Stow Aways: July 2015: BOSTON, week 2, part 1.

Well, that last post didn't even cover a week, only a few days. But, that was the bulk of our mini trips outside of the Stow area. This is going to take more posts than I planned...

Our first Saturday there, was the 4th of July. We made the trip over this holiday on purpose - we miss the amazing 4ths of July in Boston.

The girls and I started the day by driving into Concord where they had a big ceremony. Minute men gathered at The Old North Bridge to read the Declaration of Independence. I have never done anything quite so cool on the 4th. That was just such a neat experience. They told stories of the revolution for a while before the read the declaration. These kinds of stories are the ones you don't often find in books, and never find in school. It's such an education to be in a place like that. I wish I could give the kids more of that. I hope they will remember this experience when they are adults.

For fireworks that night, the Bahe's invited us to come up to another town to watch Shawn's Rod Stewart cover band play. I'd never seen them play before, so that was super fun to see her perform.

Sunday, we spent, going to church in our favorite ward-the Littleton Ward. Jeffery Holland's son is the stake president there now and he is also a member of the ward. Elder Holland and his wife happened to be visiting and sat a couple of rows ahead of us in sacrament meeting, wrangling their grandkids. Harriet went to Relief Society with me and she ended up sitting smack next to Sister Holland who talked to both of us quite a bit. Harriet was pretty excited about the whole thing. Then, there was an impromptu fireside called for the youth where Elder Holland spoke and then greeted them all afterwards. We had eaten Sunday dinner with our dear friends, Frank and Erin Gentile, so we drove up to the stake center in Nashua, NH with Erin. Grace got to see Ian Whatcott, who is now in college. When we first moved to Boston, he was about 12 (Grace was 2) and we stayed with the Whatcott kids while their parents went to Europe. They have always treated Grace as their little sister. It was pretty cute to see them together again, all grown up.

Then, Monday began the main reason the kids begged us to go back: HORSE CAMP. Hybid Farm has some kind of cosmic hold over us and there is just no place on Earth like it.

I didn't stay long the first day. I tried to squeeze in a few friend visits while the kids were at camp. I ate lunch with Jeannie Erickson and got ice cream with Allison Whatcott. Plus I had to do local stuff, like hit Idylwilde Farms! So, the second day of camp, I stayed for their lessons and took pics and videos.

morning meeting, ponies included

Hattie may be too big for Peppe, but she found a new painted pony to love - Checkers.

mid-lesson pony meeting. oh man, I miss these.

Petting Checkers in the field after putting him away.

Grace found a big boy to love - Reno.

He even appreciates her personality.

Tinkerbell and Peppe will be legendary in our family for decades to come. The kids were so little when they used to ride those ponies. Now, they are so big, they could only keep them as pets. But, when a full day of riding a new favorite pony is done, Tinkerbell and Peppe still get all the love in the pasture.

We were so lucky to be able to see so many old friends and that they are all still in contact with us. One day after riding, the Connollys invited us over for dinner. Eamon and Grace were best friends in Kinder and First. I will never forget the little note she brought home the first week of school, from Eamon, asking her to come over and play.

Another huge thing on our list was to get Harriet to the American Girl store. She had been planning for months, to go to the store and buy the "Grace" doll. She has never been to an AG store before and was so jealous when some girls in the ward went to one in Texas the last fall. She put it on her bucket list for the near future. Then, after they announced the 2015 doll - Grace, it was a must-do for Boston. She wanted Grace for so many reasons: Grace is her sister's name, she's from Boston, she loves baking, she travels to France... She was the perfect choice for a little doll friend and Harriet wanted to buy her IN BOSTON.

She saved up her money, and we went and picked her up at the store (along with other goodies of course) and took her to dinner at the doll bistro. This was one of the happiest times I've ever had with Harriet. She was SO excited and so satisfied and content that her dream finally came true and she had saved the money herself and plopped it all down at the register.