Our week in Massachusetts

We spent last week in Massachusetts with David and Rebecca and their family, and was a beautiful trip in about every regard. We flew back their on Friday April 13th and returned home on Thursday April 19th. The flights on SWA were uneventfully good. Both ways we had one stop in Chicago but didn’t have to change planes.

On Saturday, we worked on installing a basketball standard, by cementing in the base. We were disappointed Monday when we tried to finish the job, however, and found that the wrong backboard had been included in the package. In the afternoon, we drove with the family to see Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury. We toured an old but working grist mill which was part of the display.

On Sunday, we went to church in their ward. We spied Danny Ainge (he’s bishop of the neighboring ward that shares this building) and also his son Austin. In the evening, Wendy and I made our Martha Ann Lufkin Townsend witness to the Mantle of Joseph miracle presentation to the family.

Monday was Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts (a State holiday comparable to our Pioneer Day), which features the running of the Boston Marathon. We drove to the marathon route at Welsley, MA, about half-way through the race, and watched the mass of runners going by for a few minutes. Then we found a park with an extensive children’s play area and had a picnic.

Tuesday we all drove to a beach on Cape Cod. We sat on the samd and watched the boys play.

Wednesday David dropped Wendy and me off at the Boston Temple while he worked for a while. His office is not very far from the temple. Then in the later afternoon, we stayed with the boys while David and Rebecca went to the temple and dinner.

We sure enjoyed this visit and appreciated how generous and thoughtful David and Rebecca were as they hosted us. We loved seeing their new home and especially admired the large back yard, which seemed to be wonderfully suited as a place to raise boys. We especially loved being able to get better acquainted with Ben and Henry who were much smaller the last time we spent time with them.