watch out, charlie has a blog now

I knew it was inevitable that Charlie would want to follow in Hazel’s blogging footsteps.

He is obsessed with his blog and asks to look at it every five minutes.

It’s about him, so it is, of course, his favorite blog……

Here’s the address:

www.charliesfavoriteblog.blogspot.com

McFarland Visit

Jeff’s sister and his family came to visit for a few days on their way to Vienna where they’re running a study abroad for the summer. We looked forward to the McFarland’s visit for months and months….and now that sweet visit is just a memory…..oh, how we love that family. All of us….we all love all of them. I could really never get enough, I just wish they lived with us. Seriously (and that’s saying a lot given how small our house is and how we crammed them all in here for three days and nights). They are the kind of people you’d just die to be friends with….smart, kind, interesting, thoughtful, aware…..and we get them as family. I did marry Jeff for all that he is, but the family package that came along with him is not bad at all…..not bad AT ALL.

I love having visitors around because it get’s me out of the house, doing cool things with people I like. Rob and Mary Ann and kids are particularly fun to be out with, they are super easy going, happy, well behaved, fun to talk to, up for anything.

We spent a full day in Boston, eating Indian food on Newbury street, walking through the public gardens, swan boating, flaneur-ing around beacon hill. It was great and the kids were tired out which made it easier to get them to sleep three to a tiny room.

Charlie and Hazel spent most of the day with their plumber cracks hanging out. Hazel is a different person with one on one attention from someone older and “cooler” than herself. She could not get enough of her big cousin Maddie. Jeff and I would be pleased as punch if she turned out to be just like Maddie when she’s older. Maddie is lovely…kind, smart, fun, beautiful. We couldn’t ask for a better role model for Hazel. I stayed off the Swan boat to let Emmeline continue her nap in the stroller….and of course, to take some pictures. These pictures are for you, Nedra! One more thing you should know about Rob and Mary Ann: they are super parents. I was wishing that I had a notebook to record and remember all the great ways they interact with their kids, the things they say, the consequences they enforce, the ways they explain. They gave us a little glimpse into the parenting issues we have ahead of us….oh if we can only handle them with the same amount of deliberateness and grace. We spent our second day hiking (this is a hike right by our house….through the cemetery and the “enchanted forest.” We love it and were happy to share it. It is SOOOO green up there right now. Rob has totally won the hearts of my kids. I think he might be the only adult I know who has more energy than the kids (my dad might be up there though).

That same day they were up for a trip to the beach. And a quite eventful one at that….. I sent Rob and Charlie and Will in our little Honda and the muffler fell off on the hour long drive. Rob had no cell phone, no way of letting Mary Ann and I know that his ears were being blow out….he just had to keep following us. Somehow he convinced those boys that it was the coolest car ride of their lives and Charlie couldn’t stop talking about it for days (he was talking pretty loud about it….I think his ear drums were temporarily damaged by the nose).

And to end it all off we had some trader joes cakes to celebrate cute little Joss’s 1st birthday.

McFarlands: PLEASE COME AND LIVE IN BOSTON. I’m sure Harvard could use a German professor?

Legos – the coolest toy known to man

Somehow I missed out on Legos as a kid. I think with 9 kids and 9 pets Legos were probably the last thing on my parent’s mind….or, who knows, maybe there were a bunch of Legos that came in and out before I came of age. Either way, I’ve decided that Legos are really cool toys. Jeff’s parents brought us out a bunch of his old Legos and the kids play with them probably more than anything else. They could almost be classified as “addicted” to Legos as they would be to a video game. When I ask them to clean them up they try to, but they can’t help but stick them together and build things as they clean…..which results very little progress. Why hasn’t anyone invented a Lego vacuum? Or have they?

As much as I hate the “dumping legos” sound, I love it that my kids minds are occupied by them for long long stretches of time…..

Here’s a meager (and pretty unimpressive….they’ve come up with more impressive stuff than this) sampling of the Lego creations I find laying around our house. I think that’s a TV tower and some kind of tractor trailer.

Shumway Family Adventure #2

We’ve had a slew of visitors lately. My brother Eli was here for a week for a conference and then Jeff’s sister Mary Ann and her family came on their way to Vienna where they are leading a BYU study abroad this summer. I love visitors. I love getting out and doing things with people I really love and never get to see.

When Eli was here we had our second Shumway Family Adventure. We went to George’s Island which is one of the Boston Harbor Islands.

Just riding on the T was an adventure for Hazel and Charlie, but boy howdy, when we got on a boat they were THRILLED. The boat ride was windy and exhilarating. We were the first visitors to the Island this season, so we felt pretty cool.

I’ve heard a lot about the Boston Harbor Islands, but never been…..and I fell in love. This place was amazing. Fun, interesting, historical, adventurous, beautiful. I loved every minute of it. And the kids did too.

Charlie was thrilled beyond words by the speed of the boat, the wind in his face, the sound of the engine. That little boy is so easily delighted. It is delightful to be around him (most of the time). It was so great having Eli around. He is so helpful with the kids and took half of these pictures. I love that guy. Wish he’d move to Boston with his lovely wife. Oh George’s Island there is a great old fort that dates back to 1847. It is filled with rooms and doors and staircases and dark tunnels to explore. I was in heaven. I love that stuff. The kids loved it too. Oh boy, I love this picture….In the fort there is an old brick oven bakery. Jeff was mortified that I was putting the kids in the oven….but how could I resist? If you look close you can see that our little bun in the oven (Emmeline) had a great taste of old old soot.

These stone archways brought me back to my study abroad adventure in Israel. I had the kids and Jeff and Eli sing with me to take advantage of the great acoustics. It sounds so cool to sing in places like that.

We had a picnic lunch on top of the fort with a great view of Boston. It was Emmeline’s 6 month birthday (to the date), so we gave her her very first meal then and there. She did great (with Hazel’s help of course).

We spent a good hour napping by the beach. The clouds cleared just in time for Hazel and Charlie to search for sea glass. We discovered it to be kind of addicting, sea glass is memorizing to me….it’s amazing what the ocean can make out of old beer bottles. Guess we wore him out with ADVENTURE. I can’t wait to go again! I love that place!

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