MA in July

Our summer family visits started off in Massachusetts in the beginning of July.  We got to spend some time just hanging out with everyone and playing with Sam Go Diego. : )

Later that night we headed down to one of the local high schools on July 3rd to watch a firework show.  Kylee was nervous about the sound but found out that if she covered her ears she liked watching them and she even started testing it out by only covering one ear.  Ryland liked watching the fireworks and Kenzie wasn't bothered by the sound at all.  (Just a disclaimer ... Kylee had just eaten some Oreos which is why her teeth look black!?)

Then on the 4th of July we went to downtown Andover to watch the local parade.  It turned out that a lot of the kids that live in the area decorate their bikes / scooters / wagons and themselves and walk in the parade.  Lucky for us, some of them even threw candy! : )

Later that night we headed up to one of the local beaches.  We took some toys and crossed our fingers that it would be a worthwhile trip.  Kylee's progression with the beach seems to go up a notch each year -- Step 1: Kylee didn't want anything to do with touching the sand.  Step 2: Kylee played in the sand but only if she was sitting on a towel so her feet wouldn't touch!?  This year:  Kylee stood in the sand barefoot and played!!!!  Whoo Hoo ... success! : )  Both kids had a great time playing in the sand.  They were still unsure about the water and didn't really get close enough to get their feet wet but we still considered it a successful trip (and progression in beach comfort level.)  Kenzie was very content sitting on the blanket and watching everything around her.  She did put up a great effort to try and get the sand but once we distracted her with other things she was fine.

Our last stop before leaving town was to go to the Boston Children's Museum.  We hadn't tried this museum yet so everyone was excited to see what was there.  There was a lot of construction and building stuff to do in the area where we started.  Kylee had fun using all the pulleys and levers and Ryland had fun just running around to all the different things.



I know this isn't a great picture ... Kylee is half missing and Ryland is doing who knows what but I actually took it because of the sign that was hanging.  "Recommended for ages 5 and older" ... yup ... Kylee had ZERO problem in this climbing structure and once we showed Ryland how to get up the stairs he too needed NO help.  Ha! : )

Kenzie spent the whole time in the backpack and did a great job.  She was completely content just sitting and watching everything that was going on.  Towards the end we ended up near some huge water tubes with bubbles.  Kenzie loved watching these and trying to catch the bubbles that were inside.  She was very interested in trying to touch the water and bubbles. : )

There was also a neat room that had ramps for the kids to roll golf balls down.

The water room is always a big hit with our kids too.  This one had a lot of different utensils for the kids to use and they made sure they tested out all of them.

There was a whole area that talked about health and nutrition.  It included a lot of sports things and some really neat ways to test your strength.  Yes, that is Pete trying to maneuver his way through the climbing structure. : )



The museum was definitely a hit and I'm sure a place we will go again when we are visiting everyone in Massachusetts.