STAY-cation #3--benefits

After spending an entire day in museums, walking city streets and navigating the subway system, we are very glad that we'll be sleeping in our very own beds tonight. In fact, at this point I can hardly wait to fall into mine. That is a huge benefit of our STAY-cation plan.

We started this morning out the door at 8:30 and arrived at Boston's Museum of Science just after 9:00--right when they opened. We hit Cliff the triceratops first (okay, we didn't really hit him) so we could get some good looks at him without a large crowd.

Then we wandered aimlessly for a little before ending up in the Frog exhibit. It was at this point that I realized what a difference the hour made. In just one hour we went from freely roaming the exhibits to fighting our way through crowds to catch a glimpse of a bullfrog.

By 11 o'clock the crowds were growing exponentially, so we decided to go to the next part of our plan for the day. We headed out of the museum and walked a couple of blocks to the nearest T station (that's Boston's subway). After we figured out how to purchase tickets we proceeded to the platform to wait. Cory was super excited. He's been asking us when he would be able to take a train for a few days now. We took the T to the North End--where Paul Revere's home and the Old North Church are. We detoured a bit to Quincy Market for a quick lunch, and then walked to the North End. Paul Revere's home is pretty small and not a hugely impressive site, but we figured it was something that would appropriate for our kids' interest levels, and we could hit it at an off-peak time. From there we walked to the Old North Church, following the Freedom Trail path. Freedom Trail is one of the coolest things in Boston.

Since we were already in the North End, a stop at Mike's was an absolute must--don't tell the neighborhood we went without bringing home a box of canolis to share. Yum. Yum. Yum. Must exercise tomorrow.

At this point, I get it in my little brain that since we've seen Revere's home and the church that set up his famous ride, we ought to also walk to the Granary Burying Ground to see Revere's burial site. Thank goodness for that Freedom Trail...it's like following the yellow brick road, only it's red. The kids were amazing troopers at this point. The two big girls were pretty entertained by following the Trail. Lucy managed to finally catch a little shuteye in the stroller, and Cory alternated walking and being carried by Daddy.

After the Granary it was back to a T station. We took it back to the Science Museum and arrived there around 3. This couldn't have worked out better. The crowds had thinned out incredibly, and we were able to really enjoy and learn from several more exhibits. Plus, Lucy's 40 winks were all she needed to be merry and bright again. We all enjoyed an optical illusion exhibit. We saw straight lines bend, black and white pictures turn into color and old women become young ladies. Cory explained to me how this window was turning.

We left the museum around 5:30 completely worn out, but happy. We had an absolutely fabulous day--we generally don't get to stay out all day long like that because we still have a napper. This morning Cory requested that we stay in the city until dark today--he got his wish. We drove home in the dark with snow falling. He also got his wish to ride a train. He told us later that now that he's gotten to ride a train, he's going to start wishing to go on a boat. Whale watching anyone?

Stimulus - Shimulus - STAYcation post #2

I know there are economic hard times in the country. All I have to do is look at my retirement accounts and the kids' college funds to see that significant drops in the investment markets have lowered people's "wealth." What I have not seen is a commensurate drop in spending across the local area. Everywhere we've gone this week places are loaded down with people. No one seems to be pinching pennies or cutting back. Our STAYcation trips to shop and eat out have highlighted the lack of sacrifice going on around here.


I had to wait in a 15 min line to shell out $100 for a kid's doll. I had to wait so long because the 4 checkers could not swipe credit cards fast enough to keep up so the line snaked through the store. Never mind that the same scenario is playing out on the second floor of the same shop with another set of 4 checkers. No one was second guessing the spendulus in that store. Restaurants...people everywhere waiting in line for a table because they are already full with people splurging and eating out.


Today we went to the local Chuck E. Cheese kids' pizza place. Kids and parents everywhere.


I know many people have lost jobs and for some life is extremely tough, but I seem to be surrounded by the opposite extreme. When I hear politicians say, "I know you are hurting, the American people are hurting!" I wonder where do they get that? It's not around here. People are shopping and buying just as they have for the last decade. Maybe that's why MA Congressman Frank is so clueless about how to "help" the banks. MA does not seem to have a problem.


I skimmed the Stimulus package verbiage thanks to a relative's blog. The wording or lack thereof is appalling to me. $XXX,XXX,XXX to this agency and $YYY,YYY,YYY to that agency. No rules on how to spend, when to spend or any other restrictions for the few hundred pages I skimmed. Just, "Here's a check." Truth in lending leads me to say that there are many millions in there for AF research and development, military construction, housing, and child care centers. Thanks. But know that I am very concerned the country has lost its way. Fiscal responsibility begins with spending less than you make. At any level that seems a simple truth to me, but we cannot manage it in Government. People are not good stewards of the taxpayer dollars. I see how easy it is to fall into that trap in my career. It's like funny money--the values and amounts are so large you can't imagine it. But at some point you have to consider would you make the same decision if it were your money?

STAY- cation

Welcome to our stay-cation. The kids have this week off of school for February break. This might come as a bit of a surpise to anyone who has never lived in New England, but it is a standard vacation for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont schools. We guess it serves one of two purposes--either (a) giving families a chance to go skiing (kind of like extra days off in the south for the start of deer season) or (b) giving families a chance to head someplace warm and keep their sanity in the dead of winter up here. Either way, we find this little quirk of New England endearing. Ted has even decided to take some leave from work and enjoy the week with us, so we planned a vacation at home.

Yesterday we kicked off the week with a little experiment. I purchased these 'crystal growing kits' last year with all kinds of good intentions, but found them still in the closet months later. When we pulled them out, I thought this week might be a good time to use them, so yesterday after church we got the kids suited up in their safety gear and began measuring, heating, mixing and observing.

We'll post pictures of the finished products later.

Today we headed to American Girl so the girls could spend some of the money they've been saving. Riley has been saving diligently, and was just a few dollars from being able to purchase a new doll. We decided to float her some money (unlike the gov't, we actually have the money to float her) so she could buy a doll. Mary Beth was eager to get one of the "chairs" they have for the dolls to be able to sit at a table next to you. Even though I had explained that these chairs won't fit onto our table, she was insistent. Quite honestly, of our children, she's notorious for being indecisive, so the fact that she had something in her head that she knew without a doubt she wanted, made it easy for me to just go with it.

Of course, we couldn't just go to the American Girl store--Cory is old enough now to know that there are much cooler toys for him, so we journeyed to Wal-Mart so he could pick out something from their toy department. He found some Hot Wheels accessories that would connect to something he got at Christmas, so he's good now, too.

And now Ted and I have a pile of coins from the kids --they spent their own money on these things, today, and very little of their money is ever anything but quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies.

Sweet Tea

In the ebb and flow of our continual goal to live a healthier life, Ted and I decided to omit the sugar from our tea making process. Because, as you probably know, all things white are not good for you. So we gave it a shot...we even had lemon slices to substitute. But it ain't happenin' my friends. I am not ready to be this radical.

Chipotle Chick

We're very excited because a new Chipotle recently opened up nearby. Now, when I say "nearby," I really mean 20 minutes away, but in New England that's pretty darn close. Until a month ago, the other area Chipotle was 30 minutes away, and in an unfamiliar area, so we rarely went. The new one is right across the street from Target. Bonus. So, today while the three big kids were at school, and Ted had a day of leave, we had the pleasure of going to Chipotle with just the baby. We ordered a couple of bowls for us(Veggie for me, Carnitas for Ted) and had them make a cheese quesadilla for Lucy, plus the all-important chips and salsa.

Now, for those of you who haven't (gasp) had the pleasure of eating at a Chipotle, one thing I might mention is that their food has a bit of a bite to it. So, you can imagine my concern when Lucy decided that she would rather have Ted's spicy carnitas bowl than her mild quesadilla.

Now, in fairness, the carnitas are their mildest meat, but Ted also adds one of their spicier salsas, so it's still a little warm.

And then she wanted some salsa--but not with the chip. She would motion for Ted to put some of the chunks on her chip, then she'd eat the salsa off the chip, hand the empty chip back to Ted and motion for more.

She owns us. It wasn't long before she was drinking our beverage, too. Obviously she's the spoiled rotten fourth kid.

The Trouble with Snow

The trouble with snow is that eventually this:

turns into this:


and requires this:



which really only lasts until you drive again because 50 degree weather causes all of the black snow to become a nasty slush that we drive in and track into the van all over again. Bleck.


The warmer temps also make this:

melt. :( (that's not a slick, smooth surface, but a layer of melted ice)


And possibly the saddest part of the heat wave (which, by the way, has us all in t-shirts walking around with an extra spring in our step) is that we all know it's all just a cruel tease, and we'll be cold and miserable again soon! It's a long, long winter. We'll just have to do our best to recognize that our glass is half full --we have a home and heat to protect us from the cruel elements, and on these unseasonably warm days, we get to have fun playing outside without having to wear a thousand layers.

The girls were making "slush." They were using snowball makers and buckets to transport snow to a hole for it to melt in...great--just what we need, more slush.

4

Tonight was the first game of intramural basketball. I did not get a chance to play last year - I was in the Command Section on the base and worked all the time (whine), plus the "staff" didn't have lots of eager B-Ball players. The wing I am in this year has many eager players, about 15 on the team roster. That seems like too many but with travel and out of town meetings there will be time when it is tough to form a team. Turns out there were 12 players there tonight. I'm completely an unknown to these guys. On top of that, I'm not the youngest, tallest or basketbally looking kind of guy - I was guessing I would not play much. I did get to play in the first half for just a few minutes. A few touches but nothing spectacular. With under 5 minutes in the second half in a closely contested game I got a second chance. I had two consecutive plays where I came off a pick under the basket, caught the ball on the wing and drove in for a layup. Wahoo! I'll add that I went around this giant of a guy on the opposing team in my best up and under small guy move. He had swatted out a few other players' shots - but we were trying to force into him and get him fouled out. I played another possession or two and then came out. I had my few minutes of fame and wanted to share the love. We won. 1-0 to start the season - Wahoo. I was jersey #4 and scored 4 points. Coincidence? I don't think so.

(The pic is from way back in 2004 - but it is a similar representation of the dazzling display of skills put on tonight)