The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Look out nursery school!

Today was Rebecca's first day of second grade and Gregory's first day of nursery school. Sorry to sound stereotypical, but Greg and I were like the quintessential parents dancing down the Staples' aisle to 'The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year'. By our calculations, we've been home alone in the house together once in the past seven years until today (Greg's on vacation this week). The two of us celebrated with a very nice lunch at the Sole Proprieter.

But enough about us. Both kids got out without a hitch. Gregory declared himself 'excited' for his first day of school, but wanted to know why he couldn't take the school bus. He wasn't sure what he was going to do when he got there, but he thought maybe it would include 'playing pirates'.

Mom, you're embarrassing me

Rebecca loves her new teacher who apparently is 'very useful because she knows how to turn on the fan'. I guess that is a useful skill when the first day of school turns out to be ninety-one degrees and high humidity. Rebecca also decided she wants to go to all the schools that I've been to so she can get 'three different colored hats'. Hey, if it motivates her to practice math problems, I'm all for it.

Heifer Highlights

Rebecca capped off a busy summer with her week at Heifer Camp. This day camp is held at Overlook Farm in Rutland and is run by Heifer International, an organization dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty.

Rebecca and Aboo pose together.

Despite a rainy start, this was Rebecca's favorite week of camp. Apparently the highlight of the week was milking a goat. Other strong points: gathering chicken eggs, feeding the llamas, and getting butted in the back by a particularly ornery goat (fortunately not the one she was milking).

The kids also spent time working in the gardens, exploring the international village, and hanging out with Aboo the camel. We are very fortunate to live ten minutes from this remarkable farm (the Heifer Project only has 5 locations in the U.S., including Overlook Farm. If you are in the area, check them out!

Rebecca's Birthday at American Girl

Rebecca and Rebecca

Happy Birthday to my Rebecca who turned 7 on the 24th of July. This year we decided to skip the birthday party and take her somewhere she has been begging to go - the American Girl doll store.

We are lucky enough to live about half an hour from an American Girl store, so the day after Rebecca's birthday we headed to the Natick mall to check it out.

After spending an hour examining every doll in the store, Rebecca decided to go with the suitably named 'Rebecca' doll. Rebecca (the doll) has wavy brown hair and hazel eyes, just like my beautiful little Rebecca (the 7 year old), so we decided it was fate.

Once that was settled, it was time to pick out an outfit for Rebecca (the doll). Again Rebecca (the 7 year old) had to examine every outfit in the store before selecting a horseback riding ensemble for her new doll.

Lunch for 3

All this shopping made us hungry so we headed into the American Girl Bistro, where we had a reservation. They served us a nice three course meal and even put a little booster seat on the table for Rebecca (the doll).

All in all, a nice day. Here's a little equation I worked out. Warning: this is not for the faint of heart:

Priceless

1 American Girl doll + 1 American Girl doll outfit + 1 pair of American Girl doll shoes + 2 lunches at the American Girl Bistro = more $$ than a pool party for an entire kindergarten class.

Canobie Lake Park

It's been a few decades since I went to Canobie Lake Park, but last Friday Mom and I braved the ninety degree weather and took the kiddies to Salem, NH for a day of amusement park fun. The drive was much shorter than I remembered - only about an hour counting a stop in Boxborough to pick up Grandma.

I'd heard it was a great spot for younger kids - less expensive and less crowded than some larger unnamed parks, coughSixFlagscough. While that was true, it was still a bit pricey ($72 for the 4 of us - 1 adult, 1 senior citizen, 1 child under 48 inches, and 1 child age 3 and under (free)). It was definitely less crowded, and there were lots of rides for those of our group who were under four feet.

After a quick spin on the oldest carousel in the country, we hit kiddie land, which is basically lots of rides with various shaped cars that all go around in a circle. But the kids loved it and went on all of them. Then Grandma made everyone go on the Boston Tea Party where we all got soaked.

Okay, actually, it was Gregory who wanted to try the Boston Tea Party, a short raft ride with a drop off at the end that produces a spectacular splash. I figured he would be too small but Grandma encouraged me to check, he wasn't. Although the line appeared long, she also pointed out that it was moving really fast so we gave it a go. Turned out it was both Grandma's and my favorite ride of the day.

Gregory's favorite ride was The Mine of Lost Souls (a boy after my own heart!). He spent most of the ride clinging to me and saying he was scared, but it's the only ride he has talked about since, and he talks a lot. Rebecca loved the kids sized dragon roller coaster, which she insisted on riding alone.

We ended the day at Castaway Island, the humongous water drenched jungle gym with the slowest water slides ever. It was crowded, but Rebecca loved it. Gregory was a little less pleased, he didn't enjoy randomly having buckets of water poured on him, but he found his place on the little kid's water slide, which he rode about twenty-five times.

It turned out to be a great day. The end result was two tired kids, a tired parent, a tired grandparent, and lots of fun.

Educational Friday

This past Friday the kids and I participated in the first Boston Free Friday of the summer, free admission to the Boston Children's museum. Throughout the course of the day, we learned several things, both in and outside of the museum. Here's a chronological list:

1. This deer eats leaves and probably is not long for this world.
   
   Rebecca spot this critter in the front yard about 40 mins. before we left for the museum. It proceeded to leisurely stroll around the house eating grass and leaves, completely unfazed by my kids who were running from window to window, jumping up and down, and talking excitedly (granted the windows were shut). As far as deer go, this one probably doesn't have the best sense of self preservation.


2. When there is free admission to a children's museum, your best bet is to go to your local library and get passes to the closest museum you can find to the free one. This is because everyone in the state will be at the free museum, leaving all other nearby museums empty. We lasted an hour in the children's museum before hightailing it for a much more enjoyable walk around the waterfront.


3. Kids love to watch seals. As part of our walk around the waterfront, we stopped at the Boston Aquarium to view the outdoor harbor seal tank. The kids stood against the Plexiglass for fifteen minutes and watched the 'seal ballet', as Rebecca called it.
   


4. Okay, to anyone with good taste, I apologize in advance. Here's a sublist of what we learned in this next photo:
   
   1. It's harbor seal mating season.
   
   
   2. These seals are not 'hugging', as I initially announced to the kids when I foolishly pointed them out.
   
   

Dave Rawlings Machine And Yet Another Drunk Guy

Greg and I were treated to a spectacular night of music Saturday when we saw Dave Rawlings Machine at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. Here's a sample of what we were so lucky to experience. It wasn't shot at the show we saw, but it's one of my favorites and we got to see them perform the same song.

Sorry I didn't get my own video but Greg and I were in the FRONT ROW and it felt really rude to pull out my camera and start video taping in plain view of the musicians. Why were we in the front row? Because Greg wanted to see Dave Rawlings' hands, which he did for the entire show. I just felt extremely lucky to see such a great show and to be close enough to those amazing musicians to see everything they were doing. We were about 6 feet from Gillian Welch (enough said - she's awesome!), 4 feet from Dave Rawlings, and 2 feet from Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show.

They put on an awesome show in what Gillian Welch dubbed 'a banjo lovin town'. Also, I got to go with my sis and brother in-law, who made the trip down from Maine. Thanks Mom and Dad for babysitting all 4 grandchildren so we could all go!

And there was another 'way to drunk guy at a concert' incident (click here for the first). Right before the show started, an intoxicated, stumbling man jumped up on stage and pretended to check the mikes (all 4 of them, hello, security?) before falling over backwards, taking out a table (not the one holding 4 fiddles, thank goodness), and bashing into Morgan Jahnig's beautiful upright bass. He lay on his back for a full minute, unable to get up, before security finally decided to do something and promptly escorted him out. Anyone else out there have a good 'drunk guy at a concert' story?

How A Daisy Becomes A Brownie

We've passed a milestone in Rebecca's life, she graduated from the Daisies and is now officially a Brownie. Here's a confession though, her ceremony was actually last Wednesday, May 26th. Things have been crazy around here - sorry I'm late getting it up. Enjoy her projection - I can't imagine where she gets that from.