Back in time

We spent  day at Old Sturbridge Village with our cousins Kristine and Elizabeth.

First up...getting into character with these old cutouts. I love it!

Next up, they tried milking a fake cow. We sadly misses the real milking demonstration during the day. Now THAT wouId have been fun!

They got into character again with dresses and went to work churning butter and sweeping the hearth. Gage loaded the fireplace up with fake wood.

Sturbridge village is as authentic as possible. They had beds made with pillows and straw so the kids could see just how lumpy and uncomfortable beds were a few hundred years ago.

They also got to check out the outhouse and learn about what they used to wipe with corn cobs, leaves, and rags. 

After seeing the stage coach go by they went nuts!! This was a stagecoach that ran between Hartford Ct and Worcester MA. It traveled at 8-10 miles an hour and took 12 hours for the trip!

We had lunch under this gorgeous grape arbor. Gage tried out a tiny sour grape and decided it was "disgusting" :-)

Savannah and Elizabeth - cousins and pals :-)

One thing we loved about OSV is that the buildings are all original and have been relocated to the village. This was the Freeman farm.

The village has workers who dress in costume and act in character. This was a farmer who told the kids all about how children would help on the farm. One of the kids jobs was collecting eggs. So...they got to do that (well, he wrestled the eggs from beneath an angry chicken) and then being them into the kitchen inside the farmhouse.

This is an old covered bridge that was relocated from VT about 60+ years ago. In 1955 it came loose in the flood and started floating down river. Some workers tied it to a tree to save it, and they later skidded it to a new location after the river froze. We took a different horse drawn carriage through the bridge, and then rode on a riverboat. Love this pic of the girls.

Since we were the only passengers, the captain let all the kids take a turn driving the boat. We saw some water snakes and a big blue heron.

We stopped at the blacksmith, the general store, the printer, the schoolhouse, the meeting house, the sheep farm, grist mill, the beekeeper exhibit, watched then dyeing wool, pumped water from a well, etc etc etc!

We even played school yard games, like jump rope, Jacobs ladder, and a bunch of old wooden "catch the ball" type games.

It was a long and full day. And...there was still a lot we didn't see! A great, great day, though. 

Here is my favorite picture of the day...

Tractors

Once or twice a day..we head out to the cow field.  The cows see us coming and start mooing. We bring stale bread, veggie peelings, corn husk, and any other cow-type snacks that we round up (or other people drop off for us). Savannah loads up her bike basket - this day it was a head if wilted lettuce.

After feeding the cows, they got to take tractor rides with grandpa. As soo. As the the barn door opened...miss savannah runs in the breath in the glorious smell of oil and grease. She just loves the smell of garages!!!

Gage was up first..so they took a few spins aroujd the barn.

on the way back, gage asked what the green tractor's name is --- because most of grandpas pieces of equipment have names. Turns out...this guy has no name. So gage decided this tractor should be called "Robby".

Savannah was up next...and she drove all by herself.

There is no shortage of "toys" around here!!

Gram's 89th

After a full day at Mystic...we got everyone we could together for a dinner to celebrate Gram's 89th!

x

 

 Here's Gram with a few of her Great Grandkids -- Ryan (8) - Gage (4) - Matthew (13) - Elizabeth - (6) Savannah (7) and Mikayla (10).

 And..here they are being silly...

Gram with her girls -- Mom, Aunt Jean, & Aunt Karen

cousins

First stop with the cousins...swimming...playing legos...and eating a lot of dunkin donuts munchkins.

 Next stop...a trip to Mystic with Gram on her 89th birthday. There was a lot of silliness going on with Savannah and Elizabeth in the back of the car.

 We can't go to Mystic without stopping at the Swedish shop. We know we found it when we see the ducks outside!

 And...the giant Swedish Dala horse inside.

 This year... everyone got viking hats :-)

 We tried to take breaks for Gram, so we made everyone pause for pics now and then, but it turns out...we were driving Gram crazy because we were going TOO slow for her.  We need to speed it up, apparently!

Next up, it was out to lunch for lobster rolls. And, since it was still early, we decided to swing through downtown Mystic to see the old bascule bridge. I left the kids with Kristine and went to hang over the bridge to look at the time schedule -- which is only displayed to boaters and is verrry difficul for pedestrians to see!  Turns out..we were just in time!

 

 We got there JUST in time for the bridge to go up. It never gets old watching these huge weights come down.  The kids thought it was super cool.

 It ends up almost completely vertical, and then we get to watch the tall ships race through before it closes!

 

 And as luck would have it...there is an ice cream shop right on the bridge. So...we had to stop there for a sweet treat!

The next day...it was another set of cousins...Matthew & Ryan...and bowling!

A visit to CT

And...we're off on our summer adventure. This summer is less adventurous than last summer -- we did not drive, which means that we won't be hitting 23 states like we did last year!

We were happy to see Gram Rooney and have spent a lot of time playing legos on her floor already. She even let the kiddos venture into the basement to take some of the lego pirate ships, king chariots, etc. that Grandpa built years ago before he passed away.  They are building little police cities, hospitals, and all sorts of cool things.  We're also dragging Gram along with us most places we go...because we like to :-)

 The kiddos dragged their bikes out of the basement. Gage is cruising on his Big Wheels, piling the back of with "interesting rocks", and racing his sister down the driveway.

 And Savannah..well...she seems to have inherited Gram Rooney's knack for finding four leaf clovers. The whole family is amused by this because Gram is known for her lucky clover finding talents. She has Gram's gift!  On just one day, she found 6 in Gram's yard. And..it hasn't stopped there. She keeps finding them!

 We also have twin calves this year. We call them "the babies" -- their names are Crash & Stash. Here is Gage out in the field with Crash, being so patient and careful as he tries to lure her over to eat some  purple clover flowers out of his hand. They are still a little skittish, but getting better... won't be long.

 Gage is such a big boy now, he is helping Grandpa give the cows hay at night.

 I love how he looks so satisfied with himself when the job is done!

 There are all kinds of things to mess around with here. The kids played with the trailer for hours. They threw poppers (those firework things that snap) at it for a while. Next they threw two bouncy balls at it and chased them all over the driveway as they bounced. They ran around and performed. They even crawled underneath it to recovered "duds" (poppers that didnt' pop on the first try). Crazy little people.

 Savannah loves hanging out under the new rock that Grandpa put underneath the crazy tree.

 And...we broke out the slip & slide we bought for $2 last year, put it on the hill, covered it with dish soap and let them rip!

 Savannah has been checking out butterflies, and picking wildflowers along the pond while she can ... we know Grandpa will mow that thing down soon!