Playground at the orchard

The play area at the orchard was the universal kids' favorite. They have a whole playground with farm-themed equipment (Ben and Liam were particularly fond of the bouncy tractor), a petting zoo, a haystack, and lots of action. The boys were very excited to run into their friend Matt, who was in the Rainbow Room with them last year, but now is home with his mom and little sister, Katy. The train was fun as always. A good time was had by all, a good nap was had practically from the moment we hit the car, and we all ate lots of yummy, if pricy, apples.

Apple Picking again

We all went apple picking again this year, this time with Liam and his parents and grandparents. The previous week in the Turtle room had been all about apples, so the timing was perfect. With a friend along, Ben was a little less focused on picking than last year, but he did enjoy eating the apples, walking the rows of trees, and checking out the watering system with Liam.

Weaving

Another fun thing to do at home is to help mama with her weaving and other textile projects. Ben loves the swift, which holds a skein of yarn when you make it into a ball and spins around when you pull on the yarn. He also enjoys weaving, and is collaborating with his mama on a scarf for the winter on the little (rigid heddle) loom. Recently, he is also expressing an interest int he big loom. Just as he likes putting a stick shuttle through in the little loom, he likes throwing the boat shuttle on the big loom, and has amazingly good technique. Mama makes a shed, Ben throws the shuttle through (actually, sends in gliding along the bottom of the reed), and mama catches it. He woke up from his nap yesterday and came right out to the loom, climbing up on the bench and inspecting the shuttles between yarns.

Fun at home

Ben also has fun at home, playing with his ever-growing car collection and the rest of his toys, singing and making music, playing with trains, taking bubble baths, and cooking. He loves baking, and makes us make many more muffins than we really want. He loves baking cookies, and his specialty is chocolate chip cookies made with daddoo. Daddoo also made a fort with Ben out of the kitchen table, and they hid underneath and ate chocolate chips, which was big fun.

Science Museum

As the weather has turned cooler and wetter, we decided to join the Science Museum, since it's a good place to go on yucky days when the library is not enough and you can't stand a mall. Ben has already been three times, and is raring to go again (he was very upset at 6 pm yesterday when I told him it was closed, so we couldn't go). Ben calls it the "dinosaur museum" and is very fond of seeing the dinosaur, as well as riding in the space capsule. They have one area, the discover room, which is focused on little kids, and that is always lots of fun, but he enjoys it all.

Drumlin Farm

One nice day, Ben and his parents went to Drumlin Farm, a working farm and wildlife sanctuary run by Mass Audubon. Ben thought it was lots of fun to see all the animals, including a sleeping skunk. They have a fabulous collection of chickens, a pig with nine piglets, and young goats who are great fun to watch playing, along with lots of other animals.

Morning hike

After our pondside breakfast, we packed up and went to another part of the park, where we saw a statue to the many CCC workers who had created most of the amenities there. We went for another short hike, until Ben was all tuckered out, then had a little picnic, and went back home. Another fun camping trip was over. We are looking forward to many more, next spring and summer, and to more hikes this fall.

Campfire

Ben's favorite part of camping is the campfire. He really loves eating hotdogs, and nothing is better than hotdogs that have been cooked on a stick over a fire. He loves telling stories about finding big sticks to roast the hotdogs and marshmallows. He even put marshmallows on sticks himself, although he didn't eat much of them. All this camping excitement did lead to a little craziness, however.

Camping again

Ben has been very busy in the last month (as have his parents; thus the paucity of posts). He is having fun in the Turtle Room, his new room at daycare, and he's been having various adventures with his parents. He's been quite obsessed with the idea of camping. For example, he pulls the sheets way over his head and says he's in a tent, and asks us to read him stories in there. He also was telling his teachers all about camping. So a couple weeks ago when the weather was nice we went on a one-night camping trip to Bear Brook State Park in New Hampshire, near where we went camping last time. We were camped very close to a pond, where several of the campers went fishing. You could rent canoes, but we are waiting until after Ben knows how to swim to do that, so we went for a nice walk part of the way around the pond on the first day (some treeman activity was, of course, included). Ben also decided that we had to eat breakfast there in the morning, so his mama carried the plates of eggs and bacon to a table next to the pond, where we could eat with a beautiful view. (As you can see, it was rather chilly in the morning, as well as at night, so we all cuddled close together).