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.

Basketball, surfing, Curious George, and Sturbridge

Continuing the trend of late blog posts, here's what we did last week.

A co-worker of mine gave us a basketball hoop that his kids have outgrown.  It's perfect for Bennett as he's still using it on the lowest height.  He does ask frequently to go play basketball, but I think mostly it's Chris and I shooting baskets.

The theme for the week at school was "Beach Week" so one day they made boogie boards.  Here's Bennett using it as a surfboard.

One night Kelly texted me a photo of her kids working on their Derby cars.  Bennett asked to see it, and then he wanted to show me his "phone" with pictures of DJ, Davis, and Lydia.  And then we FaceTimed with Kelly and he got to see some of the kids.

We got Curious George Flies a Kite from the library.  (Why it's 3 times as long as the other books, I have no idea!)  As I was reading it one night I noticed the license plate on the car in one of the pictures.  Hmm, was this the 5th CG book that they wrote?  Why yes, yes it was.

And speaking of Curious George, apparently it's very important for George to sit with you while you watch Curious George on TV.

And now for our weekend.

For those keeping track, we've now been to Sturbridge for 8 weeks in a row.  Looking at their schedule for the coming weeks, they have events that we might want to go to every week except for two until November 9th.  So we could potentially end up going 21 consecutive weeks.  That would ultimately put our cost at less than $2 per visit.  And the per person would be less than $1 per visit.  Yup, that membership was definitely worth it!

Daddy got in on the cutout photo fun.

Bennett tried out the stilts.  He needs practice still.  Maybe he needs his own set?

On Sunday we were on our way to Nana and Grandpa's house.  We had a bit of extra time so we decided to run an errand.  I mentioned to Bennett that we were stopping at the store so that I could get something for his birthday party and he got very excited.  And truth be told, Chris and I are getting pretty excited about his party as well.  Hopefully all of our ideas turn out the way we are envisioning.  The invitations are about 2/3 done and I hope to get those wrapped up this week.  When do people normally mail children's birthday party invitations?  This coming weekend would be a little over a month before the party.  Too soon?  Just right?

The Redcoats are Coming!!!!

This post is a little late, but better late than never, right?

The Sticker Monster attacked one evening.  Good thing we have so many of these stickers!  They're "reward" stickers that we got a while back and haven't really used much.

Bennett then removed them from his face, threw them away, and asked for more, some of which went back on his face.

As previously mentioned, Bennett's school had race car week.  So here he is in his car that he made.

"Reading" the paper one night consisted of him strewing newspaper all over the floor in a couple of different rooms.  Messy, but he sure was happy!

Anyone need a cucumber?  I have more plants than normal because I wanted to try making pickles, but this is way more than I can handle!  Bennett and I can only eat so many of them.  I did make some pickles (I'll know in a week or so if they're any good) and then I ended up giving a bunch away.  And then I went back in the garden a day or so later and there were more to pick.  I think I'm growing 3 different types which is why they are all different sizes.

And speaking of cucumbers, here's Bennett "peeling"a knit cucumber that I made.  He doesn't play with them all that much, but I have a basket of knit vegetables that he brought outside one night.

On Saturday and Sunday Sturbridge had an event called Redcoats and Rebels.  We told Bennett that there would be lots of people there in costumes.  He asked if there would be a parade.  Since there was a procession to the battlefield on the schedule we said that yes, there would be a parade.

So when we got there and saw these musicians at entrance, he asked if they were in the parade.  Nope, but he definitely enjoyed watching them and listening to them.

Here he is clapping after a song.

We arrived shortly before opening, so we stood in line to get in.  Once we got in, many of the reenactors seemed to still be getting settled.  Here were a bunch of redcoats practicing marching.

We watched this group for a while as they were being inspected.  Just before they were dismissed, they were told to "mill about smartly".

Bennett a bit confused by everything.  Chris told him, "This is the weekend where Mummy and I are conflicted."  Being Anglophiles we would normally support the British, but when we wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for the Colonists we wonder if maybe we should be supporting them instead.


There were numerous cannon demonstrations throughout the day.

And more fife and drums as well.  Here's Bennett watching the performers.

Uncle Andrew joined us a little later in the day.  Here he is holding Bennett as Bennett plays his own "fife".  We're trying to decide if we're crazy enough to get him a real one for his birthday.

After lunch it was time for the battle.  We didn't stick around too long.  It's hard to understand what's going on, and it was pretty boring for Bennett.  Not to mention it was long past nap time.

Plus our day was going to get even busier as we had a party to get to!  There was a pool which we avoided for a while (it was slightly chilly) but Bennett really wanted to go in.  Luckily Kelly was willing to go in with him.  Of course shortly after he got in the water it started to rain.

And here's a blurry picture of him jumping in, just before they got out due to the rain.

And then on Sunday  we just relaxed at home- mowed the lawn, vacuumed out the car (lots of raisins, cheerios, etc), took a long nap, watched some Curious George, and then a quick trip to Target.

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?