The kids have been bugging for an egg hunt. C6 got M42 to do an egg hunt at her house last week (the camera was pooping out so no pictures) which they enjoyed a great deal. And when we returned home we did one here, too.
So we called up our friends who come over on Easter and do an egg hunt with us. C6 & Q5 hid the eggs, so when J3 & C7 came over we'd be ready to go.
Hiding the eggs:
Neither of the girls hid the eggs with particular desire to HIDE the eggs. They were just plopping them in the yard here and there and I had to tell them to put them out of the way so you had to actually LOOK here and there for them. They told me that M42 had just put them out in the open in the yard. Next year we'll make M41 make her hiding a little bit more difficult!
But once our friends got here, Q5 realized she didn't want to search for eggs at all, all she wanted to do was hand out the lollypops that didn't fit into the eggs. So she went inside and just hung out on the stairs until I found her. I am not sure why she didn't want to search for eggs, but I asked her to help J3 who has particularly bad eyesight. So she did. Then she handed out the lollies (in the Mason jar).
C6, however, enjoyed the hunt a great deal. I told her she couldn't find the eggs she'd hidden, only the eggs Q5 had hidden. She had a great time searching for the eggs.
Then we gorged on jelly beans and chocolate eggs. C7 & C6 did a trade (C7 wanted chocolate, C6 gladly took the jelly beans).
We took one day to go to the Boston Museum of Science ... busy as all get out because it was school vacation week, but what can you do?
The first thing we did was go to the store and buy rocks, and then we had lunch. That headed off any problems. We probably could have waited, but this way nobody was hungry for the four hours we were there.
Then we headed downstairs into the Green Wing and were fascinated by the Kinetic Sculpture. I don't know exactly how long we were there, but we didn't just watch it once, we did come back to it later. I admit, it is fascinating and wonderful! But finally we delved a little deeper in, and did a few activities downstairs. C6 was a less than enthused as she really was looking for anything about tsunamis ... We wandered around, saw some exhibits, lifted flaps, went inside things.
Q5 stood in line for about 10 minutes so she could sneak up up on a video of a bird. She chose her bird, walked very slow, and managed to salt its tail.
Enthusiasm levels were just moderate, though, until Q5 and I found the escalator. Awesome! Up we went. And just at the top a gentleman was setting up to do a little talk about the TÅhoku earthquake and how the elements -- ground shaking, landslides, liquifaction, tsunami, and amplification -- might impact Boston if a good-sized earthquake were to hit locally. Q5 sat down and I pulled out my phone to make calls and tell everybody to come up. We all sat down and every time C6 heard the word tsunami she straightened up and her face shaped into a big OH! look of interest and excitement. Definitely worth spending a half hour there. At the end of the talk both girls had questions.
C6: What was the highest tsunami ever?
Speaker: Over 1,000 feet in Alaska
(*I just googled it, and it turns out the answer is actually 1720 feet, yes, in Lituya Bay, Alaska*)
Q5: How many tsunamis have there been?
Speaker: A lot. How many do you think?
Q5: 26
C6: 142
Speaker: More than that. What's the biggest number you can think of?
C6: 521
Eventually we got to the fact that there had been more tsunamis than we could count, and a million billion was more like it.
That done we were free to roam more, and now that we were out of the green wing things really picked up. We found the Science in the Park exhibit which had a LOT of things to do.
Here is C6 racing against the light ... then she does it again and really picks up speed!
Also in this play area they went on a seesaw over and over again, and discovered the secret to twirling like an ice skater.
We went to a show (electricity) which both girls had to leave early. So back upstairs it was and I managed to get them into the color and light exhibit.
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The color exhibit had a lot of things to do ... but by far their favorite was the color wall where they could watch themselves and their multi-colored shadows.
After all that we finally left. Both girls said to me they weren't tired. But I was. Tired and hungry and tired again. Next visit I think we'll want to go back, because it was that fun.
Foamy mosaics seem to be the perfect gift for a 4-5-6 year old. Ninoo brought some of these last year, which were well received at the time, and continue to be a fun activity.
Well, this week for Q5's birthday, G&G brought a gift for Q5 ... foam mosaic tiaras. The package held 6 tiaras and enough foam squares and jewels to complete them in the most sparkeliest way possible.
What was even nicer, was that the first day Q5, C6, and I each made one, and the second day Q5, C6, and K7 each made one, so the pleasure was spread around, and each girl ended up with two tiaras.
Q5 and ME64 made cookies last night. Q5 made the frosting. I only caught her eating the sugar once. I popped around the corner to find her guiltily pouring straight 10x in her mouth.
Most of the cookie making was the decorating. A schmear of pink frosting (lick fingers), a dash of non-parails (lick fingers), a bit of yellow sugar (lick fingers), a sprinkle of green sugar (lick fingers), and a few chocolate-covered cocoa nibs (pop one in mouth and lick fingers).
Mostly the cookies just tasted good rather than looked good. But this one Q5 made for C6 ... it is Q5's rendition of C6 ... a face with a few freckles! (C6 made one for Ninoo, as well ... but that had extra freckles)
The three girls, K7, C6, and Q5 were playing nicely with the calculator and the very very very long caculator tape (The Math List) today. Actually, since they arrived the Math List has been a favorite passtime. We've already had to replace the caculator tape once.
Anyway, adults were sitting and chatting and we heard K7 yell to the others "I found some Scotch! I found some Scotch! C6, I got some Scotch!"
A quick look and it was determined to be Scotch tape, of course, as they were taping the Math List together, so it reached the first floor from upstairs.
Rain rain rain ... the drive to Massachusetts took a long time, but when we finally arrived at ME65 and R68s house we arrived at a party! Party for Q5, K7, and C6. Yes, it isn't even near C6s birthday, but she's decided to forgo a fall gift from Katie so she could participate and get a gift in the spring. I like it. You get enough gifts around your birthday, a half birthday is a bonus.
I'm just going to make this a photo-palooza, OK?
Adorable all. C6mo makes the rest of the girls look like they are in b&w, doesn't she? Notice C6 trying to get in all the photos?
I took FOUR photos of G, G, and C ... in every single one G had her eyes shut!!
A happy birthday, delicious cake (Thank you M41!!), and wonderful family.
C6 has been saying "dude" and "true dat" a lot lately. True dat? True dat? It sounds quite funny coming from a 6-year-old white-girl-transplant from the 19th century.
Q5 had her school performance on the night of her birthday, so we didn't have even a cake at home, we went to her performance!
The theme was CAMP! and Q5 had to wear shorts and t-shirt and sing camp songs.
The program started with The more we get together and all the children sang:
Skipping over the 2 & 3 year olds ... onto the 4 & 5 year olds!
Down by the bay, where the watermelon grows!! I've been hearing this song for a month ... it was good to figure out where it came from!
Swimming, swimming ... I love this one, all the great strokes. The video is bad, but Q5 cracked me up. She sang this all the time at home, too. And those dive hands ... she practices at swim class every week! And then a little Boom Chicka Boom Boom!
I didn't actually get the fishing joke while they were doing it, but C41 clued me into the punchline. Mumble mumble.
When the show was over there was a dessert potluck. C6 was especially glad about that. Q5 grabbed a fruit by the foot and C6? Look at her plate!!!
On Friday, Q4 turned Q5 at 1:20 AM. Half a decade old, and fiesty as ever. She's been excited all week since she's been counting down the days to her birthday.
The day befor her birthday Q4 got a package from J&C. We let her open it.
She loved the dress, but we threw it in the wash to get the too new feeling out of it. Then she sat on the couch and spent a good half-hour doing the sticker book.
On the morning of her birthday the first thing Q5 did was (I think) was open the long anticipated giant box from N&P. I think she honestly was jumping up and down when she pulled out the princess bedding, but we don't have it on camera or video because C41 was still dopy from his Las Vegas trip.
She tried to wear her new dress from J&C, but it was in the wash. So old clothes it was.
After dinner Q5 opened gifts from C41, C6, and me. Her one request to us was that she get a Tangled (the movie), Jasmine (Aladdin, the movie), and Mulan II (the movie). We managed to find Tangled and Mulan II, but Aladdin has been out of stores for so long that we'll just borrow it from the library if we need to. She was very happy opening these! She just sat and read the backs of the DVDs for a while.
Oh, and C6 bought Q5 a beautiful, flowery, springy notepad and a sparkly dog pen and a card ... gifts I think that she herself would very much like.
I didn't monitor what C6 wrote ... but look at the sentiment she shared on the inside.
About 2 years ago I made the girls some dresses. Last year we put the smaller cat one away, thinking Q was too big for it, it was too tight around the chest.
Not any longer.
Here she is in the dress this morning. I guess sometimes when you grow up, some of the "out" goes away. It fits again.
I don't really know what to call this post, Q4 wanted me to take a video, and I loved that she was playing some sort of make believe people game with these pottery tools. She was dressing them and having them do things. This lasted for about 15 minutes.
We spent a lot of the day outside. I helped out a bit at the pool's workday. The kids started outside, but it was a little chilly so they read in the car instead. Then we walked to a friend's house and home. Q4 did NOT want to walk there, but I managed to get her onto the sidewalk and interested in the journey there by suggesting that they count the spots of bird poop on the sidewalk. It worked. By the time we hit Jefferson St. We'd gotten up to 67 spots of bird poop. Fascinating.
Then after we returned home, and had a wee bit of quiet time they decided to play outside again. I'm not sure exactly what it was they were playing, but it involved parasols (umbrellas), books, shoes, and flowers. I wasn't thrilled, but have come to expect, that many many of the flowers in our yard will be picked. Just so. Today they were picked and replanted in a veggie box.
There was some reading ... or was it sliding? ... going on, too.
Notice this picture includes a book, shoes, umbrella, and ... the flowers in the flower raised bed are just out of the photos.
I made the girls some recycled notebooks from cereal cardboard and paper ... C6 generously took the Honey Bunches of Oats notebook, because Q4 wanted the grey one with a (smudged) sun on the front.
C5 took the opportunity to decorate the inside covers, and Q4 drew pictures.
I then made some bunnies for the girls to sew.
We are part-way there. Q4 has one ear sewn, and her eyes, and C6 has her eyes and part of an ear. We'll pull them out again when they need something to do. But I doubt it will be tomorrow, because I think it will be park weather.
I bought some cinnamon nuggets from KAF with the thought they they'd be more cinnamon-y than cinnamon chips. But in the bag they look like ... hamster food. I have a strong urge to make cinnamon scones, I just need to find the right recipe, now. Hope the nuggets are good,otherwise I will have a whole pound of them to use up ...
My Sunday morning walk was cancelled this morning, so instead I suggested we go walk around the tidal basin. Earlyish, so we could maybe find a parking space at the FDR Memorial and not have to walk so far to GET to the tidal basin to see the cherry blossoms.
Great idea. Everybody was in for it. We drove downtown and ... realized that today was the 40th annual Cherry Blossom 10-miler.
Ug. Not a problem, really, it was nice that all those roads were blocked off, in some respects. It was easy to cross roads that were closed. But in other respects .... the extra 15,000 runners (and their friends and families!) makes for one crowded area!! And Parking was at a premium. And we couldn't get on the road to get to the FDR Memorial. It was closed for the race.
We ended up parking about a mile away from the tidal basin. We did get to take a little jaunt by the Washington Monument, which is, of course, a treat in and of itself.
Walk, walk, walk. We entered the Tidal Basin by the paddle boats, still locked up as it was not yet 9 am. And the walk around the Basin commenced. There were many photo opportunities. The girls loved getting their photos taken with the trunks, the blossoms, the stumps of the cherry trees.
We got a family photo taken by a woman who'd been following us on the path.
The next best thing after the blossoms was the dogs. Oh, my, the dogs. Everywhere! They petted every single dog they could get their hands on. Most owners were so nice and so patient with them, more than me, after stopping for our 500th dog. But finally, we reached the FDR memorial.
C6 liked climbing on the big rocks. You can't see it here but she is atop of the pile of jumbled rocks that say "I HATE WAR"
Q4 liked the statues. The first is of a man sitting on a chair listening to the radio. I explained that he was listening to the radio, worrying about the depression. Q4 wondered at first if they used a real chair, then she observed that if she got inside his arms it would look like he was giving her a hug. So she did. You can see her fiddling with the radio knobs while inside this hug. The third is a photo with a statue of Fala, FDR's dog.
We ripped them away from the memorial and dragged them back onto the Tidal Basin for more photos, dogs, and walking.
We breezed through the George Mason Memorial, to which I'd never been. Both girls enjoyed it, it was a break from the walking.
We hit the Jefferson Memorial, which was packed. By this time the road race was over, streets were opening up, and all the runners and their families and anybody and everybody else in town was down on the Tidal Basin. It was very very crowded. And Q4 was beginning to droop. She'd walk, walk, waaaalk, and kind for drop into a duck walk and flop on the ground. She appeared to be falling asleep on her feet. She didn't complain or ask to be picked up, but we did, because she was so pathetic. And usually just a short carry would help and she could walk a block or so again. Later C41 measured it and it was about 4.5 miles. No wonder she was tired!!
Final photos:
Now I've gotten my cherry blossom fix that will satisfy me for a fair number of years until I've forgotten them again. Now I'd like to go to an apple blossom festival ... wouldn't that smell divine?
