Envelope One

Every year on October sixth, we celebrate our honeymoon. Sometimes we do this by saying "happy honeymoon!" and sometimes we go out to eat. This year, John pulled a fast one.

He came home after working late on a Tuesday night and asked what I needed to do the next day. I rattled off something like this, "well, I need to go to the laundromatAldiWalmartFabulousFinds and I need to can these twoboxesofConcordgrapes and turn thesefourboxesoftomatoesintosauce, etc., etc., big, deep breath to continue...." At this point, he broke in and said, "Okay. Somewhere in there you also should pack clothes for you and the girls to go away." WHAT?!?!? John had been working a lot of extra hours, and he had told me he'd be working late Wednesday and Thursday night, too, so this statement completely confused me. When I asked for how many days, he said, "I dunno-- between 3 and 5." When I asked for what kind of adventure, he said, "I dunno." When I asked about the weather, he said, "The same as here, I think." I finally ended up packing clothing that would be useful in a range of stays, in weather ranging from that of the southern equatorial line all the way up to the North Pole. I stayed up very late canning grape juice, I stuffed all the tomatoes in the refrigerator, and said good riddance to the laundry. After lunch the next day, we were off!

I had no idea where John was taking us. My guesses only included towns in which friends and family live, since of course we wouldn't stay in a motel! The last time we did so was when Millie was about ten months old, so my guesses were limited to places with a free place to sleep.

Driving directions to Framingham (FRAHminHAHM, or so the motel worker informed John) were scrawled on the first envelope, as we discovered several hours into the ride. We didn't know in which state this marvelous town was located or what the town itself contained, but our ignorance didn't restrain our excitement, and the girls kept echoing back John's ludicrous screech of "FRAHminHAHM! FRAHminHAHM! FRAHminHAHM!" as we drove.

So we stayed in a motel.

Millie was especially fun to watch and listen to during our stay at the Econolodge. She ran around, laughing and inspecting, especially impressed with the hair dryer on the wall and the suitcase holder. A few minutes after entering the room, she said, in a voice tinged with a note of awe, "I didn't know it would be this fancy!" After spending a luxurious night complete with bed-jumping, television watching (!), and muffin-eating, we drove to Framingham, having been told that morning we were going to visit a garden in the woods.

And we did. We also watched art go wild, with flying saucers, ant skyscrapers, tree bundles, a log river, a grass maze, and a giant dinosaur boulder, along with other inventive, natural, art installations in the woods. It was wonderful.

John and a Pixie.



One of my favorite sections was a space where children could build fairy homes, miniature woodlands, mac trucks, or whatever else they desired to build out of pine cones, twigs, and stones.







The children were provided with a scavenger hunt sheet on which they were given clues about the various installations.



And here the girls are watching dragonflies, gnats, and frogs. They were hoping to see the painted turtles, but they remained hidden.



After much thought, I decided it was safe to sit upon this stone bench.



Susannah sauntered down paths.



She also tried to vandalize the identification cards.




Yes, they found the bundles made of grass.



They also found living things in the bog.




Millie wanted to ride on John's shoulders because she "won't be able to for much longer." So says she. (I said that she won't be able to write on her legs for much longer.)