Now I have two weeks to write about, but fortunately, I don’t remember much about the week before we left for Boston! In my planner I have only two things written down—a Primary presidency meeting on Sunday and lunch with my friend Christine on Monday. The presidency meeting went well, although a little longer than I had intended—we were a little late for our visiting appointments afterwards (but that almost always happened when Jana was president also)! At our meeting, we talked about activities and teacher appreciation, and I am really excited about the ideas that we came up with.
My lunch with Christine was fun—we met at a Chinese buffet place, then went to her house afterwards to visit. Seth was a little difficult at the restaurant, but he played well at Christine’s house. She gave me a bunch of clothes, shoes, and books for Seth—things her son, Benjamin, has grown out of.
Other than that, I don’t remember much about those few days before we left, except that we were just busy getting everything ready to go, and made a lot more trips to the store than I would have liked. On one trip late Wednesday, Frank noticed a screw in one of the Expedition’s front tires—he ended up getting two new front tires (they were really needing to be replaced anyway.) That’s four new tires we’ve had to get in the last month—one of the rear tires on Frank’s Prius blew out while he was driving down I-70 a few weeks ago.
Anyway, our plan was to leave here around 8:00 Thursday morning (the 6th) and we did manage to hit the road by 8:30, so we did pretty good, I think! The ride down was fairly uneventful and the kids were mostly very well behaved (thanks to modern technology—that car DVD player we bought last year was a great investment!) Seth started to lose it around 11:30, so we pulled into a McDonald’s with a playland for lunch—that helped him a lot! In the afternoon he took a nap so he was pretty happy the rest of the trip. We hit some slow going in Connecticut, just on the other side of New York City (we cut across north of the city, so we missed most of the really bad NYC traffic) and we hit some more slow going as we came into the Boston area, but other than that we made good time and arrived at Hans’s house around 6:00. (He lives in this great old house—Frank was fascinated when we went down in the basement and could see the old log beams holding up the floors!) Hans had some yummy crock pot beef and vegetables waiting for us, so we had dinner after we unpacked the car.
Hans's house
After dinner we went for a walk around Groton. It’s a beautiful old New England town, with old houses, lots of little white churches (I loved hearing the clock at one of these nearby chime the hours—especially a few times when I heard it in the middle of the night), and a town common. I was noticing a lot of differences between Massachusetts and Maryland while we were on this trip. For one thing, there are lots of ponds all over the place—leftovers from the days of glaciers, I suppose—and tons of trees. For another thing, you can just tell the area has been settled longer. It’s not as “planned” as towns in other parts of the country—less so than towns in Maryland, and Maryland towns are much less planned than towns out west. Hans told us that the saying goes that when they planned Boston, they let a pig loose and made a road wherever it ran! (In reality, most of it just wasn’t really planned at all.) Besides that, I saw very few housing developments. The houses are just plunked down all over the place with odd-shaped lawns (much larger lawns, as a rule, than you see these days) and I’d say that about 95% of them look like they’ve had additions put on over the years—which they have, because most of them are very old and probably started out as little cabins. I’m not saying this to be critical, either—I loved it! I’ve always loved old houses, and although I love organization in most areas of my life, I find unpredictable streets rather charming (unless I’m the one driving)! I did a little research after I got home, because I thought it was interesting how much “older” everything seemed up there compared to here in Maryland (the history nut in me coming out). I learned that Groton, Massachusetts was founded in 1655, while Frederick, Maryland was established in 1745. That makes Groton nearly 100 years older than Frederick, and it really does make a difference.
On our walk that evening we stopped at a park for a little while to play. We didn’t get to stay as long as Seth would have liked, but it was getting dark already. We walked through town on our way to the park, and then we took a little walking path back to Hans’s house. It was pretty dark by the time we got back home. I enjoyed seeing lots of wild flowers on our walk back, especially the Queen Anne’s lace—it really does look like little lacy doilies! We got to bed pretty late, because we were still planning what to do the next day.
Griffin & Tanner
Hans found this great deal called the “Boston Explorer Card”—each card paid for 3 activities—you could choose one from one list and two from another list of things to do, so he had already purchased cards for each of us. We just had to decide which activities we wanted to do, and when to do them. So on Friday we went on a tour of Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox) as well as visiting the Boston Museum of Science. We took the “T” (subway) into Boston and back. Seth was funny about it—I thought he would love riding on a train, but actually it scared him (probably the noise, more than anything else). He spent most of the ride into Boston on my lap with his arms around my neck, hanging on for dear life! And even then he still cried every time the train stopped or started. But by the end of the day he got more used to it and didn’t seem to mind so much. Griffin, on the other hand, was very excited to ride the train and he caused a lot of smiles in our car when the train first started and he cried “Woo-hoo!!!”
We got a later start than we had planned, so we got to Fenway Park in time for the noon tour. The tour guide took us to four different places in the stadium (including the press box) and told us lots of stories and interesting information about the stadium. Scott and Jared were the ones who had wanted to go on the tour the most, but I think we all enjoyed it. By the time we got done with the tour, we were pretty hungry so we got some hot dogs and Italian sausages at a place across the street (several other people from our tour did the same thing—I’m sure that place makes a killing from people finishing those tours!)
After lunch we took the T to the Museum of Science.By the time we got there, both Griffin and Seth were conked out, but they both woke up before we finished there so they still got to enjoy some of the museum exhibits.
The museum was very nice, with lots of interesting exhibits in lots of different areas. I think the kids enjoyed the “Science Playground” the most. I enjoyed the exhibit on the 5 senses the most—there were so many interesting things to do in there! We spent the whole afternoon there and by the time we were done we were all exhausted, but it was fun. We were really fortunate that the weather was really nice almost the entire trip—not too hot with nice cool breezes! I remember thinking as we were hiking all over Boston that it would have been really unpleasant and even more exhausting if it had been hot & muggy.
On the subway--Griffin with his "lovey"
On Saturday we did the other activity from our Boston Explorer cards—we had chosen to go on a Whale Watch Cruise. I think this was the most memorable part of the trip for most of us—it was an awesome experience! We got on a boat that took us out to a place near Provincetown, RI (about an hour and a half away) called the Stellwagen Bank, which is a place the whales like to feed. The ride itself was very nice—we had great views while we went through Boston Harbor of many ships, islands, a fort, lighthouses, and the Boston skyline. None of us got seasick—we had brought some seasick pills with us and Scott and Tanner each took one—just in case!—but the rest of us didn’t take one and we were all fine. Our pills came in handy for at least 2 or 3 other passengers, though! We actually didn’t even go all the way to Stellwagen Bank because before we got there, our guide started sighting some whale water spouts. We got to see 3 Humpback Whales—a mom (named Nile) a baby (unnamed so far), and a companion (the guide was never able to identify which whale the companion was) at close range. The whales normally come up for air every 5-7 minutes, although they can wait longer, so we never knew for sure when (and where) we’d see them again! We all just kept moving from one side of the boat to the other whenever the whales were sighted again. It was really quite exciting to watch them come up and then dive again. Right before we had to turn around and head back to Boston, they all came up right next to me on the side of the boat where I was sitting—it was awesome! We spent most of our time on the lower level, so we were actually inside, but closest to the whales with the best views. I think we all took turns going to the upper deck, though, so we could hear the whales, as well as see them. Anyway, it was just amazing—I am so glad we got to do that! (Although Seth fell asleep shortly before we got to the whales and so he slept through the whole thing!)
Boston skyline, behind us
A water spout. I don't have many photos of the whales because it was really hard to get good pictures--they move around too much! Besides, the photos are just nowhere near as impressive as being there in person!
Part of a whale--might be it's fluke (tail)
Here's our best video footage of the whales--pretty good, but not as good as in person!
Seth snoozing. Notice he has a whale on his shirt!
Jared checks out the view from the front of the boat.
Griffin took a nap on the way back to shore (Hans helped him stay awake long enough that he got to see the whales.)
When I saw this lighthouse, I said that I'd always wanted to live by a lighthouse. Hans said "me too!"
Walking back from the pier to the car--some great views of Boston!
After we got back from the cruise, we headed back to Hans’s house and had a fun afternoon playing with his Wii. Even I tried out a game of bowling! It was pretty fun. Hans made us delicious Thai food for dinner. Everybody watched Wall E while I made muffins for Sunday morning breakfast.
Sunday was a day of rest, which we really needed by then! Hans’s church is at 10:00, so we got to “sleep in” a little! (Our church starts at 9:00 here at home.) Seth shocked us by going to nursery in a strange place without a whimper! That meant that for the first time in many months, I went to Sunday School and Relief Society—and found myself getting a bit “fidgety”! I’m not used to sitting still for that long, and I have to say that there is never a dull moment in Primary! After church I had a nap, and then Frank and Seth took a nap also while Hans, the other boys and I played a game. For dinner, Frank and I made meat loaf for everybody, and of course Hans (being a Pew) provided ice cream for dessert.
On Monday the weather was quite humid and hot. In the morning we visited Minuteman National Historical Park, which is where the Revolutionary War began. We started at one of the visitor centers, where we saw a movie that explained the events that happened in the Lexington / Concord area. Griffin got a wooden rifle and we acquired a Christmas tree ornament at the gift shop there. Then we hiked part of the trail, from the visitor’s center to the place where Paul Revere was captured. Maybe we would have gone farther, but as I said, it was humid & hot—not nice weather for hiking! So we got back in the car and drove some of the rest of the trail, all the way up to the North Bridge in Concord. We got out there and walked over the bridge, but we were too tired (and hungry) to walk all the way to the visitor’s center that was located there. On the way to the North Bridge, we drove through Concord, which is full of beautiful old houses—I loved it! One of those old houses was the home of Louisa May Alcott—the one where she lived when she wrote Little Women. Frank turned around so I could get a picture of that one. We also took a picture of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s house, which was up the road a short way from the Alcott home. Someday I would like to go back and tour the Alcott home; Little Women is one of my all time favorite books!
Paul Revere got captured here. A little girl strayed into our family photo!
Ralph Waldo Emerson's home. The following photos were all taken at the North Bridge area--beautiful!
Monday afternoon I stayed home with Seth and did laundry while Frank took the older 3 boys to see GI Joe. They all said it was great! Griffin and Hans stayed home, too—Griffin took a nap, but Seth didn’t, so he was an emotional mess by bedtime! He enjoyed playing outside in the backyard with Hans & Griffin, though—Hans has a nice play set with swings and a slide; they also shot off little air rockets. Hans ordered pizza for all of us for dinner. He made us some really good cookies, too! (White chocolate & macadamia nut). The boys watched a movie that Hans has that evening—Charades--great classic with Audrey Hepburn and Carey Grant. I don’t think they ever would have chosen to watch that one except I’d seen it a couple of times and I told them it was really good. They liked it, too.
Tuesday morning we managed to get up early and get everybody ready to leave and the car all packed up by 8:00. We actually had to wake up Hans & Griffin to tell them goodbye! Griffin actually cried a little bit; we felt bad about that. I’m glad he had fun with us, though. He is a really good little boy and Hans is a great dad! We consoled Griffin by telling him we’ll see him in Utah next year. (He talked about his visit to Utah when we were there—he obviously had a great time there!)
The trip home was also pretty uneventful—we hit some big slow downs just after we crossed into New Jersey but other than that we made pretty good time. (By the way, there is no place to stop for lunch in that particular part of New Jersey except McDonald’s! We had to wait until we got to Pennsylvania for lunch because we did NOT want to eat at McDonald’s again.) Everybody helped unload the car and unpack when we got home, so we were done with that within an hour, and then we all went to dinner. On the way home we picked up Snickers. (That was the first thing the kids wanted to do as soon as we got home! They were sad that Snickers wasn’t there to meet us at the door like he usually is.) He spent the week with our friends, the Nelsons—they are the owners of Snickers’s mom & dad. Snickers was quite filthy after a week of running with the big dogs! (He got a bath the next morning.) I’m sure he had fun while we were gone, though.
Thanks to Hans for feeding us, for taking us to do all those fun things, and for allowing us to invade his home! (Especially sharing his one bathroom with 5 extra people!) We are very grateful.
Since we’ve been home, we’ve just been trying to get back into real life. Scott had dentist and orthodontist appointments on Thursday morning. He probably won't have braces too much longer--and we just finished paying for them--HOORAY! Frank has been really busy with work.
Frank and I were awakened at about 3:15 this morning by some loud dragging noises coming from the direction of our back deck. I assumed that it was our next door neighbor moving his recycle bin on his deck (he works nights and often comes home in the small hours of the morning) but Frank insisted that it was coming from our deck, not next door. He investigated and discovered that our recycle bin had been moved, the lid was off, and there were several milk jugs scattered over the deck. All we can figure is that some kind of animal got into it, although we can’t figure out how any animal large enough to move the recycle bin could have got onto our deck. (It’s on the 2nd story, quite high off the ground, and there are no stairs from the ground to the deck. The only access to the deck is a door in our kitchen. I can see squirrels scampering up the posts to get onto the deck, but something bigger?!) I hope whatever it was doesn’t try again tonight!
Today has been a fun day, in spite of the disturbances in the night. It’s Scott’s 15th birthday, so in the morning we opened presents. It was a little stressful finding presents for him this year—he only put 4 things on his list; one of them was money and another one was a movie that hasn’t come out on DVD yet. The other two things he asked for are a leather jacket (?!!) and fine point “sharpies” (pens). We didn’t have any trouble finding sharpies, of course, and then we got lucky with the leather jacket. Frank and I took a shopping trip in search of a leather jacket, and the first store we went to had exactly the kind Scott had been asking for in the right size and for a great price—we were thrilled! Besides that, we gave Scott a coupon for the movie he wants, and we also gave him the movie Cheaper by the Dozen, which he hadn’t asked for but we knew he’d like. I actually bought that movie right after Christmas at a sale and I’ve had it hidden since then. Anyway, Scott was happy with what he got—he is excited to watch the movie from Grandma & Grandpa too.
Wake up, Scott, and open your presents!
Cool dude!
For lunch we went to an FSA company party—Frank used to work there full time; he still goes there twice a week as a Griffin employee, so they invited us which I thought was a nice gesture. They had the party at a park in Wheaton, Maryland and the meal was catered by a local restaurant (California Tortilla—go figure!) The food was good and the park is really nice. In addition to some nice playgrounds, it also had a carousel and a little train. Those two things cost money, but the company bought tickets so that everybody could go on rides. So we all rode the carousel, and everybody but Frank took a ride on the train (he said it didn’t have enough leg room for him!) The train ride took us all over the park, and we even saw two deer hiding in the trees. After that a bunch of people including Jared, Scott and Frank played a game of ultimate Frisbee. I sat that one out—it was very hot & humid today!
Some of Frank's co-workers--you can't see us in this photo; we were near the back.
Tanner is in the orange shirt and I'm in the turquoise one. Seth is on my lap.
Seth on the playground--they had these really cool wooden cars!
Tanner is a little too big for the car!
After we got home from the party, we watched Cheaper by the Dozen and ordered pizza for dinner. Tanner was supposed to mow the lawn, but the pull string on the mower broke—I don’t think he was too upset by that! Now we are getting everybody ready for bed while we wait for Scott’s cake to cool down enough to frost and eat. He chose dark chocolate fudge cake with cream cheese frosting—yum!
Here are my two favorite quotes from Seth lately. Yesterday he was sitting on my lap playing with my hair. I was reading a book so I wasn’t paying much attention to him, but then I realized that he was very quiet so I looked at him to see what he was doing. He was sitting on my lap, facing me, and looking at me very closely. Then he smiled and said “You look nice!” Today I was looking at him and the side of his face looked quite red, so I said “What’s all over Seth’s face?” Seth looked at me, smiled, and said “It’s my nose!” Then he pointed at his nose and said “Right here!”
I finished the book Prodigal Summer yesterday. I actually had a voice message when I got home from vacation from the leader of the book club letting me know that they’d decided not to read the book; we’re going to read All Quiet on the Western Front instead. I read a lot of the book while on vacation, though, so by the time I got the message I wanted to finish the book to see what happens. I wasn’t too surprised that they decided to switch books, though, because unfortunately it had some pretty explicit sex scenes in it. That made me mad—they certainly weren’t necessary to the story line! It was a pretty interesting story, but really didn’t have a great ending or anything, so I think overall I wouldn’t really recommend it. It’s disappointing because the author (Barbara Kingsolver) is really talented and the other book I read of hers is excellent.
Well, I really did write this on Saturday, but it's taken me 3 days to add all the photos (Blogger really needs to make it easier to add photos!) so I'm really late getting this posted. If you've made it to the end of this insanely long post, you deserve a medal!
