What We've Been Reading Lately

It's been a while since I posted about our adventures in reading. Truth is we've been doing so much reading that I've had a hard time narrowing down what to post about.

With the Kids:
"The Napping House" by Audrey Wood is definitely this week's favorite. We checked it out of the local library and both children already know it by heart. A big plus about our copy is that there is an accompanying CD that reads the story and includes some fun songs about naptime. It's going on my list for Mattie's birthday!

"Harry Potter" by JK Rowling is a must in this house. I read through all the books aloud to Jack when he was 3, and I was excited about starting them again. Of course he didn't comprehend much back then, but I was so eager to share my love of these wonderful stories with him. We've already made it through "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." Mattie is following in her brother's footsteps and paying attention so seldom that I wonder why I'm even trying to include her. We're halfway through "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." It seems all the more fitting that we got our dog this past weekend because his name is Sirius, just like one of the integral figures of the story that makes his appearance in the third novel.

Many, many random books on Egypt, mammoths, sharks and all sorts of sea life we've picked up on our outings to the library.

My Reads:
"A Feast for Crows" by George R. R. Martin had been on my list for a while. These books aren't fast reads. I think I started it in February and finally finished while on our recent vacation in Massachusetts. I had to take a break after "A Storm of Swords" because I was so upset about the Starks. While the Starks aren't mentioned much in this book, I still don't like what's happening with them. To my surprise, I've found myself warming to Jaime. I find his desire for redemption one of the most admirable qualities in any character in this series so far.

"Learning All the Time" by John Holt is one of three I picked up by the author. Holt is hailed by many as the father of "unschooling," and I was interested to read his thoughts on education. A former teacher, Holt died in the 1980s, and his insight and criticism of America's educational model are interesting. I can't say I agree with everything I read in this book, but there were a lot of examples that I can attest to from my own life, my experiences as a professor and through homeschooling my own children.

"Regarding the Pain of Others" by Susan Sontag was mentioned in a book I recently read. I expected it to be more of a philosophical essay of sorts, but it was primarily about photojournalism and its role in depicting suffering, tragedy and war. As a former journalist, I did find the subject interesting, and there are a few insights from the author that I thought worth sharing:

"While the image, like every image, is an invitation to look, the caption, more often than not, insists on the difficulty of doing just that. A voice, presumably the artist's, badgers the viewer: can you bear to look at this?"

"Central to modern expectations, and modern ethical feeling, is the conviction that war is an aberration, if an unstoppable one. That peace is the norm, if an unattainable one. This, of course, is not the way war has been regarded throughout history. War has been the norm and peace the exception."

"To designate a hell is not, of course, to tell us anything about how to extract people from that hell, how to moderate hell's flames. Still, it seems a good in itself to acknowledge, to have enlarged, one's sense of how much suffering caused by human wickedness there is in the world we share with others. Someone who is perennially surprised that depravity exists, who continues to feel disillusioned (even incredulous) when confronted with evidence of what humans are capable of inflicting in the way of gruesome, hands-on cruelties upon other humans, has not reached moral or psychological adulthood."

"The images say: This is what human beings are capable of doing - may volunteer to do, enthusiastically, self-righteously. Don't forget."

The Day We Got a Puppy

Yesterday was a big day for us.

We welcomed the newest member of our family.

We picked him up from Peach Tree Breeders in Headland, Ala.

On the car ride home

His name is Sirius, and I expect any Harry Potter fan to have caught on to the name right away! He's an Australian Shepherd, and we couldn't be more smitten.

The adjectives the breeder used about his temperment were sweet and mellow, and her words describing this precious fur ball seem accurate. This is the first puppy I've ever owned, and I have been pleasantly surprised at how mild-mannered he has been the past 24 hours. He is definitely playful at times, but for the most part he's content to sit in someone's arms or rest at our feet.

And as I told Matt on the way to pick him up, I have a feeling that Sirius and Jack are going to be the best of pals!

Relaxing at home

Hamming it up for the camera

Mattie pretending to lick like Sirius

A Note on Where We Stayed

We stayed at three places while vacationing in Massachusetts.

Our first night in Boston was spent at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge. We awoke to a beautiful view of the river and row teams out for early morning practices.

The hotel itself was fantastic. The children loved the see-through elevator, and there was a nice breakfast buffet available.

I would have booked this hotel for our last two nights as well had the price not dramatically risen.

Now would be a good time to mention that Boston is expensive. Not just pricey in some areas, but altogether ridiculously expensive. I'd heard people mention this before and thought it had something to do with the time they went or that they just weren't looking hard enough to find reasonable rates.

Nope.

It's expensive all the time.

Embassy Suites near Logan Airport offered the best rate for our last two nights of the vacation. While I wasn't too keen on staying near the airport, it turned out to be fine. There was a park nearby, and we were able to easily hop on the subway to journey around town.

If you've never stayed at an Embassy Suites there are two things that might allure you.

First, every night at 5:30 there is a cocktail hour and light snacks provided for free. In most states that means you can get a beer or a glass of wine, but in Massachusetts they can't give away alcohol. It wasn't a big deal for us because we weren't much in the mood for drinks, but the light hors d'oeuvres were a big hit with us all.

Second, breakfast is always included in your stay at Embassy Suites. I don't mean continental breakfast either; you get the works. That's always a big plus, especially with children in tow.

So enough about Boston. What about the rest of the trip?

We stayed in a great cottage in Hyannis. The property is known as Harbor Village, and it was a real find!

I came across it online and decided to book it before realizing the form of payment.

No credit cards.

I sent the check for the deposit and then started to freak out a bit. What if it wasn't real? What if it was a scam?

We've all heard of this kind of thing happening. It didn't help that our babysitter started laughing when I mentioned it to her and told me we'd be looking for a place to stay once we got there.

But it definitely exists, and is a wonderful place to stay. The couple that maintains the property lives onsite from May until October.

There's so much I could say about the property itself, but the website does such a great job I'll let you check it out for yourself.

I can envision the Cape becoming a regular vacation spot for us.

CSA Wednesday

On Wednesday we head to a local farm to pick up produce as part of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Here's what we got today:

Leeks

Cucumbers

Eggs

Squash

I'm going to try making ratatouille with the squash and leeks. It's a dish Jack has been requesting. Can you guess which movie he's been watching?

Fun for the Kids

Boston and surrounding areas have so much to offer, there's no way to do it all. Here are three places our children loved.

Boston Museum of Science: This is a must for anyone with children, young or older. It was amazing! There were exhibits on animals, plant life, the human body, maps, dinosaurs, planets, etc. While there is a children's museum, we opted for this instead, and it would go on my list to visit again if in Boston.

The New England Aquarium: A friend that once lived in Boston had warned me away from the aquarium before we went, but because Jack begged to go, I figured why not. It is on the smaller end of aquariums we have visited, which some might argue that the price doesn't justify. However, it had a lot of cool tanks and most of the sea life was feeding when we were there. Mattie still remembers the giant sea turtle eating lettuce. She reminded me of it last night when I was eating my salad!

Cape Cod Museum of Natural History: Matt took Jack to this one when we were in Hyannis. Mattie was so sick that she and I couldn't go. Both boys came back stoked about how much they saw in the museum.

In addition to these three places, we took about an hour to walk around the Harvard campus. It's too bad our parking meter expired because there was a cool looking museum of natural history there as well.

Had Mattie not come down with the flu we would have likely taken the time to do the duck tours while in Boston as well as gone to the JFK Museum in Hyannis and driven to Provincetown. We also missed out on Fenway Park. At least the kids and I did. While Mattie was better by then, she was still unusually tired. And it just so happened that Jack woke up at 5 am the morning of the game, which was to take place later at night.  Matt had to make that adventure on his own:-(

Old North Church

"Listen, my children, and you shall here
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere"
     -from Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

There are so many historical sites in Boston.

Too many for us to have hit.

The one I wasn't willing to pass up was Old North Church.

This iconic symbol of the Revolutionary War is hidden within streets that feel like a maze when trying to navigate by GPS, but knowing the story behind that infamous bell tower made it worth the confusing effort.

We happened down a one-way street and were lucky that no cars were behind us because it allowed us time to observe and ponder the story for a few quiet moments.

"Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North church tower as a signal light,-
One, if by land, and two, if by sea;"

A History Lesson

When visiting Boston it's worth the hour-long drive to Plymouth.

The seaside town itself is beautiful. There's a walking trail with benches lining the waterfront that hold so much of the story of our nation's beginnings.

Add to that Plymouth Rock,

The Mayflower II

and a number of statues and monuments,

and you've got a history lesson for the ages.