Staycation Week

This past week Grandma and Grandpa Tedford were here and we had a staycation (stay at home vacation).


On Monday we went to Kimball's.  We started off all taking a spin in he bumper boats.  Bennett excitedly shrieked each time he got splashed.  It was awesome.

We then moved on to mini golf.  At the beginning Bennett would put his ball down at the start, hit it, and then carry it closer to the hole before putting it down again and pushing it in.  But by the end he was just taking it down to the hole.  Interesting method, for sure, but he was having fun.

After mini golf we did the bumper boats again.  In the end Chris and I went on them three times with Bennett.  Grandma and Grandpa only did the boats the first time.  But that worked well, because then I was able to get this photo.

We had ice cream in lieu of lunch.  Bennett helped me with a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of butterscotch.

And then we wrapped up the day at the arcade.  We were having fun, but then Chris accidentally stepped on/kicked my foot.  This exacerbated an old toenail injury.  It hurt quite a bit, and when I looked at my foot a few minutes later I noticed there was a pool of blood.  The teenage employee gave us a few meager first aid supplies to patch it up.

When we got home we took a closer look and I realized I needed medical attention.  I called my doctor's office and they sent me to urgent care where the doctor removed my toenail and gave me this stylish shoe.  If you want to see what it looked like on Thursday when we changed the bandage, click here.  Now, a little over a week later, it's healing well and I don't really have any more pain.  I'm still wearing my special shoe mostly to protect my foot from myself.  (I have a tendency to stub my toes a bunch.)  We were very thankful that Grandma and Grandpa were here because they were able to keep an eye on Bennett and make dinner while Chris took me to the doctor. 

On Tuesday morning I started the day with some cuddles with Bennett.  This is most unlike him!  He'll sit still (mostly) for a story or to watch Curious George, but that's about it.  Maybe he knew I wasn't 100%, because he snuggled in bed with me for at least 15 minutes or so.

For fun and excitement we went to the Ecotarium in Worcester. 

I liked this tribute to Kenda who was a beloved polar bear of those in the area in the 80s.

After looking at the various exhibits in the museum and looking at the animals outside, we went on a train ride.

Then it was time for lunch before heading home.  After nap we all went outside and did yard work.  I trimmed the extremely overgrown forsythia bushes while others bagged up the branches. And Bennett ran around alternately trying to help and playing.

On Wednesday we went to the Higgins Armory Museum.  Higgins is slated to close at the end of the year so I knew I wanted to take Bennett.  He wasn't interested in most of the museum, but he did enjoy the interactive children's wing.  In fact, I think we all enjoyed that wing!

Daddy tried jousting

Riding a horse

Threatening to knock down the arch.

Nope, it's harder from this side.

Crash!

And then Chris and I built a castle, which Bennett quickly knocked over.

After lunch and nap we all went out to weed my flower beds.  They were overgrown with crabgrass, to the point that some of the other plants were hidden.  They look so much better now!  I'm extremely thankful for all of the help that I got with this project.

On Thursday we went to the Franklin Park Zoo.  We should have learned our lesson from when we went a couple of years ago that it's not a great zoo, but with passes from the library it was the most economical choice.  Bennett was a little bummed that they didn't have elephants.

Looking at the prairie dogs.

His new thing to do these days when you ask for a picture is to pause for a second and then say, "cheese, all done" before he quickly runs away.

Watching the gorillas with Grandma.

Feeding the birds

Before we left we rode the carousel.  At least he enjoyed that.

Not sure what's going on in this next one.  The cow seems to be scratching his back?

And then we asked him to milk the cow.

Oh, and then this happened.  My baby turned 35 months old.  It's actually kind of funny.  Sometimes I say that he's 3 already, and then other times I say that he's two. It really all depends on if there's a benefit (such as a kid rate) to him being under 3.

On Friday we had our weekly trip to OSV.  They were offering tickets for $5 (instead of the regular $24 admission)so it was pretty crowded.

Walking with Grandpa

Riding the stagecoach.

Lance and Henry were plowing the field again so we watched them for a while.

Good blacksmith (Derek) was working.  We could tell this just by listening before we went in.  Yup.  It's bad.  We can now start to identify their voices.  Unfortunately it was extremely crowded and Bennett kept announcing, "I want to go now" so we didn't watch for too long.

Since there were so many people the lines for food were pretty long.  So I entertain Bennett by taking selfies while waiting for others to buy the food.  He actually did a remarkably good job of staying with me.

And then as we were finishing lunch we saw Doc and Blue! They were just finishing up their cart practice so we got to watch Head Animal Guy (Rhys) have them back their wagon up into the barn.  That was a bit tricky.

We then headed home for nap.  After nap we headed out to do some shopping for Saturday's Derby.

Which brings us to Saturday.  We had the 10th Annual Pinewood Derby.  Go here for the official photos, winners, etc. In typical fashion we were not only finishing up our cars the night before but also the morning of the race.  Chris got the wheels on our Blast Cars about an hour before people started showing up.

Strawberry = Daddy, Regular = Bennett, Chocolate = me

Chris had the "dump dump truck" and I had Curious George

Curious George also could wear TMWTYH's hat.

Sunday we slept late and relaxed for a while but then we headed out to play some Candlepin Bowling.  Bennett rolled his balls pretty slowly down the lane, but I think he had fun.

And that wraps up our week.  It was busy, but I think if we didn't have activities planned we likely would have gotten bored just hanging around the house.

I know I didn't take it as easy as I likely should have, but I did take advantage of wheelchairs at the various museums.  We quickly learned that not all wheelchairs are created equal though!  Broken footrests, lack of footrests, difficulty pushing on uneven terrain... Ugh!  But I guess I should be thankful that they at least had wheelchairs to borrow.  Not sure I would have managed earlier in the week if I'd had to walk everywhere.

It's already the end of July?

This summer is whizzing by! How is it the end of July already?  At the beginning of the summer I made a list of various potential things to do and I have a feeling we're not going to be able to do many of them.

Our garden has been doing mediocre this year.  I think I got my peas in too late because we didn't have that many of them.  The beans are now ready for picking, but the ones I've sampled have been pretty yucky- rather mealy.  We got a number of zucchini (more than I can eat on my own and Chris doesn't like them) and now we have a whole bunch of cucumbers ripening.  And again I'm faced with the issue of Chris not liking them.  I think I'm going to try making some pickles.

But what makes me really happy are the carrots!  After years and years of trying to grow carrots and having less than stellar results, I actually have some decent carrots this year.  And there are more in the ground, so hopefully they'll get even bigger.  I keep meaning to plant a second crop of them, so we'll see if that happens.

On Wednesday this past week was Derby Day at Bennett's school/daycare.  They had a racecar theme for the week so we asked if they wanted to have a Derby.  They were game, so we bought some car kits and Chris shaped them into simple wedges.  Then on Monday the kids painted them and Wednesday was the race.

Here's Bennett's car on the red lane.  He was one of the slower cars.  We hadn't worried about weights for any of them, but Chris had to add some weight to Bennett's car just so that he would be able to cross the finish line.  Oh well.  All of the kids had fun, as did the various staff members who would walk by to watch, reminisce, or in the case of the maintenance team, race cars when they had a few spare moments.

Continuing the trend (since June 22nd) of weekly trips to OSV, we went on Saturday.  The weather was perfect weather.  We got a chance to do some things we don't normally do- went on a riverboat ride, saw a demonstration at the sawmill, and visited the printer.

Since we don't know the names of most of the employees we've made up nicknames for some of them.  We do know some names if they have been featured in the member's magazine, videos online, etc.  But instead they get names like "good farm woman" (Victoria), "other good farm woman" (Ryan), "good blacksmith" (Derek), "good tinsmith" (Phil), "head animal guy" (Rhys), and "thru-hiker guy". 

So of course thru-hiker guy was working at the print shop when we visited.  No one else was in there so we got to chatting, asking him if there's anything at Sturbridge that he doesn't do (parson), what he likes best (working on his own farm), etc.  We told him he's one of our favorites and then I told him his nickname.  Turns out, he lived out of a backpack for 10 years.  He also is an expert on chestnuts, works in his fields barefoot, plows his fields by hand, and gets moody when it's time to kill a chicken.  I kind of feel like we've been stalking him with everything we know, but it's really just that we visit a lot and hear snippets of conversations on various visits.  We also wonder if they have started to recognize us, seeing how we visit so often.  And how many male toddlers are there who wear a fedora and carry Curious George on their back?

I don't think this farmer has a nickname.  I think his real name is Justin.

Ram (and lambs to keep him company) separated from the rest of the flock.

Playing Shuttlecock and Battledore.

Apparently we can't get away from the pump these days.

Sawmill in action.  Or as Bennett says, "sawmill goes up and down".

On Sunday we went to the Boston Children's Museum for one last visit during our membership.  We got there pretty early so it started off being not very crowded, but that quickly changed.  And we realized it's way too chaotic for us.  Too many people, and it seems to give Bennett a bit of ADD as he quickly runs off from one thing to another.

He got a little further in the climber, but still not very far.

Bubbles!

Bigger bubble!

If there's an opening for a face, we must take a picture.

Bennett and Daddy carry a beam.

How much does this bread cost?