We just got back from a lovely weekend getaway to Boston. Dan had a medical conference for Physicians for Human Rights, so Penny and I explored the local museum scene. Apparently, Boston Children's Museum is the first green museum in Boston, just like my museum is the first green one in NYC. So while Penny expressed her artistic side and generally had fun at the museum, I did a bit of chatting with my counterpart at the museum before she kicked into her day full of programs. It was really nice of her to take some time on a weekend and have a meeting with a two-year-old in the room. I suppose it helps having a few billion toys at your disposal, but it still has the potential to be a huge fiasco and she agreed anyway. Penny explored some of the green exhibits at the museum - here she's learning about water conservation.
We spent the afternoon hanging out with Dan and his friend Laura, exploring some of the downtown Boston sites. I got to collect some additional National Park Passport stamps, which is always cool.
On Sunday, we headed further North to the
Wenham Museum. Penny had tons of fun in the hands-on room, where she made some cross-dressing Mr. Potato Heads, played house for a bit, and stood her ground when some older kids tried to take her toys. She's a little stinker, so being able to not have her toys stolen by older kids is reasonably impressive.
Where was Dan? Oh, enjoying the REAL reason why we went even further from home - the Lego train display. Admittedly, it was a pretty cool display. There were quite a few trains going around the track, plus a carnival, plus some really fun stationary displays. This was one of my favorites - a colony of giant ants is invading the city - one has already scaled the blue glass skyscraper. Another has beheaded a Lego-dude. The Toy Story army guys have been mobilized, and they've packed their magnifying glass.
Dan struck up a conversation with one of the guys who put together the Lego display, a member of the New England Lego train group (which Dan was invited to join as soon as the dude saw that the Legos he described were definitely NOT for the cute little Penny who joined him). He's more of a robotics guy, but as you can see from the display, there are a lot of technological challenges to consider when figuring out how to get all the rides moving and whatnot. I also liked the train topped by Batman giving Batgirl some flowers for Valentine's Day. Robin was occupied with a sinister bunny in one of the flatbed cars and Two-Face was certainly up to no good further back in the train. Dan has considered the train club as an opportunity to get his collection out of boxes and out on the tracks. Perhaps when this medical school thing quiets down a bit.
After our friends left, Penny was really excited to dive into the freshly fallen snow. She made lots of footprints (we had tracked down some Canadian Geese at the cemetery by following their footprints in January snow, so footprints are fascinating). I enjoyed the perfect quality snow for snow man-making. The front yard is just big enough to create what you see. Most of the front yard was visible grass when I completed rolling the balls. I didn't fill in between the balls properly because Penny was starting to get quite wet with her falling in the snow...so the front yard is just the right size for a life-size snow man as far as I can gauge. I invited Dan to join us, but he declined. He has still not EVER built a snow man. Judging from the quality of the snow, I can understand. The snow had the right feel for snowmen, but it was terribly dirty. The one plus side I can see is that I gathered all the sand, gravel and salt that had accumulated in the grass from the snowblower into a single area (the snowman melt). Penny has totally ruined her gloves, though, because they get very gray whenever she plays in the snow.
We were also pleasantly surprised by a package from our Canadian friends, now enjoying a brief stint in England. Brent and Celeste aren't stationed in Newcastle again, but even in southern England, they enjoy some of the same tasty treats. Celeste was kind enough to send a round of authentic English crisps, reminiscent of what Dan would bring in his lunch every day. I have told people about the crazy meat flavours and they didn't believe me - so here's a little photographic evidence. Flavours like smokey bacon and Roast Chicken are fairly standard, but often there are special holiday flavours that find their way into vending machines as well. Here we have Turkey & Stuffing - the snowflakes on the packaging and little explanation on the back give it away as a special Christmas-time treat. I remember Lamb and Mint started appearing around the holidays as well. No prawn-flavoured crisps - whew! Those got annoying quickly. So it's sort of a virtual visit from our friends now in England.
