Curious George and Oxen!!

Ok, so Curious George and the oxen didn't happen at the same time/place, but they did both happen this weekend.

Again, the week started off slow.  And I've continued my trend of being bad about taking pictures.  Bennett is doing well with the new preschool routine.  In the past, he had a tendency to run around a lot.  However, in the new classroom he seems to understand that he needs to sit and pay attention/participate.  Or at least that's the case when there are other kids around.  One day he was the only preschooler and he ran around a bit that day and had trouble focusing.

Saturday we went to Sturbridge for their "Agricultural Exhibition".  There were going to be oxen matches on Sunday, but by going on Saturday we had the opportunity to try plowing.  It's not easy!  We also learned the name of one of the farmers (Dave).

When it was my turn I had Bennett come with me.  As we came over, Dave commented that Bennett was "well acquainted" with Lance and Henry.  Yup, they do recognize us.  :)

Bennett held on to the plow but after a couple of seconds he ran away.  He was NOT a fan.  Then, as you can see in the video below, he ran back to give it another try but fell in the furrow.  He didn't like having dirt all over him, so he ran back to Daddy.

And here's a picture of my row.  Not exactly straight.  Steering is tricky- lean the plow to the right to turn it to the left.

Next it was Chris's turn.  (Bennett wasn't a fan of not being held so that I could take pictures.)  His row was potentially worse than mine, but they tried to make him feel good saying it was because of the New England soil or the oxen not walking straight because they saw the open gate. 

As we were leaving the field one of the women came over to let us know that they were making cheese in the farmhouse.  We're not sure, but we think she mentioned this because she recognized us and knew that we hadn't been in there yet.

As we finished up in the farm area Bennett checked all the usual places and couldn't find Summer, the calf.  That's when we remembered that there had been animals on the common so we figured that she was likely there.  She was!  Later Summer was in the middle of the pen and Bennett wanted to pet her.  He asked us to tell Summer to move over.  She didn't listen.

Also on the common were demonstrations for threshing, winnowing, and shucking corn.  Here Bennett helps me thresh the grain.

And the other highlight of our day?  We were in the tinshop.  The tinsmith we like (Phil) also frequently gives the musket demonstrations.  We got in the shop and Bennett asked where the musket was so Phil brought it over.  He offered to let Bennett pull the trigger, but that's when Bennett chose to be shy.  He wouldn't even show Phil how he shoots his imaginary musket.  After a minute or so he got chatty though and as we were leaving Phil said to me, "I like your boy."


On Sunday we went to Edaville.  When we were in the car on the way there we told him we were going to where we had seen Thomas and Sir Topham Hatt, but that they wouldn't be there.  He wanted to know why they wouldn't be there.  "Because they're on the Island of Sodor.  Sir Topham Hatt needed to make sure that all of the engines were on track and on time." We didn't mention that CURIOUS GEORGE was going to be there because we knew that if we did, we would never hear the end of it.

The first thing we did was ride the carousel. He has no idea what he's in for!

While Bennett was on a ride with Daddy (Jumbo) CG and TMWTYH came out.  I got in line and they joined me when they got off the ride.

In the end we "had" to see them twice because I wasn't happy with how my pictures came out- too dark.  Luckily they came back out an hour later.  Bennett wanted to know why they went away so Chris told them that they needed some lemonade and donuts. 

Here they are the second time. Maybe not as big a smile, but not as dark.  And I like Bennett holding George out of the Boba.

Bennett thoroughly enjoyed the rides.

 After riding the airplanes we noticed this warning.  Hmm, let's add that to the questions to ask the cardiologist next month.

In other news, party plans continue and we are just under a week away.  Chris and I are extremely excited and can't wait to see Bennett's reaction to everything.  (We haven't told him what the theme is and want it to be a surprise for him.)  We are busy working on projects every night after he went to bed and are utterly exhausted, but we are very pleased with how things are turning out.  Can't wait to show you!

Better late than never

Grandma and Grandpa Tedford came to visit last week which kept us all rather busy.  As a result, I didn't get a chance to update the blog.  So here's what we did August 12 - 18.

There was more basketball playing.

I'm participating in a knitting swap.  We all started knitting a monster toy.  Then we mailed it to the next person who knit a bit and then mailed it along.  Bennett and I got his monster back in the mail.  He was pretty excited about it which is why the pictures are blurry.  In fact, I let him open the package and as soon as he saw a corner of knitting he guessed that it was a monster.

Here's a better picture.

It has undies that come off.  The undies are super cute, but I'm also a little bummed that they hide some of the awesome knitting.

We went out to a local sporting goods store and Bennett had fun playing basketball with a real hoop.

Then on Saturday we headed off to Sturbridge for our weekly visit. Yes, we know it's kind of insane to go this often.  This time I got in on the cut-out fun!

Lance and Henry were out plowing one of the fields.  As we were watching we heard the driver saying something that sounded like "epotame".  We asked what it meant, and it turns out he was saying "haw to me" which meant just go slightly left towards me.  If he had just said "haw" that would have meant to make a sharp left turn.

And then we got to officially "meet the oxen". We like this chance to meet the oxen and hear about them, but we've done it so many times there isn't that much new stuff to learn.  Also sometimes there are just too many other people there.  In some ways, the impromptu meetings like seeing them in the field are much nicer.

I think every day there is a musket firing demonstration.  We've taken to announcing "Musket" when we hear it go off.  Only you'd never know that's what Bennett's saying.  On this visit we stopped to watch the demo for a little while.

Shortly after we got home, Grandma and Grandpa arrived!  Bennett was supposed to still be napping, but I guess he was just too excited.

On Sunday we went to watch the Lowell Spinners.

Surprisingly Bennett did really well.  Sure there was lots of climbing in and out of Daddy's lap, but he didn't wiggle and whine as much as we expected.

The Spinners won.

And then we got to run the bases.

And that wraps up the week.