Audrey Skating Update

Audrey has been taking figure skating lessons for a year now with only a one-month break in the summer. She's been doing a great job listening to her instructors and learning new skills. In the spring we bought her some higher quality skates.

The US Figure Skating Association has badge levels that skaters pass through as they are learning. When she is tested again in early January Audrey will probably earn her Basic Level 5 badge. Once she completes her basic levels Audrey can move on to free skating, dance or even speed skating.

The "main" skating lesson season just started again in November. In March Audrey will star in her second big ice show. She's already excited.

Heading Off to Elf School

Two elves heading off to school this morning.

Architect Charlotte

Charlotte made this model last night. We're not sure what inspired her. It has a projector, a sofa, a rug and a wide screen. She had just a little help from Mom.

Charlotte Turns Seven

Charlotte Turns Seven Photos | Video

The age old parental lament: how time flies. Our youngest just turned 7.

This year Charlotte requested that she receive breakfast in bed just like Mom gets on her birthday. So I brought her oatmeal, jelly toast and milk on a tray.

As usual, we had two celebrations: a family celebration on Charlotte's actual birthday and a party with friends on the weekend. It was a pajama party this year. Charlotte also happened to be in her pajamas during the family celebration.

Instead of a gift bag for each party guest, Carol sewed a cozy flannel pillowcase for each guest and one of the activities at the party was for each girl to use fabric markers to decorate her pillowcase. That was a hit (as are all of Carol's creative ideas!).

Happy Birthday, Charlotte!

You can see video of the two versions of "Happy Birthday" here.

Squishy Circuits

Squishy Circuits 2012

The second annual Melrose STEM Expo was held on November 17. STEM, if you're not aware, stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. It's an area gaining a lot of attention and emphasis in schools due to the perception that the United States is losing the technological edge it has held for decades.

Our family has hosted a booth at the expo both years. We present Squishy Circuits, which teaches kids about electricity and circuits using homemade play-doh that is made either conductive (containing salt) or insulating (containing sugar).

Audrey and Charlotte really love working in the booth - being "behind the table." And they are pretty good at teaching. The expo lasts three hours and that challenges the girls' attention span but they switch back and forth between teaching and playing themselves.

We estimate that more than 120 kids stopped by the booth! It's rewarding to watch them build a circuit - when they succeed in lighting up an LED you can see their mind light up a half second later.

Our neighbor Jen is one of the organizers of the event. She took a great photo of Audrey and me working in the booth and that photo made the local newspaper!

We'll be back next year.

Fall Photos

Fall Photos

This is a mishmash of photos from the past few months. In chronological order:

• In mid-September we had a fun day apple picking at Russell Orchards in Ipswich. The weather was such this year that the apples ripened 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. So even though we went a week or two earlier than we usually do the apples were already beyond peak. We managed to pick enough for a delicious pie, though. After we had secured our apples we drove to nearby Rockport and had lunch on Bearskin Neck.
• At the end of September Tess brought us a live chipmunk again. Twice. Carol read somewhere that when your cat brings you a dead animal she is paying rent. When she brings you a live animal she is trying to teach you how to hunt. We keep capturing them and letting them go. Tess must think we are very stupid.
• At Roosevelt School third graders can opt to take musical instrument lessons all year long. Audrey chose cello. I haven't had the pleasure of hearing her practice lately - I need a refresher to see what she's learned!
• We visited the Topsfield Fair in October. The fair hosts a contest for largest pumpkin every year and often sees world records set. Last year the winner was about 1600 pounds. This year the record was blown away with a pumpkin coming in a few pounds over a ton!
• We had two batches of leaf raking this year: one after Hurricane Sandy brought down about half the leaves and another the weekend before Thanksgiving when most of the leaves have fallen. Both times I made a big pile for the girls. They spent hours jumping into it and burying themselves. Usually a few neighbor kids join in.
• Charlotte finally lost her first tooth after it was loose forever. Then not long after, she lost the other lower front tooth. It's hard to get a photo of the gap!
• In early November we visited the Ipswich River Audubon Sanctuary. As you know it's our favorite place. It's especially fun in the fall and winter when the birds are eager to eat our of your hand. We keep the car stocked with bird seed now. We visited on a Saturday and stayed for a few hours.

  The girls wanted to return the next day so I took them while Carol did a project at home. I had no agenda and just let the girls lead me. We spent five hours there! We fed birds, of course, and we also wandered the trails and we spent almost an hour just sitting on a bridge playing with sticks in the mud on the pond bottom.

  We had so much fun that weekend that the girls begged us to go back again the next weekend! We spent several hours there again and even branched out to some new trails.

• Friday of Thanksgiving weekend was forecast to be unseasonably warm so we headed to the beach. With a steady wind it wasn't as warm as we hoped but we still had a picnic and flew kites and enjoyed the sunshine and the atmosphere.

iPhone Macro Photography

iPhone Macro Photography

We went to a mini Maker Faire in nearby Somerville. It was run by Artisan's Asylum, a very cool hackerspace where I've taken classes (metal machining, printed circuit board design) and regularly attend a robotics meetup. While there I bought an Easy-Macro lens for cell phone cameras. It's an ingenius little device that is really easy to carry with you and to install and uninstall. The girls love finding stuff to photograph up close.

Halloween

Halloween

We all had fun around Halloween this year. Both girls liked their costumes so much last year they decided to repeat them this year: Charlotte as a vampire and Audrey as a devil.

As usual we went to the Halloween party at the girls' school a few days before the actual day. It's a cacophonous madhouse with millions of kids running around a crowded gym, occasionally crashing into each other. Both girls are always excited to go but Audrey gets surprisingly shy once she gets there.

I was happy that my porch haunting project came together at the end. I need to start planning next year's display a little earlier. Well, I planned this one early enough but I didn't start building it early enough. In case you missed it in an earlier post, here's video of the Halloween porch display.

Audrey's Choice

Audrey has some free time after dinner tonight. This is how she's choosing to spend it. Dad's heart is warmed.

Audrey actually reads a ton but she seems to associate reading with bedtime. She'll read from the time she gets in bed until we tell her to stop. And then sneak some more reading. It's nice to see her choosing to do it at another time even when electronic options are available.

Part of Audrey's homework currently is to read a chapter of a book and then write a "gist". The other night I asked her to read a couple of pages out loud to me. Then I asked her what it said. I expected a brief summary but she proceeded to recite the entire thing back to me almost word for word. My jaw dropped.

Peabody Essex Museum

Peabody Essex Museum

Salem, Massachusetts is home to the Peabody Essex Museum. The seaports of Massachusetts were hubs of international trade in the sailing era and merchants and sea captains brought back cultural artifacts from all over the world and especially the orient. The PEM holds a huge collection of oriental art and manufactures. The museum even contains a large 18th century Chinese house that was dismantled, transported and reassembled. The collection also includes hundreds of detailed ship models and other maritime art, plus art and textiles from many other parts of the world. There is also a great kids room where the girls always have fun. This visit they made origami.

I saw an ad for the PEM's current special exhibit, Hats, and it looked like something the girls might like. I had never heard of milliner Stephen Jones but the hats looked fanciful and colorful and cool for kids. The exhibit was very cool. Jones' hats over the past couple of decades were intermixed with vintage hats and artistic hats by other designers.

The highlight for the girls was a section with various naked hats and a bunch of materials like pieces of silk, feathers, belts, etc. from which you could construct your own hat design. We ended up spending quite a bit of time there and each girl created several hats and looks. There was also a computer where visitors could try on virtual copies of several hats from the exhibit and save an portrait.

We also visited the Chinese House, called Yin Yu Tang. The audio tour gave us a vivid picture of what life was like in the house and the times.

Coincidentally we chose the weekend before Halloween to visit the PEM. Over the past decade or so Salem has become a big attraction at Halloween with the streets full of vendors and multiple haunted houses and live music. It was fun to walk through the festive atmosphere. Except we forgot to get fried dough!

Happy Birthday, Charlotte!

For her birthday Charlotte wanted breakfast in bed like Mom gets.

For the next two months we have 7 and 8-year-olds.

Happy Birthday, Charlotte! We love you!

Maker Faire 2012

Maker Faire 2012

For the third year in a row Audrey and I traveled to New York for World Maker Faire. Maker Faire celebrates "maker" culture: people who like to learn their own technical, mechanical and electronic skills and bend technology to do things it wasn't designed to do. I like to bring the girls (Charlotte and Carol went last year but Charlotte chose not to this year) so they can see that they can make anything they want if they put their minds to it.

Audrey enjoyed the day very much. She loved all the cool and creative things to see and do, but her favorite part of Maker Faire is the gyro stand.

This year we drove down and back on the same day to save hotel costs and to have all of Sunday back home for projects. When we left Maker Faire at about 6:30 we discovered we had a flat tire. Audrey had the opportunity to see how to change a tire, but the 50 miles per hour maximum speed rating on the spare wasn't going to serve us too well for the 200 mile drive home. In an excellent use case for smart phones I was able to find a Sears auto center not too far away and they agreed to stay open late to help us. They were incredibly efficient and kind and they wouldn't even accept a tip for staying late. 20 minutes after we arrived Audrey and I were heading to the freeway for the drive home. That was the cherry on top of a great day.

Neighborhood Camping Trip

Neighborhood Camping Trip

Last October we joined our next door neighbors for a weekend of camping at Pawtuckaway State Park in New Hampshire. We had such a great time and enjoyed being there in the fall so much that we decided to go again this fall - and to invite a bunch of other neighbors. Six families total were able to join us.

We had sites right on the lake and the water was still warm enough for swimming. The Burtnetts brought a kayak. There were a gaggle of kids who know and like each other. We felt safe letting Audrey wander with the older kids and at one point she went off on a frog hunt with Parker and Ned for a couple of hours.

Both nights had clear skies and we took the girls to the big parking lot by the swimming area to stargaze. We used the awesome phone app Star Walk to identify stars and constellations. I think it was the first time the girls have seen the Milky Way clearly.

On Saturday evening I built a cooking fire and all the families ended up assembling at our campsite for a big semi-impromptu potluck dinner. It was most enjoyable.

Everyone is excited to do it again next September.

Modeling Session

Modeling Session

One night at bedtime Audrey decided to try on my glasses. Then she started striking poses so we had a little photo session. Charlotte got in on the act with a couple of poses of her own.

B Girl

Tonight in the tub Charlotte reenacted a photo from six years ago.

Methot Family Film Festival, Continued

Way back in May I got caught up on family videos but then I went and got behind again! So here, for your enjoyment and exhaustion, is a collection of ten videos covering events since the last big batch. They are in chronological order. Click each image to watch that video. Once you're watching a video on Vimeo, you can see all of my other videos in a strip across the top of the page so you don't need to keep coming back here and clicking Enjoy!

Last spring Audrey completed her first big school project. She had to choose a historical character and perform research on the person's life. The final results were a report, a project and a recitation of what she learned. This video is of Audrey dressed as Susan B. Anthony delivering her report on Ms. Anthony's life.

Our neighbor Parker got a slackline as a gift and they had it strung between two trees in their backyard. We added a handline to help other kids learn how to walk on the line. That inspired me to grab a pulley from my climbing gear and turn the handline into a zip line. Scott even had a disc swing seat that made it easy for the younger kids to ride. Viola! Six months on and the zip line is still in place. Parker was riding it this morning.

This video contains a miscellaneous collection of video from May-August 2012. Some neighborhood activities, family outings, a couple of camping trips, a bit of Tessa, Audrey figure skating and science camp and finally a day at the beach.

We didn't shoot very much video during our Richland and Seattle vacation in July. This video contains the best of what we filmed.

Charlotte likes to grab one of our phones and shoot some video of her own. Her narration is pretty funny. Maybe she's a budding filmmaker!

In early August Audrey attended Girls Rock Camp Boston. The culmination of a week of learning an instrument, forming a band, and writing and rehearsing a song was the showcase. Twelve bands from camp performed. This video shows the highlights of the event and the complete performance of Audrey's band "One More Minute". The song is "One More Minute [of Summer!]".

The weekend after school started in September we headed to norther New Hampshire to revisit Santa's Village. I only shot a little bit of video, but it's fun.

For the third year in a row Audrey and I went to New York for World Maker Faire. Maker Faire is all about do-it-yourself technology, art, invention - what have you. There's always tons of interesting things to see and do. It's part of my plan to make sure my daughters know they can be geeks if they want to.

Come November the trees shed their leaves. We have one large oak and one large maple and we get plenty of leaves from neighboring trees as well. It's become tradition for dad to make a large leaf pile and then the girls have a blast jumping in to it and burying themselves in it.

One of our favorite places in Massachusetts is the Ipswich River Audubon Sanctuary, and one of our favorite things about it is that in the fall and winter the birds there will land right on your hand for food. Audrey and Charlotte are fascinated by it. We were there for a couple of hours today and they told Carol at bedtime that they want to go back tomorrow. We might have to do it!

Charlotte's Second Tooth

Charlotte's second lower front tooth has been loose for weeks. It had become a problem to the point that this morning she wouldn't eat anything we offered. We knew the tooth was hanging by a thread. Carol asked if she could check it. When Charlotte agreed, Carol pulled the thing out (it was indeed barely attached). A couple of tears and then Charlotte was relieved. As were the rest of us!

A little while later on my way to work Carol texted me this:

My horoscope says: Don't put up with anyone who is overreacting to a situation that needs to be dealt with swiftly.

In the background you can see our mutant giant goldfish.

Indoor Skydiving

iFly Indoor Skydiving

Back in July while in Seattle we visited iFly Indoor Skydiving. I recently came across the USB stick containing the photos taken by the wind tunnel operator with the built-in camera. They came out a lot better than the ones taken with our phones.

Brace yourself, I finally have a couple hundred photos from July until now organized and they're almost ready to publish.

Polar Caves and Santa's Village

Polar Caves

Santa's Village | Video

Last year we visited Santa's Village in Jefferson, NH in October and had a great time with cooler weather and no crowds. We decided to repeat the experience this year and went the weekend after school started.

Along the way to Santa's Village, in Rumney, NH, is Polar Caves. It's essentially a huge pile of very large boulders that long ago fell off an adjacent cliff, purportedly 50,000 years ago. The caves are the spaces between the boulders. Over the decades the owners have built a series of boardwalks and ladders through the caves that are very cool, both figuratively and literally.

Charlotte was a little hesitant at first but soon she was in the swing of it. We went through every cave and the girls even made it through the tightest cave: Lemon Squeeze. Mom and dad would have had to crawl on our bellies for Lemon Squeeze and we weren't keen to get that dirty.

Santa's Village has a policy that if you arrive less than three hours before closing your admission is also good the next day. So we always plan to get there exactly three hours before closing on Saturday and then spend most of Sunday at the park, too. Saturday afternoon we made a tour of our favorite rides before heading across the road to the campground.

That evening we had a cool thunderstorm. Unfortunately we only got to see a couple of nearby lightning strikes. We played bingo in the pavilion and the girls had their faces painted.

I think our favorite ride this time was the bumper cars. Most of the time there was no line so the operator would let the session go on forever and then would let us stay in the cars while a few people swapped out and then we'd go for another round. We had a blast.

Click here for the video.

School Starts

School Starts

Man, have I gotten behind again! Too many projects and too little time these days. It seems to be getting worse!

It's almost two months ago that school started. Audrey is in third grade and Charlotte in first grade this year. They both like their teachers. Carol and I went to open house a week or two after school started and met them; we have conferences next week so we'll get to know them better.

Charlotte is getting better and better at reading and also learning addition. Audrey is learning multiplication (and teaching it to Charlotte). Audrey can't get enough of reading: every night we have to harp on her to stop reading and go to sleep.

In third grade students can start taking instrument lessons at school. Audrey chose cello and she has a rental instrument for the year. She is thrilled. Unfortunately her lesson is on Tuesday and the past two Tuesdays have been a field trip (to the Museum of Science) and an early release day. She has been very disappointed and looks forward to her second cello lesson next Tuesday.

Girls Rock Camp!

Girls Rock Camp | Video

One of my oldest and dearest friends is Brady Smith. I met him when I was a 20-year-old camp counselor in college and he was a 14-year-old camper at Hidden Valley Camp. We overlapped at camp for two summers and he and his friends demolished my funny bone with their renditions of Monty Python skits during talent nights. Four years later - 27 years ago - we ran into each other on the street in Seattle and we've been great friends since.

Brady married Julie who had daughter Gilly and together they had daughter Isabel. Brady was a member of Hazel, a Portland, Oregon band that saw some success in the 90s. Brady's former band mate subsequently helped form the original Girls Rock Camp in Portland in 2001. Later, both of Brady's daughters attended. I always loved the concept: engender self-esteem in girls ages 8-18 by, in one week, teaching them an instrument, forming a band, writing a song and then performing it at a real concert.

Well, now I have an 8-year-old girl. And Girls Rock Camp has spread to more then 40 cities in multiple countries including Boston. When I asked Audrey if she wanted to attend she said yes instantly.

I have to be honest that this is one of those instances where I project my own ambitions on to my offspring. I would have loved to go to rock camp as a kid! I may have been more excited about it than Audrey.

Prior to camp they sent a survey asking for a few facts about the camper and what instrument the camper preferred. Audrey surprisingly chose vocals. Surprising because she had never sung in public before other than in class performances at school. But it's about empowerment, remember? So Carol and I didn't say a thing. We fantasized that the environment of camp might somehow magically overcome Audrey's shyness.

Camp was not far from my office and ran from 8:30-5:30 for the five-day week. I drove to work all week and dropped Audrey off and picked her up. It was fun in itself to have that much one-on-one time with her. That's also the longest sustained activity Audrey has undertaken so far in her life. She was pretty exhausted at the end of the first day, but also completely jazzed.

Apparently on the first day they gathered the vocalists and started teaching them how to sing into a real microphone. Audrey was not too keen on that so they discussed switching her to keyboard. On the second day that switch was confirmed and she was off and running.

Audrey is never one to give us much detail about her day but we could tell she was having a good time. I'd ask about progress on writing a song and learning keyboards and I could at least gather that the week was progressing as expected. One detailed piece of information Audrey gave me on the third day was that she wanted me to buy a keyboard that night. She insisted she could identify the exact keyboard from thumbnail images on the internet. I taught her about model numbers and the next day she faithfully memorized the model number of the (donated) keyboard she had played. I looked it up and it was more than ten years old and no longer available even on Craigslist!

The culmination of the camp was a showcase concert on Saturday afternoon in a real nightclub with a real stage and lights and sound system and maybe a couple hundred parents and friends of the 60 campers. I could tell Audrey was a little nervous about it but she was also excited. She wanted a purple streak in her hair and she picked her most rock-n-roll clothes. Carol painted skulls on her fingernails.

The concert was very cool. There were 12 bands. They ranged from completely avant garde unstructured noise to pretty polished songs with real structure and performers with amazing stage personality.

Audrey's three-piece band was named "One More Minute" and their song was "One More Minute (of Summer)." You can see the whole concert on video here with One More Minute starting at about 10:55 (click the "Download" button to be able to enlarge the video). Audrey played her part very well. She was quite stoic on stage. Perhaps she's already practicing to be a sullen rocker ala Robert Smith. We were so proud of her for not freezing when faced with a large, loud audience.

Audrey can't wait to go back next year. She won't be the youngest kid there next year and she'll know what to expect. Also, we used some coupons from camp to buy an inexpensive electronic keyboard for the family. Perhaps she'll have written a few of her own songs by then!

Click here for the video.

Summer Pics

Summer Pics

We returned from our annual Seattle vacation on July 21. The girls started school on August 28. During those five weeks we of course tried to pack in as much fun as we could. Here are some highlights:

Charlotte has a new pink bedroom. Just before heading to Seattle we finished the wallpaper removal in two bedrooms and repainting of three. Once we returned home Carol put some finishing touches on Charlotte's new room. We thought she might have a hard time adjusting to sleeping alone in her room but she took to it immediately. It's also now Tessa's favorite place to nap.

At the end of July we returned to Cider Hill Farm to pick blueberries and raspberries and eat cider donuts. The girls also love to feed the chickens. We hadn't noticed before, but the chickens have a passage that allows them to access a very large pasture that is entirely protected by mesh.

In early August we had a visit from Seattle friends Jeannie, Kelan and Lauren. Kelan was Audrey's classmate at co-op preschool in Seattle and Lauren was Charlotte's classmate. Carol and the girls showed them the town and also took them to the Rockery.

Audrey has become pretty serious about figure skating and has been taking lessons continuously since last November. It's a great sport to do in the summer in Boston because you get to spend an hour in a nicely chilled rink once a week!

In mid-August it was Audrey's schoolmate Sophia's birthday. Her birthday is always celebrated with a big party at her house and then everyone convoys to Revere to attend Circus Smirkus. This is the third time we've seen it and it was as charming as ever.

The next weekend we went on an outing to the Bunker Hill Monument. We climbed it last year and now we always point it out when we drive on the freeway to Boston so the girls were excited to return. We enjoyed a lovely picnic (Carol is a master of picnic arts) on the lawn at the base of the monument. Then we went to the Boston Children's Museum for a couple of hours followed by ice cream. Much fun.

At the end of August we were invited by our neighbor friends to join them at their family's cottage on Cape Cod. The weather was great and we had hours of fun playing and swimming in the ocean. There was also lots of bike riding. We failed to play mini golf but we survived. We did eat plenty of ice cream.

Although we had beach time while on the Cape, we hadn't had a whole dedicated beach day all summer long. So on Saturday of Labor Day weekend we got up early and headed to Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester. We arrived just before 10:00 am and we were almost the last vehicle to get in before the lot was full and closed. We stayed until dinner time and had a blast. Audrey did some serious boogie boarding.

Western Massachusetts Weekend

Western Mass Weekend

My work sponsored a company social event at Six Flags New England in early August. We planned to drive the camper van but the weekend was especially hot and muggy and the van has no airconditioning so we decided to take the air conditioned car and stay in an air conditioned motel instead.

The amusement park was indeed hot. We got there in time for the group lunch and then enjoyed the pool that is in the group catering area. It was hard to get the girls out! We only rode a few rides before heading to the water park. We had to wait 30-40 minutes to get in. I had brought an umbrella which looked goofy but we were sure glad we had it for shade in that line. The water park was quite refreshing. The girls especially enjoyed floating the lazy river.

We belong to a preservation group called the Trustees of Reservations. They own the Crane Estate and Crane Beach which are favorite places of ours. In addition to that popular property the trustees own dozens of others. One that had intrigued me in their catalog is Naumkeag in Stockbridge in the Berkshires.

Naumkeag was a summer house built by New York lawyer and ambassador Joseph Choate. It is famous for its landscaping, which was designed and built over 30 years by Choate's daughter Mabel and landscape architect Fletcher Steele. It really is beautiful; a pleasant mix of "natural" and formal.

The girls asked if we could buy it and live there.

Seattle Vacation

Seattle Vacation | Video

We made our annual visit to the Pacific Northwest from July 6-21.

We started with a couple of days at my sister Tricia's house in Puyallup. The girls love to visit the chickens and the horses. They made a daisy chain crown for one of the horses and collected eggs. We also had a homemade pizza feast using the pizza oven that Frank built last summer.

On Sunday we stopped at Carol's bother Bob's in Seattle for brunch. Torii served us a delicious Niçoise salad and Audrey and Charlotte got to play with cousin Alex, whom they love. Then we headed over the mountains to Richland.

Carol and I really enjoy that drive. The Cascades mountains are "home" for me so I always love being in them. We love the climate change evident in the flora, the panoramic views along the Columbia River and the desert landscapes as we approach Richland.

Our Richland visits are always relaxing. I haven't been there since we moved to Boston because I have focused on Seattle during our summer visits, but I really missed hanging out at the Guettlers'! We got to watch the Tour de France every day, go boating on the river, go to the city pool (sometimes twice a day) and enjoy Mary's delicious cooking. And Carol got to play cards with her parents for hours every night. (I'm anti-social. I read. But they don't mind.).

Coincidentally, Carol's Uncle Marty died shortly before our visit and the funeral was held in Yakima during our visit. It was the first funeral for the girls, and we met some of Carol's extended family.

Back in Seattle we hosted our annual picnic at Volunteer Park. About 30 people showed up and we enjoyed reconnecting with Seattle friends. The weather cooperated nicely.

The girls had sleepovers at Aunt Betsy's and at Aunt Tricia's and shopping outings with Grandma Kay. We visited the zoo with old preschool friends and then we visited the old preschool playground. We had a lovely evening at Alki, eating with my parents and Torii and Alex and Jade at Pegasus Pizza (our old hangout) and then Bob joined us and we visited Whale Tail Park. Carol had a sleepover, too, on Vashon Island with her dear friend Gregory.

During one kids transfer Carol and I were in Federal Way and visited the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection at the Weyerhauser headquarters. I have wanted to visit it for years but never got off the freeway to do it. It was fascinating! I didn't realize how some bonsai trees are "started" - by finding a very old (typically gnarled) tree in nature, removing much of it to achieve the desired base form and then grafting on a different species to get the correct leaf scale, for example. Some of the trees we saw were started as bonsai more than 100 years ago.

I had hoped to take the girls for a hike in the Cascades during our visit but the schedule didn't work out. While searching for potential hikes during the trip planning I came across Twin Falls near North Bend. I had never heard of it. One day I had some time to myself and decided to check it out. I recommend it! It's relatively short and has just enough elevation gain to make it a real hike, and it "ends" at a bridge over a pretty series of waterfalls. (It doesn't really end there, it continues up the slope to join the Iron Horse Trail).

Just before we arrived in Seattle, two groups of Seattle friends posted photos of themselves at iFly Indoor Skydiving. Audrey really wanted to go. We had a little room in the vacation budget so we made a reservation for our last day in Seattle. It was really a blast. Charlotte backed out at the last minute, so Audrey got two double-long turns in the wind tunnel. She did very well. We had a fantastic instructor. At the end of Audrey's time he grabbed her and flew her all the way to the top of the tunnel about 40' up! She loved it!

After that we went to the waterfront with Aunt Betsy and rode Seattle's newest attraction: the Great Wheel. It's a big ferris wheel with enclosed cars that seat six people each. We lucked into riding it exactly at sunset. Gorgeous.

We made one more stop after that, to visit the Fremont Troll who lives under the Aurora Bridge. It was a fitting farewell to Seattle.

We had a fantastic trip. The weather was beautiful the whole time and we loved reconnecting with family and friends.

Don't forget that we have a newly renovated guest room in Boston and we welcome visitors!

Click here for video.

Catching Up Again

It's been a busy spring and I've fallen behind on blog posts again. We leave on summer vacation in two days so I'd better get caught up! As always, click on each little picture on the left to go to a photo album on that topic.

School Photos School Pictures The girls had their school photos taken way back in November but I hadn't imported them until now. Neither girl especially likes having her pictures taken. Charlotte is afraid of formal portraits, as you can tell from the very forced smile.

Crazy Hair Day Crazy Hair Day April 24th was "Crazy Hair Day" at Roosevelt School. Carol was able to make a cool mohawk even with Audrey's new shorter hair style. Charlotte went with three crazy pony tails. Audrey reports that she had the craziest hair at Crazy Hair Day.

Rockery with Zack Rockery with Zack It was Zack's parents that first showed us the Ipswich River Audubon Sanctuary and its Rockery. We're forever indebted since it has, as you know, become one of our favorite places near home. One Saturday I decided to take Audrey there for a "one on one" outing. I asked her if she'd like to invite Zack and got a very enthusiastic "Yes!" He was available so off we went. They had a blast playing together at the Rockery. We also saw deer in the woods near the trail and Audrey and Zack tracked them for a few minutes. After great outdoor time we all went to the Ninety Nine restaurant for dinner - kids eat free the day after the Red Sox win!

Field Trip - Seacoast Science Center Audrey Field Trip: Seacoast Science Center During the last full week of school Audrey's second grade class went on a field trip to the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, NH. They explored the tide pools and examined lots of critters they found there. Audrey says classmate Emma was the bravest because she held the biggest crab.

Plimoth Plantation Plimoth Plantation The first time we went to Cape Cod in 2010 we saw signs for Plimoth Plantation. We checked it out online and have wanted to go ever since. A few weeks ago we finally made it. We drove down Saturday morning and first went to visit the Mayflower II. It's a replica that was built in the 1950s and is moored in Plymouth Harbor a couple of miles from the plantation. The girls appreciated how small the ship was and they also enjoyed wearing period sailor clothing. After touring the ship and making a brief visit to Plymouth Rock we headed for the KOA campground in Middlebourough about 20 minutes away. KOAs always have good pools and jumping pillows and playgrounds and we knew the girls would have a good time there. It didn't take very long at all for the girls to make friends with a brother and sister. We spent the afternoon and evening with them on the pillow, in the pool and at the ice cream social and outdoor movie. Sunday morning we had breakfast at Dave's Diner in Middlebourough and then headed to Plimoth Plantation. The plantation has a Native American village and also a replica of the pilgrims' settlement with staff dressed, acting and speaking like people of the time. It was quite educational. The girls mostly enjoyed trying out the furniture.

Cape Cod Camping Cape Cod Camping It's become a tradition for us to go camping at Nickerson State Park on Cape Cod in late June. This was our third year and we were really looking forward to our four night trip. We have a favorite loop in which we camp because it has great bike riding and a short walk through the forest to a wonderful swimming beach on Cliff Pond. The water is always a perfect swimming temperature. We arrived in the early evening and went straight into the water. Friday morning we headed to the pond right after breakfast with plans to spend the whole day there. Around 11am, though, a ranger appeared carrying a sign to install in the beach sand informing us that Cliff Pond was immediately closed to swimming due to a blue-green algae bloom that was potentially toxic. Our plan was to spend most of the trip swimming in that pond so we were all disappointed. There was another swimming beach at the next pond over, Flax Pond, but we would have to drive there - it had been our intention not to start our engine all weekend. We figured Flax Pond would be crowded since everyone would head there so instead we went to a movie ("Brave") and then for ice cream. Saturday morning we headed for Flax Pond right after breakfast. The swimming beach was great and we spent almost seven hours there. Carol has been wanting to try a stand up paddleboard for a while and the boat rental company near the swimming beach had them so we gave it a try. Easy peasy! The girls loved riding on the back of it with either Carol or me paddling. We have a blast just staying at the state park but I have also wanted to see more of Cape Cod. On Sunday we decided to head to the ocean. Coast Guard Beach in Eastham is not too far from Nickerson so we headed there. There is no parking at the beach (the parking lot was washed away in a big storm in 1978) so you park a mile or so away and the park service runs shuttles. We loaded our stuff, rode the shuttle and found a great patch of sand to call our own. The girls had been swimming with boogie boards in the ponds but had never boogie boarded in surf. When we arrived at Coast Guard Beach the surf was perfect for it - thigh deep on me with 2-4' waves. Audrey loved it. For about 30-40 minutes Audrey and I surfed wave after wave. Once I taught her how to spot the waves that were going to break near her she got really good at it. It was one of those moments as a parent when I knew I had really given my child a great experience - she was so happy. It is also rewarding to see how comfortable and confident Audrey is in water. Charlotte is more intimidated by surf but she has fun playing in the shallow water and in the sand. The tide was out when we arrived and came in the whole time we were there (again, seven hours). The surf was never again as good as during the first hour we were there but it was still fun to play in. Audrey also enjoyed just being lifted by the swells. We saw a sea lion or seal off shore for a while but no great white sharks; they are regularly spotted a few miles south in Chatham. Monday we headed to Flax Pond again for a bit of swimming before aiming for home. There had been a threat of thunderstorms the entire weekend but they kept going around us or evaporating before they reached us (I was watching the radar on my phone). We would have welcomed a dramatic thunderstorm while in the camper but Boston was having all the fun instead. Finally Monday morning our luck ran out. About five minutes after the girls got in the water it started raining and with thunder within earshot we cut that swim session short. Besides, we still had to visit the Pancake Man and Four Seas Ice Cream. After those stops were checked off we had an uneventful drive home. We had a fantastic time and will be back for the fourth annual visit next June.

May-June Fun May-June Fun To write the text that goes with these "miscellaneous" photo albums I scan through the photos and pick a few stories to tell. This batch, however, is all over the map. Suffice it to say that May and June were pretty nice and produced lots of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors, to get wet, and to eat ice cream. Both girls had really great years at school with Charlotte finishing Kindergarten and Audrey finishing 2nd grade. They both brought home excellent report cards. I first saw Cirque du Soleil in about 1996 during my first stint living in Boston. I thought it was spellbinding and one of the best live performances I had ever seen. I've seen several performances since then, both road shows and permanent Las Vegas shows, and have loved them all. I have fantasized about taking the kids but the "list" prices are so high that it didn't seem worth it. Cirque du Soleil is performing "Totem" in Boston at the moment. A neighbor sent along a link to a fantastic "local deals" site that was offering tickets at a huge discount so I snapped 'em up. We all went to the show on Father's Day and the girls found it just as magical as I did. I loved being able to share it with them.

Disney World!

Album | Slideshow | Video

On April 29th, after two years of planning and saving and anticipation, we flew to Orlando for a week-long theme park vacation.

Carol loves Disneyland and Disney World, and she loves to do it right. She spent many hours researching the best time to go, the best days of the week to visit which parks (there are companies that gather statistics), the best places to stay, where to eat, how to best deal with lines for rides and attractions, etc. Carol is the expert.

Last November we picked the date. We knew we were going to take the girls out of school for a week because there was no way we wanted to go to Disney World during a school break. Carol's research told us the first week of May would be uncrowded and was likely to have good weather.

We arrived at the Orlando airport at 10:30 in the morning on Sunday. Carol's parents Mary and Dennis had driven across the country from Arizona to Florida to join us and they picked us up.

Universal's Islands of Adventure

We drove directly to Universal Studios to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure. On Carol's reading nights with the girls (Carol and I alternate reading nights) they have been making their way through the Harry Potter books. They are just about to finish the 5th book. So a visit to the Harry Potter world, albeit exorbitantly priced, was required.

The main ride in the Harry Potter area, The Forbidden Journey, is fantastic. As soon as we got off after riding it the first time Carol said, "That was worth the price of admission right there." Audrey loved it, too. We were worried she would be scared but as we were coming to the end of the ride she exclaimed, "That was the best ride ever!" We went again.

Charlotte didn't ride the Harry Potter ride but we found rides she liked in Seuss Landing next door. We also visited the wand shop and then the girls decided we should have dinner at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmead (the village reproduced from the books and movies). It was a great day.

Oh, I also got my roller coaster mojo back. I hadn't ridden one for 15 years at least and had developed a fear of them from lack of practice. Carol and I rode the Dragon Challenge and we both thought it was a blast. We would ride several more coasters during the week.

Saratoga Springs Resort

We stayed at the Disney Saratoga Springs Resort. It was the first time either Carol or I have ever stayed at a Disney property and it definitely has its perks. The pool was big and shallow enough for Charlotte to enjoy and had a great slide that Audrey loved. When we weren't at a theme park or sleeping we were in the pool (at Audrey's insistence). Much of the time there were activity coordinators at the pool leading games or dance contests or showing evening outdoor movies. We also used the Disney transportation to get to the parks - the bus stop was about 50' away from our room - and the system was very convenient.

Epcot

Monday morning we got up bright and early to be at Epcot when it opened. Audrey loved Soarin' and Mission:Space and Charlotte loved Nemo and both girls loved Spaceship Earth so much that we rode it several times. They also liked Universe of Energy.

Later in the day we mode our way to the second part of Epcot: World Showcase. We rode the boat rides in Mexico and Norway. Then we had a delicious dinner in Japan where Audrey discovered she likes udon. The casual Japanese restaurant was off the beaten track at the back of a garden and felt peaceful. The girls loved it.

After dinner we walked the rest of the way around the lake in time to find a spot for the nightly fireworks. Carol and the girls held the spot while I fetched ice cream. The fireworks were cool. Afterward we made a dash for the bus stop and arrived back at the room after 10.

Magic Kingdom

We were up at 7:00 the next morning for the first of two days at the Magic Kingdom. When the gate opened we made a beeline for Peter Pan which develops the longest line later. During those two days we rode dozens of rides: The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Tom Sawyer Island, Tomorrowland Speedway, Space Mountain (Dennis, Carol and me), Snow White, It's a Small World, Swiss Family Treehouse, the Enchanted Tiki Room, the Fantasyland Carousel, the Carousel of Progress and probably a bunch more I can't remember. The lines were generally short (we never waited more than 20 minutes and typically 5 minutes or less) and we also used Fast Passes.

The girls' favorite ride at Magic Kingdom turned out to be one most people probably never even ride: the People Mover. The one at Disneyland was removed but the Magic Kingdom (the Florida version of California's Disneyland if you're not Disney savvy) still has one. It travels fairly slowly around Tomorrowland and passes through several of the buildings. We rode it many times because it is calm and shady and cool, it never had a line, and the speed was just right for the the girls. The best part (for me, at least) is that is passes through Space Mountain. Several times during our visit Space Mountain was closed to address some problem and the lights were all on inside so we could see the entire track and structure. The main feature of Space Mountain (a roller coaster) is that is it almost completely dark the entire ride. It was cool to see what it looks like: a big industrial machine.

On Wednesday evening Dennis and Mary babysat the girls and Carol and I returned to the Magic Kingdom for a date night. We got to ride Space Mountain several times as well as the new Barnstormer kids' roller coaster (part of a big new Storybook Circus area that is under construction). We also had dinner at Pinnochio's Restaurant that has windows overlooking the loading area for It's a Small World. We stayed for the nightly light show and fireworks. The light show on Cinderella's Castle is pretty amazing - the castle gets "painted" in a bunch of different color schemes (including one that makes it look like a cartoon) as well as animations (one looks like it is on fire), photo montages of guests, etc. If anything, the show is too long! And they do it every night! Disney must own a fireworks company.

Animal Kingdom

On Thursday we visited Animal Kingdom. Carol's research told us to head straight to Kilimanjaro Safaris and do the same deal: get a fast pass for later and then get on the ride. The safari is cool: we saw several type of antelope; elephants; rhinos; hippos; crocodiles; giraffes and a lion. What I found most fascinating is how well hidden the "enclosures" are - I could rarely see what was keeping the animals separated from the vehicles. There are also two "nature walks" at Animal Kingdom where you can see apes, tigers and other animals up close. That part of Animal Kingdom is like a fancy zoo.

Two other rides we really enjoyed were the Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest. On the river rapids you ride in a raft that seats 12 people. After being lifted up a ramp the raft floats downstream for a bit and then goes over a "waterfall" (really a sloped slide). The signs before the ride say "You will get wet. You may get soaked." We got soaked. Charlotte doesn't really like thrill rides yet and she was very ambivalent but she mustered the courage to ride it. Carol told her, "If you're scared, just scream!" So when we came to the waterfall they all screamed and immediately after Charlotte was laughing and exclaiming, "Again!" We rode it again. We got soaked again. But the temps were in the low 90s so getting soaked felt pretty good.

Expedition Everest is the Florida version of the Matterhorn. It was a blast. I think Dennis and Carol and I rode it three times and Mary rode it once. Audrey was seriously thinking about it. She asked lots of questions about what it was like. Next time we go she'll be all over the roller coasters.

We made a discovery about Audrey a day or two into the trip. She was getting cranky and soon it became apparent that it was because she was hot. We started watching for water fountains and splashed our faces and arms. That was like magic for Audrey - she would be instantly cheery and ready to go again.

Hollywood Studios

We spent Friday at Hollywood Studios. When the gates opened we made a beeline for Toy Story Mania and also got Fast Passes so we coud ride again right away (after that the line is an hour long all day). Audrey and I rode Star Tours several times and everybody rode The Great Movie Ride (the the girls weren't freaked out by Alien!). We saw a live show of Beauty and the Beast and the girls played for a long time in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground (inside giant ant hills and on giant bugs and plants). Dennis and Carol and I rode the Tower of Terror (not so terrible!) and Dennis and I rode the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster (Carol chickened out!).

The highlight of the day was lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater. It's a replica of a drive-in theater (but indoors). Patrons sit in booths shaped like 1950's cars, facing a large screen that shows trailers for 1950's sci-fi movies as well as "News of the World." The food was average (and overpriced!) but the experience was cool.

Epcot Again

On Saturday we returned to Epcot. We hit the favorites again several times (Soarin', Mission:Space, Nemo, Universe of Energy and of course Spaceship Earth. The girls also went on a secret agent mission in China. And at the end of the day we returned to Japan for a repeat of our favorite dinner. Then it was back to the hotel for a couple of hours in the pool.

Soon after you get on Spaceship Earth you pass a camera that takes your photo. At the end of the ride a computer display in your vehicle presents several questions and your answers are used to construct an animation that features your faces. Here are a bunch of ours (who knows how long these links will be valid):

• Charlotte/Carol 1
• Audrey/John 1
• Charlotte/Carol 2 (Japanese)
• Audrey/John 2
• Charlotte/John (that's fake crying)
• Mary/Dennis

Last Day: Magic Kingdom

Alas, all good things must come to an end and Sunday we were scheduled to depart back to Boston at 3:00. We decided to spend our last morning at Magic Kingdom. We hit all of our favorites: Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Pirates and of course the People Mover. We saw the robot trash can again and did some souvenir shopping. Then we met Dennis at our hotel and he chauffeured us back to the airport.

We were very sad for the vacation to end. The whole week was non-stop fun and it was hard to think about returning to everyday life. Now it's time to plan and save to go back! Probably in three years.

Further Reading

While there I spent some time reading about the history of Walt Disney World. Some parts I found especially fascinating were:

• The original concept for Epcot
• The municipality that Disney created to avoid local zoning laws: Reedy Creak Improvement District
• The Disney World Monorail System

Don't miss the video!

Birthday Greetings from Charlotte

She loves me six hearts' worth!

Birthday Greetings from Audrey

Audrey learned how to use a word processor a while back and has used it for school work. This week she used it to make a wonderful custom birthday card for me.

Audrey's New Haircut

For the past year Audrey has been growing out her bangs and the rest of her hair with them. I've had a hard time with it because Audrey almost always refuses to tie it back or wear a headband and I feel like the ragamuffin look with her hair always covering her face reflects on us as parents. The bangs recently were just getting long enough to start staying behind her ears.

Today Carol had a hair appointment. It's spring break so Audrey planned to go with her. This morning Audrey told Carol she wanted to go and get her hair cut short again. Carol was nervous about it given the time investment Audrey has made in growing her hair, but Audrey was sure. Off they went.

I had no idea they had been discussing short hair, so when I got home from work I was surprised. I think it's incredibly adorable. I'm so happy to see Audrey's beautiful eyes again!

More Catching Up

Audrey Winter 2012 Ice Show

March-April Miscellany

Audrey & Dad Canoeing

Wow, I got caught up on videos and now I'm getting caught up on photos, too. And all while purportedly in the middle of a house project: the two bedrooms that had wallpaper and carpet when we moved in - that we thought we'd get to within a few months - are now undergoing refinishing (after three years). I'll post photos of that when it's done.

Meanwhile, life goes on.

Audrey's Winter 2012 Ice Show

The whole reason for getting caught up on videos was because I had the video from Audrey's ice show to post. Anal retentive person that I am I could not post that before older videos as that would leave my online video collection out of order! The ice show video is the last of the ten videos in the previous post. The first album at left is photos from the same event. As I think I've mentioned Audrey has continued into the Spring session of figure skating lessons and is loving it.

March-April Miscellany

This album really is miscellany. Some random notes:

Melrose has a symphony orchestra that claims to be the oldest continuously running community orchestra in the country. Carol and I finally attended one of their concerts on a date night. We really enjoyed it. The quality was quite good and the conductor was amusing and educational. And they didn't look anywhere near 100 years old!

We have a longstanding activity called Icky Pie. Carol gives the girls a bunch of cheap dry ingredients and they mix them together and love it. This last time they added some liquid and baked it. It looked pretty good but boy did it taste bad. Way too much baking powder.

Our neighbor Scott Burtnett is a great photographer (he produces television commercials for a living). He took a couple of cool candid shots of Carol and me while we were at their house having a casual dinner.

A couple weeks ago I volunteered once each in Charlotte and Audrey's classes. In Audrey's I read with Audrey's reading group of six kids. Man, they are really good readers for second grade!

Audrey had her first significant project for school this year. It was called a Bio Blast. She had to choose a heroine from history, research her life, report what she learned in several increasingly complex forms and finally dress as the person and deliver a short presentation in front of the class. Audrey chose Susan B. Anthony. Her final piece was a protest sign with a slogan on one side and her biographical summary on the back. Audrey came up with that idea all by herself. She did a great job and we were really proud of her. I just discovered video that I thought was lost; I'll post it soon.

Carol took an art class from the same teacher that the kids take classes from. She really enjoyed having that creative outlet again. I hope she continues.

Audrey & Dad Canoeing

Today was the latest chapter in our one-on-one days with the girls - where each girl spends at least a few hours alone with one parent. The girls really need that separation. Charlotte has been asking forever to go to Chucky Cheese so Carol took here there and then they went shopping. Audrey and I went to Concord to go canoeing. We paddled from the South Bridge to the Old North Bridge (one of the locations of the first battle of the American Revolution). It so happens that battle took place on April 19 so there was a large reenactment going on nearby and lots of people at the site. We beached our canoe and had a little picnic.

After canoeing we went for ice cream in Concord center. The commuter rail tracks are right behind the ice cream shop and Audrey enjoyed balancing on the rails. She really wanted to squish a penny and the next train was about 20 minutes away. So we waited and ended up squishing several coins. Check that one off the list of required childhood experiences!