Artisan Holy Faire

Kitchens where all the fun is!

So this is Holly. She came back to us last night and is already causing trouble. She kept us from eating the Cardamom Orange Spritz Cookies Shara & I made Thursday night.














This evening we were at church for the annual Holly Faire.Shara was a big help in the kitchen. She was much more focused and efficient before she started eating the bakers dozen of cookies she bought herself. As you can see, she had a very fun time!

Weekends of Festivals

Last weekend we participated in our third World Peace Day event by joining other First Parish friends for our walk around Bridgewater, MA, spreading peace to all. Read about it in the Bridgewater Independent and view some neat photos of us. It was a nice day and the first time Alan joined us. Before the peace activities, we had our family portrait taken for the church directory and we were able to purchase photos too. That was fun and interesting because we never sat for a family photo shoot before. It was very well done and a few came out very nice. Shara's looked great but we just ordered her school photos the day before and didn't want to go overboard.

Sunday was the Margarita Party from the church auction. We had a bunch of people over to the house who had "won" the item, which was to come to our house for a party! It was a good time, and once I was able to fix the blender and get it screwed together properly so it didn't pour all over the counter when I was trying just for the glass, it was much more relaxing. Shara provided the entertainment by creating a scavenger hunt for people to play when they entered the house. It was a fun way for people to learn the house and Shara certainly had fun directing them.

During the week we didn't do much but one day I was able to leave work early to get Shara and we ran some errands, one of which was going to Langwater and Mockingbird Music. The music shop was for me to get reeds for the clarinet that my co-worker may sell me. Then Shara and I can practice together. Langwater was a nice trip picking out lots of good veggies and getting into the Fall spirit:

This weekend we had quite a history lesson. The first was about the Civil War. At the library they had a civil war weekend that was very interesting, even if it wasn't as well attended as I thought it would be. We saw a fashion show, had some bbq, talked to the re-enactors and jumped every time they fired a rifle. Shara liked it so much she dragged us back in the evening for the lantern tour of the camps.

Sunday was also activity filled. First we went to church where Alan participated in the service in his role of ministerial search committee member and Shara had her first RE class. She seemed to like it a lot and handed me the paper that told what they're doing in class and gave us talking points for home. She also couldn't wait to show me the paper with responses to questions from the class. After church we went to King Richard's Faire. We voted between the Jubilee Concert at the Middleborough church, featuring the FPBwater choir, and King Richard's. I lost, but had a fun time anyway. How can't the Faire be fun? We did stop to eat lunch before though. Learned lessons over the years that the food isn't worth the money, except for the desserty stuff. But the most enjoyable activities are the joust, according to Shara, and the performers, according to all of us.

Marshfield Fair 2013

8/25/13 - Today Shara helped me make the jarred peaches by peeling all of them! Couldn't have done it without her.

8/24/13 - Marshfield Fair!

Wonderful time - we actually closed the place. We got to the fair at around 2 PM and looked around to get a lay of the land. Not much different from when we were last here three years ago, but the biggest change was Shara. She's so much bigger now we were able to do so much more and she enjoyed more of the activities we liked too. We first went to the food area for Alan to get a chili dog. Then we checked out the midway. We went on the bumper cars and they were pretty tough to control. If the wheel was turned around enough you went backwards and that was the way we started out. Shara took the wheel and accelerator but we switched back and forth. Then when we got the hang of it, we were done. Then she went in a kiddy fun house with Alan and thought it was so-so. The last ride we went on were the spinning dragons. She loved that I was going on with her and she could show me how we could control the speed by turning the wheel inside. It was fun and we got it going pretty fast!

I thought it would be exciting to see the Clydesdale horses in an exhibition. We got to the ring but wondered if it was still happening. A few people were milling around and it was on the schedule so we stayed. The people running it said it would start in 10 minutes so we hung out, chatted, laughed and teased each other about going in the huge, scary rides, and finished our Dell's frozen lemonade. The horses came out and they weren't as big as I thought they'd be. They were pulling a carriage and went around the ring while the announcer talked about something we could hardly understand over the loudspeaker. Then they went on to do figure 8's and that's when we said it was time to move on. We saw the magician for a quick show. It was pretty entertaining but I seem to remember last time it was better. 

At this point, if I remember correctly, it was dinner time. The choices were basically the same as usual. Alan got a steak, cheese, onions & peppers. The smell of the sausage was incredible and I almost had one in honor of dad (grandpa) but thought it would be just a little better to split the chicken teriyaki/steak kabob combo with Shara. It was a good amount for the two of us and didn't leave us stuffed. I think we wandered around more - checked out the craft hall and agricultural hall. Shara really didn't want to go in either hall but once we were in, she wanted to look at everything. She said, "I don't know why I want to look at all these vegetables, but I do." We got to the demolition derby bleachers early enough to get seats that would leave us with an easy escape if we wanted to leave early, which we did need to do if we wanted to get to the hypnotist at 8:30pm. We had a lot of fun at the derby - it was the figure 8 race finals. Lots of figure 8s today! Shara said she was treating it like a fashion show - she picked the cars she liked the look of best. Her favorite was the pink and green with the hobby horse on the top. We could have sold our seats when we left, the place was so packed (we didn't). 

We went back up to the entertainment area, stopping for dessert on the way. I knew I wanted the apple crisp w/ ice cream. Alan was still full and Shara thought she wanted to try a fried sweet (that was actually the name of a vendor). She was going to get the deep fried snickers bar, but the oreos sounded good too. I suggested the oreos because I had one once and it was good, but the Snickers would be too sweet for me. Then it was a choice between the Oreos and a Milky Way. She couldn't decide so I suggested quietly to Alan to get both. I went the other way to get my apple crisp and we were going to meet up at the magician's stage. They came over with both the Oreos and Milky Way. Alan decided he wasn't too full to have dessert so would make the sacrifice and eat what she didn't want. The hypnotist show was pretty good - Shara really liked it. She thought it the lady who thought she was in love with the hypnotist was funny, especially when she thought the temperature was really high and she was fanning herself with her skirt! Shara wondered if she had underwear on - we assured her she did! She also thought it was pretty cool being up so late - and so did I. We were talking about how one year we carried her out asleep in my arms and now look at her - closing the place! Next thing you know, I told her she'd be having me drop her off to spend the night there with her friends! She didn't seem to like that idea much. No problem with me - I had fun all going together!

Touch Tomorrow

This is Shara from last week's recital. They danced to "you got a friend in me". She was great and had a wonderful time.

Today we went to Worcester Polytechnical Institute for the Touch Tomorrow Festival sponsored by NASA. It was fun - Shara had wanted to try on a space suit and she got her wish, sort of. We also saw robots and got to watch the students programming and working with the robots and designing video games. They also had a number of activities for the kids such as M & M math (Shara said she wanted to take the finished paper to school to show her teacher that she knew as much math as a kindergartener), building a tinfoil boat and seeing how many pennies it could hold, make slime, and folding paper airplanes. They had others too.

There were a lot of kids there, several Indian and Asian as well as Middle Eastern. I don't know if whites were in the minority, but there were many accents and languages to be heard.

More Family Visits & Photo Catch-up

This weekend we went to Schenectady for my 25th High School reunion. Shara spent a nice evening with Bubbe and papa - they had dinner and watched the Yankees (eek). Earlier in the evening we looked through old family photos and found several of me when I was in high school and just after. Shara's comment about all of us back then was, "you had a lot of volume" - talking about our hair! I never realized how high it was at the time, but yup, looking back, there was quite a lot of it! We also went through the older generations and put names to the faces and tried to tell some stories. I need to get more pictures of the family so Shara will know who they are.

When we got back at 11 PM to pick her up, we found her half asleep on bubbe's lap. We then packed everything up and moved on to the next stop, Aunt Jill's. Crazy Aunt Jill was still wide awake and making Aunt Susan's apple crumb pie. You'd think Shara would have fallen right to sleep, but it took her over 1/2 hour to settle down and feel sleepy enough. About seven hours later we were up again and having a nice morning visit. Aunt Jill made a hearty breakfast and the girls all had a piece of the yummy apple pie. We all took turns showering and getting ready to go to the Empty Bowls Project event.

We met my friend Susan S. there and all got to know each other while waiting in the fairly long line. But with good company it went quickly. Shara found her favorite bowl right away. It's very different - footed with a textured pattern on the inside and out of pretty maroon/brown ovals. Alan picked out a beautifully shaped bowl in a greenish/brown color and the one that finally called to me was one that was the same shape as Alan's but blue. I hadn't even seen what he picked.

We went in to start sampling the soups. It was a little difficult to have all of us stick together, but we managed to cross paths and enjoy the soup as well. Shara's favorite was the Squash Bisque from Finnbar's Pub. I hadn't realized there was another Butternut Squash soup from Potter's Restaurant at Sterup Square. I would have loved to try that one too. I'd have to say my favorite was the Beet Borscht (Red beet broth with red beans, potatoes, and sliced beets.) from Muza's and the Broccoli Smoked Gouda from Chef Jackie Baldwin. Alan liked the broccoli the best as well.

We then said our sad goodbyes, made easier by bringing Liz back with us. We had a nice ride home - and even designed the menu for Thanksgiving. Shara discovered Netflix on the phone too. Oh yea, more tv! Hopefully she'll be refreshed tomorrow and not too exhausted after our whirlwind of a weekend!

More photos from the past month - follow this link.

First Grown-up Concert!

Last night Shara had her first real concert experience. I took her to see Further at McCoy Stadium. We met our friend Kathy and her kids there. A kid got in free with an adult ticket and there were several there, but it certainly wasn't a kiddie show! We get to the main parking lot and Shara says, "these people think it's Wacky Wednesday, Thursday too!", or something like that. At AFY it was Wacky Wednesday, Thursday and she had on a boy's shirt and had her hair in a unicorn horn.


The best part of the concert for her was the orange soda I let her have for dessert, but we had a good time dancing too. We started in the bleachers, then took a walk because she was bored, then back to our seats, then another walk down to the field where we got to the far side of the rave-like center. By then it was getting dark and the glow sticks started to come out and we danced and grooved until it felt like time to head back to the main-land so we could get out before the crowds started pushing to the one exit from the field. Kathy was basically on the same schedule and she did a great job leading the way off the field, through the dancing crowd! We left right after and I felt we were super-smart because there was no traffic - we walked to the car, got in and about a 1/2 hour later were home. We would have been sitting in traffic for an hour had we not missed a few songs, though I would have liked to have heard Sugar Magnolia/Sunshine Daydream. Great time and so glad to have shared that experience.

New Year's Eve

 So yesterday we had a very relaxing morning and actually had brunch rather than breakfast. We enjoyed Beth Howell's pancakes and added chocolate chips, berries, apples, and nothing! By the time we got showered and dressed and the bag packed for our trip into Boston for First Night, it was already almost 12:30! That was ok though. We had to meet a friend who was going to buy Alan's pin from us because he was stuck home with a migraine - boo!

So Shara and I had quite an adventure in Boston. We got there about 1:20 and I wanted to get moving because a magic show started at 1:45. I didn't realize how crazy I was thinking that we could just stroll in and get a seat, etc. I didn't realize we wouldn't be able to park right away. I didn't realize how bad my directions are when I'm walking and not driving (with help from the nav system, of course!) So by the time we got parked, since we went to the Prudential tower parking first and went around, backed out, around again, no spaces, left, finally found the original garage I had wanted to go to, went in and up and up and up and found spots on the 4th level already! Left the garage and went right instead of left and oops, now we're at the chiming concert on Christian Science Plaza, which was great, but we needed to get to the Hynes Convention Center! So we meandered our way and it turned out to be just around the corner, and about 1/4 block from the parking garage. We headed to the next magician show - 3 PM now, and got in line and were told don't hold our breath getting in. We waited a bit, seeing if anyone else was going to leave and took the opportunity to have a bar so we could keep our energy up. Being the troopers we are, we ended up going to the Gerwick Puppets "Midwinter Magic" show. It's based on Debussey's Snowflakes Are Dancing. It was very lovely but knowing we needed to get in line for the next magic show, we left a little before the end and got back up to the third floor. We were in line about the same place as we were the first time, so we then decided to not wait so long and just leave for the ImprovBoston's family show. We found the auditorium and got a little confused because the band was still playing. We did enjoy listening to the music and were able to snag a couple of seats as people left. Shara was quick and popped herself down, right before another person managed to get in. Go Shara! That was a fun show and I think we would enjoy seeing them again.


After that, we heard that they were going to have fireworks after the parade in Boston Common, and decided to go closer to the Common to view the parade. Along the way we planned on getting some dinner. That turned into a hot dog at Copley and we stayed there to watch. Good thing too, because afterward we made a side-trip to Panera to use their facilities. 

Waiting for the parade to start

Here it is!

So we continued on to the Common but ended up watching from the garden. They were the absolute best fireworks I've ever seen. The only ones that come close were the ones Alan and I saw at my first and only other First Night, 11 years ago. The other activity we didn't want to miss were seeing the ice sculptures. They were much harder to find than I remembered. We made our way over to the Common and tried not to get crushed between the two little gates they had open and the tons of people trying to get through. We survived but were cold and tired (sorry, I was tired, not Shara) and finally found a sculpture and it was cool, no pun intended, but not as amazing as it should have been for the hunt involved. But, it was right near the T stop, which is where we were headed because Shara was done with walking around in the cold. We did get on the wrong T and got off at the Prudential, which was no big deal because we were able to walk right inside to get to the Convention center. We actually ran into Hannah, of all people, the person who bought our pin! We went on through to the Hynes, and back out and to the car and high-fived each other when the car was actually where I thought it should be. The garage looked a little different than it did when we left it so many hours ago!

On the way home we called daddy and put in a dinner order, since Shara's hot dog and my apple just weren't enough. We ate dinner at about 9 PM, and as promised, Shara was allowed to get in her jammies, brush her teeth, get her blanket and pillow pet and come downstairs to wait up for the ball to drop. I was amazed that she found it so exciting and she got me excited about it too. It was a great way to bring in the New Year and if daddy is sick again next year, we're giving up on him! Two years in a row is a coincidence. Three is a trend.

Traditional Christmas

Last night I was looking at what was happening this weekend and came across the Old Sturbridge Village candlelight Christmas festivities. I thought it sounded interesting, but really didn't want to go out in the cold to walk around with no good idea of whether it would be fun or not so I asked Alan and Shara what they thought and Alan thought it sounded good and Shara thought it sounded really good, so we gave it a shot.

We got there about 5:30 pm. It opened at 4 pm and went until 9 pm. Right after we got out of the car we could tell it was going to be beautiful, if nothing else. The had white christmas lights on all the fencing and as we left the main building in search of Santa, we saw the paths were lighted with candles in lanterns. The houses were decorated as well. The didn't get rid of electricity, but it was only used for the christmas lights. Everything else was how you would find the place at a regular time of year. We decided to wait to see santa in favor of going to the carole sing-along. We were in a house with benches throughout the room and two men at the front, one playing the guitar and both sang. They let the kids pick what songs to sing from a song booklet of the classics and gave a short history on each.

We then decided to get to the next presentation that was of interest and that was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Not exactly period, but that was ok. Then on to Santa, with a stop at the general store to play with old fashioned toys like tops and a jacobs ladder and then to the middle of the green where they had a nice fire and chestnuts, hot chocolate, and cider for sale. We got a hot chocolate and bag of chestnuts, which are rather difficult to eat while walking. Santa was great. He talked to each kid for about 5 minutes each and was very funny but kind as well. He even weaved some Santa history and folklore into his conversations. When it was Shara's turn, she said she wanted a castle in the backyard. Santa wasn't sure it would fit in his sleigh but he'd see what he could do. After Santa we checked out the barn where they were teaching the dance from A Christmas Carol and then grabbed a carriage ride around the green. We were going to leave then, but I thought we should go into at least one more house and what a good one! It was the tavern and they were showing how chocolate is made, from the roasting of the raw beans to the grinding on a Molcajete. We even got a sample of spiced hot chocolate. Across the room they were making Marzipan and learned a little of that history too, such as in the middle ages, at feasts, in between courses they brought in elaborate designs in Marzipan, which was then served as dessert.

So it was a great evening, ended with cookies in the main building. Shara slept all the way home and only woke up to help me get her out of her seat and plop her into bed.

A bit of catching up

Alan just moved over to the android-side and Shara's got his own iPhone. She's thrilled. I asked her if she now has everything she wants and she said, "Yes. I don't need my castle anymore!"

Tonight we started reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. She was hoping Cassidy would bring back the Harry Potter pop-up she borrowed from the library. She did and as we were going to bring Alan to pick up his motorcycle from the mechanics, she said, "I hate me." Obviously I asked what she meant and she said she forgot her library book at school. It was the Harry Potter pop-up, so after dropping Alan off, we went over and got it from her desk at school. So, what an opportunity to start reading the real book! I'd been wanting to for a while now and am so happy we are.

Halloween planning was a lot of fun. Shara picked the theme and it was easy to put together, especially since she's so easy going and is more into having fun creating than the final result. Though we all liked the final result as well. So it was a cold Halloween and she was bummed that we weren't able to go out trick-or-treating with her neighborhood friends. Next year we'll plan the evening activities a little better, but it was a good evening.

We actually made it this year to the King Richards Faire. It was probably the most relaxed time we had there. I took the advice of someone on the Web who suggested eating lunch before going. I never thought the savory food was very good and it's so expensive, so this was a great idea. We grabbed subs and then ate the good stuff - ice cream, kettle corn, huge chocolate chip cookies, hard cider. We saw 2 jousting contests, a funny musical with a talented cast, and a couple of silly shows, including a rat circus. Shara got inspired by the circus and tried to train Brutus to jump through a hoop.

One thing both Alan and I noticed recently is the huge amount of energy Shara's had lately. The past year I had thought she was just a calm child that didn't like much physical activity, but I had seen the lack of energy. I now realize it wasn't because of her demeanor but how she was feeling, I assume. Now that she isn't getting the stomach aches anymore and eating better, it's obvious she happier and healthier. I guess that's a good place to end this post!

Carlsbad Vacation - Day 4 - Oceanside

Alan and Shara went back to Legoland and had fun until her tummy started hurting and they came back to the room to relax for a bit before I got in and took Shara to the pool. I spend the morning/early afternoon in Oceanside at the farmer's market. I had the best shrimp burrito and ate it outside the library by a nice fountain. I then took a walk down to the ocean and went out on the fishing pier, watched the surfers, then on the way back, stopped at Red Cup Yogurt for a fabulous cup of raspberry, grapefruit, coffee, and vanilla. It's great because you can mix and match - it's all self-serve. I then checked in and found that Shara wasn't feeling great, so I came back and by then she was fine so we went to the pool. It was fun. We played simon says, mother may I, and wax museum.

After we (I) were too cold to be in the pool anymore, we went in and showered before heading back to Oceanside for their street fair. What a great time we had! There was food everywhere and it was so hard for us to figure out what we wanted. I ended up having the balsamic grilled artichoke from Annel & Drew's stand. Shara really enjoyed the artichoke, but it wasn't the easiest thing to eat while standing in the middle of a road. Alan and Shara split an Afghani Kabob. For Shara's dessert, she had cookies & cream ice cream from Mariposa Ice Cream. I asked if they had any low fat and the vendor said it was all extra fat! Then Alan got a Phillipine combo dinner, which was about $6 and the container weighed probably 3lbs! I think I ended up eating close to 1/2 of it, greasy good, but still not amazing. I needed to have something better to end on, so we went down the dessert lane and I got a slice of German Chocolate Cake. It was very chocolaty and covered with lots of frosting. It really was just ok, but still just what I wanted.

Shara's ladybug balloon

Alan and Shara sharing a kabob

The incredible part of this was the people, as much as the food. No pushing or shoving. Everyone was having a good time and many were courteous. I even heard teenagers saying, "thank you" and "I'm sorry" when one almost bumped into someone else. It was a very nice evening - live music, food, shopping, and great people watching. Highly recommend going there if you're near the area.

Cupcakes - finally a photo of all of us!

Photo By thomasglobal

Shara doesn't like beer

Last Saturday we went to the Blue Hills Brewery Festival and Shara tried the watermelon beer. She didn't like it. It was actually just ok. We liked the wheat beer better. Shara didn't take another sip though. We had a fun time in the drizzle - took a tractor ride around the Irish cultural center, walked around the center and listened to some music, ate some pulled pork, watched people throw some kegs, and even hunted for a keg. We didn't find it - boo. Afterwards we went for an early dinner at Takara in Canton for yummy sushi, then walked the long way back to the car, and finished up at Crescent Ridge. Nice day!

Sunday we went blueberry picking - got a huge bucket full - ended up being 5 quarts to put in the freezer. Do we have a blueberry pie this Thanksgiving? I think we may!

The rest of the week was less eventfull. Swam every day though and on Thursday evening went to the library to get a museum pass and took a walk through the gardens. Wow, they're beautiful! Friday found 5 frogs in the skimmer basket. Shara made pets out of two of them - Fat and Thin. They may be in the garden behind the garage. Shara was sad to release them but knew that they'd be much happier in a garden than in the chlorine pool.

Check out more photos at Picasa.

King Richard's Faire '09

Had a great time at the Faire this year. The special treat for both Shara and myself was having Tenley and Kacy meet us there. It made a huge difference. Shara loved being able to share the day with her friend, who she's missed quite a bit since she moved schools. They were able to do a craft project together, hold hands while walking around, share a piece of pizza, and just have fun with someone her own age.

We were also very excited when Shara said, "I'm not scared of people in costumes anymore!" There were two knights in scary masks and spiky costumes. The first one, who had a skull mask, she spyed with Tenley and he waved to them and then timidly waved back. I think it helped that he was standing with a normal looking woman who was smiling. The second was when we were on our way out. A spiky knight noticed she was a little scared, she grabbed my hand, and he stopped and said hello to her. He then asked her name, and had a little conversation with her. She was very proud that she was so brave.

It was very cold, but the nicest day we've had together in a while. Both Tenley & Shara said that their favorite part was spending time with each other.

Marshfield Fair 09

Yesterday we went to the fair. We all left arguing and Shara was crying - translation: so much fun it tuckered us out and we were tired & cranky. Shara went on her first rollercoaster, saw just hatched chickens, timber wolves, a bear, a mountain lion, falcons & hawks, owls, and of course, lots of bunnies. We had ice cream, lemon ice, lemonade, hot dogs, awesome falafal (please falafal man, come back next year!), and I now know where to go for strawberry shortcake, assuming the bakery stand there next year. The wrestling lead to a lot of questions, and Alan was supposed to show Shara how to wrestle today, but that didn't happen. I'm guessing she forgot because it was a conversation that happened on the way home, after the fight over the ice cream cone that culminated with the ice cream cone practically exploding in my hand, while I was driving, of course!

The other cool thing(s) that happened yesterday was Shara seeing two friends from her school. The first spotting was at the market and the second at the fair. This was a great thing and showed her that we still live in the area and we will see people from her school out and about. We also ended up sitting at the Incan musicians in the row in front of our next door neighbors! Unfortunately, we didn't run into Amy, so I'm guessing you didn't end up going Sat. night?

Bubbe & papa came today to spend some time with Shara. Between that and the fair yesterday, we have a very over-excited (hyper) child who only stopped talking when she fell asleep!

Pictures - Tall Ships too

Tall Ships

yesterday we went to Boston for the tall ships. It was fun. The lines were huge! The weather was awesome - sun, sun, sun.

We took the train in from Braintree and Shara was very happy with that. She loved looking out the window. We transferred at South Station and then got to ride a bus! Then we went right to Rowes Wharf and saw a very nice, smaller, wood, French ship with a very fit and very French crew. They weren't allowing people aboard, and had recently arrived so they were putting up the sails, etc. We were then going to go to Fan Pier where they had ships you could board. We decided to do the fun stuff before eating.

Shara & I had bars on the way to the train, so I thought we'd be ok. Turns out Shara and my tolerance for low blood sugar are about the same and the two of us made a terrible pair of cranky people. Plan changed and Alan & Shara got sausage & hot dog from a vendor but Shara wouldn't eat it until we found a place for a picnic and to put down the neat sheet. Luckily we did find one but I was so fed up and hungry too and I didn't want a hot dog or sausage and went in search of Flour bakery, which I couldn't find so ended up getting a Cuban at Pressed, which was just mediocre but satisfying enough to completely change my mood. During this time Shara & Alan had fun in the park area - Shara climbed on the concrete structures and Alan relaxed.

After lunch, which ended about 3 PM, we went to see about getting on a ship. These were big ones! There were about 5 or 6 at the piers and we decided to stand in line for the biggest, but the line was extremely long and we didn't want to stand in line so we went for a treat - slush, and then decided to try another line. We waited for almost an hour to get onto the Romainian ship. It was worth it and actually not so tedious because, who gets into line behind us but Sandra, Peter and the boys. The gang plank to the deck was rather steep but the crew was great and about 3/4 way up one of them grabbed Shara and brought her up. She was a little shocked but ok with it. The way down was the same thing. Americans would probably never do that! The ship was very nice and interesting. Woodwork was beautiful.

After that, we got Shara a pretzel - Alan & I were so dehydrated and sunburned, that we weren't hungry. Decided to get going home - already almost 6 PM, and walked to South Station were we'd be able to get more water and use the bathrooms. Shara was happy to get on another train and we had fun playing eye-spy. After getting to the car and getting re-hydrated, we ordered a pizza to pick up on the way home. Yum.

This morning for breakfast Shara actually made her own. She didn't like the idea of pancakes and wanted to go out. Since that wasn't an option, she went into the freezer and got herself some bread & salami and made a sandwich. She is her father's daughter!

Greek Festival

Last night we went to Brockton for the Greek Festival. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. We got there and already had to wait in a 20 minute line for dinner. Shara & I took a closer look at the band playing and she had a great time dancing to the music. She really can move! She wasn't so thrilled with dinner though. She tried everything, as was a rule before allowing for treats, but ended up eating some of my gyro meat & 1/2 a roll rather than her pastitsio. I think she'll like it better if it's heated up a little. Alan & I enjoyed our gyros - he much neater than me since i was not using a knife & fork, but opted for the messier hand method. The dolmadas weren't as good as Chris' and the spanacopita tasted much better heated up this morning for breakfast. We got some goodies to go and decided on ice cream at Carvel rather than figuring out what to have there. Should have eaten there because I still ended up having a cookie last night - so so good! and this morning 1/3 of the piece of baklava and Shara had a corner of her heart cookie and we had confectionary sugar all over the kitchen from just that one little bite - I think there is about 2 tablespoons of sugar on the one cookie, if not more!

Today we're going apple picking after dance. Shara wants to go on a hayride. Then Oma & Jidor are going to get to babysit tonight. For the first time in about 2 months Alan & I are going to go out on a date - dinner only, since no movies look good enough to see in the theater.