet trained legs really had a tough time turning in rather than out!! Jamie couldn't get his skis turned out enough either. I did ok with turns to the right, but for some reason, I never mastered turning left. I fell almost every time I tried! By the end of the lesson, we were exhausted and HOT. We were way overdressed for the day, but we didn't know any better. The last part of our lesson was learning to use one of the lifts for the smallest of the hills (Lemon and Lime). This lift was like a moving sidewalk, rather than a chair lift. We went down a couple of times, and then called it quits. We went to grab some lunch, and after that felt energized enough to go try again for another hour. By the end of the day, everyone was happy with the whole experience. I look forward to giving it another try sometime. Maybe we'll get one more chance this winter. It has been an exceptionally good year for snow here in New England.
We came on home on Saturday night because the kids wanted to spend Easter at home.
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