Snowy Spring

Again this year we went down to NY the week before Easter to see Claire, Peter, Sabrina, Brooke, and Rowan

This year's quest started out with a hunt for "the coins of wisdom", which were not so easy to find beneath the dusting of snow



All the kids pitched in to solve the puzzles inspired by King's Quest. Here they are digging in the graveyard for ghosts' lost items a la KQ IV

 

 March 28th and we could still stand on the ice on the lake

We watched the blue heron catch a fish and stuff it down its gullet

Everyone loved Grampa's roaring fire

 Rowan, it's not that kind of party!

 Upside-down girl

Next weekend Katy and Brad visited for Easter

Our big outing was to the New Bedford National Historic Park, buddy bisons in hand

Private movie theater



 The junior ranger activities had us searching all around the historic district. This is the New Bedford Public Library and their Melville-inspired statue

 This scalloper has seen better days

 Mission accomplished: badge earned

 Back home

 Tessie gets fancy braids

 The Easter eggs were hidden among the remaining snow mounds

 They were well-hidden, but the kids found them all

 Tessie's first taste of Easter candy

Finally the snow is gone!

 Questing, scene 1

 Questing scene 2

Questing scene 3

Tessie running

Lousy Smarch Weather

This month does deserve a special name to honor its cruddiness. It started off with the announcement that AstraZeneca is shutting down its Infection division, which is good news for no one except the superbugs. The weather was crazy cold, but we did break the all-time winter snow record of 108 inches. The final three inches happened to fall while Heather was on a plane coming back from Atlanta, necessitating an unplanned stopover in Hartford. Dave survived 4 days alone with the girls. Afterwards Tessie had a new appreciation for him, and finally is treating him more like Daddy and less like an inadequate Mommy substitute.

 

 Quote from Tessie: "That my mama. Not yours"

Now that is cold
 

 Erin the trooper braved going outside with Tessie

 

 Instant ice pop

 

Where'd Tessie go?

 

Land of the icicles

 

 Spring training in Lexington

 

 The snow mounds have turned into...

 

...ice mountains

 

 When will it disappear???

 

 Hmm, might not want to show this to the child psychologist. In Caroline's defense, we had just gotten a new pack of markers and she said that the red was so bright that it reminded her of blood. At least this shows some thoughtful engineering.

 

Tempting as it was to build the Machine of the Blood Invaders, we chose another topic for Science Fair with Caroline. She wanted to do her project about a photograph of a dress. It didn't make any sense to me because the colors are clearly white and gold.

 

 Tessie is a whirlwind around the house now, especially when the gll-ulls (girls) dress her up and show her how to ride a scooter

 

 Some rare moments, Caroline will sit and read to Tessie

 

 but who can blame her when the alternative is a beanbag chair next to the heater with Max on her lap

Erin lost her first tooth!
 

 Thanks to Mom's friend Julie, we have a wall map to show where we've been. Watch out desert Southwest: you're next.

 

At least the snow was good for one thing: tunnels

 

Watch that step!

 

Smarch is a good month for salami parties