It's been ages since our last post so many apologies. There always seems to be something more pressing to do but I've decided I need to make time to bring us up to date before my parents arrive tomorrow (yaaay!!).

So what have we been up to? In between school, homework, music lessons, music practice and birthday parties we managed a day trip to Salem a couple of weeks ago. Salem is infamous as the site of witch trials in the late 1600s and there are many museums and attractions in the town offering historic interpretations of the witch hysteria and a variety of witch-related merchandise, some more tacky than others. However, Salem is also a historic maritime port and a thoroughly attractive small town so we had a lovely day. We caught the ferry from Boston harbour arriving at Salem after about an hour's sail up the coast north of Boston. We allowed ourselves one witch indulgence so we visited the Salem Witch Museum which gave a rather graphic but not too sensationalised account of the events. Fascinating.

I mentioned Potted Potter in my last entry. Absolutely brilliant. If it tours the UK it's a must-see - my face ached after an hour and a half of continuous laughter. I'm not sure I shall ever view the books in the same way again.

The girls have settled well into school and seem to be enjoying life. Both Isabel and Rachel have made plenty of friends. Rachel has already been to three birthday parties and three sleepovers! Isabel has a small part in the grade 7/8 show Fiddler on the Roof, which is due to be performed mid-December so is attending rehearsals twice a week after school which she is loving. She had an overnight field trip last week to a farm somewhere in west Massachusetts (the location was never revealed) and had a ball. Activities seemed to involve brushing the cows and calves and walking the goats but all the kids talked about on their return was how they saw one of the farm cats catch and slaughter a chipmunk!

The school held a series of open evenings a couple of weeks ago for parents to attend. It was an opportunity to see the teachers and hear what they had to say about what the children were being taught and, more interestingly, how they were going about teaching it. Rachel's teacher talked a very good talk and Barry was very impressed at how her classroom philosophy seemed to echo much of what he was learning about the philosophy of quality improvement. Isabel's English and science teachers were equally impressive and her social studies teacher kept all of us parents entertained describing how she would get the class dancing at the start of each lesson so they could burn off their energy before settling down to work. Her maths teacher, who is also her homeroom teacher, was slightly more worrying as she seemed to spend the entire 10-minute slot labouring the point that despite all the children saying that she wasn't teaching them anything (Isabel had told us that exactly) she wanted them to ask her for help and she would help them. Isabel is finding the maths difficult as nothing seems to be explained properly and she doesn't understand the process she is being asked to carry out. We seem to be doing more teaching at home than she is receiving in school. Overall, however, we were impressed with the school and the staff.

We remain obsessed by the Red Sox and their continued success, although Rachel was distraught this morning despite Boston's victory last night over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Red Sox have been playing against Tampa Bay in the post-season ALDS, otherwise known as the American League Divisional Series. In other words, after winning the American League Eastern Division title, they join the other American League and National League Division champions plus two wildcard teams competing to play in the World Series final. The Red Sox had a five-match series against Tampa Bay with the winner going through to what is effectively the semi-final and we had managed to get tickets to the fifth match. However, because the Red Sox won last night winning the series 3-1 there will be no fifth match. Rachel would have much preferred Boston to have lost last night, levelling the series with everything hanging on the final match, just so she could go to watch the match! She'll be growing a beard next! (Cryptic comment - do some research on the current Red Sox team and you'll know where I'm coming from.)

Anyway, it's almost time for school pick up, 2.30pm. The girls have been promised a post-school Starbucks to cheer Rachel up.

Next time I write my Mum and Dad should be here so maybe they can add a post themselves.