Boston: Day One!

Our trip to Boston (back in September) was so much fun! For some reason it has taken me until January to post only half of the pics from this trip!!! The boys ask me when we are going again all the time!! A big thanks goes to our homeschool friend Sonja who did tons of leg work for the trip! Here the kids are posed at the church where we were camping out. Two more families met up with us in the city. The church kindly let us camp out in the basement at night while touring the city by day.

Ethan and James had never been on the subway and I had only been on once or twice! It was a real learning experience for us all and by the end of the trip I think I could have gotten us across town??? Ethan and James are posing here with Sonja in the background as we descend into the ground for the first time!

The subway pics came out BAD, but I just had to include their first subway ride!! Ethan's face looks a little scared in this one but Maverick is as happy as a clam!

Now James looking oh so calm for his first ride!

Our first stop in Boston was the Public Garden and the Swan Boats! Even though this is not necessarily a Boston history stop, it was a necessity for those of us who read the Trumpet of the Swan!

A beautiful day for a boat ride! Here Ethan and James pose on the boat.

Our swan boat ride would not be complete with out some swans!!

The nice looking bunch sitting behind us!

A policeman on horseback was kind enough to stop and talk to our group and let us say hello to his horse! I think the horse was named Fredrick (Fred for short). So fun!!

While in Boston Public Garden you absolutely must read Make Way for Ducklings! Thankfully Sonja was prepared for this and brought the book along. Sarah read it to all the kids while we sat near the duck statue and had a snack. At each stop we had a snack themed for that particular site.

Make way for the Homegrown Explorers! And the ducklings too!!

A statue of George Washington! We snapped this just as we were leaving the park.

Sonja set up a visit to the lobby of the Ritz Carlton! A fun treat to those of us who read The Trumpet of the Swan, Louis the Swan was able to spend a night at the Ritz in the book!

Here the kids were able to do rubbings of the Declaration of Independence. They were easily able to see John Hancock's name and everyone wanted to rub it onto their paper!

James took this fun photo of his feet on the Freedom Trail. These red bricks mark the way throughout all of Boston.

This is the Granary Burying Gound named for the Granary that was located next door It was really neat to walk around and see all the old graves.
The boys were looking for several famous graves on their Boston Bingo sheets. Here is Paul Revere's grave.
The boys located the Samuel Adams grave site next.
Then we were on the move again to find more interesting sites on our Boston bingo sheet. Here the boys pose with Ben Franklin at the Boston Latin School, the oldest public school. I thought it was amusing that all though Franklin attended this school, he is one of Americas most noted high school dropouts!!
A fun group photo with the donkey statue also at the Boston Latin School! Click here to check out the history of the statue.

Ethan opposing the democrats! Go Ethan!!

James had tons of fun taking pics of all the "sky scrapers" and other interesting buildings!

We loved the contrast of old and new in Boston! This is at the site of the Boston Massacre.

The big building with the clock is really beautiful when lit up at night! It is the Custom House Hotel.
Ethan thought it would be fun to take a pic with one of the mayors of Boston. He has not one but two statues in this little park near the Holocaust Memorial?? After, we headed over towards Faneuil Hall to Quincy Market for dinner.

After dinner we decided to visit the Boston Public Library since we could not go back to the church until after the bible study was over. This didn't come out great but it is the open courtyard at the library! It was so beautiful and huge!! The pic does not do it justice!

Here is the amazing marble entry way in the Library! We walked around a little and then found a quiet corner to take a break and read before heading back to the church.

James and Ethan thought it was fun to act like they were holding up the pillars of the building like Sampson! As soon as they saw these pillars in the library that is what they thought of! So cute!!

We then headed back to the "T" for another ride to the church where we were staying.

Stay tuned for day two!

Chickens in the Snow and more!

Yes, our chickens get special treatment... they don't have to walk in the snow because Ethan uses the Tonka dump truck AKA "Jack" to drive them around! Look closely and you will see Golden Feather or "Goldie" for short calmly taking a ride.

Then not so calmly trying to fly away!

Next it was Rosies turn! You can see it was starting to get dark at this point but we had a roaring bon fire going, the first of many to try and rid our yard of too many trees. We are hoping to expand the garden this coming spring among other projects!

Since it has been snowing like crazy this past week I have been shoveling like crazy too! This is the first winter with chickens and so our path to the coop must be kept open. Also kept open is a path to the shed doors and to the greenhouse. We are using the greenhouse as storage for the winter and are trying to keep it free of snow so that it does not end up with holes come spring.

Quiz: Who do these little footprints belong too???

Our furry foe the red squirrel who seems to have found a nice little nesting spot in the eaves upstairs in Mollies room!! James and Pat have both been aiming to take this one out but so far have not succeeded!! He is super cute when not tearing thing up in our house though!

Our chickens seem to be happy in their coop. Pat built a roof frame and covered it with plastic for the winter to keep the snow out of the run. So far so good! I throw in bunches of hay here and there for them to peck in and it keeps the busy.

Since we have gone from NO snow on Christmas to LOTS of snow now (and it is snowing again today!!) we have been playing a lot in the snow! We have had a couple of nice adventures with our new snowshoes given to us for Christmas. No pics of course because I forgot the camera again!!
The boys and Emmy had there first day of skiing (no camera again) at King Pine. It went well and Emmy even got to ride up on the chairlift! We borrowed a great harness for little ones that is a huge help in teaching them to ski. I am going to try and reproduce one with webbing from Mom and Dad's shop.

We also had fun making this recipe for Snow Muffins! Thanks Elizabeth for sharing the link.

A winter fun game called Fox and Geese was found in our book "A Pioneer Sampler"(thanks to Selena). It seems this used to be a popular winter game for children long ago. Since we are studying the pioneers we thought it would be a fun one to try. I found the directions online if you don't have access to the book, check it out:
Fox and Geese Winter Game

Other Snowy Games (from Family Fun) that we are excited to try:

JUMP SNOW HURDLES

Lightly pack a bunch of basketball-size snowballs and then use them to build a course of hurdles to jump over in a round of follow the leader.

FLAG IN A SNOW STACK

Tie a white cloth to the end of a short stick or around the bowl of a wooden spoon. Then, give each child a chance to hide it by staking it anywhere within a predetermined set of boundaries. Keep track of how long it takes for the rest of the group to find it. Whoever hid the flag that takes the longest time to spot wins the game.

STRIKE OUT

For this pitching contest, first mound up snow to create three bases and a pitcher's mound. They should each be about 2 feet high and 20 feet apart. Next, build a tin can pyramid on each base. The challenge is to knock down the stacks in order from first to third base by throwing snowballs from the pitcher's mound. The child who succeeds with the fewest pitches wins.

HAT TRICK

Once you've built a plump, frosty snowman to stand sentry in your front yard, make a game of topping him off in style. Take turns trying to land a hat on his head by throwing it Frisbee style from 10 or so feet away.

GET ON A ROLL

Pair up for a contest in which the object is to finish with the biggest snowball. The contest ends when the teams can no longer roll their entries or when you run out of snow.

Have fun!