A Little Trip To Boston, Day Two

Day two started early, because Brennan had an agenda!  We drove to Plymouth where the pilgrims landed when they came here for religious freedom.  Above is a picture of Dave and Brennan by a statue of William Bradford, whom they are related to.  I am not related, which was kind of a weird thought, but true.

This nondescript little rock here is the famous "plymouth rock"  which supposedly the pilgrims used as a stepping stone to get from their ship to dry land.  I've never been aboard a boat for any length of time, so I guess it's possible they would remember which rock they stepped on when they got off the boat.  So, I'm just going to believe that this rock was stepped on by pilgrims in the year 1620. 

Just a picture of me in Plymouth.  Because I didn't get to be in the picture of those who are related to William Bradford. 

And a picture of Brennan and I in front of a replica of the Mayflower.  We didn't tour this ship because, like the Eiffel Tower and Washington's Monument and other such famous things, I think the beauty of them is in the outside.  When you're on board or inside, you can't see the beauty.  But that's just me.

At Plymouth, there was a replicated pilgrim colonial village.  THAT was very cool.  Here we are at the replicated Indian village.  Dave is standing in front of what was a hollowed out log canoe, and the Indian girl on the right is telling us about life as an Indian in the 1600's.  Everything there is made how and out of what it would have been during the 1600's time period.  Very fascinating!!

Inside the visitors center, there was an authentic, working pilgrim kitchen, which was closed by time we got there, but they make actual food (mostly bread type stuff I think) and sell it in the gift shop.  And there was this guy, from some Indian tribe in Montreal, Quebec.  He was making headdresses from Porcupine hair.  Not quills, but the hair of Porcupine.  They were beautiful!  He learned this art from his grandfather. 

This was an Indian house, built out of the bark of trees on the outside.  It was too dark inside to get a good picture, but it was round like the Native Americans would build hogans in a later century.  The beds were built around the outside walls of the house and covered with furs.  They generally only used their houses in the cold winter months.  When it was warm, they were traveling and hunting.  

Dave and I in front of the Indian house.  

In this picture you can see my cute sandals that saved my life- or rather, my feet- during all the walking we did on this trip!  After a full day of walking around Lowell the day before, even my flip flops were hurting my feet.  But these yoga sandals, which I only bought to match the skirt I was wearing, were the most comfortable shoes ever!  They are all fabric, so nothing to rub and make your feet sore.  And very cute to boot!!  Just a little FYI.  

The pilgrim village from the top of the community center/defensive fort at the entrance to the village

One of a few picture I got of all of us.  We're in front of an old pilgrim house.  It was one of those "set the camera on a log, set the timer and run to get in" kind of picture.  

Another shot of the three of us in the backyard of a pilgrim house. I remembered to take my sunglasses off for this one. Our feet are cut of by the log the camera is setting on. :) 

This boy know how to work a wheel barrow.  Even an old colonial one.  

There were reenactors in the village.  This one was mudding the chinks in the wood inside the house.  We lost Dave here for a while.  He stayed and watched the man and his son while Brennan and I continued to look around. 

We found this log pile of split wood ready for the cold winter days ahead.  We think need one of these at the cabin!

We were going to go to Martha's Vineyard after Plymouth, but we spent longer than Brennan's agenda planned for us to here, so we just drove out to Cape Cod.  Here is Brennan looking much like a beach bum.  

It was beautiful.  I don't think those who live by the ocean could ever appreciate how much those who don't love just walking the beach and listening to the waves and watching the expance as it disappears into forever.    

                                 

In my effort to be IN more pictures, I stood in the ocean in my skirt and let Dave take blurry pictures of me.

It was the perfect end to a perfectly lovely day.  

A Little Trip To Boston, Day One

 I decided to repent and do this right.  Forward.  From day one.  So, here we are landing after an all night plane ride with little sleep. But, it's how we roll.  Because it's a waste of time to fly during the day when you could be enjoying your vacation, after all.....

We spent our first day in Lowell, the city where Brennan lives.  Lowell is named after Francis Cabot Lowell, the man who put the town on the map.  He went to England in 1810 to learn about their textile machinery, but because British law prohibited the export of the machines, he had to memorize the designs, and then return home and build a replica. He then built a mill that was the first one in America to use power looms. That was successful, so he started building all these manufacturing plants and a canal system to power them.   

 

Today the canals are just a pretty part of the town, but back in the early 1800, they were a power source for all those looms.  

Luckily, many rooms of looms are preserved as a National Historic Park.  This was a room filled with running looms.  Actually, they only had about 1/3 of the looms running, and just those 1/3 made so much noise we couldn't talk to each other.  It was fascinating to watch them work.  And very LOUD!

I decided this trip to jump in front of the camera more, so here Dave and I are in the room of looms.  One picture where I look pretty normal...

And one where I look Zombieesk, but Dave looks pretty normal.  The women who worked the looms worked 10 hours a day, six days a week.  Many of them eventually developed health problems from breathing in the cotton fibers all day long, and hearing problems from the loudness of the looms

After touring the museum, we went on a fun canal boat tour.  If you look really close, you can see Brennan peeking around the corner of the building above.

This is the dam system they used.  When they water gets too high, it pushes the boards forward, which, in turn, bends the metal bars, and allows water to run off the canal back into the Pawtucket River.  Whatever works for you, guys!

Some ducks enjoying the canal.  The canal is still owned by the company that built them so many years ago, and they don't allow anyone to swim or boat or play in them at all.  So it makes a nice place for the ducks to swim :) 

A round building built around the turn of the canal...

These are the locks.  You wait on one side in your boat while the water on your side fills to level of the water on the other side.  The the gates will open and the boat can go on through.

Today the manufacturing plants have mostly been converted into beautiful apartments, stores and office buildings.  And Brennan and Emma live in one!  It was so fun to finally see where they live and learn the history of their town.  Such a fun little gem near Boston that we probably would never have known about if Brennan and Emma hadn't found an apartment there and moved in.  

A Little Trip To Boston - Backwards

I'm working backwards blogging our Boston trip because that's how I'm editing the pictures.  This day was Sunday, the day we flew home.  We went to church - best things first - then loaded up all our luggage and headed to Boston.  But first I wanted some pictures of Brennan and Emma in front of their very cool apartment.

  More on the town of Lowell and the apartment later, but just as a reference, Bren and Emma live in the building on the left. All the building you can see were once textile mills that have been converted into apartments, stores, offices, ect.  The water that surrounds the buildings are canals that were built in the early 1800's as a power source to power the looms in the textile mills.  Don't you love a building with a history?

Very pretty view.  They call Lowell, Little Venice.  So, if you can't go to Italy, go to Lowell. 

One thing that Dave really wanted to do that we hadn't had time to do yet was tour the USS Constitution.  This ship was build in the 1800's to fight the Danbury Pirates, but by the time the ship was finished, so was the war with the Pirates.  It was used in the war of 1812, which is when it got the nickname, Old Ironsides.  She's build out of wood that is 22" thick, and the British cannonballs were bouncing off her sides. Someone was heard to say, "Her sides must be made out of iron"  Hence the nickname.  In the above picture from the deck of the USS Constitution, you can see an old World War II ship we also toured.  

                         Dave, Brennan, and Emma, ready to board the U.S.S. Constitution.

 After touring ships and hiking to Bunker Hill, (sometimes I just didn't get my camera out) we drove out to Castle Island and walked the loop around the bay.  It was a beautiful way to end our trip.  Dave took a picture of Brennan and I - our last moments together, Brennan with his new Mom haircut.

 Then Brennan took a picture of Dave and I.  This would look like a nice, sweet couples picture if he hadn't also captures the set up process.

This, right here, is why I try to stay behind the camera.  It's not pretty, but it's real.  Then it was off to the airport and home.

A Fun Day With The Lindon Cozzens

I've been treking up to Stansbury to play with the Torgerson grandkids for a few weeks now - shipping their parents off to work and school so we can do what we want without adults telling us what to do :)  This week we took a field trip to Lindon to play with Porter and Bridger and Ford and Sadie.  And we had a blast!

We had water balloons fights, and played in the pool, had pool noodle wars, and all sorts of fun stuff

 This is what you do with those water balloon fillers after the water balloons have all been filled.  It makes a great plant waterer/kiddo waterer/water fight weapon.

Brody and his water balloon, looking for a target

 This kid is such a crack up.  He jumped about twenty times before he finally ended up in the pool.  I love his jumps.  Some day I'm going to do a whole post on just Brody jumps.

Here Brody and Bridger are jumping into the pool together.  Holding hands.  Too soon they will think they're too old or cool for holding hands, but not yet.  And I'm so glad.  

 They were all totally engrossed in watching the water balloons fill.  It was action packed entertainment!  

 Two cousin buddies off to Larry Land with their water balloons......

Cute Kaylie with her water balloon.  She wanted to wear her ballet suit for a swimming suit.  She kept telling me, "It won't get ruined, right?"  I brought a swimming suit just in case she changed her mind when she saw that everyone else had a real swimming suit on, but she stuck with the ballet suit.  And it was the cutest, most modest swimming suit I've ever seen :)

 I thought this was cute.  Kaia so badly wanted to join in the fun.

The title of this picture is Summer From A Baby's Perspective.  

 Michelle got into the water fight action.  Here she is fighting with Chase for control of the hose

 She kept yelling for Porter to turn the water on.  But he was just a little bit more on Chase's side than Mom's

He would turn it on, then right back off.  What a tease!

Cute little Kaia crawling down the brick pathway.  She roamed all over that fun backyard.  

 This was the best entertainment for me.  Kaylie and Ford noticed that the pool was loosing it's air and collapsing.  So the rushed to the rescue.

 They worked together, pulling up the pool and yelling, "Save the water!  Save the water!"

 It was so cute to see them play together and have so much fun.  Ford was thrilled to have a buddy to play with!

 And Kaylie had buckets of fun with Ford.  Those two worked hard, but alas, they couldn't save the water

 "SAVE THE WATER!!"  SAVE THE WATER!!"

Finally they pulled so hard they fell backward and the pool came up over them like a blanket.  And suddenly - they had an instant water bed.  So much fun for one summer day.  Thanks for the fun Lindon Cozzens :)  It was a day we'll want to repeat soon!!