Flat Stanley Arrives and Goes to Restaurant

Natalia sent her friend Flat Stanley to visit Hope and Walt in Massachusetts for a month. Flat Stanley is small enough and flat enough to travel in an envelope, so the US Postal Service was glad to help deliver Stanley by First Class mail.

Here is Stanley climbing out of the mailbox at his new home:

Grandma Hope welcomes Stanley as he leaves the mailbox.

Stanley stands at the entrance to Quail Run

Stanley Visits Legal Sea Foods

On Saturday, Flat Stanley went with Grandma Hope and Grandpa Walt to Legal Sea Foods restaurant. Stanley climbed up to see the big fish out front of the restaurant.

In the restaurant, Stanley sat down to eat a big tuna burger. It was delicious!

After eating, Stanley went over to inspect the oyster bar.

Stanley ate so well, that it looked like he had grown a lot bigger when he left the restaurant.

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Stanley Goes Geocaching

On Sunday, Stanley and Hope and Walt went on a hunt for historical places. The hunt, guided by a GPS device, is called geocaching. They followed the route taken by John Hancock and Sam Adams during the American Revolution on 19 April 1775.

They went to three locations. Each of the first two gave them a clue to the next place. At the third place they found the cache hidden behind a boulder with a plaque on it. Stanley stood on top of the boulder and shouted, “Hooray, we found it!”

You can learn lots more about John Hancock, Sam Adams, and their trip by visiting the geocaching web site.

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Flat Stanley Goes to a St. Patrick’s Day Party

Stanley is invited to a St. Patrick’s Day party with Grandpa Walt and Grandma Hope.
Stanley helps Grandpa Walt get ready to go.

Stanley arrives at the party. Everyone wears green on St. Patrick’s Day.

Stanley meets lots of people, all of whom are having fun!
Stanley is the center of attention!

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Stanley Visits Babson College Horn Library

Hope took Stanley to work with her at Babson College. She gave him a tour of the Horn Library where she works.

Stanley hides in the reference stacks. Can you find him?

Stanley explores the National Women’s History Month exhibit.

Stanley explores the new books being added to the library collection.

Stanley looks at the new magazines. They are as flat as he is!

Stanley looks around Hope’s office.

There is a picture of cousin Isabel on Hope’s computer monitor.

Stanley visits the Cutler Center, where students learn about finance and investments.

Stanley relaxes in a big executive chair in the Cutler Center. The table in front of him is so shiny that he is reflected in it.

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Stanley Goes to Computers in Libraries

Hope flew to the Computers in Libraries Conference in Washington, DC, where she was speaking about digital gadgets in libraries. She brought Stanley along, too, of course.

Here is Stanley, excited about boarding the airplane at Logan Airport in Boston

Computers in Libraries is hosted by Information Today. Stanley stands in the booth where people register for the conference.

Hope and Stanley go to the Exhibit Hall where they can see new products and services for libraries.

Stanley attends a panel discussion and stands up front where he can see the audience and the projection screen.

Stanley and Hope talk to speaker Terry Huwe.

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Stanley Visits Natalia

After the conference, Hope and Stanley go visit Natalia.

Natalia brings Stanley to the mall to go shopping.

Natalia introduces Stanley to her new Build-a-Bear Wally.

Stanley gets a big bear hug from Wally!

Natalia and her older brother David bring together Stanley and his older brother Stanley.

Stanley plays outdoors with Natalia and David.

Hope and Stanley take Natalia and her family out to introduce them to geocaching. The find on the geocaching web site that there is a cache hidden in nearby Centennial Park. The GPS device leads them right to the park, and David soon found the hidden cache.

Inside the cache, which was a plastic container, they found a little dolphin figurine chained to a metal tag. It was named, Flipper, the Camera Shy Dolphin. This is an example of what is called a Travel Bug. Travel bugs are placed in geocaches so that people will pick them up and take them to a lot of different places. Here is a picture of the Flipper Travel Bug borrowed from the web site.

We read on the geocaching web site about a Flat Stanley Travel Bug, which started in Ohio, and has traveled to Baltimore, to the Netherlands in Europe, to France, to Germany, to South Africa, and then to Canada. If you click on the “View in Google Earth” link on the site above, you can even follow his trips around the world. Here is a picture of Flat Stanley, the Travel Bug.

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More Geocaching

Back in Massachusetts, Stanley, Hope and Walt went geocache hunting again. They read on the web that there was one hidden at the old Wilson Mill Site in Bedford, MA. They went for a drive, aided by their GPS device. The device led them along an old road to the place where they saw this plaque.

Beyond the plaque was this sign, which told them about the water-powered mill, built in 1676 to grind corn. A stream ran underneath the mill, which turned a waterwheel, which turned a big circular stone that ground the corn to make cornmeal.

After 330 years, nothing was left of the mill but some old stone walls, some old wooden timbers, and the stream that once powered the mill.

Here is another view of the remains of the mill. The stone walls on each side of the stream supported the big waterwheel.

Stanley, Hope and Walt went looking for the hidden geocache. Stanley found it in a hole in a stone wall, and pushed it out for Walt to look at.

We put Stanley, the Camera Shy Dolphin Travel Bug into the cache, and hid it away again. Later that day we read on the geocaching web site that Flipper had been picked up again and was on his way to San Francisco. Mission accomplished!

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Red Sox Baseball

Grandpa Walt is a Red Sox fan, and he and Stanley sit down to watch the game on television on opening day. They cheer as the Red Sox take the lead.

The game is being played in Texas, and Stanley imagines he is sitting in the stands watching as Manny Ramirez bats for the Red Sox.

Originally posted March 2006