Visit from the Folks

After their Nauvoo temple mission ended, my parents came to visit--delayed one day due to Hurricane Sandy. 

We spent a lovely day at the Boston temple and nearby Lexington and Concord (above Old North Bridge)

On Saturday the whole family went to the coast and an aquarium at Rye, NH

We went to a science museum in Manchester.  Dad liked the lego replica of the historic millyard.

A walk in the nearby conservation area (complete with ticks)

Trevor passed Drivers Training class (no license until he has more hours on the road). Jason's lawn job ended last week and now he's cleaning a medical facility at night.

Fall Colors

The Fall Foliage season is a big deal here.  Here's a picture of our side yard.  It's hard to capture the beauty of the area because the trees are so tall and numerous.

We went to the White Mountains (about two hours away) at the height of the season and the busiest weekend to see what it was all about.  When we first arrived at Fraconia State Park we paid to hike the Flume Gorge amidst a throng of people in the rain.   It was very beautiful and reminded me of  Silver Falls OR.  We got soaked.  It was very cool to walk along water falls among falling leaves. 

The next day we went on some less traveled paths (for free) and saw a beaver dam and blue heron up close as we followed the river. 

We saw where the "Old Man of the Mountain" used to be up high on a granite cliff before a rock slide removed his profile nine years ago.  He's on our license plates and highway signs.

 

Instead of spending the money on a tram ride, we decided to hike up Cannon Mountain to see the view.  It was VERY steep.  The boys made it up to the top and I almost did before I turned around to carefully make my way back down.   The view was amazing and it didn't rain that day.


We stayed in a ski lodge outside of town.  I loved that we didn't have internet in our room, so we played games and went swimming.  Jason and I listened to one session of conference in the lounge (we shared ear buds) and we listed to another one on the way home the next day.

Columbus day was a holiday here (except for Jason).  After we got home from our trip, Trevor and Curtis played in the leaves before mowing the lawn and Jonathan worked on the deck.

Other highlights of September:
Trevor's 16th birthday.  He's enjoying his guitar class at school and programming a robot with Jonathan.

Jason working overtime seeding and aerating for a local landscaping company.  He drives a company truck and wears a uniform.  He likes the work and is saving lots of money (finally).

End of summer, beginning of Autumn in NH

It's been a month since my last post and a lot has happened since then.
I started a new job, part-time as an accounting clerk for an engineering firm.
The hours are perfect and I'm getting the hang of it.  It was overwhelming at first.

Curtis and Trevor started school this last week and are adjusting well.
They have a lot a help at first from "para professionals" (no aides in NH)
Trevor has two computer classes and guitar for elective.
Curtis is getting used to a locker and homework every night.
Their schools are much smaller here because we live in a small town.

Jason is working as a cook at a restaurant and likes it.  He eats for free!
Jonathan tore out the deck, patio door and rotten wood underneath.
He replaced the wood and put in a nice french door.  Now the deck...

On Saturday of Labor Day weekend we went to the coast.
My boss told me a good place to go so it much better than our 1st attempt
(4th of July to a crowded postage stamp next to the road).

This time we went to the only island in NH and it was great!
The island-town is New Castle and Great Island Common is a big park.

Trevor had a blast burying Curtis (who was a willing participant).
Jason napped while I read.  It was too windy for badmitten.

We also visited some old military forts, one on the island
and the other across the bay in Maine.  Jonathan liked this, of course
and Curtis was so excited to drive over the bridge into Maine.


The leaves are starting to turn in our backyard.
Next month's post I'll have pictures of the NH fall colors.
I know I paint a rosy picture of our lives here.
The biggest challenge is early-morning seminary.
Jonathan drives an hour each morning to take Trevor.
The main thing we miss about OR is friends and family.


BTW Curtis had a great time at scout camp.
We had a big court of honor in our yard end of August.
Another highlight of August was going with Curtis and Trevor
to the Boston temple for a youth baptism trip.

A day in Massachusetts (and a history lesson)

Last Saturday, Jonathan and I went down to Massachusetts to go to the Boston temple (in Belmont) and spent a few hours in Lexington and Concord, which is less than 5 miles from the temple.
We LOVED it!!!  Here are a few pictures and things we learned.

                       The temple grounds are spectacular and the inside is also beautiful.

The temple is 45 miles away and takes about an hour to get there.  Saturday AM is a great time to go:)

Our first stop after the temple was in Lexington.  This is the statue honoring the militia in the green where the first colonists were killed on April 19, 1775 by the British troops (as the small militia was retreating).

This is the oldest war monument in the country honoring the 8 men killed in Lexington on April 19, 1775.

 This was our very interesting tour guide.  We took a 90 minute tour on a trolley to see all the highlights of Lexington and Concord.

This was at the North Bridge outside Concord where the minute men first fired against British troops when they saw the British starting to burn the town of Concord.  A small contingent of British were guarding the North Bridge when the "shot heard round the world" was fired by someone and the war officially began.

                                  The Alcott home where Louisa wrote Little Women


I couldn't get good pictures because we just drove by on the trolley, but we went past the houses of the Alcotts (where Louisa wrote Little Women and the movie was filmed), Nathaniel Hawthorne,  Henry David Thoreau and some others I can't recall.  They all lived close to each in Concord and Walden Pond is only a mile away.  The Transcendentalist School sits just behind the Alcott home.

A History Lesson
Here a few notes I took from our tour.  Now I know as much as local 4th graders:)

The British troops (700 I think) came to Lexington and Concord from Boston on April 19, 1775 to seize weapons and ammunition that the colonists had gathered and hidden. 

Lexington had militia (unpaid volunteers--the town wasn't big enough to pay them).  Concord had minute-men who were compensated for their time away from work (farms). The town militia and minute-men already existed to protect the town from the French and Indians.

Paul Revere came to Lexington first to warn the town that the troops were coming.  He shouted "The regulars are out" not "The British are coming" because they were all British back then.  He had two riding companions to accompany him to Concord, but Paul Revere was captured en route and later released.  William Dawes escaped when Revere was captured. The remaining rider, a physician named Samuel Prescott, was the one who made it to Concord to warn the minute-men, so they were prepared.  When Longfellow wrote his poem about Revere he didn't mention Dawes and Prescott, but only Revere because it was easier to find words that rhyme with Revere.

At the North Bridge in Concord there were 95 British men guarding the bridge while other troops were burning a battery and buildings in Concord.  The minute men gathered on the hill above the bridge and saw the fire.  After one man asked "are we just going to watch them burn the town down" the minute-men charged down the hill and fired at the men guarding the bridge and chased them into town where the fighting grew.  First thing in the morning, the minute men were outnumbered 10 to 1 by the British.  More minute-men joined throughout the day until they outnumbered the British 5 to 1.

A few more tidbits:
If the British were wounded, they still had to get themselves back to Boston (about 15 miles away).  Surrender was not an option because they would be considered traitors.

The farmers at the time had to give any trees they fell with diameter wider than 24" to King George to be made into masts.  However, if a tree fell over in a storm it was called a "windfall" and the farmer could keep it.