Thursday we went to Springfield.

Friday we laid around and then shot off fireworks at Daniel's sister's house with neighbors

Saturday we celebrated a good old-fashioned smalltown America 4th! It was in Squires, MO, home to 60 people. About a thousand come to celebrate our independence each year though!

The stage




The booths of games




Trey with a cotton candy-sticky face


Playing with the little stuffed bee he won




We took Trey on the merry go round and slides, ate hotdogs, and waited around for fireworks to start while listening to old time country-gospel music being sung! Then, we listed to Alan Jackson and other "modern" country songs being sung by this good-ol-boy!


The fireworks display only lasted about 15 minutes but had some cool swirly firecrackers and other magnificent moments! All in all, a fun night that will probably never be repeated!

Edit: My father in law just sent me this pic from last night of Trey catching a trout (while we were out running around with Daniel's cousins)

Saturday, June 13th, we finally had our first fully sunny day! We drove from south Boston (where our hotel of 3 nights had been) down to Barnstable, Cape Cod, MA. We didn't go further into the cape b/c we had to be back to Plymouth that afternoon for our whale watching! We took the "scenic route" back north toward Plymouth but we couldn't actually see much of the cape due to all the trees along the road!

We sailed with "Capt. John's Boats" and left from Plymouth's harbor. It took 2 long, cold hours before we go to where the whales were (in the Atlantic Ocean, north of Provincetown, Cape Cod)!! We sat in the front of the boat so we wouldn't miss a minute of the action. I had 3 layers on and was still shivering even though it was sunny! The lady doing the commentary used time "directions" to tell us where the whales were. She has been observing whales for 10 years and knew a LOT. She got so excited about our whale watch, though, that she said: "Humpback Whale at 1 o'clock. Whale at 10 o'clock. At 9. At 2: they're everywhere!!!"

And they were. Ten to twenty whales (I couldn't keep track) surrounded our boat! I took 80 pictures of the whales. The color of the water becomes a light green and bubbly and then they surface so I was able to point my camera in the right direction. The tails of each whale are different, like a thumbprint, so the commentator started referring to them by name and I couldn't follow. I was a little jealous of Daniel who just got to stand there in awe of them b/c I was busy "working" at getting great shots of them. But I think it paid off:

the Mayflower replica


Plymouth Rock (which by the way the pilgrims most likely NEVER stepped foot on AND they went to Provincetown in Cape Cod first but the soil was too sandy so then they moved inland to Plymouth! Who knew?)












The next day we went to Plimoth Plantation where actors impersonate the Puritan settlers we call Pilgrims. Wapanoag Indians were in traditional dress but did not pretend to be in the 1630s as the settlers did. So we got some interesting perspectives from them (the Puritans were pious and not a lot of fun--- I'm thinking: hey, those are my Reformed spiritual ancestors but yeah... they were sometimes known for that!). I also found out that about 1 million natives (Am. Indians) were killed by a sort of bubonic plague in the 3 years before the pilgrims came! The Indian site you see in these pictures near the plantation was actually deserted when the pilgrims got there b/c they'd all died. =( The Indians that helped the pilgrims were from about 100 miles away.


This guy explained a bit about Native farming to us. When I asked him a question, though, he looked at Daniel and answered! It must be cultural?? But he did take a pic with me!


The big guy in the Wapanoag house asked Daniel what tribe he was from so Daniel got to say that he was Mayan (from Hondurus). That was cool. Also, this guy had heard of OKC's Red Earth festival in which dozens of tribes celebrate their culture. He said he's always wanted to come!

At the plantation, in one of the houses, I found this Bible. The title page (shown) says 1560!! I don't know if it's a replica or an original but it was awesome either way!


And we ran into the "ruling elder" of the plantation (aka pastor). We missed hearing him preach by about 30 minutes! =( It was a Sunday, you see.... I was quite disappointed! He liked Daniel's "Noah's Ark rafting" t-shirt and of course thought (in his 1630s brain) that it was all about his favorite Bible story






The top floor of the church!


A beautiful wood-carved trunk that I entered to win! They have a wood/pottery shop in which the artisans' work is in the 1600s style!


Back to 2009:
We drove to Providence that afternoon and went to the mall. I got a great new purse and we saw the most spectacular view from a mall ever, of the skyline there. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me (for once). We walked around a tiny bit and then ended up on federal hill in Little Italy. We ate at a yummy restaurant but unfortunately (in my PMSy state), I was exceptionally annoyed by a large family eating out back on the patio with us. They were drinking a lot and the women were SO LOUD the entire 1 1/2 hours we were there. They had no respect for anyone around them and I was disgruntled and complaining the entire dinner about them. Poor Daniel =(

More on Providence later: this was a LONG post! =) Hope you enjoyed it.