Tanglewood

On the list of outdoor concerts in New England, the ultimate destination is Tanglewood - the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. All summer they perform in the outdoor theater at Tanglewood for exorbitant prices, lol. This past weekend we went to a "rehearsal" of the Boston Pops Orchestra conducted by John Williams (famous compser of movie music like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter). It was all songs from the movies and they showed clips from some of the Idiana Jones films. We brought our camping chairs and set up out on the lawn. It was the PERFECT day to be outside. The weather was just right as far as temp and humidity. The concert was fun - even Eli enjoyed clapping and watching the movie clips. He also enjoyed wandering around and making coy faces at the elderly people, who just ate him up. Brad and I had to chuckle at some of the more "cultured" of the audience members. You could pick them out because along with their lawn chairs, they brought portable tables equipped with table cloth, cheese and wine, and some even had floral center pieces! Seriously, you could order a picnic basket from the cafe for over $50. We brought our own cooler with PB&J =). It was one of our more fun days here. After the concert we took naps, then headed back out to the Whitney Farm (posted about earlier) where Eli looked at animals and we had icecream. Good times. Check out this view from the grounds at Tanglewood! Hopefully you can see the hills and the lake in the distance.

Antics

Eli has always enjoyed "helping" with the laundry, and lately his skills have hit an all time high. He can now "sort" the laundry across the entire room with a flick of his wrist! I have to let him go through the laundry first and start folding when he loses interest, otherwise my neatly folded stacks end up "sorted" across the living room!

Eli also loves playing cars and likes to drive them on everything - windowsills, the floor, the kitchen table, the couch..... and my belly. This is my six month (around 24 weeks) baby bump. Hope you aren't offended by giant bare belly shots =). Oh and yes, that's Baby Catcher that I'm reading!

Hancock Shaker Village

We recently came across some free tickets to visit the Hancock Shaker Village out on the edge of town. We were so grateful because at $15 a ticket we were wary to spend the money on an activity we knew we could not possibly get our money out of with a 19 month old along =). The Shakers were an interesting bunch - very devoutly religious. They believed in abstinence as a necessity to be pure, so they did not marry and lived in dormitory settings together. Their congregation could only grow through converts or adoptions. They would establish self-sustaining settlements - with farms, gardens and everything necessary to support their community. This particular village dates back I think to the early 1800's and had people living there up until like 1960. Now it is maintained as a historic location and is very cool to visit! We didn't get to tour many of the old buildings because Eli got cranky in the humid heat pretty quickly. But he did enjoy the farm animals, and we forced him to dress up like a Shaker before he had a complete meltdown. We enjoyed lunch at the little cafe, and Eli proceeded to finally pass out after at least a half an hour of hysterics that I'm sure concerned everyone at the village =).

Lenox Beach

Out here in the Berkshires there are quite a few lakes and public beaches to choose from for summer fun. There is a really nice one about 15 minutes from our house that has lifeguards, bathrooms, and sand toys for the kids. I've been several times with one of the friends I've made out here, but we finally made a family trip to the sand 'n' sun. Lucky for the boys they got a good coat of sunscreen. Unlucky for me, my belly must have gotten in the way of my ability to apply it thoroughly because I got an ugly burn right around my suit straps. Oh well! Now, I'm not a huge fan of lake swimming. For me to get in a lake, certain conditions have to be met:
1 - No weeds!
2 - No fish!
3 - Not cold!
Needless to say I'm not usually tempted to get in, but the water felt wonderful to my large pregnant self! I did have to turn a blind eye to the fish swimming around my legs and "nipping" at my toe ring though. After feeling such bouyancy, coming out on dry land really does have the feeling of being a "beached whale!" Lol. Eli's favorite part was throwing rocks into the lake, and then tossing the ball around in the water. He refused to let me hold him while in the lake - I think he sensed that Daddy's height and strength were a definite positive for his safety =). We sure hope we can go again this summer! Oh and please forgive my "immodest" swim suit. I don't have a maternity one so I had to stretch the tankini I still had from my honeymoon over my expanding waistline!

Music in the Park

One thing we've been enjoying this summer is the weekly free concert in the park! It's a nice little treat to stop and get ice cream from King Cone (a long-standing "hole in the wall" place only open during the summer that serves GIGANTIC ice cream indulgences) and then enjoy the fine weather as the sun sets... just don't forget the bug spray! Eli is getting some good experience in music appreciation - he likes to stomp his feet, shake his head and "dance" in general with his mama! At some point during the concert Eli usually takes off towards the back of the gardens where they are held to run around the fountain. It's a bonus if there are other kids there for him to chase. He likes to intrude on the games of the older kids - he thinks he is such a big boy! New Englanders really know how to take advantage of the outdoors during the summer. Today Eli and I went to the Library in nearby Lenox for storytime and found out there was a free children's concert in the park right afterwards. We ate our lunch out on the lawn and had a blast with the live music and cooky children's songs. The lead in the band is "Larry" a loveably crazy guy with wild hair who all the kids adore. We'll be heading back to this free weekly event for the rest of the summer for sure!

Still a boy!

We had our "official" ultrasound today and our little bean is still a boy! And apparently a "very obvious" one, lol. Right now he is measuring due Nov 2nd which is right in line with the other two due dates (Oct 30th and Nov 6th) so pretty much sometime that first week of November or the end of October if I am lucky. I'm just hoping not to be in the hospital on Halloween, either way! The cute little face shot we got of him looks just like the one we got of Eli around 30 weeks - little puffy cheeks that make him resemble Casper the friendly ghost. So I'm guessing my two boys will look a lot alike =). If my computer was working I'd scan an ultrasound pic and post it, but alas that will have to wait. October is supposed to be a beautiful month to visit here - and yet no one has made their plane reservations yet.... come on people we need some visitors here! LOL =).

Dead Computer

There's a good reason I haven't been blogging lately - our computer is totalled! Yes, sadly the thing has met its death. We started having problems when we moved here and got hooked up to the internet, so we figured it was some kind of nasty spyware or virus. We've been trying our own fixes to no avail. I finally took it in to the Geek Squad today and was prepared to pay the $200 to get it fixed, but alas, the sucker wouldn't even turn on! Apparently they think it got fried in the lightning storms this weekend (eventhough we have surge protection). Anyway, I brought it home to check and make sure we really can't power up, but in the meantime we don't have a functioning personal computer. I'm using Brad's work laptop to get online so at least I have the internet, but I won't be able to upload pics to the blog or anything until we get this all sorted out. RATS RATS RATS! And I have like 3 adventures documented in pics that I've been wanting to put up! I am so frustrated! If you see this post, please email me because I'm feeling all alone and lonely out here, lol =).

4th of July

The 4th of July was a blast! Pittsfield puts on a pretty nice parade through the downtown area. We sat with a family from the ward, and Eli was mesmerized for the entire 3 hour affair! We were right up close so we had to keep him from jumping in front of several of the cars on the parade though. There were plenty of fire trucks, tractors, racecars, clowns, and bands to keep us all entertained! It was really neat to see the colonial heritage of the area - different than the usual cowboy or wild west heritage that we are used to seeing.


Eli did a lot of clapping, and even a little bit of ear-plugging =). There were some noisy cannons and bands.

After the parade, we all took naps and then headed to our friends' house for a BBQ. They have a little boy two months younger than Eli named Elijah. The two haven't really clicked yet, but I'm sure they will once nursery rolls around. That night, we went back into town for the fireworks shot off at the baseball stadium - which Eli also loved! He was so tired, but didn't want to get back in the car for fear he would miss some. Whenever one would go off, he would point and vigorously proclaim "there!"

A Trip to the Farm

Recently the three of us made a little visit to the local Whitney Farm stand. There are lots of farms in the area. This one's great because they have a little petting zoo that's free - aside from the 25cent machines where you can buy feed for the critters. Eli loves watching his farm movie and playing with his little animal figures, so seeing them in person was a blast. There was also a yummy "Dairy Shack" on the premises with delicious ice cream!!! It rained on us most of the time we were there, but Eli did not seem to care one bit.

Flashback to 19 Months

I just couldn't resist a few pics of my cutie. I can't believe the little guy is already 19 months old!

When asked "where's mommy's baby?" Eli knows right where to point!

His favorite spot to play in the new house. What a view! We have a bird feeder out there now so he likes to watch the birds and bang the window to scare them.

He knows how to "sniff" flowers now. Here is a clover mommy picked for him.

Bubbles are just the ultimate entertainment. We went to the park a lot to play with them while waiting for our furniture (and his toys) to arrive. They are still a hit in the bathtub, and pretty much anywhere outside.

**Ok I just realized I started this post and never finished it! So here are some pics of Eli at 19 months (he is now 20 months). I plan to do a 20 month post soon!

Getting Settled

I admit, our first week here I was feeling pretty depressed. I cried a lot and kept thinking but not voicing "I want to go home!" It didn't help that Eli and I were stuck in our empty house with no car, and it rained every single day. Once our stuff got here (and really, unloading the truck with those movers was another giant headache!!!) it felt good to get things organized and settled in. For Eli it was like Christmas seeing all his old toys again. And now we've had a chance to get around a bit and find out where things are. We are still a one car family, so Brad will occasionally walk to work so we can take an outing. He's working on getting his bike fixed so we can have the car more often.

Ok, so where exactly is Pittsfield? We are in western Massachusetts, in the heart of the Berkshires (what they call the mountainous area). Here's info about our town http://www.pittsfield-ma.org/ . Here is a map so you can see how close we are to New York, Vermont, and Connecticut http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Pittsfield,+MA&ie=UTF8&ll=42.481213,-73.254089&spn=1.539474,3.383789&z=8.383789&z=8 .

It is green and beautiful and famous for arts and culture. The Boston Symphony Orchestra makes the area its summer home and performs at Tanglewood. Hopefully we'll make it to one. The towns are all small, and though I consider this a "small town" it's actually one of the bigger cities in the area. We do at least have Wal-Mart and Target, but all the shopping is on the edge of town so as to maintain the integrity of the residential neighborhoods. Our neighborhood is picturesque New England, except of course for the street we live on, lol. Our duplex is brand new and we love it, but for some reason the other houses on the street are pretty run down. Everywhere else in the area is beautiful. I will have to get some pics of the local houses to post. We are close to "downtown" so Eli and I can walk to the library, the park, museums, and even the corner market. We can see the Housatonic river out our front window - in fact our street runs right along it. The one drawback to our duplex is that the driveway and the yard have not been put in. So it's like 4-wheeling up a muddy, rocky hill to park our car. And it made moving the furniture (piano especially!) a trick. That, and all the stairs. I miss my ranch level home - now I have to lug laundry from upstairs down into the basement and it's no fun!

I am adjusting to the weather and rather like it. It does rain a lot, but I suppose that's necessary to maintain all the green goodness around here. The hottest it's been is about 85, which really does feel HOT with humidity, but still I don't think it's as bad as being outside in the 110 degree Phoenix heat! We still go outside for walks when everyone around here is holed up with their a/c complaining of the heat, lol. Spoiled New Englanders! Our ward has been really great as well. It's small in number, but everyone is really friendly. Our first Sunday here we found this on our front door with an invitation to a 4th of July picnic:

There aren't too many families our age - there's only one other child in nursery with Eli but a few more who will be in soon. The nursery teachers are the bishop's wife and daughter, and for whatever reason, Eli LOVES nursery and goes right in without a hitch! I have been so surprised and overjoyed, really! After church last week, we picked him up from class, then he snuck away back down to nursery, went in and shut the door so we couldn't get him. This really made me laugh coming from the child who is like glue to my side most of the time. Maybe we'll be able to handle two kids afterall!

A Trip to Boston

We spent the day after we got to Pittsfield napping! My sister helped get us settled in and even stayed up late the night we arrived buying food and preparing it for the next day - what a lifesaver! After we laid around all day, we went out to a "Mexican" food place. Ick - I don't know if I'll be eating much Mexican while we live out here. The next morning (Tuesday the 17th) we ventured into Boston.

I have to say, driving in Boston is literally risking your life! I have never been in such a huge city (and I came from Phoenix!) nor have I seen such crazy traffic! I was the one driving and I am certainly glad we had GPS. We did a quick tour of the Boston Common and started out on the "Freedom Trail" or the trail of historical sites in Boston. We didn't make it to many places considering we were lugging a cranky toddler, a cranky pregnant woman, and a hungry and cranky college student, lol. We did see the capital building, the cemetary where Paul Revere, several signers of the Declaration of Independence, and other historical figures are buried, and an old church where town meetings were held. There was a lot more to see but we had to get Aubrey to the airport. On the way to the airport, the freeway goes underground. While inside the tunnel, traffic got a little backed up - because of a RAGING car fire! It was seriously a ball of flames and police were frantically motioning to people to get moving so the firetrucks could make it into the tunnel. Everything was clouded in smoke.... what a day! Maybe we'll be brave enough to venture back out there and take a trolley tour or something in order to see more sights without having to navigate the crazy streets.

We successfully dropped Aubrey at the airport, then went to visit one of my old friends and college roommates - Jen! On the drive there, we had to make a U-turn on the freeway and ended up paying one toll twice. I tell ya, these toll roads out here can get annoying. Anyway, we had a nice visit with Jen and her cutie pie Ian. He and Eli played a little bit outside while we all tried to fend off the giant mosquitos. Jen gave me lots of good advice about mosquitos and ticks =).

The Ultimate Road Trip

What do you get when you take one small Saturn Ion, three adults - including one pregnant woman who pees on the hour, one 18 month old in a giant car seat, a bunch of luggage, toys, and snacks, put them all together for six days on the road? The ultimate road trip! That's right folks, we drove all the way out here to Pittsfield, MA from Tucson, AZ!!! It's over 2500 miles, and 40+ hours of driving. I'll try to just hit the hi-lights.

Brad's graduation was on Friday the 6th of June, the next day the movers came, the day after that we finished cleaning the house and went down to Tucson. We were supposed to leave Monday but ended up sticking around to tie up some loose ends (most of which were caused by the terrible movers - we don't recommend them by the way!) and to rest a bit from the hectic life we'd been living the past month. My sister drove down from Utah to make the trip with us. So, Tuesday June 10th we were off!

Day 1: Tucson to Santa Fe, NM. We were supposed to make it all the way to Kansas, but got a late start. After an 8 hour drive, we'd had it (and it was only the first day!). Really though, we were impressed with how well Eli did on the trip as he hadn't been on one since he was about 11 months old. The DVD player we splurged on helped, but we didn't even use it until the end of the day. There was a lot of ugliness on the drive though - just dry, dusty, non-scenic scenery. Santa Fe was cute. We stayed in a motel and ate dinner at a Mexican/Southwestern place. The next morning we went to the historic downtown plaza to look around. The plaza is over 300 years old, and we saw an old adobe church, as well as two other very old Catholic churches.

Day 2: Santa Fe to Elkhart, KS. After our tour of Santa Fe, we headed to Kansas, our shortest drive of the week at about six hours. Where in the heck is Elkhart you ask? It is a tiny little town just over the border from Oklahoma, and I have family there. We stayed the night with Aunt Joanie and Uncle Chris, and got to see my cousin Heather and her 10 month old daughter, who is DARLING. She took a liking to Eli and kept tackling him, which really freaked him out. It was funny to see. It was really windy that night, and there were tornadoes in other parts of the state, which made me a little nervous. Luckily none touched down near where we were. It was great to see these guys again as it's been a few years!

Day 3: Elkhart to Columbia, MO. This was a really long drive - about 11 hours total. And a lot of it was BORING! I'm so sorry, but a lot of southern Kansas, though not ugly, is just boring to drive through. It is F-L-A-T and grassy, dotted here and there by a silo or cows. Once we went through Wichita, things got a little more interesting with trees. We stayed at a motel in Columbia, which took forever to find because there was some kind of convention in town and things were booked up and expensive. We were all very tired that night but were discouraged that there were only double beds (me, Brad and Eli all in a double is tight!). So we pushed the beds together and all slept together, lol. Brad on one end, then Eli, then me, then Aubrey. One big happy fam! We hoped to see more of the town since we will be moving there next summer for the rest of Brad's residency, but there wasn't time.

During the night in Columbia, it started to rain. And I mean RAIN. We had one of these roof bags on our car in order to fit everything for the trip. since our car does not have a rack, the straps that hold the bag on actually thread through the doors, inside the car. It's a good design - nice and sturdy. BUT, the straps themselves soaked with water from the rain and transferred it to the inside of our car!

Day 4: Columbia to Columbus, OH. So day 4 was the worst drive of the trip. It was a long one as well - another 11 or so hours. We had a soggy drive from the straps leaking. Eli's carseat was so wet, that he was soaked up to his armpits when we took him out at our first gas stop. We changed him and lined his seat with some dry clothes, meanwhile water just flowed in from the straps and dripped on our arms whenever we'd come to a stop! It POURED the entire drive through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and into Ohio. And I mean, torrential rain that tempted us to stop every time. Also, the cruise control on the car went out, and the DVD player stopped working (after Eli had gotten attached the last few days). Brad had to sit in the back to keep Eli entertained (I get carsick) so I ended doing most of the white knuckle driving. And since the cruise was broken and I had to maintain one position the whole time, I ended up with pretty swollen ankles that night. I was one CRANKY pregnant woman. I think Brad and Aubrey were ready to let me out to walk, lol. By the last hour I had lost my mind and was cackling uncontrollably - not a good thing when you are pregnant, stuck in the car, with a full bladder! At one point, we called my mom and had Eli talk to his ga-ma and he let her have it! He must have talked to her for 20 minutes, just jabbering on. Apparently he'd had enough of the trip that day too =). Luckily, we got to spend the night with our good friends the Demills in Ohio. It cheered us all up to have a home cooked meal, and Eli had a good time running around with the kids. For some reason I didn't get any pictures on my camera, but if I get some from my sister I'll post one! I will say of the midwest - I have never seen so many trees in my life!!!!!!!!!!! I was feeling claustrophobic even from being so surrounded!

Day 5: Columbus to Kirtland, OH to Buffalo, NY. This turned out to be an interesting day. We drove a few hours to Kirtland, OH and made a stop to see the old Kirtland Temple - the first Temple built by the early saints. It is now owned by the Community of Christ - a group that splintered off from the church when Joseph Smith was killed back 1844. We were able to take a tour of the Temple, and then we went to see some of the original town buildings, including the Whitney store where in the upper room Joseph Smith received many sections of the Doctrine and Covenants by revelation including the Word of Wisdom (Section 89). I was also reminded of how often the early saints had to move from place to place - with carts and horses, no internet or GPS, and no way but letters to stay in touch with family left behind. It left me feeling less sorry for myself and the stress of moving across country. Also, it was really neat to see some of these places we have studied about. However I will say that Eli is not too fond of touring historic buildings full of antiques that he is not allowed to touch. After our full afternoon of tours, we drove up through Pennsylvania, into New York and through Buffalo, NY. We stayed in a motel just outside of Niagara Falls, NY. It was by far, the seediest, yuckiest place we stayed. It was late though, and Buffalo was too big a city to be wandering around in at that hour to find a place. Luckily we at least found something cheap that was close to the falls. But that was all that was good about it. There was an odd moldy/smokey smell, there was mold on the shower curtain which was missing several rings, tiles were missing, and the cold water nozzle came of when you turned it. Yippee, we were glad to get out of there the next morning!

Day 6: Niagara Falls to Palmyra, NY to Pitssfield! Day 6 was a special day - June 15th to be exact. Father's day, and my and Brad's SIXTH ANNIVERSARY! We both admit it was probably the least romantic anniversary we've ever had, but probably the most interesting so far! We got up and went to Niagara Falls in the morning.

What a beautiful sight! My sister and I had always wanted to see it since we were kids. Eli was fascinated. He kept pointing to the boats below and saying "There!" He got pretty mad when we wouldn't let him climb over the railing =).

After the falls, we headed East and stopped in Palmyra. We were able to see the Hill Cumorah (where the gold plates were hidden for centuries until they were shown to Joseph Smith which he translated into the Book of Mormon) as well as the Sacred Grove (where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith following his prayer as a 14 year old boy about which church he should join). We didn't have time to tour the Smith farm, but the Grove was breathtaking. It was much bigger than I had imagined - more of a forest than a grove in my mind! But so beautiful and peaceful I can imagine why Heavenly Father would choose to appear there. We spent some time in the car trying to appease a cranky Eli who had skipped a nap after the falls, so it was a short trip, but very worth it. I'm glad we got to stop and see this sacred and beautiful place in person. The only draw back? My sister seems to be allergic to New York and couldn't stop sneezing the entire day! =) Finally, at 9:30pm we arrived at our new home in Pittsfield, MA!

So here's to the longest and most ultimate road trip ever! Seriously, Eli outgrew his shoes on the trip. They fit when we left, and when we got here I couldn't get them on his feet. We had to buy new ones the next day. And this is the longest blog post I will ever make!!!!