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Herding Goofballs
HERDING goof balls
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Josh Farnsworth Guest Columnist
1. The lights of downtown Montreal. 2. A glamorous, modern ball at the nicest club in the city. 3. On a historic American field watching a Civil War era cannon fire a shot into the night sky. 4. Small, stinky feet jamming into my ribs in a cookie cutter hotel room.
Those are some of the impactful sights I have been lucky enough to witness on New Year’s Eves throughout my life. You have one guess to solve the mystery of which one of those examples came while with kids. (Hint: my ribs are on the mend.)
No. 4 occurred this past New Year’s Eve. It’s a holiday that lost much of its luster for me once sleep became more scattered in parenthood. In an effort to revitalize the holiday, our family of four decided to grab a hotel room close to the coast so we could watch the first sunrise of the new year come up over the Atlantic Ocean.
Despite a cloudy morning ruining the sun’s first triumphant hello of 2022, the weekend was a complete success thanks to an unlikely hero: the hotel.
After spending three separate nights at three different modest hotels in the past six months, nothing has captured my two boys’ amazement and collective wonder as an overnight stay in a chain hotel.
Our rooms are hardly the high roller suites in a swanky Las Vegas casino. Nope. Just the ones where the smell of burnt lobby coffee collides with waves of chlorine hitting you when the door to the pool room opens and shuts.
The experience of staying at a localish hotel seems backwards: diverting money from my mortgage obligation of paying for the rooms in my building (Read: home) to pay extra for money to sleep in a different room of a different building.
After our third such overnight stay, it was clear how excited my kids get when staying at a hotel. Namely, the flood of tears that comes when it is time to leave is a dead giveaway. What wasn’t so clear was one question…
Why??
The things they were reacting so positively to didn’t help answer anything…
Them: “We have a bed!”
Me: “You HAVE a bed at home. And it’s bigger there.”
Them: “We have a weird, cool thing in this closet.”
Me: “That’s an iron. We won’t be needing to iron your Sonic the Hedgehog shirt today. Also, once again, we have one at home.”
Them: (looking at a single plastic cup in the room covered by a clear plastic bag) “It’s so fancy!”
Me: Fancy? We routinely buy 100 of these at a time for $3.
Them: (Gasp). “They have Starburst candies in the vending machine!”
Me: You have Starburst candies in your luggage right there! Remember that you begged me to get some?
They didn’t remember. Oh well.
Without question, the biggest attraction at the hotel is the pool. And I get it. To swim anywhere in New England before Memorial Day without a wetsuit is a lavish treat. But on one of our stay overs, the pool declared swimmable and open by hotel personnel sat cold and cloudy with a deep green film forming at the bottom.
Still, it was to quote two young goofballs I was staying with, the “best trip ever!”
Did the greensludged pool fumes impact their judgment?
Their overwhelming joy couldn’t have been the allure of the continental breakfast either. With their food allergies, other eating arrangements were made. So close to the doityourself waffle maker, yet so far from an answer.
Why then? Why?
I asked them plenty of questions in the days that followed each trip to learn what I could. After listening to their answers, remembering their reactions and the answer became clear.
We broke our routine and created a new experience.
That’s it.
While it may seem a bit hilarious to think of kids needing to break free of the daily grind, that’s sometimes what everyone needs, age 4114. We invested our time and energy and found a way to provide each other with a new adventure even if much of the “new experience” was doing what we normally do in a different setting.
While our muse seems to be an occasional trip to a hotel, I could see other families finding similar new experience traditions ones that don’t need to cost a dime. Just think, plan and go.
You’ll be rewarded, I promise. If you could see the reaction they got from a wrapped paper cup or a vending machine snack, you’d understand. These hotels might as well have been the twinkling Montreal New Year’s lights or the fancy ball in the big city.
Maybe even better. No, definitely better.
Taking a New Year’s Eve trip to a hotel is officially our new tradition. Here’s to hoping we see the sun this time around. Even if we don’t, there will still be plenty of coffee waiting for me in the lobby to keep me awake.
And that burnt smell? It’s just the scent of our onenight home away from home.
Josh Farnsworth is a husband, father of goofballs Cooper and Milo, goofball himself, and awardwinning writer and columnist living in Worcester. He can be reached for column ideas at josh.farnsworth@yahoo.com.
welcomeWAN D E RING
The Ramble, a garden for kids, opens at New England Botanic Garden
Amanda Collins Bernier Bay State Parent Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK
Earthy and colorful, with so much to see and smell, a botanical garden might just be the perfect place for children to explore, though it might not be the first place parents think of bringing them. But a newly opened space at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill more than welcomes curious kids – “it’s an explicit invitation,” says the organization’s CEO.
Grace Elton describes The Ramble, a whimsical 1.5acre garden, as “not a playground, not just garden, but somewhere in between.” It officially opened in May at the sprawling botanical garden in Boylston, formerly known as Tower Hill.
“This is a huge invitation,” Elton said, referring to kids and families. “This is a space that we created just for you.”
While the entire 170acre campus, with its 18 distinct gardens, open woodland spaces, hiking trails and apple orchard, has always been family friendly, Elton said they’re hoping to draw more children and parents with the addition of “a little whimsy and a little fun.”
The Ramble has been in the works for at least a dozen years, as the NEBG community dreamed of a garden that would inspire the next generation of nature lovers. Designed by renowned landscape architect and artist W. Gary Smith, it’s among a growing number of gardens created for children that have popped up around the country in recent years, according to The Cultural Landscape Foundation. But community children’s gardens date back much further; one of the first, according to the American Horticultural Society, is the River Farm Children’s Garden, based in Alexandria, Virginia, which opened in the 1990s and includes several themed areas for kids including a bat cave and a prairie garden.
With fully accessible paths and immersive activities, The Ramble draws families in ways not possible at Tower Hill in the past. Children can climb and scramble tree stumps in the “Stumerpy,” crawl through a tunnel of woven branches, or play lawn games in the grass. It’s a botanical garden where parents won’t find themselves yelling “don’t touch that!”
Still, it has the stately beauty you’d expect from a botanical garden. Landscaped with hundreds of perennials, shrubs, and trees, it features a brook, a pond, and waterfall.
“It’s more of a childscale garden that really welcomes them and use their imagination,” said Elton.
There’s also an outcrop amphitheater, a pavilion for outdoor classes, picnic tables, and quiet spots for reading or drawing. A forage garden with edible plants will be used to teach children where food comes from.
Familyfriendly amenities at The Ramble include bathrooms and handwashing stations. Inside, there is a Mamava lactation pod for breastfeeding or pumping parents.
The New England Botanic Garden has long boasted unique offerings for children and families. They hold workshops like fairy house making and insect safaris, themed weeklong celebrations over school vacations, and Garden Bud classes geared toward preschoolers.
Elton says the opening of The Ramble will make for even more robust children’s programming. The space will host drop in activities, nature play days, and even birthday parties.
“Every day of the week there will be something going on,” she said.
New England Bontanic Garden is dogfriendly and open daily 10 a.m.5 p.m. Tickets are available inperson, or online at negb.org.
The new garden is fully accessible.
TOP: Daily activities for kids will be offered at NEBG’s newest garden.
FACING: A tunnel of woven branches for children to crawl through at The Ramble. PHOTOS COURTESY NEW
ENGLAND BOTANIC GARDEN AT TOWER HILL
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4 MORE gardens
YOUR KIDS WILL REALLY DIG
Amanda Collins Bernier Bay State Parent Magazine | USA TODAY NETWORK
Weezie’s Garden for Children at The Garden at Elm Bank
Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Garden at Elm Bank in Wellesley boasts this playful garden for kids. Inspired by an unfurling fern, the garden layout mimics a series of fern fronds, each ‘frond’ or ‘room’ offering a different theme to engage the senses. Rooms include a pollinator garden, backyard wildlife garden, and more.
A highlight of this garden is the misting water feature surrounded by colorful stones. The stones are petrified wood, a form of fossil, which ties into the prehistoric plants and ginkgo tree growing nearby.
Stop to smell the fragrant flowers in the Pollinator Garden, which support different pollinators, such as bees, moths, and butterflies. Then, feel the fuzzy leaves of lamb’s ear and mullein as you settle into the birds’ nests of the Backyard Wildlife Garden. Listen to the babbling water in the New England Waterways Garden and search for fish and tadpoles hiding in the shade of plants that grow there. Look for themes like a Native American Garden and a Victory Garden.
Weezie’s Garden for Children is among 16 distinct gardens at the 36acre Garden at Elm Bank, including a Goddess Garden, Temple and Asian Garden, and a Maple Grove where concerts, picnics and events are held.
Massachusetts Horticultural Society hosts an array of youth and family programs. Dropin programs are offered three mornings a week: Garden Tails Story Time on Mondays and Wednesdays and Family Fun in the Garden on Saturdays. Throughout the year, seasonal events feature activities geared toward children and families, including Christmas in July from July 2331.
The Garden at Elm Bank is open daily, April 1 through Oct. 31. Children 12 and under are free. More at masshort.org.
Children’s Discovery Garden at the Berkshire Botanical Garden
A day trip to Stockbridge offers plenty for kids at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. The Children’s Discovery Garden is an interactive garden with a colorful purple playhouse, food crops and flowers. Playful features include a fairy garden and a tic tac toe set carved from wood.
Children will love venturing into the other 30+ gardens at the 24acre center, including an Edible Garden (sampling is allowed!), a wideopen Meadow Walk where they can run amid the wildflowers, and a new Topiary Garden featuring 21 “live” sculptures including a waterspouting elephant and other creatures. You’ll also want to check out The Fitzpatrick Conservatory, an historic curved glass house, home to a containerized collection of succulents and tropical plants.
The Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Rose Garden will be in bloom in June, and its historic Daylily Walk will be blooming in late July. A series of Monday evening concerts kicks off on July 12.
The grounds are open daily, May 1 through Oct. 31, 95 p.m. Children under 12 are free. More at berkshirebotanical.org.
Located on 100 acres on the banks of Shawme Pond in Sandwich, Heritage Museums and Gardens have something for everyone, and something extra special for kids. The twoacre Hidden Hollow, designed for children between the ages of 210, is a place for exploration of the outdoors with a variety of play areas and monthly themes. Children can climb stepping stumps, navigate log balance beams, construct forts, create natureinspired art, build with blocks, dig in sand, experiment with water, make music, engage in sensory investigation with plants, and more.
The most popular feature in Hidden Hollow is the splash area, which allows kids to safely experiment with water and its properties. There is also a Discovery Trail with a StoryWalk, a grassy space for running and rolling, a building area, treehouse and even “bee hotels.”
Hidden Hollow is one of the first certified Nature Explore Classrooms in New England and was the first certified Nature Explore Classroom at a museum.
Outside of Hidden Hollow, Heritage offers three gallery buildings housing permanent exhibits of worldclass automobiles, a working vintage carousel, American folk art, and featured special exhibitions. You can wander through collections of hydrangeas, daylilies, hostas, herb, heather gardens, and more than a thousand varieties of trees, shrubs and flowers along beautiful and easily walked paths.
Heritage will host several familyfriendly events throughout the summer, including food truck nights, Wampanoag Heritage Day, and an Earth Extravaganza Day.
Heritage Museums and Gardens is open from April 23 to Oct. 16, 10 a.m.5 p.m. daily. More at heritage museumsandgardens.org.
HERITAGE MUSEUM AND GARDENS Shrewsbury Secret Garden
Off a residential street in Shrewsbury, a shady path full of wonder and whimsy loops through the woods. Known as the “Secret Garden,” it’s the pet project of a man who goes by Chief Joseph, and welcomes the young and young at heart to wander through – free of charge.
The path starts right at the pond on Stoney Hill Rd., just at the intersection of Nightingale Drive. There is plenty of free street parking.
Along the pond you’ll find various artwork, statues, benches and a towering totem pole. A Little Free Library offers free books for kids and adults. Then, the path branches off to the left, into the woods and along a stream – and this is where it gets truly magical.
There is whimsical artwork and statues hidden in every nook cranny of this short, woodsy path. Look up, look down – there are little details everywhere. Inspirational quotes are dotted among the trees, sparkling baubles dangle from branches, and wind chimes make music in the breeze. There’s spaces to sit next the stream, footbridges to cross, and even a display of painted rocks to explore.
The real hit with the kids are the seemingly endless statues and sculptures that greet them along the path. There’s a giant stone turtle, a Big Foot, a Santa Claus, and a towering castle. A favorite among the little ones is the massive sitting bear nestled among the trees. His giant, open paw makes the perfect place to sit for a photo.
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