Month: May 2014

Yesterday was beautiful weather and we were fortunate to spend it outside, although there were complaints of it being too hot.  Reminding L and K about how cold their fingers, toes and noses had been on walks home from school not very long ago did nothing to help their mood (imagine that!).

We headed north to the Narcisse Snake Dens and saw lots of red striped garter snakes.  Watching the snakes while standing on a platform behind a railing can be mesmerizing.  Lowell did jump once when Uncle J accidentally touched his arm with a snake’s tail.  It takes special people to invite you on a trip to see snakes.  Thanks we truly had fun.

Our final day in MA dawned and we began to work our way back to Hartford for our flights the next day.  We did most of the driving first thing in the morning so that we could do lunch at another of our favourite hangouts: The Montague Bookmill.  It is an old mill deep in the hills that has been converted into a used bookstore and restaurant.  Their slogan is particularly apt: Books you don’t need in a place you can’t find.

We made one last stop by Northampton in the afternoon.  This involved a walk down the bike path to our Union Street apartment and ended with some ice cream.  Then, because it was on the way to our hotel and because we had never taken the time to stop by when we lived in MA, we decided to go see the Dr. Seuss park in Springfield.

We got to the hotel early enough to do some swimming in the pool.  The next day we caught our flights back to Winnipeg.  We all had a great time and are already looking forward to our next family trip.

with sand, waves, 29 degrees celsius and cold cold water.  We hiked a boardwalk trail through the marsh in the morning to soak in the sun and the heat, knowing that the wind off the water would be cool.  Then we headed to the Plum Island beach for lunch and an afternoon of fun.

 L quickly got the hang of playing in the waves, K took a long while.  She occupied herself with a large clam shell, using it to toss sand into the water.  She eventually got used to the cold and got just as wet as L.

The tide was going out and we noticed that all the water was seeping out of the sand causing rivers to run to the ocean.  This gave L senior the idea of making the water change direction, it takes a lot of determination and help to form a prairie river out of sea water desperate to return to the ocean.

 There are all kinds of treasures to be found at low tide, the kids found this “boat” for their river.

We had to change our plans a bit and head to the coast to do our whale watching a day earlier than we originally planned.  We loaded the car first thing in the morning, stopped by historic Deerfield for some family portraits, and headed to Gloucester.  It was about a 2-hour drive and another 1.5 on the boat before we saw a whale, but the kids were quickly excited when the whales started appearing.  We ended the day with some fish and chips at the local tavern.

I’d been back to MA since we moved, but not Pam and the kids, so we planned on spending a bit of time down memory lane.  Here we are in front of Bartlett Hall, the home of the philosophy department.