Down By the Sea-port

Paul is such a good golfer that he won two tournaments this summer, and he made his first hole-in-one! The twins were impressed. We were the lucky recipients of his first-place prize: 4 tickets to the Mystic Seaport (valued at $100).

This 1840s village features 50 some buildings and ships, with docents in period attire. Perfect for the four of us! We learned about rope making, below-deck bunks, chronometers, and half-clipper hulls. In fact, we learned the fastest ship of the day was built in Mystic, Connecticut, in 1859 and made a record trip to California in just 89 days. (This was one of the reasons that the Pony Express was founded=89-day mail service is just annoying). It was fun for me to see their one-room schoolhouse, chapel, and printery. The training vessel for young cabin boys is now used for Boy Scout overnights. Polar Bear rented a wheel chair for most of the day so we could get around quicker.

Staying on Course

Jack is the older of the second cousins in Connecticut. He ran a junior high cross country race today.

 He didn't want his photo taken by his mom.Paul taking Jack home while Laurie shuttled Alyssa to dance.

Staying at the Beach

My cousin lives in a house on Giant's Neck Beach. Laurie and Tom have added a sunroom and deck--making a perfect view for watching the tides, boats, and changing leaves. It's very peaceful and quiet here. Here we are with Alyssa on the deck.

Of course, Aunt Jean made TONS of food for supper. And Paul talked about the Red Sox v. Cardinals games of the World Series.

Jean is the wife of my deceased godfather, Norman Leonard. She has always kept in touch with me through the years and is giving to everyone!

Paying for One Hockey Player

I told the parents that this was ridiculous -- driving all this way, paying for hotels and tournament fees, plus eating out -- for only one hockey player!

(We all wish Polar Bear could play. Even Winger! But his MRI showed a large hematoma requiring some rest and healing.)

The Real Old Ironsides

The teacher in me is focused on field trips this week during our vacation. I wanted to see the Boston Tea Party ships and museum, and I especially wanted to go to Boston Commons and see where the "Make Way for Ducklings" book is set. (I love the living books and authentic documents we study from K-12 with a classical curriculum.) But an even higher priority was to see the U.S.S. Constitution, which is still docked in the Boston Harbor. Perhaps it is even better known by its nickname, Old Ironsides. Part of our homeschool program is poetry recitation so when I was designing the curriculum for the PX One-Room Schoolhouse, we chose the poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes about Old Ironsides, mainly because someone donated a large, old print of this first ship commissioned by Gen. Washington in early days of USA. We felt so historic stepping aboard the frigate we had studied!

 

Watching Even More Hockey

The hockey schools are so close, you can throw a rock and hit seaveral of them... Not quite, but it feels overwhelming to have this many choices nearby. I called Merrimack, Boston College, and then settled on the Holy Cross v. Quinnipiac game (they had the cheapest ticket prices at $4 per student). Lots of our teammates joined in the Friday night "field trip," too! Boston traffic was thick, but Quinnipiac took second in the Frozen Four last year, so everyone was excited to see their offense. Captain noticed they have twins on their first line and Power Play (one plays center and one plays left wing just like our twins do.) I noticed they had long hockey hair (called "flow" by the teens) compared to the clean-cut fellas from the Catholic college. Polar Bear liked the purple helmets and purple gloves of Holy Cross. Winger was quick to point out the priest at the game. Small rink so we stood on the glass and had a great view! Holy Cross scored the first two goals, but lost 2-4.

Cousins Come Watch Hockey

My Connecticut cousin brought her son to the hockey game today! We are only 2 hours away, and Laurie let Jack (age 11) skip school to come along. Happily, Winger scored the first goal for the Thunder team, which was exciting. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the only goal and they lost. They have played well enough in first three games to advance to quarter-finals tomorrow.

We will get to see the rest of the family as we are staying at Laurie's house for the entire week. Can't wait to see their new addition on the beach house and to see her continued genealogy research (I brought more old, family photos to add to her collection).