Spring Has Sprung!

The idea of celebrating our first Easter away from family was daunting.  This changed as we learned to celebrate with new friends.  Although not the same, it gave the kids a true sense of the holiday, and Scott and I were distracted from our homesickness.  The Friday before Easter we were invited to a BBQ/pool party.  The kids colored eggs by the pool while parents enjoyed ham and salad.  Then they enjoyed an egg hunt in the dark with head lamps!  Andrea (our host) had stuffed and hidden 300 eggs!  Saturday was a great baseball game.  Clear, sunny, 80.  Easter Sunday we woke to filled Easter baskets and an egg hunt of our own.  Fiona discovered that our little nest of eggs had in fact hatched into 5 chicks!  Later in the afternoon we headed to another neighbor home for another BBQ!  I am still vegetarian...so I brought a bean burger.  Wes was not offended placing it next to the homemade venison sausage made from the deer his father in law had recently shot.  Mmmmmm.

Classic sleepy-eyed hunt shot.

Easter bunny left candy, and tons of different dice!

Can you see the little chicks?

Our class pictures...

Ethan liked himself in this pose.  What's he thinking?

Cute party favors for the kids!

After swimming, and just before the big hunt!

Such fun!  Drawing on the trampoline with chalk!

They came, they conquered, they left...

Ugh! I miss my mommy and daddy!!!!  My parents left yesterday and it is going to take some getting used to.  The house is a lot quieter, and my coffee isn't made for me when I get up in the morning.  The pool is getting dirty, and there is no one to clean it.  My plants need watering and dead-heading, and mom's not here to help.
     Monday and Tuesday we explored the city.  Monday we enjoyed the public gardens and ate our picnic in the rose garden.  Then it was on to the Museum of Natural Science. This place was amazing!  The next day Scott took the day off, and we headed to the NASA Space Center.  What a great place.  Tons of hands on displays.  This was definitely a place to go to with Gampy!  He new everything!

Amazing!  The shuttle was transported on the top of a 747!

Our own personal docent!

Learning about hover crafts.

Fiona flying her brother in the flight simulator.

Yeah, he scares me too...

Ethan touching the moon.

Fiona touching the moon.

All four of us touching an actual piece of the moon.  One of only 8 in the country we can touch!

Gammie guiding the kids through egg coloring.

We gave the kids a little egg hunt with the freshly dyed eggs.

Zevon enjoying some ear noogies.

500 Piece Puzzles, growing bacteria...and the big city tomorrow....

The weather has been beautiful this week.  Today Gammy and Gampy got a taste of New England spring weather.  We had sun and highs in the 60's!  Cold for these parts...but just right for us MA residents.  We all took to the Waterway for a picnic and some kite flying.  Of course the trip would not be complete with out a visit to the koi pond.  One of our favorite spots.
     Earlier in the week my parents helped me with our bacteria lesson.  I had ordered some agar plates from Amazon along with all the sterlie equipment needed to grow our own bacteria!  Boy were we successful!  It is stinking up my bedroom!  I am looking forward to identifying what we have, and throwing it out with the trash.  A few of the things we swiped: Zevon's tooth, Gampy's cell phone, a lizards back, the inside of Ethan's shoe...  We placed the samples in a homemade incubator and only had to wait 12 hours for things to start growing.
     Tomorrow we are headed into Houston to explore the gardens and perhaps the Natural History Museum.

Tucking in our bacteria babies.

Careful to keep them between 85 and 100 degrees.

Gammie and Ethan before his birthday date.

Notice that Gammie is wearing HIGH HEELS!

Gampy and Fiona selfie from duck/turtle feeding expedition.

They chose to work, I didn't make them...

Zevon only likes to lay in freshly planted flower beds.

Waterway.

Technicolor picnic.

There was some snoring involved.

This is the result of the hard work put forth by the entire family.

Gampy the science guy.

Gammy and Gampy are here!

Mom and Dad arrived around lunch time this Monday.  What a treat to have my parents here!  We have done nothing particularly special, but every day has been memorable.  Walks, bike rides, feeding the "punk" ducks, shopping with my mother with dad at home watching the kids, playing in the pool, making family meals together, reading, going to the library...even food shopping is fun with Gammy and Gampy!

Today's hike.

The waiting was the hardest part...(That's on my bathroom window.)

Pool time!

Lizard whisperer.

See the lizard under the umbrella?

Weird family photo.  Not the first, and certainly not the last.

Dad and I made the best mushroom pie.

We got all the pool toys today!