We traveled

I know, I'm such a wimp, but we decided to mask-up and take off...

On our way to visit Greg's brother and family in Nashville, we stopped at Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.  You may remember the mistake we made a five years ago and missed it by an hour. The time zone change tripped us up. 

 2021-we made it!

2016-too late!

 

There's Yoda on the steps.   

The spring that made this location popular and valuable.

The replica cabin.

 

 

Also, 5 years ago when driving to Alabama we noticed the National Corvette Museum and thought it would be a great place to visit on our way back.  Again we made a mistake and drove back on Easter Sunday, one of only 5 days this museum is closed in a year.  It was totally worth the trip 5 years later.

Yoda wanted to find the car from when he was born. 

A few years ago there was a cave-in.  They have since rebuilt, but they have lines to show where it happened. 

My favorite car.  

And one of the cars my dad had. 
Next stop Nashville! 

My other sister's visit

My sister Sonya also came for a visit this summer.  Because she can work remotely, we were able to have her around for over a week! 

While she was here we did a bunch of walks and hikes at State, National, Town and Metro Parks...

On the 4th of July we BBQ'd and she made a patriotic dessert. 

 

Parker had to work that night, but made it home for some sparklers and some of the neighbors shooting off fireworks (he's pretty tired here!)  

Since all the movie theaters can't open, they are having drive-in movies! We went to see E.T.

Spring Break Day 3

Off to Belchertown!  Home of our very old and weird apartment on the town's common.  We spent some time walking around looking at the beautiful old library and dumpy laundromat and talking about how poor we were. 

Here we are back in 2003 with baby Parker on the town's common. 

As we were driving east towards Boston, we stopped and talked about the Quabbin.  Which has a super interesting history.  They flooded towns to create the reservoir to bring water to Eastern Massachusetts.  The towns have been gone a long time but people still feel sad about it. 

And here we are back in 2003 at the Quabbin with Grandma Shauna! 

Visiting the North Bridge, importation to our nation's history

Next Salem.  Mimi's 6th grade teacher has an ancestor who was one of the people accused of being a witch.  This is the memorial built in 1992 to those that were killed. 

And here we are back in 2007 with aunt Jill and aunt Tina.  Look at that little Mimi and Parker! 

Of course we visited off-season so lots of things were either closed on a Monday or closed until April. 

  So we found a cool light house to take a picture with.  It was a beautiful day! 

One special request was to hit an amazing seafood restaurant.  My chef-friend Kimberly took me here long ago, so it's my go-to seafood place.  (Yoda had grilled cheese that so, so amazing!)

We ended the night with our visiting some friends who made us some yummy brownies.  We wish we could have visited more people but time just didn't allow.

Here's Parker with is long-ago friend.  They might not remember each other very well, but I do! 

 And here they are back in 2005 at a Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday party.  Look at those cheeks! 

 More to come! 

Spring Break Day 1 & 2

Day 1

We left early Saturday morning for Western Massachusetts.  On our way we had to stop and see Lake Erie. 

 First of two unplanned lighthouses we saw on our trip. 

We stopped at the Women's Rights National Park in Seneca Falls, NY.  We learned a lot.  We also lucked out and arrived just in time to see a woman reenactor who dressed up as Elizabeth C. Stanton. 

 We found a local place on Roadfood.com and ate our first of MANY yummy meals! 

 Swimming to wear out the kiddos before bed!

Day 2

First stop Emily Dickinson's house in Amherst, MA. 

Then to UMass to see Greg's old office. 

Mimi was beyond bored until we saw this random metal sculpture. 

Off to Yankee Candle Factory.  A place we visited many times back in the early 2000's with baby Parker.  The kiddos dipped candles.  Mimi was in heaven and asked to pick out a few candles to take home.  She's been loving to pick out which one to burn. 

Finding the Lego model of the Yankee Candle Factory was a thrill!

Off to Northampton.  Our kiddos appreciate an origin story.  This is the place where Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were first written or something.  This building has small turtle window ornaments in their honor. 

Found some good pizza. 

And we did a bit of Family History cemetery searches. 

Then we headed to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.  Parker was a new born when this museum opened, so they are both 15 :)

Before bed we got some wings from Greg's favorite restaurant from grad school.