Belmont or Bust

Has it been two years?

2009-05-30T16:32:00.005-04:00

I was just thinking today that we arrived in Belmont, MA two years ago today. In so many ways, that seems like just yesterday, but also a lifetime ago. We've been back in Alabama for almost a year, and I'm just amazed at how quickly the time has gone. The kids have all graduated into the next grade (Jamie into 8th, Rachel into 5th, and David is heading to Kindergarten!), Sonja has completed another course towards her Master's Degree in Elementary Education, and I'm still trying to connect the dots about how to apply great MBA theory in an unconventional setting.

Last week, we were thrilled to host one of Rachel's friends from Belmont. Arianna and her mother flew down to spend the Memorial Day weekend with us, and I think they were pleasantly suprised to see that Alabama does indeed have running water, electricity, and high speed internet (though the last one doesn't compare to the fiber optic service I had in Belmont). Here are a couple of pictures of the girls on our outings:

Finally, something new!

2008-08-18T22:35:00.002-04:00

August 18.
Well, it's been awhile. We've had a whirlwind of a summer!! We spent our days having sleepovers, swimming at the Hartselle pool, visiting Happy Hour at Sonic, eating at our favorite local haunts, and reconnecting at church. It's good to be home.

Jamie and Rachel started back to school on August 6 - the earliest we've ever started here. David will start preschool in September. We've gotten into a pretty good routine of taking the kids to school and then going to walk each day. I will also be starting school this month. I'm going back to work on my Master's in Elementary Education. I'm almost ready to get back into the classroom. I will take it pretty slow, though. I don't want to go back before David finished Kindergarden.

Rachel is playing soccer and will begin playing handbells next month. Jamie is playing drums at school and Rock Band on the Wii at home. He went on a Jr. High mission trip right before school started. I think it was a good trip. He'll be getting more involved with the youth at church this fall. David and I entertain ourselves playing "wonder pets", "buzz and woody", and "action fingers". I have enjoyed the extra time with him, but I am ready for him to go back to school. I don't get much done during the day with him around. I still have a huge storage container of stuff from the home remodel to go through!!

Sweet Home Alabama!

2008-07-09T00:34:00.025-04:00

We have been back in Alabama for three weeks, and are just about back into a routine. I returned to work last week, and I can honestly say that it is good to be back. The kids are having the time of their lives, sleeping over several times a week with friends and cousins. Things are MUCH more spread out here in 'Bama - the thirty mile drive to the next town tends to really eat up the petrol!

It has been a busy two months since the last post - since then, I've gone to India and South Africa, both David and I have gone through commencement ceremonies, we've driven 1200 miles across the Eastern US, both Sonja and James have celebrated birthdays, the kids have gone to Vacation Bible School, we've moved into our new house... the list is long, and it's all good.

Here are a few pictures from the last few months:

Grannie (Brenda) visited for graduation, and brought us all presents!

The obligatory cap & gown pic...

David and Ethan's favorite painting at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts:

We took Grannie to the Sky Walk observatory at the Prudential Center, and found that yes, indeed, Boston is the hub of the Universe!

David and Ethan graduated from Trinity Covenant Preschool:

And we finally got a picture of Sonja and Susan!

Sonja thought we needed a picture of the family from the BACK STEPS as we departed (since our arriving picture was on the FRONT STEPS - see the post last June...)

We're getting ready for a three-day, 1200 mile Odyssey:

The kids REALLY liked the truck! Too bad only James could ride down the road with me!

We arrived in Hartselle, ALABAMA at about 5pm on Monday, 16 June, and found our lovely remodeled house. Sonja loves her new kitchen, and comes to me about every other day and says, "Have I mentioned recently how much I LOVE my new kitchen?"

We even got entirely new rooms - the dining room was not functional before - remove a couple of walls, a fresh coat of paint, and TA-DA!

James was thrilled to have a music room to continue his pursuits (he had a similar keyboard in Belmont...)

Rachel LOVES her new room - great for a growing girl:

Complete with a chandelier and canopy!

James thinks he has the coolest room in the house; with a four foot long red-eyed tree frog, he wouldn't get much argument from me:

All of you guys in Alabama have already seen this - but here's a picture of Taj McKelvy for our Boston/global friends:

Michael C. - you thought BRIAN had a lot of grass to mow!

For my non-Southern friends - yes, those are Crepe Myrtles and Magnolias planted in the flower beds, mulched with good old Southern Pine straw...

Another shot of the front yard - somehow the picture above doesn't convey very well how big this yard is!

And the back yard of course - this is where we watch the sunset everyday. Tough, but somebody's gotta do it :-)

For his birthday, James had a sleep over with the guys, and they rocked out on the Wii "Rock Band" - until almost 3am !

Of course, when DAD came in to wake them up at 0700, they were not happy campers!

David, the quintessential morning person, seized the opportunity created by groggy big brother to join the band, putting his own style into the mix. Of course, the big guys really didn't want to rock out to the Wiggles!

All in all, it has been a great, if hectic six weeks. Time to catch a deep breath, enjoy the last few weeks of summer, and get ready to kick off another school year in early August.

While the Fellows are away, the Partners will play!

2008-05-18T20:26:00.006-04:00

The Fellows left for their international trip on Friday, May 16. They are going to India and South Africa for 2 weeks. While they are away, the partners have made big plans to enjoy our last weeks together.

Our first outing was to Kimbal Farms to eat lunch, play mini golf, and eat yummy ice cream. We actually got rained out on Saturday morning, so had to go on Sunday after church. It was a great day!!

Happy Birthday, David!

2008-05-18T20:19:00.002-04:00

We had David's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's on Sunday, May 11 (yes, Mother's Day). We had a very good turn out for his party! He had two friends from school: Narmada and Joshua, and several friends from MIT: Madeline, Ethan, Tom, Nora, and Owen. He had a terrific time! David chose to have chocolate cake at his party.

On Tuesday, David helped me bake cupcakes to take to school for his actual birthday. He selected chocolate with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkes, of course! He is a good little helper in the kitchen (even though he got a little wild with the sprinkles).

On the big day, we let David choose where he wanted to go for dinner. He punched a fist up in the air and shouted, "McDonald's!" So we had birthday dinner at McDonald's and then came home to open presents. He got a Wonderpets Flyboat, the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a Ben 10 "watch", a Little Einstein's conductors baton, and the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything pirate ship.

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

2008-05-05T21:24:00.003-04:00

Monday, May 5

Rachel turned 9 today! We celebrated by going to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. Rachel saved her family presents to open today, and she was thrilled with them all. She got a Webkinz snake, a Littlekinz mouse, a littlest pet vet set, Enchanted , an American Girl's activity book, & My Sims for the Wii. We finished off our meal with a vooooolcanooo.

Rachel's Birthday Party

2008-05-05T21:13:00.002-04:00

Saturday, May 3

This year Rachel decided to have a bowling party. So, I got online and searched for bowling alleys in the area. I found a cool one in Needham, MA - the Needham Bowlaway. It's a small bowling alley - only 8 lanes - in Downtown Needham. They have Cosmic Bowling there - candlepin bowling with music, black lights, neon, and glow-in-the-dark balls. It was really a fun place for a party! (Candlepin bowling uses smaller balls with no holes. You get 3 balls per frame, and the pins aren't swept away between balls.) The only wrinkle in the party was that the sewers were backed up, and there were no bathrooms. Arrgh!

We had an excellent turnout! Rachel invited Esther, Kia, Madeline, Hannah, John, Chloe, and Kaylee from MIT and Lori, Arianna, Kristina, Philip, Cullen, Emily, Mia, and Pauline from school. We bowled for the first hour, and then had cookie cake, chips, and juice in the party "room". The treats Rachel selected for her treat bags were great in the black lights!! It was a very busy, but very good birthday party!

Nanny & Papaw visit - April 20-26

2008-04-30T21:16:00.004-04:00

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.

Patti, Kevin, and Sarah visit

2008-04-30T21:11:00.003-04:00

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.

Morris' visit to Bahston

2008-04-30T20:57:00.005-04:00

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

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.

Week of April 7-11

2008-04-26T20:06:00.002-04:00

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

We're staying another year!!!!

2008-04-01T20:56:00.001-04:00

Old Sturbridge village

2008-04-01T20:55:00.003-04:00

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!

Happy Easter!!

2008-04-01T20:28:00.003-04:00

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.

Finally Skiing!

2008-04-01T20:00:00.004-04:00

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.

Late Feb & Early March

2008-03-28T20:28:00.006-04:00

February 24 - we went ice skating at the Frog Pond on Boston Common.

Tim turned the big 40 on February 26. We went to the Bull and Finch pub for dinner to celebrate. The Bull and Finch is where the outside filming of Cheers was done. The inside doesn't look at all like Cheers except for the wooden indian chief. The walls are all decorated with Cheers memorabelia, though. Then we came home and had chocolate cake and opened presents. Jamie gave Tim Wii points, Rachel gave him a Red Sox coffee mug, and David gave him The Jungle Book. We also got Tim several MIT/Sloan mementoes.

On Wednesday, Feb.27 (continuing Tim's birthday celebration), Tim, Jamie, & I went to see the Blue Man Group. It was an amazing show, and the three of us thoroughly enjoyed it!! It was much different from what I expected. For starters, we were right next to the "poncho" seats. I had no idea that I might need to have a poncho for this show! There was a lot of flying paint, marshmallows, and goo. But they have it down to a science, and we didn't get messy at all. The whole experience was indescribible. It was a percussion, comedy, art, audience participation "concert". I highly recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to see Blue Man!! Rachel opted to stay home with David and the sitter, and it was probably a good thing. I think it would have been too intense for her.

Jamie had his 6th Grade band concert on March 6. He did a great job!! He played tympany on one piece, the bells on another, and the snare drum on the final number - which was the Indiana Jones theme. It was fun! We sat behind his homeroom teacher who commented that Jamie is a very smart boy. He makes us so proud!

Saturday, March 15 was Wellington's winter carnival. Jamie and I worked the inflatable catepillar for two hours! Whew! Rachel, Tim, and David had time to go around and play at the other games. It's much like Crestline's Carnival. Jamie says that Crestline's is better, though, in large part due to the Teacher Review.

Sunday, March 16 was Palm Sunday & the day Tim left for his trip to California. We took him to the airport and still made it to church on time. Jamie and Rachel passed out palm leaves during the service. The palms were much different from what we use at home. Each person got a single, long piece (like a really long piece of grass), rather than a "branch". That afternoon, we had an MIT Easter party at a ceramics place. The kids got to decorate their Easter eggs and paint a ceramic piece. The pieces will be fired and will be a nice memento. (I'm using that word a lot tonight!) I guess I'm realizing how short our time left is here.
After the party, a large group of moms took our kids to Friendly's for dinner. We were a very loud party of 5 moms and 11 kids! But the Friendly's people were very friendly indeed, and we had a nice meal together.

We had to celebrate St. Patrick's Day without our patriarch this year, since Tim was in California. The kids said that it just wasn't the same without Daddy, even though we had a special meal complete with green mac & cheese, broccoli, and Irish soda bread. I did refrain from coloring the milk green this year.

David has been taking swimming lessons at the YMCA in Waltham this month. He really enjoys the lessons! His teacher, Brandon, is really good with the boys. There are 4 boys in his class, and one of them is David's best buddy, Ethan. David's favorite thing is making "fire water" - kicking in the pool.

Winter Vacation Week

2008-02-24T21:09:00.005-05:00

Feb. 18 - 22

The kids had the week off from school this week, but Tim didn't. So, we didn't do too much. Jamie and I went to see Spiderwick at the IMAX theater. It was pretty good. Jamie had read all 5 books, and had been looking forward to seeing the movie since we saw the first preview. Rachel had a marathon spend the night with her friend Esther (from Brazil/ friend from MIT). We went to a dinner on Saturday night and Rachel went home with Esther from there, but it was very late, so Esther's mom suggested that Rachel just go ahead and stay until Monday.

The weather has been crazy this week! On Monday, the high was 63 and it rained all day. After that, the temperature plummeted and the highs were in the 20s/low 30s. Then it snowed all day Friday - we ended up with somewhere around 6 inches of snow. We're not tired of it yet, but our landlord does all the shoveling.

Back to the week's activities. On Tuesday, my friend Susan and I took our 5 kids on an overnight trip. We started out at the Ecotarium in Worchester, MA.

It's kind of like a zoo, planetarium, and science discovery museum all rolled into one. It was really cold outside, so we didn't spend too much time visiting the animals. We did see eagles, owls, a polar bear, an otter, and a red fox on our quick trip around the grounds. Next, we went to a planetarium show that was cute. It was about 2 kids who build a rocket from a cardboard box and take a tour of the planets in our solar system.

David and Ethan enjoyed the preschool play area.

The older kids really enjoyed the dinosaur exhibits that filled the bottom floor.

On the second floor, there were lots of space activities. Rachel and Madeline made pocket solar systems, and we all watched an Ecotarium teacher "make" a comet. Of course, she said that the real thing would be 300x bigger than what she did.

Rachel and Jamie with a friendly Australopithecus.

Then we packed up and drove on to Springfield, MA to spend the night in a hotel with a pool! Yea!!! We went to grab what we thought would be a quick bite for dinner and ended up spending 2 hours in our restaurant of choice. We didn't even have to wait to be seated. Anyway, both moms were a little frazzled after that. We swam for about 45 minutes, and then called it a night. I had never spent the night in a hotel with the kids and not Tim. It really wasn't too bad. I might actually be game for trying again during our April break.

On Wednesday, we got up, ate our lovely breakfast at the hotel, and headed out to the Springfield Museums. A really neat gathering of a science museum, ancient artifacts museum, fine arts museum, and history museum. In the center of them all is the National Dr. Suess monument. (A quadrangle with bronze statues of the Lorax, Cat in the Hat, Horton, Sam I Am, and several other Suess characters.) We had a good time exploring them all.

During all this, I had a sore throat and was worrying about whether or not it was strep. Turns out it was. Arrrrrrgh!!! But it's not nearly the severity of the case I had on New Years.

Thursday, we just hung around the house. Friday, Jamie went to class with Tim and me. We were discussing Julius Caesar for Choice Points (the MIT literature class for fellows and partners). The professor had invited children to come during the school vacation weeks. Since Jamie had read and performed Julius Caesar in Mr. B's class, we wanted him to attend. He actually participated in a "reader's theater" of one of the scenes. It was fun to be in class with him. I missed the first half of class going to MIT medical for a strep test. They don't do the quick test there, so I had to wait 24 hours before learning that I was actually positive for strep.

Friday afternoon, we just stayed inside and watched the snow. Rachel went to a birthday party here in town (Susan's daughter). I drove her to the party, but got stuck trying to get up the last hill. The dad (Frank) walked down and got Rachel. I didn't have any trouble backing up and going back down the hill. It was very interesting being one of the few cars on the snowy roads. Most of the other traffic were trucks with snow plows on the front. The family has a car with snow tires, so they brought Rachel home after the party.
Tim and I watched the police try to find the owner of a car left parked on the street next to our house that night. We got so much snow on Friday, that a snow emergency was declared - which means that cars couldn't be parked on the street so the plows could do their thing. Anyway, the police tried to find the owner with no success. Then the tow truck came and had to pull the car out of the snow it was buried under. Then, they couldn't get the car unlocked. Finally, the car disappeared.

Saturday, the kids and I went to the mall to shop for Tim for his birthday and eat lunch at the food court (one of Jamie's favorite things to do). Saturday afternoon, Tim, Rachel, David, and I went sledding at the reservoir. (Jamie didn't want to go- tired of the snow already.) Saturday night we went to a friend's house for dinner and ate authentic Indian food. It was quite good. Our hostess (Anusha) requested I make a Coca Cola cake for dessert (she had it at another dinner we both attended). I was glad to comply. No one at the party had ever heard of it before. I left the rest of the cake with Anusha, who is expecting and due in May. She was excited.

On Sunday, we slept in (we were at Anusha and Mahesh's until 11). Then I made a big breakfast for brunch as an early birthday treat for Tim. Sunday afternoon, we decided to go ice skating at the Frog Pond at Boston Common. Everyone skated - including David. We got our skates on and started struggling to move on the ice when the announcement was made to clear the ice for the Zamboni. We got off and watched the Zamboni do it's thing (David enjoyed this)! Then he didn't want to get back out to skate. I told him that if he'd go one time around the rink with me that we'd get some hot chocolate. It was a real struggle, but we finally made it all the way around. I don't skate very well while trying to straddle a slipping, sliding, three-year old. We stopped and started a lot!! After we made it around, Tim came and sat with David and let me take a spin around the pond on my own. That made me feel much better. I'm not a good skater, but I can do ok on my own. Jamie went around with me and did well too. Then I got off to make good on the promise of hot chocolate. Tim and Rachel skated a little longer. The common was covered in snow, but there were lots of people out in it. The sun was setting when we left the frog pond, and was casting a golden light on the buildings around the common. It was so pretty!! A very nice end to an almost perfect outing.

BREAKING NEWS ON THE CHOOCHIE FRONT

2008-02-11T16:41:00.000-05:00

My baby has passed another milestone! He has given up the passie. Sniff!! Sniff!!
He picked out a "passie prize" on Thursday - a new Buzz Lightyear with a laser. We brought it home and put it up on Mommy's dresser as incentive to sleep without the passie that night. He knew that if he gave up his passies, he'd get to have Buzz. He did it! It took a little longer than usual for him to go to sleep, but he made it. He was so excited on Friday morning! Then with our busy weekend, we were out late every night and he fell asleep quickly each time.
Mommy is a little sad. He is growing up so fast! He has grown up so much this year! But we've had a lot of good time together.

A VERY busy weekend!!

2008-02-11T16:14:00.001-05:00

Feb. 8-10
It was a busy weekend after an extremely long week during which it either rained or snowed all day every day.

Friday night, we went to an authentic Chinese New Year party thrown by the Chinese and Singaporian Sloan Fellows. This is the year of the Rat - which makes it Jamie's year. We ate moderately authentic Chinese food for dinner and had Singaporian snack foods. Rachel even participated in a Chinese dumpling-making contest. It was a nice evening.

Saturday was absolutely full! Jamie and Rachel both had Saturday music school in the morning. Then we had another Sloan Fellows function in the afternoon. We went to Jillian's next to Fenway Park (the closest I've been to Red Sox territory) - and it was "Truck Day" too. For those of you who are like me and don't have a clue what "Truck Day" is . . . it's the day that the truck departs from Fenway Park to take the equipment to Florida for spring training to begin. You know that you're in baseball crazy country when they even name the day the truck leaves for spring training!!! Anyway, this place is a very nice bowling alley/pool room. The kids all had fun bowling and playing with the pool tables. We had to leave the party early to get Rachel to the high school for the Spelling Bee. Her team-The Super Spellers- did a terrific job. But I must say that it was a little underwhelming. The whole thing only lasted about 15-20 minutes. Even Rachel said, "That's it????" So we let her choose where to go for dinner to celebrate her hard work preparing for the bee, and she chose Chuck E Cheese.

Sunday, we got up and went to church at Belmont First Methodist because it was Scout Sunday. Jamie dressed in uniform, sat with the boys, and recited the Boy Scout oath during the service. For afternoon entertainment, Jamie, Rachel, and I went to see the Arlington Children's Theatre's production of Little Shop of Horrors. It was actually pretty good. Jamie really likes the music from that show, plus there was the added bonus of knowing a girl who was in the girl's chorus. She was Jamie's buddy at VBS this summer and is a real cutie. When we got home, Tim wanted to go scout out Nashoba ski area. It's only about 20 miles from our house, so we drove out there. It's really just a big hill, but I think it will be a good place for us to start since none of us have any ski experience. We'll probably go next week while the kids are out of school for February break. We stopped to eat at McDonald's on the way home and experienced our most interesting snowfall of the season thus far. It has been snowing on and off for the whole weekend, but the pavement was all clear because the temperatures haven't been too low. When we went in McDonald's, the parking lot was clear of snow. While we were eating we had a round of heavy thundersnow - thunder, lightning, and heavy snow. There was about an inch of snow deposited in about 15 minutes. The snow was strange - it was little balls that reminded us of Dippin' Dots. Plus the temperature dropped dramatically during the time we were inside. The moisture on the roads flash froze. We saw lots of cars that had run off the road and many others that were slipping and sliding all over. We were ok because the van has front wheel drive, buit this was definitely our most frightening winter driving experinece! Tim expertly brought us all safely home. Jamie and Rachel were both sure that they would be out for a snow day on Monday, but no luck. The Belmont road crew got busy sometime after 10:00pm, and the roads were just fine.

2008-02-11T16:10:00.002-05:00

New York trip
Feb 2-3

We took another quick trip to New York. We drove to Stamford and took the train into town again. Our first stop was the National Museum of Natural History ( the setting for Night at the Museum which we just saw last month). It was fun to look for the things we had seen in the movie. David enjoyed the dinosaurs, Jamie enjoyed looking for Mistmantle creatures in the dioramas, and Rachel enjoyed the ocean habitats. The kids wanted to visit the Nintendo center and Toys R Us again, so we headed over to Time's Square. We ate dinner in a little family pizzaria. Next, we made a trip to the Americal Girl Place. Rachel was shopping for something, but couldn't make up her mind what she wanted. She actually didn't end up getting anything from there, so I have a feeling we'll have to go one more time before leaving Boston.

2008-02-11T16:09:00.000-05:00

Our trip to the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT.
Jan. 20-21

Catch up - arts

2008-01-31T21:56:00.000-05:00

I have been so bad about neglecting my blog!! Things got so crazy with the Christmas season, going home to Alabama and returning with a severe case of strep, and taking advantage of our new Netflix membership (since Tim had a little "down" time this month). I know that I have a lot of catching up to do.

Jamie played in his first band concert in December. They call it "Bandarama". There were 8 different full-sized bands that played in the gym at Belmont High School. The gym was huge -
all the groups were set up in the gym - maybe the size of an indoor practice football field. The concert was about 2 hours long, but it was good. Jamie actually got to play in 2 groups - the Saturday Morning All Town Advanced Band and the 6th grade band. We got to see Jamie play bass drum, snare, chimes, tambourine, and xylophone. He even ended up getting to make the "cracking the whip" sound in one piece (he was drafted at the last minute because on member of the band chose to come to the concert in ratty shorts and t-shirt and wasn't allowed to play). He did a really good job! We may have a drummer on our hands even when we come back to Hartselle. Jamie has been asked to play in a percussion symphony by his drum instructor. He will practice for 6 weeks and then have the concert on Feb. 14. We're excited about getting to hear him play. We were also very excited by an art assignment and grading sheet that Jamie brought home from school this week. It was a watercolor painting of a surreal beta fish; he called the piece alien fish. His art teacher gave him a rating of "advanced" in each grading criteria area; then at the bottom of the page she wrote, "See me about the art show." I don't know what that means yet, but we're looking forward to finding out.

We have made our first arts excursions. In mid-December, we took the whole family to see a Christmas matinee concert by the Boston Pops. We had kind of crummy seats, but the concert was excellent!! Our favorite piece was a new version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" - premiering this holiday season. It was a great rendition, with each day having a style of its own. For example, the "5 golden rings" verse was done in the style of Beetoven's 5th. I looked for a recording, but it's not available yet. The concert included a visit from Santa Claus and ended with a sing-a-long. They played "Sleigh Ride" as an encore. Afterward, we walked to the Prudential center and had dinner at PF Changs (my first visit). David discovered that he likes the spicy chicken ( I told him it was Flamin' Hot Cheetoes chicken); he gobbled it up!
After our trip to Alabama, Tim and I went to see Rent. The production was fabulous! And the singers were all terrific! There were two Idol winners in the cast (one American and one South African). It was a wild-hair date. We decided to go that day (if we could get a sitter) - we did and it was great!
We still want to take the kids to see Blue Man group.

Rachel is still playing hard on her violin. She has learned several more songs. Her final concert will be in early April. Next week, she will begin a class on Cartooning. It's an after school program offered by the art teacher at Rachel's school. I will be eager to see what Rachel produces from this experinece.
Rachel is also on a team for the town Spelling Bee. She is on a team with 3 other girls, and is the only American. The Bee is next Saturday, and our team is practicing hard!

Snow Day!

2008-01-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

The Nor'Easter arrived, but didn't pack quite the punch they had feared. We got about 7" of snow here in Belmont, a bit more than Boston. Turns out that we have received almost 35" since December 1st, which is about 22" above normal. Not bad, eh?

The kids were very happy tobe out of school Monday, but the roads were clear by mid-afternoon, and things got back to normal quickly. We even went out to dinner Monday evening to Bertucci's, one of Sonja's favorites in the area.

Here are a few pictures:

Here We Go Again...

2008-01-13T23:15:00.000-05:00

The Kids have their first SNOW DAY IN BOSTON!

Belmont has already cancelled school for tomorrow (Jan 14), as the bulk of the storm will hit between 7am and noon. Tomorrow will be rough, but should be great sledding by Tuesday! Quite a change from last Tuesday, when the high was mid 60's and I wore shorts to MIT...

(by the way - our house is right above the quotation mark (") in the graphic below!)
--
A Classic Nor'Easter, according to WBZ-TV:

Nor'easter To Slam Southern New EnglandBOSTON (WBZ) ― Brace yourself for a treacherous commute Monday across southern New England. WBZ meteorologists say a Nor'easter will bring about a foot of snow to several communities. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning from midnight until 7 p.m. Monday.The snow will start falling after midnight in the Boston area. About one-to-four inches could be on the ground across the state by sunrise. There will be a mix of snow, sleet, and rain in southeastern Massachusetts.Heavy snow will move in all over southern New England around 7 a.m. and stay until the afternoon. The snow could fall at a rate of one inch to two inches per hour.It will start to taper down to flurries in the afternoon, making the evening rush hour tricky as well.By the time it's over, the Boston area and communities north and west could get eight-to-12 inches of snow.

Stay with wbztv.com and WBZ-TV for the latest forecasts.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Even more snow!

2007-12-16T20:22:00.001-05:00

Sunday, Dec. 16

We got about 8 more inches of snow last night! Tim made it to his bus for New York, and the drive to NY was only 6.5 hours!! At least it was a limoliner - Tim says he was very comfortable! The kids and I ventured out to build a snowman and play in the snow. All three kids love the snow. Rachel, Jamie, and I threw snowballs at each other.

Jamie jumped into a snowbank that was up to his waist! David waded in and lost a snow boot once, but it didn't deter his enjoyment of the snowy day.

Yesterday we all got our first experience with sledding. We walked down the street to the resovior and the fun took off from there. David really had a good time sledding! He's very brave about riding down even big hills on our little plastic sled. He gets to go sledding at preschool, and the teachers all say that he can't get enough of it. David thanks God for playing in the snow each night during our bedtime prayers.

We're also aclimating to the cooler temperatures up here. Yesterday the high was in the 20s, and it was cold. Today the highs were in the mid 30s and it almost felt warm. We're going to feel like we've gone to the tropics when we're home for Christmas!

Snow Day? Of course not!

2007-12-14T07:46:00.000-05:00

12 inches of snow? No problem! Plows work all night, sanding crews all morning, and it's business as usual in Belmont. Two immigrants from Alabama are a little disappointed, but the third is glad to have a day to play with his buddies at preschool! Now Daddy just has to go dig the car out...

Here goes Jamie walking to school in snow up to his knees!

Sometimes one should heed the warning...

2007-12-13T23:06:00.000-05:00

And this was one of those times!

At 1:00 this afternoon, the ground was clear, and it began to snow.

By 6:00 this evening, we had received almost a foot of snow.

Welcome to New England!

Jamie made it home first, a little after 2pm:

Rachel was delayed about 30 minutes due to the weather (pretty tough commute for less than a mile):

I had a four hour commute to get home tonight, but that was nothing compared to many. If you are curious, check out the stories on myfoxboston.com!

Here are a few more pictures, just to give you a feel of what we were hit with:

But, true to that New England can do spirit, the Boston Public Schools stayed open until the normal end of the school day (3pm).

Will post more after the sun comes up!

HEAVY SNOW WARNING

2007-12-12T23:07:00.001-05:00

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A HEAVY SNOW WARNING...

A SHORT DURATION BUT HIGH IMPACT SNOWFALL WILL AFFECT SOUTHEAST AND CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE MASS PIKE THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES ARE LIKELY...WITH MOST OF THE SNOW FALLING IN A 6 HOUR PERIOD.

SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AROUND NOON IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY... SPREADING EAST ACROSS SOUTHEAST MASSACHUSETTS DURING THE EARLY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL QUICKLY BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES AND SNOWFALL RATES MAY REACH 1 TO 3 INCHES PER HOUR FOR A TIME DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. THIS WILL HAVE A MAJOR IMPACT ON THE EVENING RUSH HOUR AS THE HEAVIEST SNOW AND LOWEST VISIBILITIES WILL BE DURING THIS TIME.

A HEAVY SNOW WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN AN AVERAGE OF 6 OR MORE INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED IN A 12 HOUR PERIOD OR FOR 8 OR MORE INCHES IN A 24 HOUR PERIOD. TRAVEL WILL BE SLOW AT BEST ON WELL TREATED SURFACES...AND QUITE DIFFICULT ON ANY UNPLOWED OR UNTREATED SURFACES.

More Snow!!

2007-12-09T21:52:00.000-05:00

Monday, Dec. 3
David missed school because of snow on that day! It began snowing on Sunday night. We all bundled up and went for a walk in the neighborhood - in the snow. The kids immediately made snowballs and threw them at each other. David and Rachel made snow angels on the driveway. Rachel was so cute! When hers was finished, and she stood up to look at it, she said, " So that's whey they're called snow angels!"
Belmont schools are apparently like Hartselle schools used to be and didn't close or have a delayed opening. It snowed on and off all day, but the roads were fine. David and I even went out to the grocery store. I was amused at the work of the road crew. They didn't come scrape our road until after the school bus had run! When Jamie came home from school, he stayed outside and built a good sized snowman. Rachel and David also built one when she got home. As of today (Sunday 12-9) there is still snow on the ground. The temperature did not get above freezing until Saturday. We even got another sprinkling on Friday night. On Saturday, the high was in the upper 30s - it's amazing how warm that feels after a week of below freezing!! There is a prediction of snow for tonight with a possible accumulation of 1-3 inches and we are under a winter advisory.

Mom's visit Nov.18 - 28

2007-12-09T21:12:00.000-05:00

We did so much on mom's visit!! It started out with a day at MIT and then Rachel's first violin concert. Rachel's group played three songs: Hot Cross Buns, Juba, and Mary Had a Little Lamb. And they were all recognizable!! The concert started with the beginners and went all the way through to the high school string orchestra - which was very good!
On Tuesday, Mom ate lunch with Rachel and we had some snow.

Wednesday was taken up with shopping and errands to get ready for Thanksgiving. The kids and I also took mom out to Concord to see the Old North Bridge and the Minuteman Statue.

Thursday was a very nice day! We got up and watched the Macy's Day Parade and got busy in the kitchen. We had 7 adults and 8 children for Thanksgiving Dinner. We invited two families from Korea to join us. They had never had a traditional Thanksgiving before. I told them that we were having a traditional southern Thanksgiving meal. We served turkey, mom's dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, tossed salad, rolls, and sweet tea. I also had hot dogs for the kids. The turkey and mashed potatoes were the biggest crowd pleasers - even with the kids! After lunch, we decided to take our traditional after turkey walk. We walked up to the playground at Chenery and let the kids run and play. The kids and dads even got into an impromptu game of soccer. We came back to the house and had dessert: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate chip cookies, and pumpkin cake. It was lots of fun to share our traditions with new folks and see them through new eyes. My favorite part of the day came when our guests were leaving. I asked if they wanted some turkey to take home with them, and the 6-year-old son of one of the families gave a resounding "yes!" It made me feel good!
That evening, we went to the movies to see Enchanted, which we all really enjoyed. So we ate popcorn for dinner.
On Saturday, we took the commuter rail in to Boston - to the North End to eat at Boston's oldest pizzaria - Pizzaria Regina's. Then we went to see the First Church of Christ, Scientist - not to be confused with scientology which is completely different. The church is huge and beautiful! We also visited the Maparium in the Mary Baker Edy library. The Maparium is a huge stained glass globe that you go inside to look at and see a multi-media presentation. The acoustics inside are neat too, because you're inside a huge glass ball and the sound carries around the curves.

After the Maparuim, mom and I split off from Tim and the kids to go to the Isabella Stuart Gardner museum. It is an amazing art museum full of items collected by Isabella Gardner. It's the museum that had the robbery and had many famous paintings - including a Vermeer - stolen. The museum has left those places blank with a notice about what piece of artwork should have been there. Very sad!
On Sunday, we ventured out to Salem. We went to the Salem Witch Museum where we learned about the history of the witch trials. We ate lunch at the Salem Beer Works, and Tim had a Blueberry microbrew (Bunker Hill Blueberry Ale)- complete with rising and falling blueberries!

After Salem, we drove on out to Rockport,MA. It was a very cold day!! We stopped in for hot chocolate after wandering down to the point. On the way home, we stopped at Jordan's furniture to see the liquid fireworks and get some ice cream.
On Tuesday, Mom, David, and I took a trolley tour of Boston. That was lots of fun! We ate lunch at Cheer's in Quincy Market. That night, we went out to Stone Zoo to see the Zoolights. It was a nice stroll through the zoo to see lots of Christmas lights, but it doesn't hold a candle to Huntsville Botanical Garden's Galaxy of Lights!!
On Wednesday, I took mom to the airport. Sniff! Sniff!! It was very sad to send her home!! The kids even commented that afternoon how they missed coming home to having Grannie there.
Jamie has begun the countdown to going home for Christmas!! It will be here sooner than we think!

Friday, November 9

2007-11-20T21:31:00.000-05:00

Ok, we have to go back in time a little! I realized that I didn't write about the field trip I took with Rachel's class. We went to Plimouth Plantation - a living history museum of the Plimouth settlement in the year 1627. It was a terrific trip! I was so excited about getting to go because of my years teaching third grade. We used to study the first Thanksgiving and show a video about Plimouth Plantation. The books Sarah Morton's Day and Samuel Eaton's Day were also made from photographs taken there. This year I actually got to go and experience the real thing! Rachel and I enjoyed it so much, we took the boys back on Monday (Veteran's Day).

They had a good time too! I really could have stayed all day long and just talked to the "re creators" and asked question after question!! Tim and Jamie got into a long conversation with a man putting the thatched roof on a new house.

Rachel's favorite part was the Wampanoag home site - the recreation of the home site of the man the Wampanoag leaders sent to Plimouth as an "ambassador" of sorts.

The kids also got to try their hands at some colonial games.

Let it snow!!

2007-11-20T21:09:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, November 20

We got our first snowfall today!! There were snow showers that started at around 10:30 and lasted until about 1:00. There wasn't much accumulation because it was above freezing - so the final results looked like an Alabama snow (just in November).

My mom is here visiting for Thanksgiving, and we were at TJ Maxx when it started. Other people in the check-out line were groaning at the snow, but we were excited! Mom says that we're probably the only aduts in town excited to see the snow. She ate lunch at school with Rachel today and said that the girls were all so excited. They went out for recess after lunch and Rachel later told me that they built two very small snowmen. David enjoyed the snow too. We had a friend with us today and the boys had a great time making footprints on the driveway!

This past weekend, Jamie and Tim went for their first campout with the Boy Scouts here. It was a chiller!!

The troop has land up in New Hampshire, and the low on Saturday night was around 25. So, Jamie has earned his polar badge for camping in below freezing temperatures. The other parents told Tim that that wasn't cold. It's really cold on the February freeze campout!!
Tim says that Jamie had a very good time and made some good connections with some of the boys in his troop. I'm so glad that he is finding a place here!

Also on Saturday night was the International Festival at Sloan. It was a terrific party where the fellows made booths with decorations, information, and most importantly - food- from their home countries. The children were given "passports" which were signed by the person manning each booth. Rachel had a great time going all over the world! Tim and I ate way too much!! I tried to go easy and ask each fellow which offering was his/her favorite food, but they all said, "You have to try everything!" So, even limiting myself to only a bite of each, I still got stuffed. We even had Turkish Delight from Turkey!! It was much better than what I had made for supper club last year! This was more like a bland jellybean covered in powdered sugar. There was also chocolate Turkish Delight, but I didn't get a piece of that. My favorite thing was the Bakalava!!

Mom arrived on Sunday, and we took her to eat at Bertucci's - one of our favorite places here (even if it is a chain). On Monday, Mom and I got to go to a lecture/lunch at MIT. The speaker was from the Media Lab at MIT and has done a lot of work with music and technology. He was fascinating!! Mom got to meet several of the fellows at the lunch. She also got the experience of riding the "T", but her expreience was actually too good. We had an almost perfect trip - not too crowded and not having to wait for the buses and train.

Tuesday, November 6

2007-11-06T20:08:00.000-05:00

Ok, it has been two very busy weeks!!

My Uncle Steve (Jabe) from Silverhill, AL was in town for a conference. So he came over for dinner on Thursday, Oct 25. We had a very nice visit over some delicious potato soup (my first of the season). We also had Don (our landlord) up for dinner. The conversation was very interesting and we lingered at the table over coffee and pumpkin cake.

The MIT Children's Halloween party(Sat, Oct.27) was a great success.

Even though it was raining the whole day. We had over 50 children and their parents attend. The kids seemed to have a good time eating, playing the games, and joining in the costume parade around the student center. They even learned the songs "5 Little Pumpkins" and "The Old Woman All Skin and Bones". Jamie was a big hit as the mad scientist!!

On Monday, the kids and I set to work carving our pumpkins. We called the family from Finland to see if they wanted to join us to see how to do it. It's funny to think that traditions that are so common here aren't held all over. But, they had never carved pumpkins before.
They eagerly accepted the invitation. So, we had 2 moms and 5 kids carving 4 pumpkins. Minna said the the inside of the pumpkin was totally different from what she had expected.
David's pumpkin was a Mickey face, Jamie's was a frog, and Rachel's was scary. It was a lot of fun to share the tradition with a new family. Minna says that her daughter, Kia, loves Halloween and wants to know how many more days till the next one.

The adult Halloween party (on Tuesday) was also a lot of fun. It was at a candle pin bowling alley. I was a little leary of the venue at first, but it was a very fun party! Candle pin bowling was fun - it's a smaller ball with no finger holes and you get three balls per frame. My score wasn't much better than in regular bowling, though. The shoes - are the same glorious things!!
Tim and I went as Gandalf and Galadriel from Lord of the Rings. Our costumes were fairly well received, but many of our foreign fellows were unfamiliar with the characters.

Tim's Uncle Marvin passed away this week. So, he made a mad dash home to Alabama for the funeral. He really enjoyed seeing everyone. It was his first trip back south in about 6 months - almost as long as he was in Japan in '91. His most interesting comment was that all of the raido dj's sounded weird! He has grown accustomed to hearing that New England accent over the airways. I, on the other hand, occasionally tune in to the streaming audio of "Rick and Bubba" just to get an earful of home.

Halloween was fun. Both Jamie and Rachel had half-days of school (they will for the rest of the month to allow for parent/teacher conferences). We had a skype call with Grannie, Beth, JT and Aunt Kiki to let the kids see each other in costume. This is the first year they haven't been with them for at least a pre-Halloween party. Afterward, we went to my friend Susan's house for pizza and trick-or-treating.

There are two differences I noticed in trick-or-treating in Belmont vs Hartselle or Cullman:

1) we had to climb stairs to get to almost every house, and 2) the kind of loot you get. The kids all came home with multiple full-sized chocolate bars, and the rest of their candy is probably 80% chocolate!! Yummy, but mom has hit the bags too hard. I just can't bear to see all those Reeces cups go to waste, since none of my kids like them!! To finish off the evening, we stopped in on Jan and Don. They were glad to see the kids in their costumes, and even took a couple of photos. We have been so blessed by our housing situation here!!

Tim came home on Thursday night, but had to leave for England Friday morning for his friend Paul's retirement celebration.
Friday night was the MIT Japanese party. There are a lot of Japanese families in the Sloan Fellows! They served sushi, California rolls, teryaki chicken, Kirin beer, moshi, and Japanese desserts. Rachel really liked the teryaki chicken! I experimented with several kinds of sushi and California rolls. David didn't eat anything! Rachel ended up going home with Esther, a Sloan kid from Brazil, to spend the night and all day Saturday.

It was cold and rainy all day on Saturday (Nov3)!! We started our day with a trip to the food pantry to donate the canned food we collected at the children's Halloween party. (Jamie has to do 12 hours of community service for school this year. I think it's great!! Jamie keeps asking me if it's legal for the school to force them to do community service. What a cheerful giver! That afternoon, the boys and I went to see The Bee Movie with some friends from Korea. It was cute, but not just fabulous. We ended the day with a trip to the mall and dinner at McDonald's. Then we picked up Rachel and headed home.

Sunday, Nov.4, we got up and went to church. The sermon was really good this Sunday. It was about Zaccheaus and how his story opens the doors to all people, no matter what their past or present circumstances. Then we had communion and sang "One Bread, One Body" - a hymn I actually knew!! The church is going to do a couple of Wednesday night classes on keeping proper focus during the holidays, and I hope to go. After lunch, we went out to the Belmont Habitat ( an Audubon nature preserve) to help with the fall trails day - to get more community service hours in. We all enjoyed working outside. Tim was back home when we got back home, and was ready to get outside for awhile. So, we went to Middlesex Fells to do a little hiking before dark. We hiked up to a tower and were rewarded with a fabulous view of Boston right at sunset. We ate dinner at Chili's - the closest thing to Las Vias' chips and salsa we've found up here. Then we went to Jordan's Furniture. Sound like a strange destination? Well, it's more like an amusement park than a furniture store!! Inside are an IMAX theater, a trapeze school, Fudruckers, an ice cream parlor (they had pumpkin ice cream!!), a huge candy store, some arcade games, strollers that are like taxis, and a musical fountain show (like at Disney Epcot) with lights and music and "liquid fireworks". It was really amazing!! Oh, there was also a recreation of Boston Public garden, the capital, and Fenway's green monster - all done in Jelly Bellys. It makes me want to buy some furniture!! We did walk around and look at furniture a little, and the kids all found new bedroom furniture they want to have back in Alabama. I think that we'll wait until March to buy, though. This is the place that promised that any furniture purchased last March would be free if the Red Sox won the World Series. I wonder if they'll do it again. . .
Speaking of the Sox, the McKelvy's have all caught Red Sox fever. Especially Jamie! He watched parts of several games in the division championship and the world series. The world series games were all on late, though, they started at 8:30 Boston time. Tim and I stayed up late several nights watching to see how our team would do. Jamie even worked out a system with Tim to leave the hall lights on if the Sox won and turn them off if they lost. That's one thing we'll definitely be bringing back home to Alabama - baseball team we root for.

Wednesday, October 24

2007-10-24T10:41:00.000-04:00

Golly Pete! I just can't seem to keep up with it all! We've been all about the children's Halloween party around here: ordering supplies, coordinating getting everything done, getting head-counts via email, etc. It looks like we're going to have about 65 kids at the party. A terrific response, but way more kids than I thought. So, I had to go back and order more of everything for the party. Plus, Tim and I have been trying to figure out what we're going to be for the adult party. I think we've finally settled on Gandalf and Galadriel from LOTR (even though they're not really a pair). The kids' costumes have all come in and all fit, thank goodness!! They're going to be so cute!
We've done so much since my last post! And I still haven't filled in the details of our trip Columbus Day weekend. Ok, here goes a quick rundown.

Columbus Day Weekend Trip

We left on Saturday after the kids got out of Saturday Music School and drove up to Bethel, ME. It is in the northern section of the Appalacian mountain range. The AT actually crosses over the road where we were hiking! There was a message board for hikers, and one of the notices there informed hikers that the last day to ferry across the river was that weekend.

We stayed in a country inn called the Sudbury Inn. It was very nice!! We ate dinner at the Pub there in the inn and enjoyed live music while we ate.

Our room had a whirlpool tub, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed! We put a little shampoo in the water and turned on the jets, and there were suds everywhere!!

On Sunday, we got up and drove to Sunday River Ski Resort where they were having a fall festival. There were games for the kids, a craft show, and free ski lift rides up the mountain. Rachel and David both got knit hats to help them keep warm this winter, but they came in handy on the chair lift ride too. It was quite chilly up at the top! We rode up as high as we could go and then walked around a little. David got his first chance to "teetee" on a tree while up top. He thought it was really cool. Ah, boys and their simple pleasures. You just gotta love 'em!

We also visited a covered bridge that day.

It's called Artist Bridge because it is so picturesque. Jamie picked up a friend down at the creek - a large rock which he named "Milkshake". Yes, he brought home a Maine river rock as his souvenier. Then we went for a very nice hike out to a waterfall. Jamie and Rachel had a terrific time exploring the rocks. Tim and I just loved being out in the woods! The leaves are turning here, there is lots of color, but not quite peak. Still, quite beautiful!

On Monday, we took the Mount Washington auto road tour. It's a driving tour up to the peak of Mt Washington, known for having the world's worst weather. And it did!! The day was cold, windy, and cloudy. At the peak, we had no visibility! I would say it was about 50ft. We still enjoyed going to the top and having hot chocolate to get warm. There is a weather observation station up top and a museum too. We did see a few nice views on the way up and down the mountain. At the bottom of the mountain, there was a museum of all the modes of transporation used to travel the road (stage coach, woody, cars, and vans). Jamie also got to do a climb on a rock wall there. He made it all the way to the top and rang the bell while we all cheered him on!

On Tuesday, we tried to go do a corn maze, but it was closed. Then we tried to go to the Sabbaday Shaker village, but it too was closed. So, we drove over to the coast to see the ocean. We went to the little town of Old Orchard Beach where almost everything had closed for the season the day before. It looked a lot like Gulf Shores or Panama City, but a ghost town version. We did find a spot to eat that stays open year round. It was really interesting to see that the seaside towns in Maine really do roll up the sidewalks after the first of October. After that, we decided we'd just better head home. It was a good trip all in all, even if the last day was a little strange.

Thursday, October 11

2007-10-11T21:31:00.000-04:00

How in the world did it get to be October???? We've gotten into good routines here in Belmont. All the kids are enjoying school. David even likes the toys at his school so much that he doesn't want to go home when I pick him up!! Rachel is loving riding the bus and continues to make new friends. Currently she and her friend Emily are busily planning a Halloween party. It's supposed to be at Emily's house, but we'll see. Jamie still enjoys the independence of riding his bike to and from school. He has also gotten an after-school job. He takes the landdog (our landlord's poodle) for a walk every weekday afternoon and makes $1 a day. He is a very responsible employee, and this first job should look quite good on his resumee!

I have been busy with working on the children's Halloween party for SF08. I have a committee full of willing helpers none of whom celebrate Halloween in their home countries. I feel right at home as the "Halloween expert". My friend Susan (the coast guard wife) has actually jumped in and is helping out too. We're doing a party like a carnival with games, crafts, and a costume parade through the student center. I've also introduced a whole group of women to Oriental Trading Company. That was fun!! Too bad I don't get a commission!

I've also nailed down my children on what they're going to be for Halloween and ordered their costumes. David is going to be "Rocket" from Little Einsteins, Rachel is going to be Clepoatra, and Jamie is going to be the young Tom Riddle (it about killed me to order a Slytherin robe and tie). He is quickly making his way to the end of HP book 6 and says that he's going to jump right in to book 7. I won't be surprised if he's finished by Christmas.

Family wise, we've done lots of hiking over the past two weeks. The last weekend in September, we discovered the Belmont Habitat (a Mass Audobon reserve) just a few miles from our house. There are lots of trails to walk on and the weather was beautiful the last weekend of Sept. We took a picnic lunch out on Saturday and ate in a field, under a tree. There is also a house you can tour, but it was closed due to hosting a wedding that day.
The two families from Mexico from SF08 hosted a Mexican Fiesta that same weekend. They really went all out!! Tim came home with a sombrerro, me with moraccas, and the kids with goodie bags. The food was catered by an authentic Mexican restruant. It was very good, but a little different from Las Vias.

Jamie and Rachel have both started Saturday Morning Music School - a music/band/orchestra program held at Chenery Middle School. Rachel is still enjoying her violin, but is tired of just plucking it. She's ready to bow!! Jamie has started drumming all over the place. We may end up with a drummer yet. Time will tell.

We had a long holiday weekend October 6-9, so we decided to head up to Maine in hopes of seeing fall color and maybe a moose. The trees were in high color (not quite peak) and georgeous!! No luck on the moose, though. Well, maybe next time. I'll write more about all the details of the trip in my next posting. Until then. . . God bless!!

Monday, Sept. 25

2007-09-25T20:59:00.000-04:00

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.

Sunday, Septermber 16

2007-09-17T20:12:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-15T22:55:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-10T21:59:00.000-04:00

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, Sept 6

2007-09-06T21:18:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-01T22:06:00.000-04:00

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!

Monday, August 20

2007-08-20T21:16:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-20T20:59:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-20T20:50:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-18T22:19:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-18T22:18:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-18T22:01:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-18T21:37:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-18T21:25:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-14T22:46:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-14T22:15:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-07T21:21:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-05T22:06:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-03T23:16:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

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!!

>>> PAUSE <<<

2007-07-13T05:25:00.000-04:00

Hi everybody!

Sonja and the kids have returned to Alabama for a few weeks to enjoy summer in the deep South, and all that entails (like swimming, birthdays, sleep overs, Harry Potter mania... and also central air conditioning! Did I mention that it gets HOT in BAHSTEN?!) Unfortunately for the blog, she is now 1200 miles from her computer, so posts will be spotty until August. If something terribly exciting comes up, I may post it.

Back to the books - finals are early next week for H1...

Love to all!

tim

Saturday, June 30

2007-07-03T22:05:00.000-04:00

Our big trip to New York!! Our birthday gift to Jamie was to go spend a day in New York. So, we drove to Stamford, CT (about 170 miles) and took the train in to the city (about 50 min). David was extremely excited about taking a train trip!!

We rode the train in to Grand Central Station. The kids got a kick out of Tim telling them that this is the train station in the movie Madagascar when the zebra goes awol. They recognized the clock over the information center from the movie.

Our first stop in New York was the Pokemon Center. Tim and I were a little nervous, because when we tried to call the phone number listed online to get hours, the number had been disconnected with no other information. We followed the internet directions to the site and found that it had changed from the Pokemon Center to the Nintendo Store. There were still lots of Pokemon items, but there was also a large showroom full of Wiis that people could try. The kids enjoyed the visit.

From there, we walked up Time's Square to Mars 2112, a themed resturant we visited on our last trip to New York (Oct. 2004). The resturant has a space theme. You go in and the first thing you do is take a spaceship ride to Mars. The ride is very similar to the Mars ride at the Space Center in Huntsville. The whole compartment moves, shakes, and tilts while you watch a view screen showing where you're going. The dining room is in a large crater on the Mars surface. Our waiter was a student of musical theater who was from Georgia. He was very personable. He even invited Rachel to come up and dance with the rest of the wait staff and space characters.

Circulating through the resturant were 3 characters QT PI, Captain Orion, and The Empress. The food was ok, but the kids loved the atmosphere!!

After a fun-filled dinner, we departed Mars and returned to Earth via teleporter. Then we went back out to Times Square and went in search of dessert. Fortunately, there was an M&M store that just fit the bill. It was really big!! David got excited when he saw the M&Ms outside - a boy after my own heart!!! Inside the store was filled will all sorts of M&M stuff. They also had an M&M wall where you could fill a bag with plain or peanut M&Ms in many different colors. David, of course, chose green M&Ms. The newest M&M product in the store was a Statue of Liberty M&M dispenser. When you pull down the torch, M&Ms come out the pedestal. David fell in love with it!! So, we bought one. I am hoping to use it to help potty training. When he goes in the potty, he'll get to pull the torch and get some M&Ms. Maybe it will be incentive enough to get this baby going!!

Of course, Mommy had to get a t-shirt and some M&Ms too!!

From there we headed out for the largest toy store on earth - Toys R Us. The store is three stories high. It has huge Bionicle, Barbie, Thomas, and Pokemon sections to name our kids' favorites. The store also has a large ferris wheel inside it. We bought our tickets and shopped while waiting for our time to ride. David, Jamie, and I rode in the Little Tikes red car-shaped car and Tim and Rachel rode in the Cabbage Patch car. David was really hoping to ride in the Toy Story car, but you're not allowed to wait on a specific car. He was pleased, that the Toy Story car was next to ours. So, we could see Buzz and a LGM each time we came over the top. After the toy-buying orgie was over, we made one more stop. Jamie wanted to go to the Hershey's store to find some white chocolate. He really likes the cookies and cream white chocolate bars and nuggets Hershey's used to make. Unfortunately, used is the operative word. There was every kind of Hershey's product imaginable in the store, but no white chocolate. We asked an employee, and he told us that they didn't make it any more. Jamie was very disappointed that he had to settle for a huge bar of regular Hershey's chocolate.

Friday, June 29

2007-07-01T22:28:00.001-04:00

The final day of VBS. The kids all had a great time. Even Jamie was singing and doing the motions during the closing assembly. I stayed and helped clean up and put things away during the time. We went to Burger King for lunch to celebrate the completion of another year.

After lunch, I worked on getting things ready for the June birthdays party. I put together a party for the Sloan kids who have a birthday in June and invited all of the partners and children. We had the party at the sprinkler park in Belmont. About 20 people (partners and kids) came to experience an American birthday. There were families from Mexico, Finland, Portugal, France, Korea, and the US. We had cake, whales and juice pouches for snack. The kids got hats, blowers, water guns, bouncy balls, and bubbles in their treat bags. It turned out that Jamie was the only June birthday, but it was good start. I hope that some one will pick up next month since we'll be in Alabama for most of it!

Hannah and Kia (top) Jamie & John (bottom)

Jane, Sara, & Hannah (top)

Kia, Rachel, Jamie, Kaylee, Hannah, & John (kids on the rocks) Unknown child & mom in the foreground :-)

top (L to R) Chloe, Kaylee, Kia, Rachel, & John

bottom (L to R) John, Hannah, Tatu, Jamie, & David

top moms Minna, Sara, Shelly, & Andrea (who is actually a fellow - her hubby is the partner)

bottom - Sara, Tom, Kia, Rachel, Kaylee, Chloe, Shelly, & Jane

June 27 & 28

2007-07-01T22:12:00.000-04:00

Wednesday, June 27
We spent most of the day away from home. The kids had VBS in the morning, then we took off for Burlington mall for a Jamie's birthday shopping spree. He had money from Grannie and Nanny & Pawpaw to spend. Plus, it was much cooler at the mall than at home!! We started off eating lunch at the food court so Jamie could have his favorite (chicken & mushrooms with white rice). Then we hit the shops. Jamie bought a book on vampires, 3 webkinz, an action figure, and the new Harry Potter game for DS. He really planned out his purchases!! We went to the T station at Alewife to pick Tim up after classes and study group, and then we all went to Rainforest Cafe for birthday dinner. Jamie got an icee in a Rainforest Cafe cup amd we all enjoyed a volcano for his birthday cake. Then it was home to the hot house for bed.

Thursday, June 28
Another fun day at VBS!! Then it was home to wait for severe weather that never came. The kids enjoyed a "quiet" day in the house. Jamie and David had a Pokemon fest - David gave Jamie a boxed set for his birthday. Then I had a dinner for the Sloan Partners. Girls' night out!! The kids and I picked up Sara at her place and then drove to MIT where Tim took over with the kids. There were about 30 partners there. We went around the room and introduced ourselves and then had a nice dinner. We also had the opportunity to sign up to be involved in planning and organizing activities for the year. I worked really hard to restrain myself and only signed up to do the kids' Halloween Party and family outings. I thought I did rather well!! Then Cybele gave Sara, Mina, and me rides home.

Wednesday, June 27th

2007-06-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday, Jamie!

Today's post is postponed due to lack of COOL! The computer room is one of the rooms without AC, and it is LA Hot in there! But there are thunderstorms scheduled for tomorrow, and highs back down to the 70's by Friday. Yay!

Tuesday, June 26

2007-06-26T21:27:00.000-04:00

Hot!! Hot!! Pant, pant, pant.
I know, the high today was only 93. But there is no air conditioning!! The church where we are going to VBS is not air conditioned! It wasn't too bad. After VBS we went to the pool, very nice. Cool water. And, Rachel passed her deep end swim test! Yea!!!
We went to get a movie and a pizza for supper. Tim ate with his study group tonight to strategize and socialize. There was no way I was going to cook in that kitchen. I used my pampered chef kitchen thermometer just now, and it says the kitchen is 91 degrees! The main hall is 83, and the upstaris hall is 90. We have the window units running in all 3 bedrooms and are keeping the doors shut so at least those rooms will be cool. I will be glad to get home to the land of air conditioning!! Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter - highs in mid to upper 90s with a heat index of 100. But, fortunately, Jamie has planned to spend the afternoon at the mall tomorrow, and to have dinner at Rainforest Cafe tomorrow night. It is supposed to thunderstorm all day Thurs (highs only in the upper 80s) then highs are predicted to be in the 70s until early next week. Thank goodness!!

I had a God moment today. I was talking with the director of VBS before the kids came up for closing. She told me that there actually was a wait list for coming to VBS, but that since we made the effort to come to church on Sunday morning, she put us in. In a way, I feel a little bad that someone else didn't get in. But I am so relieved that we did!! I have enjoyed talking with folks from both congregations as I have been there helping. Plus, it has been really good for Jamie and Rachel to have a break from each other all week. I have also appreciated having a break from the kids!! I guess God knew I needed it.
Blessings to you all!!!!

Monday, June 25

2007-06-25T21:43:00.000-04:00

We went to VBS today at Payson Park. It was fun. The theme this year is Avalanche Ranch. Rachel is actually in the class of rising 2nd graders, because the 3rd grade group was full. But she has already made a new friend. His name is Joseph, and he came to Bible school all decked out in full cowboy gear: hat, bandanna, boots, even spurs!

Jamie also made a friend today, her name is Emily. Maybe he'll connect with some of the boys in his group during the week. David is actually in the 3 year old class. I'm helping out with snack. It's a good way for me to get involved low key; to see the church, the kids, and the program before just leaving my children with strangers. I'm going to help again tomorrow, but Wednesday, I'm going to enjoy the first moments I've had alone since the end of May. I also have some things to do to get ready for Jamie's birthday on Wed. There is a big group of kids (about 70). There is also a lot of church involvement - 26 adult volunteers and a whole flock of teens! Apparently there are two churches that join together for VBS. I also understand that these two congregations are in the process of talks of merging the two permanantly.

We went to the sprinkler park this afternoon. It was a hot one here - in the 80s. The next two days it's supposed to be in the 90s. It's really hot, too, because we only have the 3 window units in the house. When I put David to bed tonight, the temp upstairs was 84! And now, at 10:00, it's 82 downstaris!

Anyway, we met Mina, and her 2 children, Cybele and her 2, and Sara and her 1 with one on the way (due July 5) at the sprinkler park around 4. Rachel and Kia had a great time together. Rachel says that she's not bothered at all that Kia doesn't speak much English. She said that today Kia communicated several times with hand gestures. I know that Rachel will give Kia lots of practice listening to English!! Jamie found a group splashing each other and joined in, so he had a good time too. I don't think that they ever exchanged names and other personal info. David wouldn't go into the water at all. I tried to take him to a place where the water had pooled, but the sprinklers weren't spraying above the feet. He still didn't like it. He spent time in the sandbox and on the playground equipment. Then we had the treat of an ice cream truck coming up to the park. David got a snowcone which he sucked on with glee until he dropped it. Then he was sulky the rest of the time we were there because mommy wouldn't let him eat it off the ground.

Tim came home for dinner tonight. So we got to enjoy a family meal together. He says he thinks he did ok on his Accounting exam.

Sunday, June 24

2007-06-24T22:27:00.000-04:00

Today we went to Payson Park Congregational church to worship. I had seen a sign outside that said they were having VBS next week, so we thought we'd go check out the kid scene. The church was small but friendly. The kids are signed up to go to VBS. And there are boys in Jamie's age group. Maybe we'll make a buddy. Pray for one for him!

After church, we grabbed a quick lunch and the kids and I headed to the pool to give Tim quiet to study. He has an accounting exam tomorrow. Rachel made three new friends. And David enjoyed the water, even though it was fairly chilly! I met a family from Kentucky who had relocated to Belmont for work. They've been in the area for about a year. We talked a little about churches, and she said that they had a hard time finding the right spot too. She told me about the church they attend now. It's a non-denomintaional one in Lexington. She said that it has lots of kids and young couples. So, maybe we'll have to check that one out.

Tonight we had dinner at a Fellow's house, Michael and Maren. We all brought a dish, and our hosts grilled out. It was a beautiful evening to be outside. The kids all got along quite well. THere was a sandbox, and David spent most of his time there. Rachel made a new friend, Kia who is from Finland. All of the moms are going to meet tomorrow to take the kids to the sprinkler park. It should be fun.

Mina, Sara, and Cybele

Adriene and Louis

Saturday, June23

2007-06-24T22:11:00.000-04:00

Today the kids and I ventured back out to Land's Sake farm for the Strawberry Picking Festival. It was a beautiful, cool day. Like a sunny fall day in Alabama. We took Tim in to school to meet with his study group, and then headed out. On the way, I got a phone call from the couple we met at Belmont Methodist that are from Australia. They have friends also in the Australian Air Force who have been stationed in Montgomery for 3 years. Those friends were passing through, and Russell called to see if we could come have a barbecue. Unfortunately we were already headed out to the farm. I did talk to both sets of husbands and wives. It was kind of neat, actually. The friends in Montgomery have kids Jamie & Rachel's ages. We're going to try to hook up when we come home in a year. They'd like to make a visit to the Space & Rocket Center.

We arrived at the Strawberry festival at about 12. We met Cybele and her children there, bought our baskets, and headed out to the field to pick strawberries! At first we were having a tough time finding good red, ripe strawberries. We got several that weren't red all over. The field had been a little picked over. Then we found a couple of rows that had much better berries. We had 2 baskets: one for the boys and one for Rachel. David had a great time picking berries. I would find a good berry and then call him over to pick it. Rachel did a great job filling up her basket with dainty red strawberries. After that, we got lunch and ate it at a picnic table while being serenaded by a bluegrass group (guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo). Made me think of home and all the guys from Cotton Patch Gospel. A little later in the set, they played an Irish reel, and Rachel had to get up and dance. We're definitely going to have to find a place for her to take lessons up here! She can do a good little jig a-la Riverdance!! After lunch, we wandered around the farm for a bit, and then decided to head back home.

After dropping off our strawberries, we ran out to Blockbuster to return some movies and to Target. This trip was much more calm for David. He did get upset when we walked past the Thomas aisle and mommy wouldn't stop, but he calmed relatively quickly.

Tim got home from school sometime around 6, and we decided to try an adventure for dinner. We went to Bugaboo Creek Steak House. It's made to look like the inside of a lodge in the Canadian Rockies. There are talking trees, buffalo, and flaping taxidermied fish. It was cute, and the food was pretty good. After supper, we came back home to make strawberry smoothies. Rachel wanted to help, so she did several steps. But she wasn't crazy with the final restults. Jamie kind of liked it though. He wants to make banana smoothies next.

Quick Note from Tim...

2007-06-23T07:20:00.001-04:00

Many have asked what's going on with me, so here's a typical 'day in my life'. It isn't nearly as exciting as the activity of Sonja and the kids.

We are in full swing academically. I am taking four graduate level business classes (Financial Accounting, Microeconomics, Marketing Management, and Probability and Statistics), and we are convened from 8am until 5pm. We will complete a semester's worth of work in about five weeks... I have my first mid term exam Monday! This insane pace is required to complete all the required coursework in one year. If you are interested, the course curriculum can be seen here.

Much of time is spent doing individual work, as I have to be prepared to contribute to our group case work. My study group is quite diverse - myself, Ramesh (India), Luis (Portugal), and Charlie (South Korea). We usually meet after classes to discuss our case summaries and prepare other assignments. The study groups are combined with others for larger project assignments, so one of the challenges has been prioritizing all of our waking moments to maximize the use of our time together. I've even been on a four-hour Skype teleconference with a meta group to complete an assignment... All in all, I'm doing ok (averaging about 5-6 hours sleep per night).

I get up around 0500, study until 0630, and at around 0700 I walk down the street to Cushing Square, where I catch the MBTA Bus 73 to ride to Harvard Square. There I board the T (the subway), which I ride to the Kendall/MIT stop. Total time in transit is never less than 30 min or more than 40, and is always standing room only. From the T station at MIT, it's about a five minute walk to the Sloan school (with a small detour into Au Bon Pain for a cuppa joe :-) We do get breaks between lectures, which are almost always occupied with small group discussion, problem solving, and coordination. The hardest part is the inevitable comparison with my undergraduate days, where I spent a good 2-3 hours out of class preparing for each hour in class. If I tried to apply that ratio here at Sloan, I'd be working 27 hour days, not accounting for sleep, hygiene, and family!

So at the end of the collective school day (which comes at a prescribed time, otherwise we'd work continually), I reverse the process - walk to the subway station, ride the T to Harvard Square, then catch the 73 bus for the return trip to Cushing Square. I get home, walk to the house, collect the mail, then hit the books...

It is becoming routine. Most of us are in 'barely hanging on' mode. I never had to do anything approaching a medical residency, but if this is a hint, I'm glad I didn't choose that career path - plus the fact that continual sleep deprivation really impairs analytical processing!

On a positive note, I took a break Wednesday evening and watched the Space Station and Shuttle fly over - WOW! The shuttle had separated from the ISS the day before, and were still within a few degrees of each other as they passed almost directly overhead (Rachel was the first to spot it!) We watched for a good four minutes, and it looked like a dog-chasing-cat race across the sky, with both about as bright as Venus.

So - it sounds tedious, but the course material is fascinating, and when I have time I'll write more. The faculty are all world-class, and the PhD students leading the recitations are excellent as well. The courses all dovetail, so there is clearly a common thread.

Finally - the other fellows are a fascinating lot. For example, one of my new friends owns a private equity firm in Switzerland, and he is a big proponent of "Web 2.0". From his idea, we have had about 1/2 the co-hort set up profiles on facebook.com. If you haven't checked it out yet, and you are so inclined, do so. Alfonso said, "It's the next Google." That may be a big exaggeration, but there is rationale behind the statement.

Cheers!

Friday, June 22

2007-06-22T20:24:00.000-04:00

A cool, rainy day today. Our big outing today was a trip to the grocery store. We did have a visitor for lunch. One of the partners, Cybele, and her husband have just gotten to move into their house here in Belmont. They have been in a Residence Inn with their 2 small children since mid-May. Anyway, I invited Cybele over for some lunch. I was so excited to have a clean house that I could invite someone in to on the spur of the moment. I'm looking forward to coming home and trying to get my house more in order. The rest of the day was filled with scattered thundershowers, so we didn't try to go back to the pool. We just had a nice day here. Tim made it home for dinner for the first time this week, and that was a nice treat. Jamie has almost finished Harry Potter. He has been a little obsessive about getting his reading done. He doesn't want to have the raido on in the car because he's reading. I am proud of his accomplishment. He says that he has enjoyed the reading, but is ready to be free from it for awhile. He says I can have as much time as I need to finish #6, because he wants a bit of a break. Whew! Because I am behind!

Thursday, June 21

2007-06-21T22:28:00.000-04:00

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!!

Wednesday, June 20

2007-06-20T22:51:00.000-04:00

I am so glad to have my vehicle back!! I just don't do well when I feel stuck. I'm an on-the-go girl!! And I guess I'm creating on-the-go kids. Today we tried for an outing with the Partners/Spouses of MIT group. They were supposed to be going strawberry picking and picnicing. We drove out the the farm, under a steady rain. When we got there, they had sold out of strawberries on hand, and they don't allow you pickers in the rain. So, we were just out of luck. They are having a strawberry festival on Saturday. Maybe the kids and I will venture back out there for it.

Instead of picnicing on the farm, we came home and had our picnic on the living room floor. We decided then that we should go see a movie. First we went over to the town hall to get our pool passes for the summer. (A good deal - only $140 for all 5 of us now thru Sept. 2!) I think we're going to give the pool a try tomorrow. Then we headed over to Burlington to the movie. We went to see Surf's Up. I wasn't expecting much, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was a pretty cute movie. I really liked the messages about sports, competition, and friendship. David was great during the whole thing, of course he ate lots of popcorn. We came home and had dinner. Tim had a late night tonight, so didn't get home until almost 8. We put David to bed and at 9:19, we headed outside to look for the space station and shuttle. It traveled more directly overhead this time, and we were less overcast. Rachel was the one who spotted it! She was so excited and she yelled out when she saw it. It was pretty cool! The two bright lights were traveling together in a straight line. We spotted it easily, even though we have a lot of airplane traffic overhead. We had lots of false alarms with blinking lights before Rachel found the real thing.

Tuesday, June 19

2007-06-20T22:38:00.000-04:00

Hooray!!! We have our van back!! We have a new radiatior. Actually, we now have an entirely new cooling system. Hopefully it will be worth at least a year's worth of drivability.

We didn't get the van back until late in the day, so it was a stay-at-home day today. We did laundry and cleaned house. We walked to the square for lunch since we're out of bread for sandwiches. David was an absolute monster child at lunch. He wasn't happy with anything. He cried to get katsup on his plate. Then he cried because there was katsup on his plate. Then he cried because Jamie and Rachel each had one of his french fries (it was a plateful). I could go on and on. I actually took him out of the resturant twice to calm him down. The second trip outside worked, though, and he ate every bit of his lunch! When we got home, I tried to put him down for a nap, to no avail. We read a book and lay in bed for almost an hour, his little eyes rolling the whole time. But he just would not give it up. Later in the afternoon we rode our bikes to the playground at Chenery. David braved the slides for the first time and loved them. When we were coming in the door, we got the call from Mickey that our van was ready. We got the van and drove on in to MIT to pick Tim up and have some dinner.

Tim gave us a quick tour of the MIT campus. We got to see the classrooms and study rooms that fill so much of his time these days. Then we went to the most interesting building. I call it the Dr. Seuss building, because it looks like something he would draw. It is one huge, crazy piece of architecture. The kids started calling it Star Command so David would be excited about going to see it. Then we walked over the the student center to the little Taquirita there. I have been amazed that there are no Mexican resturants anywhere around us. Jamie has planned on several trips to Las Vias and China Wok when we come home next month. Then we walked back to where our car was parked walking down the endless corridor and then in the underground tunnels that connect most of the MIT campus. Pretty cool, actually. We ended the evening back home looking up to the heavens trying to see the fly-over of the space station and space shuttle, but it was no go. It was too cloudy and there are actually too many trees all around our house to be able to see. Maybe we'll do better tomorrow night.

Monday, June 18

2007-06-18T22:17:00.000-04:00

Well, today the kids and I took our first trip on our own out to Boston. We had discount tickets for the New England Aquarium from the library. We decided to go today because it's the last day of school for our area and we thought it might be less crowded than a regular day. We took one bus and three trains to the aquarium without any mistakes. Jamie and Rachel are very helpful with David when we are traveling! It makes our outings go so much better!! We also took the added measure of stopping off at the service station and getting the stroller from the van, which made a huge difference!!

Right now the aquarium has a large penguin exhibit. It was really good. The kids got "passports" to stamp at different stations along the way. The penguins were in an open style area that you could look down into. These penguins were not from cold habitats, so the whole thing was normal room temp. I didn't know that there were penguins that didn't live in the ice and snow. One group of penguins was from Africa and another from Australia. I can't remember the third. David enjoyed looking at them. Also on that floor was a large "Save the Seaturtles" exhibit which Rachel loved!!

They also had a great jellyfish exhibit. All three of the kids really enjoyed that! There were lots of interactive parts to it. I learned that the jellyfish population is actually growing out of control because of the ways that people are messing up the oceans (overfishing, overfertilization, etc).

My favorite part of the museum was one little turtle in a tank. He was so funny! He would swim up to the surface for a breath, and then turn and swim down to the bottom. Then up to the top and down again. He did this over and over. David thought it was really funny. We followed along saying, "up,up,up.up,up" and "down,down, down,down". Another funny moment was when we came up to one large tank that contained some huge fish. David ducked and covered in his stroller, and didn't want to look at them.

Jamie also really liked the sea dragons. I didn't take a picture, though. We didn't get to look at them for long because David was still recovering from the "big fish" encounter.

Both boys tried their hands at petting starfish in the touch lab. Rachel mostly just watched this.

We walked up to the top of the tank and got a good look at Myrtle the sea turtle. She is around 70 years old and 600 lbs. We watched her swim round and round from the top and then in the windows as we wound our way down and around the tank.

We also saw an IMAX movie today. Sharks 3D. It wasn't as "in your face" as I thought it would be. I kept waiting for a shark to swim at us, teeth bared, but it didn't happen. Plus, the show was narrated by a sea turtle - which Rachel loved. The show was also about more than just sharks, they included lots about the prey too (sardines schooling, sea lions, dolphins, etc). I also learned that many well known species of sharks are now on the endangered list- like hammerheads and whale sharks. David fell asleep during the movie, so he got a good little rest and was ready to take off on the journey home. We came home during rush hour, so the trains and the bus were very crowded, but it wasn't too bad. People here have been very nice to offer help with the stroller on and off the trains and to give up seats so the kids can sit down. I really haven't seen too much rudeness from any of these "Yankees."

>>> Geek Alert <<<

2007-06-18T21:32:00.001-04:00

This might be over the top, but I thought it was fascinating:

Tomorrow evening (Tuesday) - if the weather is clear, you will be in for a treat in North Alabama - the International Space Station and Shuttle will be undocked, but flying close enough together for a neat sighting. It will be low on the horizon, but you are right on the cuttoff for best visibility. If you want to read more, check out the article at space.com.

Hartselle:
Date Mag Starts Max. Ends
18 Jun 2.1 22:46:52 10 NW 22:47:48 18 NW 22:47:48 18 NW
19 Jun 1.5 21:33:14 10 N 21:35:10 16 NNE 21:36:08 14 ENE
20 Jun -0.2 21:53:06 10 NW 21:55:43 47 NNE 21:55:43 47 NNE

Belmont:
Date Mag Starts Max. Ends
18 Jun -0.9 22:13:08 10 WNW 22:15:52 74 WSW 22:16:34 52 SE
19 Jun 0.4 20:58:54 10 NW 21:01:35 35 NNE 21:04:15 10 E
19 Jun 0.8 22:34:02 10 W 22:36:08 24 SW 22:36:08 24 SW
20 Jun -0.9 21:19:20 10 WNW 21:22:12 88 SW 21:24:30 15 SE

Now what's *really* cool is that for most of these, we see them in different passes at Belmont than you do in Hartselle (each pass is about 90 min apart, and the geometry has to balance perfectly to be in dark on the ground but have the ISS/STS illuminated above you by the sun - also, remember we are 1 hour ahead of you here). However, look at 19 June - the 21:33 pass for Hartselle is the same pass as the 22:34 pass for Belmont - it just becomes visible here about 45 seconds after it becomes visible in Hartselle, and for about two minutes it can be seen both from Belmont and Hartselle - HOW COOL IS THAT?

I got my data from heavens-above.com (my favorite for ISS/STS/Iridium Flare passes, etc), but the official NASA site may be a tad more user friendly.

Enjoy!

tim

(P.S. - can you tell I needed a break from school?)

Sunday, June 17

2007-06-17T21:53:00.000-04:00

Happy Father's Day!!!

We've had a good day, and I'm feeling in much better spirits for having spent the day not cooped up at home with the kids all by myself! We played hookey from church this morning to spend time with Tim. We had a yummy breakfast from the bakery and opened presents. Daddy got coffee mugs from David, a very nice leather bound copy of works by Thoreau from Rachel, a Boston Red Sox t-shirt from Jamie, and a slingshot yard game from all of us. He said that we had covered all of the bases for Father's Day gifts. . . a necessity (coffee cups), his love (book), fitting in to our new locale (t-shirt), and something to do outside with the whole family (game).

Then we set off for our Father's Day adventure. We let Tim set our path since it is Father's Day.

We caught the bus to Harvard Square and then went on to Boston (Haymarket Street) by train. We walked through Quincy Market and looked around a little. And then on toward our destination. On the way, we stopped to look at the Holocaust memorial. It was really moving. It is in a smallish greenspace between 4 lanes of downtown Boston traffic. It consists of a sidewalk that moves through several tall glass towers. There is one tower for each of the concentration camps from WWII. Etched on the glass of each tower are the numbers of each person who died in that camp. There are also facts about the war and the holocaust carved in the sidewalk. Inside each tower, the floor is a grate from which steam rises (bringing to mind the gas chambers). Rachel asked a lot of questions. I guess we had never talked about it before. She was amazed that someone could do so many horrible things. At the end of the path there was a stone marker with a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower about his experience seeing the camps and that he wanted to see them with his own eyes so that if in the future someone tried to minimize or deny the atrocities committed, he would know the truth. Jamie and I had a good discussion about that. He was amazed that there are people who want to deny that the Holocaust never really happened.

For lunch, we stopped in at a little pub called The Purple Shamrock. It was a great little place with "authentic" Irish foods. We all enjoyed our lunch. David especially liked the french fries and katsup. He had discovered that katsup is the best thing around. He even eats it by itself!!!

After our lunch break, we set off on the last half of the freedom trail. It took us down to Boston Harbor, where we caught the ferry over to see the USS Constitution (old ironsides). We unfortunately missed the last guided tour of the day, so we only got to walk around on the upper deck. The kids enjoyed wandering around looking at the rigging, cannon, and captain's wheel. We'll definitely have to go back so we can get to see below deck!

From there we walked to the visitor's center. We watched a movie about the Battle at Bunker Hill. It was a multimedia presentation that combined a movie with figures that reminded Jamie and me of the Cyclorama in Atlanta. David said that the "fire" was scary (when they called for the troops to fire during the battle, lights and gunshot sounds would go off).

We walked up to the Bunker Hill monument. On the way, we saw an ice cream truck. So, of course, we had to stop. The kids got goodies and Tim & I had some much needed cold bottles of water. We sat on the steps to eat and visited a little with the man who owned the truck. He had grown up in that neighborhood, and now works there in the warm months. During the winter, he lives in FL. Of course, it was our accent that was the conversation starter. It was kind of neat to be at Bunker Hill on the actual anniversary of the battle. Unfortunately, the museum was closed as was the stairway up to the top.

From there, we began our long journey back home. We walked about 10 min to the T station (near Bunker Hill Community College - where parts of Good Will Hunting were filmed). Then we got on the orange line, changed to the green line, and then to the red line. The red line was undergoing repairs going over the Charles River today, so we took the red line to Park station, got off and on a bus to Kendall station (the MIT stop), then back on the red line train to Harvard Square. David fell fast asleep in the bus from Park to Kendall. The poor baby was tuckered out from all the walking he did today. He really did pretty well, but Tim and I carried him a lot (the stroller is in the back of the van . . . in the shop). He absolutely does NOT like to be on Tim's sholulders. He's the first child we've had that cries when he gets up there. He'd rather walk than go on DaDa's shoulders! When we force the issue because he's too slow, and mommy is worn out from hauling him around, he hangs on to Tim's hair or ears for dear life. Bless his little heart!! Anyway, we made it home after about 1 1/2 hours of transit. Whew! We probably would have done it that way even if we had the van, though, because there is no place to park in Boston!!

Saturday, June 16

2007-06-17T21:38:00.000-04:00

Another day spent mostly at home since we're without a vehicle. AGAIN!!! Tim took the van in and learned that we have a cracked radiator. So, we'll be without wheels until at least Monday. Tim went in to MIT to meet with his study group this morning. The kids and I spent our time playing and making Father's Day cards. Jamie drew a great Buzz Lightyear for David's card to Tim, then David colored it in. I think that David is going to have a very hard time turning ownership of the card over to Tim. But he did want to give it to "DaDa" as soon as Tim got home. Things make so little sense when you're only 3!!

We had a nice picnic lunch in the back yard today. We're out of milk, so we had sweet tea for lunch. The kids all enjoyed the treat, as I don't make sweet tea very often. After lunch, we played outside for awhile. Tim had a conference call with some classmates to do some school work for the afternoon (it ended up lasting 3.5 hours). So, the kids and I entertained ourselves with reading, walking to the store for wrapping paper, wrapping Tim's Father's Day presents, and watching a movie. David wasn't much interested in the movie, so we went upstairs to play with his trains and the viewmaster discs of Larry Boy.

Once Tim was done with his conference call, it was dinnertime. We all wanted to get out of the house for a bit, so we walked about a mile down the road to a little pizzaria. Jamie tried chicken parmesan for the first time. He thought it was ok, but I could tell that it really wasn't what he was expecting. Tim and I both had calezones, but we should have just split one. We did take the leftovers home for a later meal. After that, we walked back toward home and stopped in at the ice cream parlor. It was really nice out, so we ate our ice cream at one of the outside tables. When we got home, it was time to put everyone to bed. Then I set off to reading my 2 chapters in Harry Potter for the day. I'm glad that I'm rereading the book, because I had forgotten so many things! I'll definitely be ready for the new one next month. I ended up staying up until almost midnight reading, even though I had been exhausted most of the day. I just got a second wind and got involved in reading. Maybe I'll get a good night's sleep tomorrow night.

Friday, June 15

2007-06-15T21:44:00.000-04:00

Wow!! June is half over! I can hardly believe it. I'm just glad that all the days haven't been like today. This was a disappointing day. Rachel was in the dumps from lunchtime on. She says that this was the worst day ever for various and sundary reasons. David was extremely clingy today too. We spent time in time out for hitting and lost toys for throwing them. Tim had a rough day too, on the heels of very little sleep last night.

The worst part of the day for me was our outing for the day. I had decided to take the kids to the Mt. Auburn cemetary. It is the oldest garden cemetary in the US. It is lush and green, full of plants and trees and lots of sculptures in, around, and a part of the tombstones. There is also a large tower in the cemetary that you can go up in and see Boston. We got the auto tour - a CD tour with lots of nice music, stories and interesting facts about the cemetary. We got about 15 minutes into the hour long tour when the van started smoking and smelling like antifreeze. I pulled over, got out and looked under the hood. Sure enough, the antifreeze compartment was almost empty - even though my temperature gauge never moved from the mid line. ARRRRRRGH!!!!!! I left the cemetary in an extremely foul mood. It did help, though, that the kids were also disappointed that we had to stop our tour and that the nice lady in the office gave us our money back since we didn't get to do the whole thing. I took the cursed vehicle home and tried to call Tim to see if we should take it back to Mickey or try someone else. Tim was, of course, in class, so I didn't get through. When he got home from class at around 6 (earlier than I had expected), I gave him the bad news. He called Mickey who is going to take a look at it tomorrow morning. Tim will take it in on his way to his study group meeting in the morning. So, again, we are without a car.

David and Rachel remained grumpy until after supper. David wanted me to play instead of cooking, and Rach just wanted this terrible day to be over. Now, I'm just plain pooped. Maybe next week will be better.

Thursday, June 13

2007-06-14T22:02:00.000-04:00

Our adventure today took us to two malls. The kids and I needed to do our Father's Day shopping, but I was hoping for something a little more fun than just a mall. So, I got online and searched on mall + playplaces. The site for the Atrium Mall came up. The site said that it had a playspace for kids to enjoy. It wasn't too far away, either. I was quite tickled with the find, so off we went. When we got there, I got a call from Julie while we were still in the parking garage. She was calling with the news that the Baker twins had arrived. Congratulations, Margaret & Lee!! The babies are doing well - boy and girl - both over 5 lbs.

So, we went in and rode the elevator up to the 4th floor of the mall. (It was a great glass elevator with which the kids were greatly impressed!) Unfortunately that was the best thing about this mall - in their opinion. The kids space was great if you were a preschooler - so David had a great time! It was a carpeted, enclosed space with several pieces of "little tikes" type play structures. There were places to climb, slide, and tunnel. Davd played for about 20 minutes, then a stinky diaper drew him out. We actually left without a tantrum. We changed the diaper and set out to look for the food court, but there wasn't one. There was a Cheesecake Factory, a Vietnemese place, and a Bertrucci's (Italian-family style). The kids weren't excited about any of them, and I really wasn't either with the three of them and only one of me. So we went into the Borders books and shopped a little and then loaded up and headed back to the mall at Burlington.

At the Burlington Mall, we went straight for the food court - we were all famished!! Then we got all of our shopping done with only a little backtracking. I remembered to bring the stroller this time, so things went much better with David! It was another cool day (high only in the mid 50s), so we came home and had a soup and cornbread night for dinner - which Tim actually made it home for!
Things are really beginning to gear up for him! He has a lot to do from here on out. He says that he'll be studying most of this weekend. His study group is meeting on Saturday to get their group assignments done. I think that it will be a good thing that we'll be in Alabama for the last week of classes for this term and for finals. Maybe the poor guy will be able to study in peace.

After supper, we took a trip an ice cream & sandwich place we found that's fairly close to home. They had mint chocolate chip, so Jamie was pleased. And they had sprinkles, so Rachel and David were pleased. I was pleased with my cookie dough ice cream cone until David decided to take it over. I didn't really need it anyway. He did at least let me have the chunks of cookie dough and the last half of the cone. We took David's ice cream (what was left after eating all of the sprinkles) to Tim, who stayed home to study. This place is a good find because it will be an easy one to get to on bicycle on warmer days!

Pictures from last Thursday's outing

2007-06-14T21:31:00.000-04:00

This is the outside of the Discovery Museum (the one geared toward toddlers). It's a Victorian house that has been converted. Too bad I had my thumb in the way!!!

Here are some pictures from our day at the Discovery Museums last Thursday. I can hardly believe that a week has passed - it went by quickly - especially since we were homebound most of the week!

This is Jamie on the dinosaur in the front yard of the Discovery Museum.

(Top above) Rachel & Captain David in the "boat room," & (bottom above) the bubble station outside the museum.

(L) David and Jamie playing on the slide in the "rainbow room".

(R) All the the kids enjoyed the sandbox!!

(L) Rachel playing the part of "ticket master" and David playing the part of paying customer.(R) The "train room."

I forgot to turn the flash on when we were inside the Science Museum, so all of my pictures from in there turned out pretty dark. This one is not too bad. It's of the swinging marble thing that I wrote about in the blog from that day.

Wednesday, June 13

2007-06-14T21:08:00.000-04:00

Another day spent mostly at home today. We did venture out to walk down the hill to the CVS that's not too far off. I took in my pictures from last Thursday's adventure to the Discovery Museums. Then we rewarded ourselves with a stop by the bakery on the way home. I wanted to try a cupcake to test the waters for birthday cakes. It was pretty good.

It was a really cool day - high of maybe 60 - so Rachel and I decided to do some baking after lunch. She chose the chocolate chip muffin recipe from a kids cookbook she got for her birthday (thanks, Nanny!), and we got cookin'. They turned out great, and the heat from the kitchen helped warm up the house.

I called to check on our car around 5:00, and found that it was all done but the paperwork. Mickey called me back a bit later with the bad news, then the kids and I took off for the bus stop to retrieve it. We were all glad to have the van back in working order so we could go get a movie for our family movie night. This week the selection was Flushed Away, that wonderful bit of cinematic history that served as David's first movie to see in a big theater. We all really like the singing slugs that provide the soundtrack and comic relief all during the film. For supper, we picked up Chinese take out from Young's. The kids liked it much better than the first one we tried. We sat in the floor, watched our movie and had a Chinese picnic (a very messy food selection for movie night). A delicious dessert of chocolate chip muffins followed. All in all, a very good day.

Tuesday, June 12

2007-06-12T20:50:00.000-04:00

The kids and I ventured out to the grocery store today. I had to go or have nothing to cook for dinner tonight. Plus, David was out of Cocco Puffs - which he let me know was a huge travesty!! He has learned how to eat cereal with milk on it, and now wants it every morning. (A boy after my own taste buds!) We haven't had Cocco Puffs the last two mornings. We arrived back home at lunch time and needless to say, David had Cocco Puffs for lunch. But at least he wanted to go to the store. The store where we shopped today had great buggies for little ones. The front of the buggy (opposite from the end you push) was built into a little car with windows, seatbelt, and steering wheel. Rachel wanted to cram herself into the seat next to David, but Mommy vetoed it.

After a quick lunch, we had to take the van back to the service station to have the thermostat put in. We got there without getting too hot and dropped the key off with Mickey who said that he loves to hear the kids talk - loves the accent. We walked down to the grocery store/bus stop and only had to wait a couple of minutes till our bus came. We all piled on and rode to Cushing Square and walked from there. David did not want to get off the bus - he enjoyed the ride thoroughly.

Later that afternoon, we had our first play date. Kirsten, a lady we met a church, brought her girls, Faye and Callie, over to play. Rachel falls right between the two in age. The girls all got along very well. Faye and Callie get along great - much better than my oldest two. They had fun playing while Kirsten and I had a nice visit. Kirsten is actually a native Bostonian. She tells me that there aren't too many of them around. Most of the folks here are temporary transplants like us. She said that it has made for an interesting life with a wide assortment of friends from all over the place. She is a really neat person. I know that I'll enjoy getting to know her better.

Monday, June 11

2007-06-11T21:31:00.001-04:00

Wow! I'm finally catching up all the way to present day! Yea!!!!

Today was an at home day. I also began restrictions on the tv today. I wasn't the most popular mom with Rachel today. We spent the morning playing, cleaning house, and doing laundry. For lunch, we decided to have a picnic outside at the table in the back yard. It was still in the shade and the temperature was in the 70s. Quite lovely!! After lunch, the kids wanted to go for a walk, so we walked down the road to the Belmont Water Resevoir. It is on a hill, so you can't see it from street level. I was quite surprised to find not water, but a green field at the top. I guess the water is all underground. The whole area is fenced off and people aren't allowed to go in. There are a couple of small, round brick buildings there too. Jamie decided he wanted to run around the whole thing, so he took off in one direction, and David, Rachel and I in the other. It took him about 6 minutes to run all the way around and then come back to us, so it's probably between 1/4 and 1/2 a mile around. Then it was back home to cool off.

After watching Arthur and having reading time, we decided to venture back out, but on bicycle this time. We all rode down to Jamie's school (Chenery) to the playground there. David enjoyed running and playing on the equipment and swinging. His first time to swing since leaving home. :-( There were some kids there who were Jamie's age and a teacher or aide of some sort. It was probably an after school care program. Anyway, Jamie tried to talk to a couple of boys and a group of girls came up to him. It didn't seem to go too well, though. I tried to give him some pointers on how to start up a conversation, but I know it must be hard. The girls were all very silly and giggly. Jamie did talk to them long enough to find out that they are his "peers" - as he put it (5th graders now).

Tim actually had an early day again today, so he was home by 6:00oish. He even stopped off at the grocery store on the way and picked up some bread and a gallon of milk. The grocery store is on the bus route home, so he was able to stop off and get back on to come home without paying twice. I haven't tried the buses by myself yet. But, if this car situation continues too much longer, I will!! After supper, we all went outside to play a little frisbee in the cool of the evening. It's 68 here right now, and the low tonight is supposed to be 62. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, and the high will only be 68. That's one thing I don't miss about Alabama - the hot!

Sunday, June 10

2007-06-11T20:59:00.000-04:00

Today we had a relatively quiet day. We went back to church at Belmont Methodist since we're still having car troubles. David got noisy early, so we slipped out to the nursery - which was unmanned. So, I just stayed there with him. There is a speaker system though that allowed me to listen to the service while he and I played with the Thomas set. A little later in the service, a dad came in with his 20 month old son. I told him that I was just a visitor, but would stay with both kids if he liked. He decided to stay too. I had noticed his accent immediately, and asked about where he was from. It turns out that he's from Australia. He and his family have been stationed at the air force base nearby for the next 3 years. His name is Russel and his wife's name is Wendy. We visited with them during the coffee time after the service. Wendy has a daughter named Porche (sp?) who is in first grade this year. I exchanged info with her, so we may get the girls together to play sometime. Still no boys Jamie's age. But, we'll keep on trying.

After church, we went out for breakfast again. Tim likes it as a tradition. David ate lots of eggs. The last bit were even heavily salted and peppered by him, but they still were consumed! Next, we went out for a bike ride. We decided to try to navigate to a nearby ice cream parlor (Rancatore's) by bike - as Rachel's first big outing. She did fairly well. We took back roads all the way there, and made it ok. This is a yummy place for ice cream. They even have lots of frozen yogurt flavors - I had almond chip (had lots of almonds and chunks of chocolate). Jamie was disappointed, though, because they didn't have mint chocolate chip, so he just had a root beer. We made it back home (mostly uphill), and decided to rest awhile.

Then we suited up and went out to the Belmont sprinkler park. The water was really cold!! Jamie & Rachel had a good time, but David was not at all interested in the cold water. He ended up on the playground.

When we got home, Jan & Don were outside, so we visited with them a bit. They're headed to China for a trip with the native speaker who teaches at Don's school. Don also asked us if we could do him a favor. It seems that he's going to be on Jepoardy on June 21 (I think) and wanted us to record it for him. He says that it was taped almost a year ago, and he's not allowed to say how many shows he'll be on. It will be fun to watch! It made me think of Julie and her attempts to be on Millionaire.

For supper, we walked down to Brother's Pizza. Then back home to settle in for the night. Jamie is madly reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He announced today that if he reads just 2 chapters each day, he'll finish in 2 weeks. That means I only have 2 weeks to reread Half Blood Prince. Jamie spent a lot of time reading on the sunporch off of our bedroom today. I am so tickled to see him enjoying reading so much!! We had to force him to read the bare minimum for so long. But hopefully this will be the beginning of a new trend for him.

This is a wide shot Tim took of the sprinkler park. There is a good little playground there too. You can see it in the background.

Saturday, June 9

2007-06-10T20:16:00.000-04:00

Jamie with new friends John(11), Hannah(7), and Shunta(7)

Today was the day of the big MIT Sloan picnic. We drove out to Concord,MA to Camp Thoreau - about 17 miles from home. We crawled there in the car since we're having overheating problems. We drove as far as we could with the car heating up, and then pulled over to wait about 5 minutes for the car to cool a little so we could go a little further. It took about 45 minutes to go those 17 miles. We were lucky that the weather was cool and overcast/rainy. At the picnic, Jamie and Rachel made some friends. Jamie met a boy named John (an Americanized name) who is from South Korea. They played basketball in the rain then soccer then giant frisbee. I think that Jamie & John will be good friends because Tim and John's dad are in the same study group. Rachel played with a couple of little girls - Yuna and Lina from Japan. Some of the guys also put together an impromptu soccer game. David enjoyed splashing in the puddles, playing with a basketball, and then disrupting the frisbee game between Jamie, John and his little sister Hannah. We made it home fine - stopping a couple of times to let the car cool. The final time, we stopped at a little park and let the kids get out and play for a few minutes. Then we spent a quiet night at home.

David playing frisbee with the big kids. John was very sweet to let David have his turn. David even
began to hug on John by the end of the game!

Rachel playing a little badmitton with Lina. John's mom (June-Haw Sook) looks on.

Rainy basketball with John.

Friday, June 8

2007-06-09T20:47:00.000-04:00

Today was adventure of another kind day. It all started out innoncently enough. . . Tim had the morning off, so we went to run a couple of errands that needed to be done together. First up, the bank, so we could have access to ATM and local checking. After leaving there, we were headed to MIT, but we only got a mile or so down the road when the car started to smell funny and I noticed that the heat reading was pegged. Yikes!!!
We pulled over and called AAA. Tim had to leave me and the kids there and go on to get to a meeting before his first class of the day. I assured him that we'd be fine. We all sat in the car and waited for the tow truck to come get us. While waiting, we played Rachel's favorite car game "guess the animal" - kind of like 20 questions - several rounds. Finally a nice fellow named Shawn showed up and said that he could tow the van but couldn't transport so many passengers (especially with car seat requirements). So he told me that he'd call us a cab. I asked if we were close enough to just walk. It turned out that we were less than 1 mi. from the service station. After securing directions, the kids and I set off while Shawn set about preparing to tow. It was a nice walk through a very nice Cambridge neighborhood- big houses with lovely gardens. We were also mostly in the shade. We got to the service station and were helped by Mickey (whose real name is Michael), who was a really nice guy. He suggested that we go to the grocery store just down the road to get a drink and wait while he took a look to see what was up with our poor van. {And we thought that we brought the GOOD car to MA!} We walked around a curve and the grocery store was the one that I had been to a couple of times (yea). We went in and got drinks and lunch from the deli counter and then went to sit on a bench outside the store for a little picnic. Jamie didn't like the wrap that he got, so I told him to try my chicken salad wrap. He did reluctantly, but his face quickly lit up and he said,"this is good." So I gave him half of my wrap, and we now know that Jamie likes chicken salad. After lunch, we walked back down to the service station and Mickey gave us the news that he wasn't absolutely sure what was causing it, but that the van was definitely running way hotter than it should be. He thinks that it's probably a bad thermostat. I told Mickey that I'd have to talk to my hubby and see what we wanted to do. He was fine with that and sent me on my way. Well, I thought I knew where I was going, but somehow I ended up turned around and in heavy traffic. With a car that was already beginning to overheat again. We had a very tense ride home, but we made it with the help of directions from the Tom Tom.
Then the kids and I just relaxed and watched a little PBS. I fell asleep on the couch with David in my lap - I guess the stress of the day wiped me out. Tim was through early at school, so we ate an early supper. Then we all went out to ride bikes. Rachel is getting pretty good on her two wheeler! Jamie and I rode up to his school. Not a bad ride at all! David and I went to the playground for a few minutes, while Jamie continued to ride around in the parking lot.
Tim went out to a gathering of the fellows at Diego's apartment (Diego is a real cutie from Argentina - I sat by him at the JFK Library dinner during orientation). The kids and I just chilled at home, glad to have this day behind us.

Thursday, June 7

2007-06-08T21:06:00.000-04:00

Today was adventure day. The kids and I decided to strike out and spend the day doing something that they would really enjoy. One benefit of having a library card in MA is that you can get passes for discounts at lots of great things to do. We decided to give the Discovery Museums in Acton, MA a try. It's actually 2 separate hands on museums.
The first is in a rennovated victorian home. The whole house has been converted into a hands on museum geared toward preschoolers. We started out on the 2nd floor where there was a rainbow room, a safari room, a tree fort room, a sights and sounds room, and a play cafe. Rachel took right to the cafe and started organizing all of the players into her staff of customers, cooks, and servers. Fourtunately, all were willing participants. Jamie and David started in the rainbow room where there were huge color puzzles on one wall, a rainbow slide with steps that lit up in different colors as you climbed them, and wheels you could spin to see how colors blend to form secondary colors. Then we went on to the safari room where David climbed in the treehouse, used binoculars to spot wild (stuffed) animals and slid down a log slide. Those were really the favorite activities on that floor.
The third floor was all a ship. There were jacket-type costumes that the kids could put on. David liked the captain's jacket and the penguin suit. There were all kinds of instrument panels for flipping switches and mashing buttons. The kids also enjoyed the submarine room - a small space made like the inside of a sub.
The first floor was probably my favorite. At the foot of the stairs was a wall covered in chalkboard paint that the kids could draw on. Jamie, of course, graced the wall with a picture. David and Rachel went straight for the water room, where there was a water play table set up (like at Sci Quest). The next room was an entire room of balls and courses for them to run through. On one course, the ball travels all the way around the room twice ringing bells, knocking down "dominoes", playing chimes, and going through several tubes and funnels. The final room was the Train room. There was a ticketing station with play money and tickets, which Rachel took over. There was a large train the kids could get in and ring the bell and whistle and pretend to drive. There were also several tables and Brio sets for the kids to play and create with. As if that wasn't enough, outside there was a mega sandbox and bubbles galore. We dragged David away after a morning of play to go grab some lunch.
After lunch at McDonald's, we headed back to the Science Museum. This one was geared for older children. The kids loved playing with all of the magnet activities that greeted us as we entered. When we finished there, we went up to the second floor to the optics room. In it were color wheels, kaliedescopes (sp??), prisims, polarized glass, and a room where you could leave your shadow on the wall. David really enjoyed this room. We had to visit and revisit it. Also on the second floor was a huge sound exhibit. There were big balls you could squeeze and play different pipes from a pipe organ. There was a display showing how a cucco clock works. There was a "harp" which operated by breaking beams of light to make different sounds. There was also a microphone you could speak into and see the sound waves your voice makes. David's was "to infinity and beyond." Jamie and Rachel played int the fog table for a bit and with a game of hairdryer basketball. You had hair dryers and you tried to get a pingpong ball through the hoop using the air. There was also a cool, huge swinging balls thing - the little desktop game where you pull back a ball and it hits a group of balls and knocks the end one out on the other side. The third floor had an observation window where you could climb up a ladder and peek out a skylight "bubble". There was also a skeleton in the attic - which Jamie enjoyed. We went back down to the first floor and made a picture to take home. It was made on a suspended table which you gave a push and a stationary marker made a design which looked a little like the old Spirograph line designs.
We finished the day with one more trip down to David's museum to play in the boat and train rooms one last time. It was a super day. The kids were on their best behavior - in hopes of getting to walk to the store to buy webkinz that evening (with their own money).
Tim is working with Rachel on riding a bike without training wheels. This is a much better location for working on that than on our road back home! She's really starting to get the hang of it. I think that in a week or so, she'll be ready to head out on the road with Jamie and me. That will be nice, because there are even more places we can go by bike that are a little far for walking. I am hoping to come home in a little better shape than when I left. Between walking and riding bikes daily and climbing the stairs to come in and out and go to the kids rooms, I'm getting much more exercise that I ususlly do. Plus, it's really pleasant here in the evenings - even on the warm days, it cools off really nicely at night.

Wednesday, June 6

2007-06-07T22:32:00.000-04:00

Today we hung around the house for the morning. Just taking our time with baths and shampoos for everyone and having a generally lazy morning. We ate lunch and then decided to venture out to find the nearest Target and Blockbuster. I needed to exchange the viewmaster that David got for his birthday (the optics were weird), and I had gotten it a Target in Huntsville. So I got online and searched for a Target near me. It turns out that there is one less than 30 min from here. We piled in the car, punched up the address on the Tom Tom and struck out. We found it fairly easily. The exchange went off fine, except that we passed the Thomas aisle while looking for a replacement view master. Suddenly David didn't want a viewmaster, he wanted a Thomas and begain to lament at the cruelty of his wretched mother at the top of his lungs. Wretched mother that I am, I just continued with my shopping - there were several things that we needed to pick up. He would not be appeased by getting to select the color of plastic bowls for the family. He would not be appeased by a snack of goldfish - he wanted cookies. We finally got checked out, and I asked David if he wanted to go home and take a nap. He said he did. So, we drove back home and went through our whole nap time routine. I wasn't really surprised when he came thumping down the stairs a short time after being tucked in bed. The kids and I have decided that Wednesday night will be family movie night. So, since David wasn't napping, we piled back in the car to find Blockbuster. No problem getting there. The kids had a little trouble agreeing on a movie, so David had time to get antsy and begin to run up and down the aisles. At that, I swooped him up into my arms and he began to scream to be let down. We managed to get out of Blockbuster with all of the children still breathing and made it back home. Dave calmed down on the way, thankfully. Once at home, we decided to order pizza for supper from the place just down the road because Tim had an overnight team-building trip for school. So, I got online and ordered our food. Then we walked down to the square to get our pizza, fries, and baklava. We had a lovely picnic on the living room floor with our pizza and movie. The kids tried the baklava and didn't like it. So, as a reward for a long, difficult day, I got to have 2 pieces. I thought it was yummy! I actually closed a few windows before bed, because the lows were dipping into the 40s. I have really been surprised, but we haven't actually had to use the air conditioning units very much. I wonder if my temperature comfort zone will change after this year. We'll see.
I think that's it for today. I know that these blogs are probably a lot longer than anyone is interested in reading, but I know that there is no way I'll keep up with a blog and a journal. So, this has to serve as both, because I do want a record of our year for myself. Thanks to those of you who labor through all of my crazy, stream-of-consciousness postings. I really miss everyone back home and love yous guys lots and lots!
God bless!!!

2007-06-06T22:35:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, June 5
Today we spent the day running around town (Belmont). We started at the town clerk's office to check on getting a proof of residence letter for the schools. They sent us to the Light Board to get a current bill showing the service was in our name at our address. (Showing the lease agreement wasn't enough.) Oh, and it really is a Light bill up here because there is no air conditioning, and the heat, water heater, and stove are all gas & home heating oil. (The heating oil will cost $180 a month. They do an average and spread it out over the whole year so you don't have astronomical heating oil bills in the winter.) Then we went back to the town clerk's office. From there, we went to the library to get our library cards. The Belmont library is a little over twice the size of Hartselle's. The children's library is downstairs. The kids filled out their own information cards and took care of getting their own library cards. David and I played in the toddler area. There was a large, wooden alphabet puzzle and a play kitchen there. There was also a special small bookshelf that was filled with board books for little ones. David was able to go over and choose a book for me to read to him. I think that he'll enjoy going to the library. Rachel checked out a book about outer space. Jamie didn't get a book, since he's in the middle of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and is trying to finish it and the next book before his turn to read our copy of #7. The city pool is right next door to the library, but it isn't open yet. It seems to be a fairly large pool, and someone told me that it's the oldest public pool still in operation in the U.S. I'll have to check that one out. The pool is scheduled to open when school gets out later this month (the 18th I think).
Then it was back to home to try to get David down for a nap. Which he ditched, again. I think that our napping days are over. Sigh. . . . We did have some good reading time together, though. Right now his favorite book is "Hi, Pizza Man" - which was one of Rachel's favorites when she was little. She even commented on the fact when she heard me reading it to David recently.
After the failed nap attempt, we all went outside to play for awhile. David & I ran around playing Buzz Lightyear, while Rachel rollerskated and Jamie played with a tennis ball "dart" game. We came inside in time to watch Arthur. Then I cooked my first full meal in our little kitchen. We had chicken & rice, corn on the cob (from a really fabulous farmer's market nearby), and broccoli. My little kitchen was about 100 degrees by the time supper was ready. So, I'm going to be doing simple suppers or take out once it gets really hot. What a great excuse not to cook (it's too hot). We'll have to see how it all works out. Tim made it home by 6:15. Yea!! and we all sat down to a family meal. After supper, Jamie & I ventured out to the movie theater to see Pirates 3. I liked it, but it did get a little long. Did anyone stay for the extra scene after the credits? Only Jamie, me, and one other couple stayed behind at our showing. Ok. That's it for this day.

2007-06-06T21:48:00.000-04:00

Now on to the beginning of classes for Tim, and the beginning of super mom time for me. Monday morning, Tim got up and headed out for class. Dave came downstairs and got in bed with me for our morning cuddle. It's about the only time of day that he is cuddly, so I make the most of it! The kids and I ventured out to the mall because it had been raining since Sunday evening and was predicted to rain all day. It was really chilly out. The temps were in the 50's I think. We all had on long pants, but I actually went back in and put on longer sleeves before leaving the house for good! It was obvious that the locals are used to cool weather even in to June, because most people in the mall had on jackets and warmer clothing than the kids & I had on.
The Tom Tom helped us to navigate to the mall. That thing is really amazing!! I am going all over the place already thanks to its help. Our first stop in the mall was Build a Bear Workshop. The kids wanted to check it out. Rachel made a turtle friend for herself, complete with a shell that's also a backpack and a voice box that says several phrases. David decided to hold out for a Thomas train. While we were in Build a Bear, we saw a couple of the partners from Sloan. They were both from overseas and have been in Mass for a couple of weeks now. We exchanged phone numbers and then headed out to find a toy store for David. The mall has a KB toys, so we felt right at home there. David got a James train. Then we went to lunch in the food court. Jamie had Chinese - Chicken and Mushrooms, almost as good as China Wok's. Rachel went for pizza, and David and I opted for Chik Fila. Afterward we stopped in at the Disney store - they were having a big sale, and David got a Toy Story play set with Woody, Buzz, Zurg, a Little Green Man, Jesse, Bullseye, and Bo Peep. He was quite beside himself!! Then it was time to head home. But, when we got through the downpour and to the car, the Tom Tom wouldn't do anything. I was just a little panicked. I felt ok moving around close to home, but I was very unsure of our path to the mall (a 30 minute drive) with several turns. I called Tim in a panic, and he told me how to reset the Tom Tom. Nothing. So we set out to try to find our way back home on our own. Jamie helped me navigate a little. But we made it without a single wrong turn! I was almost giddy when we got to a place from which I knew for certain how to get home!!
After coming home, we were all very excited to see that Arthur comes on every day at 4:00. The kids and I have all missed Arthur since the PBS satellite feed at home switched to PBS sprout programming all day. So we all piled in front of the TV to watch for a bit. Then it was time to think about supper. Since it was so cool out, we had soup and cornbread. (And yes, I did bring my iron skillet from home so I could make it correctly!) Tim didn't make it home for supper due to a class session that started at 7. I told the kids that we'd probably eat without him at least a few times a week. :-(
After supper, it had quit raining, so we went outside for a bit of fresh air and ran into Jan & Don - our landlords. They hadn't met the youngest two yet, so we visited for awhile. Then they came in to see the treefrog and how Rachel has fixed up her room. They are both very nice folks!! David was sweet at first, but then wanted mommy's attention to be on him rather than our company, so he had to have a time out. Oh well, it's real life! While visiting, Don showed Rachel that we can buzz people in the front door from upstairs - which she thought was totally awesome and had to try out. When I was going down to reengage the deadbolt, David tried to hurry down the stairs after me to get back outside and took a big tumble. It was so scary to see him bouncing and rolling. He rolled parallel to the stairs, rather than head over tail, so he didn't do too much damage before I could get to him. But he did get a big goose egg on the forehead, a bruise on the arm, and he also bit his lip. Two accidents in two days for this poor baby. I hope that this isn't the beginning of a trend!! I swept him up in my arms and sat with him for awhile. It took quite awhile for him to calm down. I know that it must have been really scary for him!! Then I tried to ask him some questions to check on his short term memory and check for possible concussion. He did fine, but it was hard to think of something that he would remember and be able to answer. Tim arrived home during this time, so he loved on David some too. Then it was time for bed for the kids and blogging for me.

2007-06-06T21:44:00.000-04:00

Still trying to get everyone caught up with the McKelvy family adventure to date. I think that we've made it to Sunday. We went to church at Belmont Methodist Church on Sunday morning. Worship begins at 10:00 and, of course, we arrived at 10:05. We went on in anyway because we weren't the only stragglers coming in late. We were able to walk to and from church, which was a treat!! The sanctuary is very pretty, very formal. The service was also very "high church" we used the hymnals a lot and had to do a lot of flipping from page to page to sing hymns, read responsively, and even do a chant of the Lord's Prayer. We sang responses to almost everything. The pastor wore a formal robe as did the student pastor who has been working with the church. The rest of the congregation, however was in various states of dress from blue jeans to casual to dressy. Kind of funny contrast. David and I went to find the nursery after singing the first hymn. I asked him if he wanted to go, and he said yes. Then he told his Dada that we were going to the nursery. We went out the back door and followed kid-sized footprints (contact paper on the floor) to the nursery. A very cute and effective way to show how to get there and back. David went right in and found a Brio train set to play with and made himself right at home. He wasn't worried at all that I was leaving. The nursery was staffed by a volunteer (there were only 2 kids this Sunday) who was very friendly. I slipped back into church and enjoyed the service. We had communion - using the formal liturgy and sung responses in the hymnal. And during the offering time, we made our presence known by dropping the offering plate on the wooden church floor. Yikes!!! Talk about embarrassing! Fortunately no one commented on it afterward. This church has a coffee time after the service. Everyone goes to the fellowship hall for snacks 11-11:30. We met up with the nurse from Rachel's school, who remembered our faces and began making introductions. We met a couple of families who have children that go to the elementary school and middle school we will attend. Rachel made a friend; her name is Faye. Her mom is a free-lance artist. We're going to try to set up a play date for sometime this week. Then the kids left and went up to the 3rd floor for Sunday school (the last session of the school year) from 11:30-12:15. There weren't any boys there Jamie's age this week. I spent the time talking to a couple of moms and asking lots of questions about school and the area.
After church, we walked to a nearby resturant for lunch. I left Tim, Jamie, & Rachel with orders for David and myself and walked up to the house to change a stinky diaper. On the way back down to the resturant, David started running on the sidewalk, tripped and skinned his knee. It's his first really big booboo. He cried when it happened, but was a really big boy and very calm while I got him cleaned up. When we got back to the resturant, our food had arrived . . . Breakfast. Because this place is only open until 1 on Sundays, it only serves breakfast that day. So, instead of a salad, I got French toast. Oh well. It was good. Then we all walked back up to the house. After a quick change of clothing, I set out for my first solo trip in Belmont - to the grocery store.

There is a Star Market relatively close to our house, so I gave it a try. It's been a long time since I've tried to fill a long list in a totally unfamiliar store!! It took a good long while, but I finally got everything on my list and headed home. I actually made it home without the help of the Tom Tom! Yea!!!

2007-06-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

In this edition. . . I'm going to try to catch you all up with all that has happened from moving in day till now (Monday, June4). So hold on to your hats, this is a long one!

The kids at Boston Common.

Wednesday we finished unloading the truck. During a rest break, we heard the lovely melodies of the carilon bells in the Methodist Church playing several hymns. Then I worked at unpacking boxes while Tim took the truck back to Boston & got his first experience navigating the public transportation system to get back home. Wednesday night we went to see Belmont High School's senior class play . . . High School Musical. The kids really enjoyed it. The performance wasn't half bad, but I was a little distracted by a squirmy David and the lack of air conditioning in the auditorium. We got take out from a little oriental food place called New Asia. It was good, but the chicken and mushrooms, sweet & sour chicken, and sesame chicken (all family favorites) were very different from what we get at China Wok in Hartselle. The kids are already saying that we'll have to eat there when we come home in July.

On Thursday, Tim went to MIT to buy books, get his student ID and do several other things to get ready to start classes. Thursday also brought the Verizon technician out to the house to get us set up on cable and internet service. When he left(4 hours later), the kids and I walked down to the town square to the bakery for a little snack. Ohlin's bakery is said to have the best doughnuts in the Boston area, and Rachel heartily agrees. David is partial to the gingerbread man cookies. We took our snack to a little greenspace across the street from the church and had a little picnic. On the way back home, we stopped in at the pet store in town (which does carry crickets - that cuts our cricket commute from driving to Decatur) and a Ben Franklin store (like a little dime store) with a Webkinz sign posted on the door. Thursday night, Tim & Jamie went to see Pirates 3 while Rachel, David, and I had a quiet night at home.

On Friday, we wanted to do something fun for the kids, so we all piled in the car and drove to Burlington mall (about a 30 min drive) to have lunch at Rainforest Cafe. The kids were absolutely beside themselves!! We also learned that the mall has a Disney store, a Lego store, and a Build a Bear workshop. There is also a Cheesecake Factory there and a HUGE Barnes and Noble across the street. I know what we can do on rainy days!!! We drove around awhile, and ended up at Bunker Hill. David was napping in the car, so just Jamie, Rachel, and Tim got out.

Saturday was our first big family touristy outing. We stopped by the bakery for breakfast to go, hopped on the bus, rode it to Harvard Square, then got on the T to go to Boston (Jamie & David loved riding standing up) and the Freedom Trail. We started our journey at Boston Common.

We walked up the hill to the State House whose dome is covered in 23 karat gold and whose cornerstone was laid by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. Then we walked over to the Granary Burial Ground and saw lots of cool tombstones. Jamie was fascinated by the carvings of the skeletons on so many of them. Samuel Adams, John Hancock, victims of the Boston Massacre, and Paul Revere were some of the graves we saw.

This picture is of Rachel standing by John Hancock's grave marker.

From there we went into King's Chapel and got to go inside to see what church box seats were like. We read about how a family would "buy" a box seat for about $150 per year and then decorate it with fabrics, cushions, and other furniture from home. The purpose of the box seats was to keep the worshipers warm in a huge unheated space. The walls kept out drafts and the small spaces could be heated through body heat and a foot warmer filled with coal. The balcony was for those who couldn't afford a box seat.

Then it was on past the first public school in the US and the site of the Boston Massacre to Faneuil Hall. There we stopped in to a festival of bands and heard an orchestra playing Holst's The Planets for their final number. Then as an encore they played a Star Wars suite. The sound was awesome!! We walked past Paul Revere's home and through Quincy Market and ended up at the Old North Church (of "one if by land. . ." fame). Our family sat in a box seat to hear the presentation of the docent. In the front left corner of the church was a plaque on the wall commemorating the preaching of Charles Wesley at this location.

We were all hot, thirsty, and starving by this point so we started looking for a place for lunch. Should be an easy thing since the North End is also "Little Italy". We ended up at a little family place owned and operated by an Italian family. The food was fabulous- Jamie has decided that he loves bread dipped in olive oil and spices - and the portions were enough to feed a horse. We had a complete meal from the leftovers!! Then it was time to head home. We finished the day with ice cream from a local place.

Ok. I gotta quit or my fingers are going to fall off!! I'm not used to all this typing!! I'll have to have do a "catch up" Part 2 next time.

The day before...

2007-06-03T22:46:00.000-04:00

We started today worshiping at Belmont United Methodist Church, a large, traditional UMC only about 300 feet from our house! And in true McKelvy fashion, we got there about two minutes late... The worship service was 'high' - strict order of worship, sung responses to everything, full service of word and table for Holy Communion. However, the dress was casual - everything from dress and suit to blue jeans to shorts. It was a strange contrast, but it worked. We can hear the chimes from the carillon clearly from our house, and in addition to chiming the hours, they play 'mini-concerts' of hymns a couple of times a day. Tonight at about 6pm the songs were "Just As I Am," and "Sweet Hour of Prayer." We've known almost all of the hymns so far!

My friend Dana from college asked about the house, so I'm posting a picture of the outside today. More about the neighborhood later, but we did meet a neighbor today who is a professor at Harvard Divinity School, plus several neat people from church this morning. It was about 40 degrees colder today than yesterday (almost 90F Saturday, barely 53F today), so we remained inside more. We did take a bicycle ride down to Jamie's school (Chenery, about 0.5 miles away), and Rachel practiced riding her two wheeler.

David fell today running down the sidewalk and scraped his knee pretty bad - Sonja says that this was his first real boo-boo. He cried a bit when it happened, but was up and running again a few minutes later - and didn't fuss at all when we put the Texas sized bandage on him.

Sonja will have to tell you about the beautiful park we discovered yesterday about a mile from our house - Beaver Brook Reservation. I'm sure they will be going back quite a bit.

One final note - you will be happy to learn that Isik (pronounced like Isaac), our miraculous White's Dumpy tree frog, successfully made the trip from Alabama to Massachusetts, and as of today is happily residing in Jamie and David's room. I'll post a couple of pictures soon.

Tomorrow is the big day - we begin the Sloan Fellows class of 2008 tomorrow morning at MIT, so look for updates from Sonja...

2007-06-02T23:04:00.000-04:00

Whew!! We made it! It was not a terrible trip, either. It really helped that we had the older kids split up between the Budget truck and my van. Our kids are really very good little travelers. But it was funny how underwhelmed they were with all of the scenery we drove through each day. We had really gorgeous driving weather; except after lunch on Monday when we drove through a monsoon. (Traffic slowed to 10mph on the interstate.) But back to the beginning for all the details you might want to know about our trip.

We didn't end up leaving Hartselle until around 2:00 on Sunday. My sister (Aunt Kiki) had prepared wonderful goodie bags for the kids with little treats at each 100 mile mark. So the kids had something fun to look forward to and count down the miles. The first goodie was a travel activity book which had a license plate sticker game in it. It had stickers for all 50 states plus Washington DC and a map to place them on when you saw a tag from each state. By the time we reached Belmont, Rachel had finished almost all 51. We even saw a tag from Hawaii!!!! We drove to Bristol, TN (just south of the Virginia border) to spend the night.

The next day was our longest: from Bristol,TN to Scranton, PA. Between searching for license tags for Rachel, Tim and I passed the time playing Cows and Graveyards (he stomped me). This day was an eventful one because it was our last one in the South. At breakfast, Tim made Rachel try grits because the day before she had asked what grits were. She was unimpressed. We crossed the Mason Dixon line and were appropriately sad. We got to Scranton and let the kids bleed off some energy in the pool. The next morning was beautiful, sunny and cool - my favorite kind of weather.

Day three of our road trip was the most maddning. We started off the day with a construction detour which put us wandering in the Poconos for about 30 minutes. But Tim finally got us back on track. Then we had trouble with our pit stops - one service station had no bathroom, one was a mile off the interstate and then had gas for $3.19, and our lunch break at McDonalds with a playplace for the kids to stretch their legs where the playplace was closed for repairs. When we got to Hartford, CT we ran into rush hour traffic and were slowed down for about 45 minutes. But we finally arrived in Belmont Tuesday night about 7:00. We let the kids go in and see the house, then walked down the block to a little family pizza place for dinner.

Now we are trying to settle in and see as much as we can see before Tim starts classes on Monday. I'll fill you in on that next time!
God bless you all!!
Sonja

We're here! (or there...)

2007-06-01T14:34:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone!

We've arrived safely in Belmont, MA - only got lost once along the way. Tim said that the exit off of I-380 onto I-84 east of Scranton, PA wasn't clearly marked, but we had a lovely 30 minutes wandering in the Poconos.

Here are a couple of shots from the journey:

We got the Budget truck to take David's car bed - looks like a bit of overkill if you ask me!

The happy/sad family about to hit the road.

Our 2nd night - in the mountains of Pennsylvania (Scranton).

Our first view of the Atlantic Ocean - On the fourth day.

More to come...