Where has the time gone?!?! It is hard to believe that it is already July.

Where to start....well, amongst the we rest of our Birthday celebrations for the summer I have been spending my evenings fairly quiet, working on resumes and trying to keep things straight on multiple things I've been working on.

I think last time I wrote we were in the middle of the worst heat we've had to date since coming to Boston. The weather here is really weird- they call for no rain and it rains (like today), but they call for rain and it doesn't rain. And no matter what you see on the radar it probably won't rain. There have been a few times I said to myself that there was no way it couldn't rain with everything on the radar....yet lo and behold it didn't rain! The fans are constantly cranked up here (I have 3 in my room alone). The one nice thing is that it usually cools off in the evening...sometimes enough to warrant wearing jeans if desired.

Later last Saturday a few of us ventured to the Museum of Science. Here are a few of the photos I took.

Cheetah!!!..........a View of the Museum (it was huge)

The moose is not alive...the chick is alive- it was less than 10 hours old!!

I couldn't completely understand this sign- I guess if you put one foot on each side of the line you are half in Cambridge and half in Boston.

I've spent a few days exploring various beaches lately. The photo below is at Revere Beach the other day...the airport is fairly close.

Last Tuesday I took a day trip on the commuter rail to Concord, MA. This is where Walden Pond State Reservation is located. For those who are still clueless, this is where Henry David Thoreau lived for two years, and the inspiration for his book Walden. It is a beautiful area to go hiking and also swimming. I was amazed by the number of people who were swimming across the entire pond.

The water was incredible....




With Mr. Henry David Thoreau

This is a picture perfect moment with the canoe in the pond.

Let's see....so much goes on I can't even remember! Let's talk about the 4th of July- the biggest event of the last couple of weeks. We planned for this day. The night before some of us scoped out the perfect locations. We were torn between standing in line for tickets into the Hatchshell area to see John Mellancamp, Blue Man Group and the Boston Pops perform...or find a spot on the river for the fireworks. The trouble is in the Hatchshell area your view of the fireworks is somewhere blocked due to the trees.

We left the house bright and early at 5:45am on the morning of the 4th. There were about 10 of us that we crazy enough to get up at that hour. We walked along the Esplanade and found our spot. There were few people in the area we chose at 6:30 in the morning so we spread our sheets and blankets out and settled in for the remainder of the day. Please note that the concert didn't start until 8pm and the fireworks weren't until 11pm, so we had a long ways to go.... It was a beautiful morning and we all took advantage of the sunshine to lay out for the day. More of the group joined us throughout the day as we took turns guarding our perfect location for the entire day.

Prepping our lunches the night before...
Beth ends the evening in a junk food coma (not really, but she was tired!)


6:30am.......the morning of the 4th......


You can see how quiet it was around 9am...
A great time for an early morning swim


Approximately 6:30am....and 7:30am...


Much later in the afternoon....probably around 3ish.


Jessica thought it was cute to take a picture of me passed out!
...then after my nap the rain started!...


Some of the Patriotic people around....he liked Katherine's polka dots!


Fun on the River...


On the phone with one of the gang trying to find us...

Did I mention the evening weather? Well, by about 4:30pm it clouded up and started to rain. It was one of those light rains that was just hard enough to be annoying. Our sheets and towels became quiet wet. Some of the group headed home for a while to dry out while some of us stayed and held down the fort. We were counting down the hours. I think many will agree that once the actual concert started a little after 8pm the time went a little faster.

Garbage bags were used...and any other means necessary to keep dry!


Not sure what Brandon was doing here....Just before the fireworks it stopped raining and everyone got a burst of energy. The picture is the group that stuck it out in the rain. Others watched the fireworks from a little closer to the house.


View from the river....overlooking Cambridge


And the fireworks begin......

All in all, the 4th turned out to be great and we were glad we got up so early for our perfect location. Our coolers were well stocked with plenty of drinks and food throughout the day and we had some fun on the river. Beth even took a couple of dips in the water while fetching her frisbee!

Thursday evening there was a free show at the Improv Asylum that a few of us checked out. It was a good how.



Friday evening a few of u had dinner in Little Italy. It was delicious!


This past weekend a group of us went to the aquarium. I'll post some more pictures later tonight or tomorrow. We also had another group that spent part of the day on Saturday volunteering at the Women's Shelter again.

It is already July 9th and I can't believe that the summer is coming to a close so soon! I'll be home 20 days from today....weird to even think about. The group has this entire week left in their internships, then two, three day weeks left. We are headed to Philadelphia next week for the NSCS Convention which should be a fun weekend out of Boston.

Until next time...

Stephanie