THE BIG PAR-TAY

That's what my sister would call it----a par-tay. And that's exactly what we've been doing. Back here everyone seems to take the summer off. No one for our monthly self-employment workshop and only two showed up for our August workshop. It's kinda nice those as we're able to just work individually with them and address their specific needs. We've had a few phone calls but even those that are unemployed seem to use July and August for a vacation......weird!! But we made good use of the time. McKendra and Dallin from Phoenix and Katelynn and Collin from Las Vegas arrived on July 21st for a week. Two 12 yr old boys and girls of 13 and 14. The cousins had a good time together and we loved having them here. We had planned lots of things to do and there's no way I can get the 300 pictures I took in this blog. Actually, I made a book online that's now being printed in a hard cover which has all the pictures and my narrative of the week. So I'll just include a few (ha) pictures of what we did.

Our accomodations weren't exactly the Ritz but the kids adjusted very well to the couch and air mattresses that took up the whole livingroom floor. Kinda of like a campout. The other thing was the really small bathroom....and here they are choosing their favorite color of towels. Collin ended up with the "poop" color.

Wednesday morning we took off for Salem, the witch country. It's a very interesting part of the 1600 history. But we had to do some Kodak moments at the sign in our building driveway and we had to breakfast at the most common site in every community in Massachusetts---Dunkin Donuts. You know, the world runs on Dunkin....

Besides the Witch Museum----everything in the town has "witch" in it's name----we went through the House of Seven Gables. Katelynn decided she wants to live in an old colonial home with hidden staircases!!!

Hmmm, the best part of the day was coming back and going to Kimball Farm. The kids played miniature golf,(and that picture is the girls after making their first shot), rode the bumper boats and then had the homemade ice cream the farm is known for!!! Oh yum...


The one thing the girls especially, wanted to do was go to New York. We're only 3.5-4 hours drive so Thursday morn we headed off to the Big Apple. We stayed at the Red Roof Inn on Korea Way----there are several hotels on that block but everything else is Korean restaurants and shops! I think the narrow streets and throngs of people were a bit scary for those kids from the open wild west. The Empire State Building was only two blocks away so we did that after arriving. Another thing they found different was that all the restaurants (including Wendy's and McD's) were two stories. No room to spread out, so everything goes UP.

It was cloudy and rainy and up on the 88th floor of the Empire State Building it got pretty cold and windy. But we did it!! And narry a complaint from the kids. The big thing in New York was going to see Wicked!!! That was the main reason for going, except for Collin, who HATES musicals. Why? Because there's too much singing!! That's his reasoning....And one of their first was riding the subway....that's an experience for anyone!!!!



Friday the rain disappeared and we had a beautiful day for a city tour ride around the city and a stop to go to the Statue of Liberty. The one surprise was that tickets were sold out til September to even get into the base of the statue, much less up in the crown!! So we had to stay outside.The kids really are in the picture at the bottom....

Back in Boston we headed out for the Duck Tour on Saturday. It's a vehicle that goes on land and water!! So we saw the sites of Boston (more old buildings), McKendra and Dallin got to drive the duck boat on the Charles River.

That night we joined thousands and thousands of our best friends at the Red Sox game. The girls couldn't figure out the necessity for a baseball game. After all, it's just a bunch of guys that try to hit and ball and then run around and touch these bags on the ground. But, they were good sports and in the middle of the 8th inning, the traditional "Sweet Caroline" was sung. Afterwards we made a beeline for the subway to beat the crowds out of the city.


As we all know, Sunday is NOT a day of rest. McKendra play a piano solo in Sacrament meeting...Joseph Smith's First Prayer...and it was beautiful. She's quite an accomplished pianist for a 13 yr old. Katelynn played for us before and she too, is great!!! Must be in the genes:). After church we changed clothes and set off for the freebees around town. We actually did the Lexington-Concord Battle Road from Lexington Green to the North Bridge.






Monday we decided to take a more "fun" day. We ate at our favorite Paul's Diner, went to Walden Pond, where the kids would not swim for fear of getting some bug....that's what happened when you're used to swimming in chlorinated pools. Kills all the bugs!!! Then we went to a movie and gorged on popcorn and icees, then drove to Bolton (Katelynn and Collin's mom is a Bolton), and finished off the day back at Kimball Farms for that lucious ice cream.


But all good things must come to an end and the kids had to leave on Tuesday. Sad, but inevitable...they were so good and enjoyed each others company so much, they happily did what we had planned. We wish all the kids and grandkids could come see us here but.........time is passing fast and we'll be seeing everyone next spring.