I’m excited to share more photos from our recent family vacation to Maine and Massachusetts. I’ve shared all about Maine and here is what we discovered in Mass.
The MOST amazing roadside farm stands. EVERYWHERE! Mostly organic! We feasted on delicious, locally grown fruit and vegetables. The tomatoes!! Oh gosh… they were a phenomenon! We couldn’t get over how utterly yummy they were in the Pioneer Valley. We ate them like fruit! We and we ate them on toast with mayo too, of course (one of my favorite things in all the world)… at least once every day!
We played in the cornfields. Hide and seek is THE BEST GAME in a cornfield. Teddy played with abandon but Kitty couldn’t help looking around her with worry every now and again, asking, “Are we allowed to do this?”… Which would make her father, who she is SO like, look around him with that same worried look.
We spotted this little toadstool gnome family in a window of a house and we knew immediately that ‘our kind of people’ lived there.
We spotted mushrooms, of course.
We visited a pioneer graveyard in Deerfield. Many of the gravestones dated back to the the 1700’s. One gravestone sat on a mound and read that it was in honor of 43 women and children who were captured by the Indians, taken to Canada and never seen by their loved-one’s again. The kids were horrified and said how they didn’t like the Indians. We talked a little about the conflicts between the Pioneers and the Native Indians and how history is never one-sided, even thought it is almost written that way. Both sides usually have valid concerns and it’s much better to try to work out solutions that work for everyone instead of turning to violence. You need to empathize with the other side, in order to find a workable solution.
We stayed in a delightful VRBO (you can see it here if you are looking for a great place to stay in the area), complete with egg-laying chickens which, of course, the kids utterly fell in love with.
We visited lots of museums and art galleries. The Emily Dickinson House was mine and Kitty’s favorite. We toured where she lived and walked upon paths her own very feet had actually touched as nature gave her inspiration for her many famous, beautiful, poems.
Teddy’s favorite was this museum that presented art made by rolling colored paper into shapes. The intricate details of each piece was utterly amazing and really touched Teddy’s fancy. Look at this hummingbird…
In the afternoons, we returned to our little cottage for a rest and to catch up on our homeschool.
Blueberry pancakes for breakfast, followed by tomato and mayo toast and watermelon.
Kitty loved the farm animals in Mass. She adored these donkeys and declared that if we ever find ourselves lucky enough to live on a farm, we would definitely have donkeys to love. I agreed!
And then, the highlight of our trip, we went on a trail ride through the forest and farmland. How wonderful it was to be back on a horse again… and out in the open, wild places.
These photos make me want to go right back!
Blessings and magic,
Donni
