January happenings

This is my only photo of the boys at Sturbridge 

This year the school department changed the way that they are doing things around vacations/long weekends.  They added teacher work days to the end of vacation weeks and the beginning of long weekends.  This has made vacations and long weekends longer for the kids.  I am pretty oblivious and thanks to Robert's preschool teacher I haven't sent Harry to school on a non-school day.  At any rate, they started school back from Christmas break on the Wednesday after New Year's and then the following week they had Friday off in anticipation of the long Martin Luther King weekend.  When I realized that they had Friday off I thought, that would be a good day for a mini trip.

I did a little research and found out that Sturbridge Village was having a deal that children are free in January.  I found a hotel with a pool nearby and we decided to take a mini trip Thursday-Friday.  I told Harry it was a mystery trip and he wasn't thrilled not to know where we were going.  I am still uncertain if that is the way to go with him - he wasn't too upset about finding out on the day though and it was only about a week's build up so that was good.  Even Robert was excited for something out of the ordinary to happen and kept asking when we were going to leave.  I had told Harry the day before that we were going to go right after school on Thursday and Robert heard.  He had school Thursday too, but it ends at 11 and he kept wondering all afternoon when we would leave and couldn't Harry get home already?  A caveat here is that recently when Robert would like Harry around (usually right after vacations or weekends), he will tell me that it is time to go to school and pick up Harry because he is ready for him to be home.


"Old Sturbridge Village is one of the country's oldest and largest living history museums, depicting early New England life from 1790-1840 with historians in costume, antique buildings, water-powered mills and a working farm."  That's the brochure description of Sturbridge Village.  My parents used to take Jessica and I as kids and we always loved it.  I knew it would be a great thing for Harry and hoped Robert (at three) would like it.  When I checked the weather a week out it looked like it would be a nice day.  The actual day was drizzly and cold and muddy, but we had fun and didn't mind dashing into warm houses to see what there was to learn about.  


I do think that often the thing that the kids find most fun is dinner out and swimming in the pool and then having a big sleepover in the one hotel room.  That was most definitely true in Robert's case.  After about an hour and a half at Sturbridge he wanted to go home or back to the hotel for a swim.  He wasn't happy to hear we were really going all the way home and staying for a few more hours.  He made it through though and found some fun things to distract him along the way.  Harry loved it and got to dip candles and make a tin candle holder.  He likes those physical memories of trips.  I think having something to feel and touch reminds him better of what went on and what he saw.

It was a fun 24 hours out of the "normal" schedule and we all came back to a still long weekend since there was no school/work on Monday.

The boys watching cartoons in the hotel room - Robert is the lump next to my purse :-)