Washington DC

We hit the ground running this morning and covered lots of ground in DC. Carver especially enjoyed seeing the White House, the Washington Memorial and the Museum of Natural History.

The carousel was a welcomed change of pace from all of our walking.

The WWII Memorial was beautiful and the kids really enjoyed finding our home state.

The Lincoln Memorial or the geese? She's running for the geese...our little animal lover probably enjoyed them the most today!

The Korean War Memorial...Carver was mesmerized at the beautiful carvings and the fact that all of the men shown had given their lives for our country.

While G and Springer took the Metro back to Alexandria to pick up our car, Carver and I headed to the Museum of Natural History. He LOVED it; the dinosaurs, sea life, bears and tigers were the favorites, although there was not a thing we saw that he wasn't delighted with seeing. He just kept saying, "thank you so much for bringing me here today." It was my delight.

Harvard, Boston Common & The Freedom Trail

Riding the "T"
Harvard's library


Springer and G waiting for the "T" and planning our next stop.

Boston Common had a wonderful playground, small wading pond and all of these cute bronze frog sculptures. Carver insited on having his picture taken with each of them. The playground provided a much needed chance to just play.

Walking the Freedom Trail we came across a memorial to Benjamin Franklin and the graves of Samuel Adams and Paul Revere among many others.

Carver came across a pirate at the Faneuil Hall Market.

A huge thanks to Jacob & Becky who shared the perfect places to visit and eat along the way-Durgin Park was delicious and a great place to enjoy some Boston baked beans and a Yankee Pot Roast!

Boston: Children's Museum

Boston's Children Museum took the cake; we all enjoyed the adventures...a small town complete with a barber shop, salon, post office, grocery store-all child sized. The construction zone held Springer's attention as she lifted heavy machinery and worked on a wood filing project. Carver and G enjoyed a martial arts exhibition while Springer played in the 'rivers' and 'shopped' to her hearts content.

The entrance to the museum contained a huge, four story contraption that the kids could climb. It was a maze of sorts held together with steel cables and wires. They loved it!

Visiting China: tending a rice field and planting rice

Playing air pipes

Tuckered out after a long afternoon-all before dinner and the pool!

Boston's Public Gardens

We arrived in Boston, checked into our wonderful hotel and quickly began getting acquainted with the city. Taxis were a huge hit; Springer thought she was quite the big girl when she realized that she didn't have to sit in a car seat when taking a taxi. The "T" (Boston's subway/train) was another favorite. The children also loved our hotel and were quite fascinated with having their car doors opened for them when we returned and the 'fairies' that visited our room to straighten and clean when we were away. Oh, and room service...never has a pb&j sandwich been such a treat as when served under a large silver dome! It's been fun to watch them take in all of these firsts.

Visiting with some of the Mallard's friends and family.

The statues of Mr. & Mrs. Mallard and their ducklings were just adorable; Springer enjoyed talking to each of them and feeding them a snack.

After weeks of reading Make Way For Ducklings we finally had the opportunity to visit Mr. & Mrs. Mallard in Boston's Public Gardens. It was even more lovely than we had imagined and the children loved visiting the pond, seeing the famous Swan Boats and meeting the statues of the Mallard family. It was a lovely afternoon in the garden.

Bon Voyage!

An Eventful Departure

Where have the past four weeks gone?! It seems impossible that our time in the Vineyard is nearing the end...some amazing memories have been made, truly precious family time has been had and we all leave here loving each other more and feeling refreshed. I'm deeply grateful for the timing of this sabbatical. With Carver beginning kindergarten in just a couple of weeks I know that life will change. Given that it's been especially sweet to have long, fun filled days together...lots of good writing time for G (he's very pleased with what he's written), countless hours at the ocean, evenings playing badminton, bike rides around town, ice cream on the deck, carousel rides, numerous trips to Black Dog, outdoor (warm) showers, learning to play new games, meeting new friends and as Carver said each evening when asked about his favorite part of the day, "just being with my family."

So all of that relatively perfect-ness just had to have a bump, right? Well at 2:30 on Saturday morning (the same morning we were scheduled to depart), Giorgio woke up with excruciating foot pain. Now in all the 18 years I've known him I have heard him complain of this kind of pain two times; the other was an awful flu he came down with earlier this year. Anyway, at 3:00am he headed to the ER and at 5:00 he returned home-diagnosis? "Severe foot pain." No kidding. After numerous x-rays that was the diagnosis. Now the doctor did say it was likely he had a stress fracture, but he couldn't pin point it. Needless to say we didn't get a whole lot of sleep Friday night and 8:30 found us on a ferry headed for the mainland. Not quite the peaceful, easy ending that our time deserved!

Now our sabbatical comes to a close and our vacation begins...next stop Boston! Stay tuned for more adventures-hopefully none including emergency rooms!

East Chop Lighthouse: Oak Bluffs

A Great Visit With Friends

Flying Horses Carousel

Oak Bluffs

Cecelia quickly caught on to grabbing (and collecting) the brass rings!

Henry and Amy enjoy a carriage ride.

Our dear friends the Sheldons, now living in NYC, were vacationing on the Cape this week and came for a visit today. Of course as luck would have it this was the only day of rain we've had in weeks. Although we didn't get to take them to some of our favorite outdoor spots we were able to enjoy some inside play at the house, a ride on the carousel and a great pizza dinner. Amy, thanks for making the trek-it was a joy to spend the afternoon with y'all!

South Beach

Kayaking & Mad Martha's at Ocean Park

We surprised G by dropping in for breakfast at Black Dog. The kids were thrilled that pastries counted for breakfast! After leaving him we headed off on a nice long bike ride and then back to the house for lunch. G came home from writing and we decided to try our hands at kayaking. This was Springer's first time out and she and Carver were delighted with the adventure. (unfortunately I wasn't able to bring my camera along-I assumed it may be pretty water logged by the time we returned.) After working up a sweat we savored some Mad Martha's ice cream-yum! Cones are even tastier when enjoyed in Oak Bluff's Ocean Park....
these are the small cones!

Playing chase on the great lawn

My favorite home on Ocean Park circle-can you see why?!