Falling Back

Our first house hunting trip to Boston was in October 2005. We added an extra day to our trip with plans to drive through Vermont in search of fall foliage. Our trip happened to coincide with one the biggest flooding seasons in New England, but despite pouring rain, we set out, determined to find quaint villages with covered bridges and white chapels. After our day's journey, we returned to Boston disappointed that, through our foggy windshield, we saw little colorful foliage, only one white chapel and drove across a mere two covered bridges. The next year, as we were new residents of New England, we again planned to see what this region is famous for. I did a little research and found several sources stating, "begin your trip in Sudbury, MA and follow Route 2 west . . . " How ironic that we had searched for hours, when really we could have just taken a look around our future home town! We love Autumn in Sudbury and are sad to see it end.

(Sudbury Town Center)

In Sudbury, especially in the fall, running my daily errands, picking the kids up from school or driving to a friend's house is a treat. The views of white chapels, the grist mill, wild swans floating on ponds, stone walls separating the countryside, or the little historic inn down the road all are back dropped by gold, fire red and blazing orange. 

(Mary and Martha's Chapel built by Henry Ford)

(The little one room school house that Mary from Mary had a Little Lamb attended.)

(Some of Sudbury's abundant conservation land)

(The Grist Mill restored by Henry Ford)

(Longfellow's Wayside Inn where Longfellow stayed and wrote Tales of a Wayside Inn)

(a Sudbury farm stand)

(a typical antique house, circa 1800)

Where we live, it stays fairly warm through November, with really no snow until late December, so the Fall provides several months to enjoy everything New England has to offer. One of our "must-do" activities is apple picking. Only ten minutes away from our home is the perfect little apple orchard, Honey Pot Hill Orchard. Throughout the year we visit to pick blueberries, stop in their country store for fresh produce, and even buy our Christmas trees. However, we always set a special day aside to apple pick. This year Grandpa David was in town for the event. We took a hay ride out to the Macintosh apple orchard and filled our bag until it was definitely overflowing, and then some! The kids each stopped at the pumpkin patch afterward to choose their future jack-o-lanterns and then we finished off the event with cider and doughnuts from the country store. We have such fun memories of Grandpa and Grandma Ebert joining us on this outing a couple of years ago.

Starting in early September, I begin noticing bright orange globes dotting the fields near our home. Immediately the excitement of fall is ushered in. The changing of the seasons is here and we look forward to cozy sweaters, warm soups and crackling fireplaces. This year Sophia, Ezra and I joined our play group at another pumpkin patch near our home. (Photos courtesy of Lindsey Larsen.)

With fall comes the beginning of a new school year. New teachers, reuniting with friends and riding the school bus fill our conversations. We clean out our closets, taking inventory of our clothing, buy new backpacks and school shop, both for classroom supplies and for school clothes. (For Emilie the new pencils and books are most exciting, for Annelise, it's the clothes, of course!) The excitement for all of the newness that the year has to offer is carried through the fall and is finally puntcuated with school pictures. The kids urgently remind me to choose a package and send in our money. Then they discuss which outfits would represent them best, and finally hope that the weather will cooperate so that the photos can be taken outside. This year's photos were a success. There will be no retakes in this family!

With December upon us, we look forward to everything wintery and white, with sledding in our back yard, igloo making with dad, and ice skating on one of the ponds in our town. But tucked not too far in our memories are crisp fall days of pumpkins, apple picking, and colorful leaves. We already look forward to Autumn 2009.         

Vacationing at home with Grandma

Up until the time I was four years old, I lived in Arizona. I only have a few memories of Arizona, such as the cactus my sister sat on, the few times it snowed and the fact that my friend next door had her ears pierced. I also remember how exciting it was when our grandparents would visit, like the time they brought Kimonos from our uncle who lived in Japan. My sister and I dressed up in the silky exotic robes and danced around on the red shag carpet in our family room.

Our family now shares that same excitement when our grandparents visit us in Boston. Last weekend my mom visited from Utah. As always the excitement built for several weeks and the countdown began many days before her arrival. Thursday night we started getting phone calls from Grandma. First that her plane had arrived, then that she needed a few directions and finally that she was almost at our house! The minute that she walked into our house, the fun began. We ate dinner around our circular table, catching up over BBQ chicken salad and corn bread. The kids pulled out their latest accomplishments to present to their proud grandmother and finally, after the kids were asleep, my mom and I stayed up until one in the morning catching up on the latest family and neighborhood news. 

The next morning, while the kids were at school, we escaped into Boston. We visited the African American museum and then walked through Beacon Hill on the African American Freedom Trail. We passed colonial brownstones with Autumn gourds decorating their front steps and window boxes, we circled Louisburg Square, the heart of the most affluent neighborhood in Boston, and wandered down cobble stone streets, hundreds of years old. Although we passed many quaint shops and corner cafes in which we would have loved to stop, we had to rush back to pick Sophia up from pre-school and meet the kids at the bus stop. The beauty of mom's visits is that I always know that she will be back to finish off anything that we missed!

Friday night we dashed back into Boston with Emilie, Jonathan, Annelise and Sophia. The Science Museum was open late and a new IMAX movie, The Seven Undiscovered Places on Earth, was playing. We arrived in time for the kids to play in the motion room, with speed races, gravity pulls and balancing activities. We then visited the Myths and Monsters traveling exhibit. We all enjoyed our Imax and learned about life in Madagascar, in the Amazon and several other remote destinations. After a quick treat we headed home with four tired children.

On Saturday morning my mom took Sophia to the new American Girl Store that just opened in our mall. Sophia was so excited for an exclusive date with grandma for her upcoming birthday, and what could be better than being the first in the family (almost) to visit our new local treasure?! She picked out a matching outfit for herself and her doll. The best part was the ice cream cone with sprinkles afterwards!

As soon as Mom and Sophia returned, we jumped in the car and headed down to Plymouth for an early Thanksgiving celebration. We first stopped at the Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower. The kids were amazed at how small it was and shocked to think that a family our size would have shared a bed smaller than a twin. We pointed out that the children probably slept under the bed on top of the family supplies. They were grateful for their own beds and, by Mayflower standards, spacious bedrooms. We took a quick peek at Plymouth Rock, which is always a bit of a shocking disappointment, based on its small size, and then made our way to our Pilgrim dinner. 

(We had all been to Plymouth Plantation recently so we skipped the actual living history recreation of the Plymouth Colony. Jonathan and I had just been there the Thursday before on a third grade field trip and were so excited to see the John Alden house, one of about fifteen recreated Mayflower passenger's homes, with the man portraying John Alden inside. We discovered a few years ago that John Alden is our distant grandfather on my father's mother's side of the family! He was the cooper, or barrel maker, on the Mayflower. We have been told at the Plymouth Plantation by historians, that it was a very important job!  All of the children in our group shared in our excitement as we went to "grandpa's house", as Jonathan had fun saying!)

With Grandma, we spent the evening feasting on authentic Pilgrim fare, including pumpkin pudding, boiled leeks and cabbage, hearth bread, roasted turkey, and Holland cheese cake. Actors dressed in Pilgrim clothing, playing specific Mayflower passengers, including John Alden,  wandered around the room, educating us on the politics, lifestyle and history of the Mayflower voyage and Plymouth Colony. Other actors sang and played period music. I read about this dinner before we moved to Massachusetts and always looked forward to attending it. It met all of our expectations!

On Sunday morning we attended church and then returned home for a fall dinner and to watch the History Channel's Mayflower documentary that my mom purchased. We all cuddled up on the couch and enjoyed one more authentic Thanksgiving experience. Mom's airline ticket was for 6:30 am on Monday so we all went to bed early so that she could wake up at 3:00 am to make her flight home! We already have plans for her next visit in March!