August 12

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

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

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

August 11

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

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

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

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

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

August 8, 9, & 10

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

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

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

August 6 & 7

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

David loved the sharks that were hanging from some trees.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sunday, August 5

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

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

Friday, August 3

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

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

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

Wednesday, August 1

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

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