The Triforce

Back at BYU Halley, Sarah, and myself called ourselves the Triforce, which I never really understood because it's some Zelda reference and I was never into Zelda, so to me it just meant we were best friends.  Now that we live on the East Coast I get to see Sarah a lot but all three of us haven't been together in years so Sarah and I hatched a plan late one night to convince Halley to come visit us.  She was very willing and so we were all together again just weeks later.

We had a very busy week planned and because I have two kids I didn't get to participate in as much as I would have liked but I did get to see a lot of historical sights and mostly it was just fun to be with my best friends again.

I don't think about taking pictures while I'm out and about so the pictures I did get are kind of random and there were plenty of opportunities that I missed.  But I always think it's better to be in the moment than constantly on my phone snapping pics.

Our first stop was Salem, MA.  This was an art piece in someone's yard.  It looked kind creepy, giant nests or something, so it fit in at Salem very well.

We also went to the Salem Witch Museum.  I had Oskar and Ivy with me and I asked the people taking tickets if it was too scary for my kids and they said it wasn't that scary and they should be fine but if I needed to leave I could.  So we went in to a big dark room and the recording started with a loud deep voice and the spotlight shone on an animatronic devil with red eyes.  Super scary.  So I quickly averted their attention to the devices I had with me and mostly distracted them because I wanted to stay and listen.  Ivy wasn't really bothered but Oskar kept looking up every once in a while from his game and asking what was going on.  It was really creepy ... and interesting.  I learned a lot.

We also went to a witch house which wasn't actually a house that a witch lived in but the house of a judged that accused and sentenced the witches to death.  I didn't go inside because Ivy was restless but I did get this picture.  Ivy took it so that's why it's all slanted.

Next day we went to the zoo in Rhode Island.

This is Ivy after getting home from the zoo.  My kids aren't known to sit still so the fact that she was laying on the floor for a while meant she was real tired.

Next day I left the kids at home with Joel and our first stop was Fall River, MA where we took a tour of Lizzie Borden's house.  Halley and Sarah both knew and were interested in Lizzie Borden's story, I had never heard of it so it was really interesting to me.  Basically it's an unsolved mystery of the death of Lizzie Borden's parents.  They were killed by an axe to the face and I think most people think Lizzie did it although nothing was ever proven.  We went through the whole house while the tour guide gave us a step-by-step explanation of what happened on the day of the murders.

Then we went out to lunch at a seafood place so Halley could have authentic New England seafood.

Last stop of this day was Plimouth Plantation where they have a pilgrim settlement and reenactors, and an Indian camp.  They lived in squalor, I would have been a TERRIBLE pilgrim.

And Plymouth Rock.  I thought it would be bigger.

Our second to last day we went to Concord where Emerson lived along with Thoreau and Louisa May Alcott and family.  We went to Walden Pond and my brain wasn't on right so I didn't have their swimsuits with me.  That didn't stop them from freezing their tails off in the water.  I did remember to bring the paddle board so Sarah and I, with Oskar, went paddle boarding around the pond, it was so great.  Halley and Sarah went on to look at Emerson's house and Minuteman Park but I had to get my grumpy kids home.

The last day I got pictures on my phone which I'll have to add later.  We did the Freedom Trail in Boston and saw the Boston Common, Park Street Church, King's Chapel, Site of the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere's house, and a few more.  I was so exhausted this day it was kind of rough going around the narrow, crowded, cobblestone sidewalks with a giant double stroller and kids who's only goal in life is to run away from me.  But again, it was the most fun to hang out with Halley and Sarah again.

30 Before 30

This is the year that I go from being young, fun, and attractive to being old, and bitter, and wrinkly.  To make this transition a little more fun and less depressing I decided to make a list of 30 things I want to do before I turn 30 in November.  I got the idea from my friend Joanna who did this a couple of years ago when she was turning 25.  Some of them are small and easily accomplished, some are things I've never done before and I've always wanted to, and some are going to cost a lot of money.  But I've got to live it up now because as soon as I'm 30 I'm just going to be boring and middle-aged!

Swim in the Atlantic Ocean

Read 5 classics

Repaint my coat rack and shoe bench

Go fruit picking

Host a tea party

Learn to knit

Hike Mt. Wachusetts

Learn a difficult piano piece

Stand Up Paddle Board on Walden Pond

Sew a dress

Go to the temple once a month

Visit MA's top swimming holes

Plant a flower garden

Index 500 batches (I've never indexed so I don't know if this is a lot)

Make homemade ice cream

Visit a foreign country

Take a dance class

Go skinny dipping

Host a karaoke party

See a musical on Broadway

Read the Book of Mormon

Go rock climbing

Build something out of wood

Take a road trip

Visit Boston's historical sites

Journal once a week

Go to Palmyra

Take a class

Make homemade bread

Go to a drive-in movie

Goings On

We saw this "Joel Rubbish" trash can after we had a few weeks of frustrating experiences after moving to MA.  It just felt like the universe was telling us, hey you guys, don't expect much, your life is going to be just rubbish now.

My cute little girl

Oskar and Ivy during knowledge time.

I found Oskar out here "fishing" on the log.  What he really was doing was pulling trash out of the water with a stick.  But at least he had a helmet on.

SNOW ... and Ivy's snowsuit.  She looks so fat and ridiculous, I love it.

Oskar's t-ball parade

Paddle boarding with Sarah.  Oskar was so calm and happy the entire time we were out out on the water.  I can't wait to get some of these boards, we're going to be out on the lake all the time.

Ivy in front of Ralph Waldo Emerson's home.

Thoreau

Louisa May Alcott

Ralph Waldo Emerson

My two cheeses

Our First Visitors

Joel went to Israel for work so Grandma and Grandpa came to babysit me and the kids.  They helped with the kids and helped fix things around the house.  It was great to have them here and we all missed after they left.

Presenting the CUSTOM made window seat.  Mom did and A+ excellent job making this beautiful seat and Dad did a great job modeling it.

Oskar Reads

We've been doing reading lessons every day since we moved to MA and Oskar has really taken to it.  Today he wanted me to come watch him read by himself.  I'm so excited for him to be more independent with reading, I think it will be good for both of us.

The Cottage

Until we come up with a better name our house will be referred to as The Cottage.  I'm reading Anne of Green Gables right now and I'm realizing we need to pick a much more imaginative and romantic name.

We have been in MA for three weeks and in our house for two and our belongings have still not arrived and most likely won't for another week.  IT'S KILLING ME!  We finally broke down and bought another bed, even though we have one coming, because sleeping on the air mattress was so uncomfortable and sooo cold.  The plan is to have a guest room and put the extra bed there.  I've had to get real imaginative with my cooking, finding things we can eat that don't require real utensils, baking dishes, or really any ingredients so we've eaten a lot of macaroni and cheese, canned beans, and cereal.  It's just so difficult to go buy things that you know you will have soon.  We've also broken down and bought furniture even though we're not sure how the new pieces will work with what we already have.  But we have to sit somewhere!  And for now it's just two rocking chairs in the living room.

For this house I told Joel he could have free reign on decorating and style because the house really is more his style than mine.  But I regret that now that everything he has bought is all wood.  Nothing but wood.  No color, no variety in materials, just brown, brown wood.  The next house I'm going to take lead on and it's going to be so obnoxiously colorful and bright and cozy.

Oskar and Ivy have taken to all these changes fairly well.  Oskar loves that he can go outside whenever he wants, as long as it's not too cold, and just play in the rocks and dirt to his heart's content.  It's really nice for me too.  I've still got Ivy barking up my tree 24/7 but it's okay.  Ivy is a complete dickens.  She goes to the bathroom at every opportunity, and oh is she stealthy, to turn on the water in the tub.  Before I got in the habit of closing the bathroom door it happened like 20 times a day.  She also jumps at every chance to throw anything down the stairs.  And she is always shutting herself in rooms and is unable to let herself out so I have to open all five of the doors upstairs to find out which one she is behind.  She is talking a lot more and when she says no she shakes her shoulders at the same time and does a little shimmy, it's real cute.

I feel like there have been so many things that have gone wrong, so many frustrating situations, and SO MUCH money we have spent that we really haven't been able to start enjoying life and this area yet.  When I think about doing this again I think we have learned a lot and would be much better at it, but I don't really want to do it ever again, except for the move to where we're going to live forever, that's the last move I want to make.  But we'll see, maybe I'll change my tune after we get settled here and things get less frustrating.

Generally, from what I know if it, I like the area we're living in.  It's technically Auburn but it's really close to Worcester.  The library is great, we've already got involved with story time and Lego club, we've been to a few parks, and we're going to try the gymnastics gym this week, they have an open gym for kids that I'm sure Oskar would really love.  The libraries here have passes that give you discounted tickets to all the children's places of interest like the zoo, museums, farms, etc.  We got our first one and are headed to the Ecotarium this week.  Since I'm reading Anne of Green Gables I want to go visit Prince Edward Island but that's 10 hours away so I don't know if we'll make it.

The day we moved in Joel took pictures of The Cottage from all angles because that's just the kind of guy he is.