No more photos for the time being, sorry. Barry is in New York currently with my camera, along with all the photos we have taken in the last couple of weeks. Therefore, this will have to be a photo-free entry until Barry's return when he will no doubt have some shots of NYC to add to the portfolio.

So, we returned from holiday and Barry started his IHI Fellowship with a seven-day course on patient safety (ie working through the weekend - no rest for the wicked!). The girls and I had an appointment to visit their new school (more on that shortly) and we went to our second Red Sox game. They beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 in a tight, tense game which was just as exciting as our first experience, despite finding our feet buried in peanut shells thanks to the rather large young man who was spreading into Rachel's seat. Throwing your peanut shells on the floor instead of keeping them to put into the bin is apparently traditional. I can testify that this is one of the rather less savoury traditions.

Anyway, to school. We had an appointment to visit Pierce School before the girls were due to start the following week. We met with a pleasant lady who is the guidance teacher for grades 5-8 who showed us around and had a chat with the girls and me. She then left us with the school nurse who dropped the bombshell that despite our best efforts the girls' immunisations fell short of requirements. Having spent more than £200 on a course of three Hep B vaccinations each for the girls whilst still in the UK it seems there was not enough of a gap between dose 2 and dose 3 to satisfy the Massachusetts Dept of Education. Also, we were told Rachel would need a DTap booster as her previous vaccination had been before her 4th birthday. Bracing myself for a hefty financial hit we were sent to the public health nurse in the building next to the school. Thankfully, lovely Nurse Barbara said that the DTap booster wasn't a requirement until grade 7 so as Rachel was only going into grade 5 it was recommended but not obligatory. However, she was insistent that the girls needed another Hep B jab, much to their discomfort, but delivered the good news that there would be no charge as the vaccination was a school requirement. To cut a long story short the girls (very reluctantly) had the jabs later in the week.

We had made arrangements the following day for the girls to meet up with the 7th grade daughter of a fellow border terrier owner we had met whilst walking Dougal. That morning we had a phone call from the guidance teacher at the school suggesting that it may be appropriate to place Isabel in the year above her age ie to go into grade 7 instead of grade 6. Grade 7 equates to year 8 in the UK and grade 6 equates to year 7 ie first year of secondary school. Her reasoning was based on Isabel's impending birthday, her physical stature, her maturity and my assessment of her academic ability. She left the decision up to Isabel and us, which rather put the cat amongst the pigeons as Isabel didn't know what to do for the best and Rachel was upset as grades 5 and 6 had classrooms close to each other and had lunch at the same time so she had been anticipating Isabel being close by for support. Sensibly, Isabel decided to delay any decision until she met the border terrier 7th grader, who's name was Esther, in the afternoon.

Well, the girls had a great time with Esther and Isabel was adamant that she wanted to go into grade 7. In the meantime, I had e-mailed the school's PTO who boasted an outreach committee amongst its many branches asking if we could be put in touch with any girls who were due to start in grade 5 so Rachel could meet someone before starting school the following Monday. The response was rapid and within half an hour of leaving Esther's house we were in one of the many local parks meeting Aine and her friends Zoe and Anna and Aine's mum. They hit it off straight away and spent a couple of hours together which culminated in Rachel being invited for a sleepover. It was only as I was walking back from Aine's house after dropping off Rachel and her sleepover kit that it occurred to me I had just left my younger daughter in a complete stranger's house! I shouldn't have worried as Rachel had a great time but I told Aine's mum Stacey the following morning that I felt like a terrible mum. She said we needn't worry - they didn't smoke, they didn't do drugs and they didn't have a gun in the house. I gulped - the gun issue hadn't even crossed my mind!!

Over the next few days Rachel met up with Aine and a variety of her friends several times. In between Rachel's social engagements we made a couple of trips to Staples to buy everything on the substantial list of stationery requirements for each grade, spending a total of around $250; to the bookshop to buy the required reading book for each grade and to a clothes/shoe shop to buy trainers and sports shorts for PE although it seems we needn't have bothered with the latter as the school seems quite happy for the kids to wear Converses and denim shorts for PE if they want.

Before the girls started school on the Monday the girls and I went to Cambridge on Sunday afternoon to meet up with one of Barry's IHI colleagues. Jo Ann is on the communications team and had been very helpful during our six-month run-up to moving giving us advice on where to live. She has a daughter just a couple of months younger than Rachel called Justine and we had all been keen to meet up face to face after our e-mail communications. Cambridge is where Harvard University and the IHI are based. Politically, it's a separate city and geographically it lies across the Charles River from Boston. We had a picnic lunch and a wander around the Harvard Square area before heading to the river embankment where the Charles River Conservancy set up a load of equipment every Sunday afternoon in the summer and early autumn for families to play a variety of ball games, all for free. It was all very informal and we had a great time.

So, Monday was the big day - first day of school. We were all up bright and early (if a little bleary eyed) ready for the 8am start. Both girls were excited, particularly Rachel who by this stage had met at least seven or eight girls who were due to be in her grade. Thankfully they had a great day, making friends and thoroughly enjoying their classes and this has continued. Rachel's teacher is called Ms Woogmaster and Rachel already adores her. Isabel's homeroom teacher is Ms Galolo, who is also the maths teacher. As she would have done back in the UK, Isabel and the rest of her grade move around to different teachers for different lessons. Isabel is having to get used to an hour or two of homework each night which so far she is knuckling down to without complaint. Rachel is getting some homework most nights and is also working hard.

Isabel's best friend so far is Maisie whilst Rachel seems to have several gangs on the go already, resulting in a tug of war last Friday between the different gangs all demanding Rachel's presence. Rachel said a teacher had to break it up! It turns out that one of Rachel's favourite new friends is Maisie's younger sister Eve which is convenient!

It was Isabel's birthday last week (Sept 11th) and it was an unusually low key affair. Understandably, she didn't feel that she could invite any friends out yet so we've decided to leave it for a couple of weeks and have a belated birthday party. For her birthday treat she decided she wanted to go out to eat at a lovely little Italian restaurant up the road. It's cheap cheerful Italian fast food in what looks like someone's front room but the food is delicious and the atmosphere is very informal so we all enjoyed ourselves. Then she wanted to stay up to watch the series finale (the big wedding) of a truly dreadful reality TV show called Honey Boo Boo which is massively popular in the US. The girls are addicted to it. She made Barry and I watch it too. It's a good job we love her. Speaking of Isabel's birthday, the girls and I went to visit our very first Boston friends (the South African couple Peggy and Dion who moved to Boston from the UK via Hong Kong and have an 11-year-old daughter Megan along with elder daughter and toddler Jacob) on Monday en route to music lessons and Peggy, bless her, had gone to a local cupcake shop and bought six enormous cupcakes, put candles in them, and she and Megan serenaded Isabel with Happy Birthday!

So the girls survived their first week at school and still seemed to be smiling. I think that's the biggest hurdle out of the way. Barry is enjoying his fellowship, the girls are happy at school and I'm making some friends and starting to get into a routine so I think we're in a good place.

We're almost up to date. Last Saturday we headed south down the coast to Quincy where IHI Fellow Pete and his family live. They had an open house afternoon for the Fellows and their families which was most enjoyable. Their house backs onto a small shingle beach so Barry and the girls went kayaking around one of the nearby small islands and Dougal was able to run around to his heart's content. The girls then entertained Pete's small daughter and son who are now the girls' biggest fans (after Megan's little brother Jacob). It was very relaxing to be out of the constant buzz of the city. Sunday afternoon was our first PTO event - the Pierce Fitfest - where there were a whole host of sporting and fitness activities which the kids could have a go at plus the entertainment of a teacher's dunk tank. Rachel threw herself into the spirit of the event and tried lots of things but Isabel and Maisie were too cool to join in as 7th graders!

So back to school on Monday and all still going well. Barry is in New York until tomorrow night then it's his birthday on Thursday and we're going to see Potted Potter. Happy days!

Many apologies for the lack of posts during the last couple of weeks. No, we haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, we've just been "super busy" as the Americans like to say.

Loads has happened since I last posted but before I start to bring you up to date I have to retrace my steps back to our holiday. On reading the blog Barry pointed out that I missed out an important stop on our holiday so I shall attempt to put that right.

En route from Williamstown and the Berkshires towards southern Vermont we stopped at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. MASS MoCA as it is commonly known had been recommended to us by a couple staying at our hotel so we thought we should drop in.

MASS MoCA is in a former industrial mill town called North Adams. The museum is on the site of what was once one of the biggest textile mills in the world employing around 17,000 people. The site is enormous and the exhibits are spread out in a variety of different old warehouses and factory buildings with some exhibits outside.

The exhibit said to be a must-see was The Phoenix by a Chinese artist named Xu Bing. This huge installation is actually two phoenix (what's the plural of phoenix?) constructed entirely from recycled products. The structures are surprisingly beautiful and graceful and were worth the entrance fee on their own. They are going to New York after their time at MASS MoCA so they are high profile works of art. The other exhibit we particularly liked was a series of "totems" which were in the grounds outside and would not have looked out of place in a Dr Who episode.

Before I continue, an apology to Williams College. After accusing it of being a college for rich kids I looked it up on Wikipedia. It turns out that whilst Williams College is indeed a small private university it is regarded as amongst the best liberal arts universities in the US, ranked alongside many of the Ivy League universities. So they may be rich kids but they are very clever rich kids.

On Monday we said a reluctant farewell to the Berkshires and drove north into Vermont towards Killington. There was a noticeable difference in the scenery and atmosphere as we crossed the state border. There were still lots of trees but the scenery had a much wilder edge to it and the hills were getting higher. We had booked into the Hillside Inn at Killington which was great budget accommodation with big comfy beds and plenty of room. Like the rest of Killington it was in a slightly sleepy mode - Killington is one of the US east coast's top ski resorts and whilst it'll be packed to the rafters with skiers in the winter, through the summer it is frequented primarily by mountain bikers and hikers. The main gondola lift was open so we were able to go up to the summit of Killington Peak but whilst ground level was basking in hot sunshine the peak was shrouded in cloud so our panoramic views were non existent. We did feel like we were on the edge of the world though! We had a wander round the disc golf course (where you try to throw Frisbees into metal baskets) and decided that Killington had potential for winter ski visits.

One amusing side note: on our first night in Killington we went out to eat at Casey's Caboose, a great burger-style restaurant in an old railway carriage. Just inside the front door was a video game machine. Not for Vermonters any old driving or Pacman video game - this one was called Deer Hunter and the game weapon of choice was a large rifle. Say no more.

 

 

 

Killington and its environs was preparing itself for bank holiday weekend festivities and one of the events was a hay modelling competition. Many of the businesses had constructed or were in the process of building a variety of hay structures including several bears, a snail and a tortoise. Our favourite was a rather macabre hog's head outside a restaurant!

 

 



 

 

From Killington we drove towards Quechee Gorge, a spectacular narrow gorge along the Ottauquechee River. As well as spectacular views there were the ubiquitous local produce and craft shops, some of which we couldn't help but visit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday morning we waved goodbye to Killington Peak and continued north along the scenic Route 100 (ie lots of trees) towards our destination of Waterbury in north Vermont. There were lots of tree-lined mountains and several signs for ski resorts and lifts. We were definitely in the heart of Vermont's ski country. In Waterbury we dropped into the Green Mountain Coffee visitor centre (Vermont is known as the Green Mountain State and we had been driving along the edge of the Green Mountains Forest State Park), yet another lovely local produce centre, before driving to our home for the next three nights - Stowe Cabins in the Woods. They were as described - wooden cabins in the middle of the woods - and were very comfortable once we had removed the plastic mattress covers from the beds (why put them on in the first place? It's impossible to sleep on them). We perfected our scary growl just in case we came face to face with a bear and we think there must have been coyotes or some other large wild animals around as we heard some very strange noises at night time.

 

 

 

 

 

Our little cabin was surrounded by visitor attractions so filling our days was no problem. First thing Thursday morning we went to the place that Isabel and Rachel have been most excited about visiting - Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory! We did the tour, which was informative and very amusing and ended with a tasting of a new experimental flavour with the invitation to give feedback. Look out for Raspberry Cup in the Ben and Jerry's kiosks - creamy raspberry ice cream with chunks of dark chocolate filled with raspberry cream. Take it from us - it was delicious!

 

 

After the tour we went to the Flavour Graveyard which is packed full of Ben and Jerry's mistakes, in other words all the flavours which were sent to ice cream heaven after failing to titillate the taste buds of ice cream lovers. It's hard to understand why some of the flavours failed to make the grade whilst with others it's hard to understand how Ben and Jerry ever thought they would succeed. We passed an enjoyable couple of hours learning about ice cream, eating ice cream and buying ice cream and ice cream related products. Very satisfying!

 

 

 

 

 

In the afternoon we drove a few miles to Stowe, another famous east coast ski resort. As it looked remarkably similar to Killington (ie mountains with lots of trees and occasional cleared pathways which are presumably pistes in the winter, a few lifts, lots of car parking spaces and an access road lined with hotels, motels and restaurants) we didn't hang around and drove instead to the Von Trapp Family Lodge. The Von Trapps of The Sound of Music fame eventually settled in the USA following their flight from Austria and bought a working farm in the mountains of Vermont, which reminded them of Austria. Over the years the working farm extended to become an extensive estate including a luxurious (and expensive) hotel built to look like an Alpine lodge, a mountain biking and cross country skiing circuit, a brewery, a bakery and a cheese-making business. We sneaked a look at the hotel which had stunning views. Maybe one day we'll treat ourselves to a weekend stay (in our dreams...).

 

 



 We finished the day with a visit to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill (cider in New England is apple juice - it's only alcoholic if it's described as "hard") which is famous for its apple doughnuts, which were extremely tasty.

 

 







Friday was another hot, sunny day and we headed west towards Burlington, Vermont's largest town. Burlington is on the shores of Lake Champlain which marks the border between Vermont and New York states. We had great views across the lake to New York's Adirondack Mountains. We strolled along the edge of the lake for a bit but we all found it too hot (the temperature has been in the high 20s and low 30s almost all week) so retired to the car and drove around the town to see Battery Park, site of an American Revolution battle, and the University of Vermont, one of the US's oldest universities. Both were very attractive as was Burlington as a whole. Like almost everywhere we've seen this holiday it gave the impression of wealth and grooming.

We had hoped to drop into the Shelburne Museum which is a few miles out of Burlington and features a miniature circus amongst many eccentric exhibits but we had promised Rachel we would visit the Vermont Teddy Bear Co factory another mile or two along the road so that took priority. We had a short but very sweet tour of the teddy bear production line which included many jokes and puns and inevitably the girls couldn't resist the gift shop, spending existing and future pocket money on a teddy bear each. Oh well - at least the bears come with a lifetime guarantee and we saw for ourselves the teddy bear hospital where injured bears are treated.

 

 

 

We loved our time in Vermont. It's spectacularly beautiful and wild, sprinkled with attractive and well-heeled small towns and with a tempting local produce store around every corner. The most impressive aspect of Vermont, however, is how it has managed to get its tourist industry organised. Every small town or region has a detailed tourist map with all the local attractions and shops marked on it and almost everywhere is well signposted from the main roads (I say almost because we did miss a maple syrup farm which we had hoped to visit for which the sign post was conspicuous by its absence). Our only disappointment is that we didn't see a single moose although as there are apparently less than 1,000 moose in the whole of Vermont we shouldn't really be surprised.

 

 

On Saturday morning we left Vermont behind and travelled into New Hampshire. New Hampshire's state motto is "Live Free or Die" - in other words, don't tell us what to do. Within five minutes of crossing the border into New Hampshire we came to a junction with traffic lights and witnessed the car next to us drive straight through a red light, just before three large motorbikes, two of which were carrying pillion passengers, turned towards us from the right and not a single one of the bikers was wearing a crash helmet. Roadside signs warned that "under 18s should buckle up", suggesting that if you're over 18 it's fine to drive without a seat belt. It's also a notorious gun state so we formed the very rapid conclusion that all New Hampshire residents are bonkers.

 

Our impression wasn't altered when we arrived at our hotel for the night only to find it packed with bargain hunters who were picking apart the hotel's contents. The hotel's apologetic owner explained that they were in the process of closing down and selling everything off and we were pretty much the last guests to stay there. At least our room seemed to have the correct number of beds and an intact bathroom and she did give us a small discount on the nightly rate.

 

 

We're staying just over the border into New Hampshire near Hanover. Hanover is yet another groomed, well-heeled college town and is home to Ivy League university Dartmouth College. Many of the university's oldest and loveliest buildings are arranged in a large square around a grassy area and the town is full of expensive looking shops and nice restaurants. I think Bill Bryson lives somewhere around here and I kept my eyes open in the hope of spotting him but he was as elusive as the moose.

 

 

 

 

After a wander round Hanover and lunch we returned to the hotel for a swim in the pool (thankfully it was still open). The hotel's garden has lovely views over the Connecticut River and the hotel's owner told us there was a swimming platform on the river so Barry and the girls jumped in for a swim. Dougal was most unamused and after barking loudly for a while resorted to jumping in himself and swimming out to Barry and the girls to tell them off before swimming back to the bank. Bearing in mind he rarely enters any body of water larger than a rock pool he must have thought they were in terrible danger! He's been exhausted all evening following his rescue efforts!

 

 

 

Sadly, we have to head back to Boston tomorrow but we've had a great time on our first holiday Stateside. There's lots to look forward to though - Monday is a bank holiday (Labor Day), Barry starts at the IHI on Tuesday, the girls are visiting their new school on Tuesday ready to start on Monday the following week, and then we're going to watch the Red Socks on Tuesday night against the Detroit Tigers. Come on boys!