Salem

We took a nice Saturday drive up to Salem, Ma to check out apartments for next year. That is assuming we are coming back. We are sure glad that we did. There were some really nice ones and some really weird ones. But after that we decided to walk around Salem for a little. We didn't actually go in the Salem Witch Museum, but we walked past it. I didn't think that was a very good place for our little girls to go.


Then we walked some more and found the Witch Trial Memorial site. These concrete slabs are tomb markers for those that were hung and one said pressed to death, pretty gross (sorry). It is crazy to walk through this area and see all the witch and wizard stuff. We thought that they probably have crazy Halloween parties.

Sandbox Wars

Here comes Adam for the start of the shovel fight.


Lily starts the defence with the other arm up.



And now the tug-o-war starts.

These two are so funny. They are either going to get married later on down the road or hate each other. Every time we go and do stuff together Julie and I have to spend most of the time keeping them apart. They are so cute thought.

Did you say Boston or Pomeroy?

This one is for you dad. I laughed so hard when we got into heavy traffic and looked up ahead and there was a pickup hauling hay. That is something you'd see in my home town of Pomeroy, but not here in the big city.

Older?

So this morning for my birthday Matt was so nice and made breakfast. Which was yummy to my old tummy! Okay so I have been telling Matt that all I want for my birthday is the new Harry Potter book, so I was guessing that he was going to get that for me. Especially when he said well, I guess I will give you your present now and then said oh you probably know what it is but here you go and pulled out a CD. I was happy, well happy as a girl could be with out the book she thought she was getting. I put on a smile and said thank you, actually it was a CD that we had been wanting so it worked out. Then as I started to turn around and walk away looking at my new CD, Matt laughed and reached into his bag and pulled out the new Harry Potter book. Yeah for Matt. I got a good laugh out of it and so did he. Silly boy thinks he can still play tricks on me.

By the way I love the book already, we'll see what I say when I finish it.

So some of my good friends here in Cambridge decided that we needed to do something fun for my birthday. So we went to the beach. Yeah! It was Revere beach just north of us. It was fun. The water was really gross, it had kelp and stunk like fish. Okay when I say kelp I mean green junk everywhere and then it was all over us and the kids. Oh well, we let them be kids and just play in it.



Here's everyone at the beach.

Sorry about the weird angle of the picture of the girls, but it was a fun picture.


Melissa and Vincent

Julie and Adam

Vincent decided to eat some of the gross sand and green stuff.

My lovely girls playing in the green stuff and sand together.

Pageant

So this is what I could do with pictures with our camera after it was dark outside. The pageant started at 9:15pm and ended around 11pm. So it was really dark outside.

The whole cast came up on stage before it started.

same picture of the whole cast.

when Nephi is being taught about the dream his father (Lehi) had. The white cloud area is the tree of Life and the other is Nephi inquiring. It was a great show with really good special effects.

Sacred Grove

We drove out to the Palmyra Temple/Sacred Grove/Smith Family Home areas to tour around and it was great. All I can really say is wow! The pictures don't do it justice. If you haven't been to Palmyra I say it's worth the trip.

Smith Family House

Sacred Grove from Smith Family House. This is what it looks like on the outside.

The inside of the Sacred Grove.

I have to say even with kids running and screaming. I still felt this warmth and peace walking through there. Even the kids recognized the spirit when we hit the center where young Joseph knelt and prayed. They all got quiet and just walked along.

View of the Palmyra Temple from the Smith Family House.

This is what happens after you take your kids walking around and driving for a couple of hours. And of course we thought perfect we'll go back to the Hotel and all take a nap. We walked in the door at the hotel and it was time to play. Needless to say after the pageant the girls were really tired. We were too, but we still made it to 9:30am church.

Hill Cumorah

What a fun trip! We drove to the Hill Cumorah Pageant this last weekend. My friend and her family came up from Philly for the pageant too. It was fun to spend time with them and see the pageant together. We left Friday to drive half way to Albany, NY where we stayed in a small hotel room that the girls thought was an amusement park for some reason. McKenna loved that we brought the sleeping bag for her to sleep in. Nothing like camping next to your parents bed in a small hotel room. Well she thought it was the greatest thing ever. Lily on the other hand knew we were in the room and decided that she would scream whenever she woke up. We love you Lily but man you have some pipes! The pageant was a blast and we even got to see some other sites in Palmyra while we were there.

Hill Cumorah Visitor Center. We were told that during the pageant the town of Palmyra, NY increases by 20,000 people. So just to say we weren't the only people there for touring.

Setting up for the Pageant. This is on the Hill by the monument just behind the stage where the pageant took place. The green area is seating for the pageant and just behind that is a little grassy hill. That's where we sat so we could see the pageant while our kids ran around.

Cute McKenna and Spencer walking up the hill holding hands together.

Angel Moroni on top of the Hill Cumorah monument on top of the hill.

From left to right. Spencer, McKenna, Anna and Rachel. I know Lily missed out on the picture. But they had to go up steps to sit there and I just pictured her falling right back down so McKenna and the Drake kids is perfect for now.

Weekend Adventures!

I am so jealous. Matt got to go to the Red Sox/vs. Blue Jays game at Fenway Park here in Boston. They were taken on a tour of the feild and then were able to watch batting practice right behind home plate. Matt said he could have had a conversation with the players he was so close.


Just hanging around. This is the first time McKenna has ventured out and just done monkey bars or anything on her own. They have a great park at Cambridge commons that we like to play at during the week. Matt came down with us on Saturday and McKenna decided to put on a show for daddy.



Friday we (Heather, Kristina, Baby James, Julie and Adam) decided to take a trip down to the Swan Boats and Frog Pond in Boston. The Swan boats are so cute and fun. They were so nice to take McKenna with them out on the boat while I sat with Lily and watched our stuff. The Frog Pond is a fun water wadding pond in Boston Commons that has a big fountain in the middle. During the summer it is a fun place for kids to play and the winter they turn it into a ice skating rink. I will try and take a picture of it to put on here. McKenna really liked it and I think that Lily enjoyed it even more then McKenna.

Stickers? What stickers?

Yes I did help a little with this one, but she started out covering her body with them then I got a good laugh and thought that Matt needed to see this too. So I helped her get more on her arms and legs before sending her in to Dad.


I wish I would have taken a picture of her toes too. They even had their own stickers!
Oh McKenna you keep my tummy muscles working! What a goof!

More beach fun

We took a fun road trip today to Swampscott and to the beach. It was a lot of fun. And they both got wet, sandy, and fell asleep on the way home. Now isn't that the whole purpose of going to the beach? We wanted to go to a sandcastle building contest but we went too early and they were still building them and the beach was packed. So we decided to drive farther up the coast to a different beach.

Happy Birthday America!

We walked by this cannon and thought neat it looks like they are going to be doing a reenactment or something fun. So we kept walking thinking we will walk back by in an hour. Right after that they fired the cannon. It was "cool" quoted McKenna! So on our way back it fired just before we got to the park again. I took out my camera thinking I'll wait for another chance to get a really good picture only to find out it was every 30 mins. Alas Lily screamed and we walked away only to hear it in the distance as we walked home. Oh well, Happy 4th to all!

Photos

Just for fun if anyone feels like it. I just started to play around with some photography with my wimpy camera. I have the pictures on another blog that is on my link bar under photos. If you want check them out, if not great!

Make Way for the Ducklings

There is well known book here in Boston called Make Way for Ducklings. It is a cute cute story and there is a statue of all the ducklings from the story in Boston Commons so we went and took some pictures by them. We also went on the Swan Boat ride which is a really cute boat that takes you around the pond (fun for the girls). Poor Lily came down with Roseola right before Grandma and Grandpa took off so she went from High Fever to speckled with spots.

Swan Boat in Boston Common

Mom, McKenna, Lily and Dawn on Swan Boat

Duckling statues. Oh and we learned their names Mrs. Mallard, Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack.

Grandpa sleeping with Lily during her high fever time. He was snoring and she still slept. Now that is a tired girl.

The rash on her body after the fever finally broke.

Twiners

Sometimes I love having two girls close in age. They always look so cute in matching clothes.

Freedom Trail

So we walked the Freedom Trail here in Boston with my parents and got to take in all the sites. We saw a lot of things and probably too many people. Just some of the things we saw were Beacon Hill, USS Constitution, Old State House, Grundy Cemetery, Old North Church, Italian District, and much much more. After a day full of walking we were ready to come home and relax.

USS Constitution (the oldest commissioned warship still working, they take it out every 4th of july so they can keep it's status as a commissioned warship) Beacon hill pictured on left is a well known street in Boston that is said to be one of the most beautiful walks in town.

Grundy Cemetery where Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, John Hancock and many other famous people are said to be barried.

This picture almost speaks for its self. The bag says Hidden Sweets. She thought it was pretty fun for the first minute then after that the screaming started.

A cute picture that I couldn't help but post. They didn't even know I was taking the picture but it looks like they are posing for it. My dad on the left, McKenna in the middle and Matt on the right.

Happy Anniversary!

Four great years. We were glad that my parents made it out to Boston and what better time to come then during our anniversary so we could go out on a date. We went to dinner and a really nice restaraunt on the 52 nd floor of the Prudential building in downtown Boston. It was a lot of fun. Then after dinner we went to Ocean's Thirteen. It was a good movie!

Grandma and Grandpa Are Here!

We have all been having so much fun playing around in Boston. My Parents had a rough flight over but said that one kiss and hug from the girls and it was all worth it.

Matt is having a great summer at his firm this summer. This is the Duck Tour that the firm paid for. Yes that's right they paid for our family plus my parents to go. How Cool! The girls really liked splashing down into the water.