Overboard

That's me in a nutshell.

I tend to do things in a 'sink or swim' fashion; Go Big Or Go Home!

So when we went on Spring Break, we took three vacations in one.

The planning required was phenomenal. The result was worth it.

When we left that Friday night, my son had both his front teeth.

When we returned a day shy of two weeks later, they were both gone.

He's following in my footsteps. Go Big Or Go Home!

We hit the Museum of Science first, because it's full of The Awesome.

Rainy day + Spring Break + Boston (major tourist destination) + Museum of Science = HELL.

Any other time, it rocks.

But we were prepared. The trick is to go in defensive mode. And take pictures of the kids so you'll have them to give the cops when you lose your kids in the throngs of tourists.

Ask me how I know to do this.

Also: the only way this shot of Thing One could have been better is if she'd just eaten an oreo.

You're welcome.

Actually, they did pretty well staying together.

Below is the Math Room. We could live there.

Fibonacci numbers, that's all I'm sayin'.

There is tons of coolness in the Math Room.

Papa has an engineering background.(We had a hard time getting him out of this room!) Uncle Mario, too. The Big Guy will tinker with, and can fix anything, so he has it in his blood. I started college as an Electrical Engineering major, and switched to health care (the draw of the physics in then-new technology called Helical CT scan and MRI was too strong). At least one of these kids, if not two, seem headed down that path.

It's pre-determined.

patterns and probability

We don't know how she finds anything in that black hole of a bag.

This was a fun exhibit, until she realized she was face to face with a snake.

She thought it was a gerbil/hamster/mouse display. Turns out that was lunch.

Speaking of lunch...

This is what you get when you send Uncle M to the store for some chicken for soup.

"I'm sorry, were there no other parts available. or are you trying to make a statement here?"

Some things are just not meant to be food.

This soup, however. Yum. Like, wow, yum.

Monday was Patriot's Day, which is a holiday in Massachusetts. It's also the day of the Boston Marathon.

Every year I say 'I will NOT be at that end of the state on marathon day', and every year I am there.

Traffic. Road closures. And people. Lots of people.

We decided the only thing to do was have a sleepover. A Big Family Sleepover.

There was the chicken soup, made from feet. gag.

There was tripe. I think there are four of us in the family who eat tripe.

Thing Two tried it this year. We do not disclose what it actually is. He tasted. He chewed. He swallowed.

He was not amused. None of the kids know what it is; we wanted them to like or dislike it on its own merit, and not be prejudiced by its, er, humble origin. Not one of them like it.

Haha- more for me!

Stephen makes the best tripe, and I'm going to bribe him to do it with me so I can document it.

Kissy went a little nuts with the chicken feet, and entertained the kids with them.

That's Rockin' Red, there, on the chicken toenails.

I have no pictures of:

1. the sleepover

2. the full-out turkey dinner with all the trimmings, including pumpkin pie (oh, yum)

3. the fabulous tripe

4. Movie Night, starring my favorite movie ever, 'Superbad', which Stephen and Kissy had not yet seen. (They still haven't. They missed half of it because I was screaming laughing during the movie. I am a ten year old boy at heart, and think this movie is a riot.)

or

4. the spider that attacked me- inside my nightgown (Not. Funny. Still traumatized.)

I lack photographic evidence of these events because I lost the use of my left hand.

This is what my hand normally looks like:

(This picture is actually recent, like, post-canoeing. Canoeing is hard on the manicure.)

And this is what it looks like 3 hours after a fat cat bites it, giving me a whopping infection:

ouch. Didn't I used to have knuckles??

Hate. That. Cat.

Remember this the next time you see somebody letting a dog share your food , or lick your kids' face.

Dogs can eat things we can't. The bacteria in their spit is why.

Despite the pain and immobility, we managed to finish these:

My Mother was well-loved.

This kid, who likes to climb into things, found himself over his head when he got caught in a pushcart.

I never laughed so hard!

He was not amused.

Next up: Part 2 of vacation- Me, at Camp!

Alternate Title: Help I'm Lost In The Woods With Two Kids.