Serendipity: a happy surprise

If crossing the path of a black cat is bad luck then for us, crossing the path of a white horse is good luck.

We got up Saturday morning and headed to the Institute of Contemporary Art for their "play date" which is free for families. We found a parking spot directly across the street from the museum and when I went to put some quarters in the meter there was still over an hour on it!!!! I'm telling you, that NEVER happens! Once in the museum I will admit that Addi wasn't too impressed by some of the art and some of it was definitely beyond her 4 year old sensibilities. Her favorite pieces were the 'pin cube' a large cube made entirely of pins, friction and gravity...no glue of any kind was used, and the burnt wood curtain....you'd have to see it to understand.

The activities were a hit though...

Making collages in front of this really cool wall

a little assistance with the glue.

finished product

Downtown Girl

The cars passing by probably thought I was a lunatic laying on the median but I think this picture turned out pretty well with her the same height as the buildings

Not a block away is the Children's Museum and when we passed coming in I noticed an ambulance parked out front...no one looked in too big of a hurry so I figured they were letting the kids take a look

Sure enough I was right. But what I didn't know was the extent of the 'health care' theme. Inside the museum they had tables and tables of demonstrations, crafts, games, free stuff...all about health care.

Addi's favorite (which of course I don't have a picture of) was in the craft room, they made it into a teddy bear hospital and were giving out surprisingly good quality stuffed animals for you to take on a doctor's visit. As we came up to the door they told us that they had one animal left and that's how Addi and Carrot the bunny first met. Carrot had his vitals taken, a blood draw and an x-ray...Carrot passed with flying colors.

This is a table where you could get your finger casted....

...I couldn't resist

As we left the museum with a hospital bag full of goodies including 2 stuffed animals, a hat, books and numerous crafts and stickers a low cloud was hovering over the buildings...I just thought it looked cool.

Craft Group

I get together with a couple of friends one night a month to do a project together. This apron was this month's project and I think it turned out pretty well. I've been wanting a half apron.

It kind of looks like a skirt in this picture and I'm liking it...you may be seeing skirt in this fabric soon.

PS-I finished Addi's Easter dress this weekend as well, I'll post pictures soon but if I ever say I'm going to work with slippery fabric again just punch me.

First Day of Spring?

In celebration of the first day of spring we bundled ourselves up and headed to the park.

-rolling down hills, one of my personal favorite past times-

We're still waiting spring.

NEA

New England Aquarium

My friend EP procured a free pass to the aquarium in such a way that she felt guilty about using it, so I told her that I had no problem using it if giving it to me would help her conscience.

So yesterday we struck out on our aquatic adventure.

The first thing to see were the penguins the aquarium is kind of build around this exhibit and Addi had to see these guys at every 'lookout point' and from every angle. I finally discovered what sound a penguin makes and let me tell you it isn't pleasent...it resembles a donkey without the 'hee'

In the big center tank Addi was always on the lookout for sharks and quite a few came by.

Also Myrtle the giant turtle came up...

and waved hello.

This was a very interesting fish...Addi is getting a closer look.

This tank was a favorite Dori and Nemo live in this one.

getting up close and personal

From the moment we walked in Addi wanted to see the sea horses. We searched high and low and finally near the end we found them. He's hard to see but he's hanging onto a clump of grass in the centerish of the tank.

Taking on the jellies.

We took the train home and any day you take the train is a good day.

Ruth and Coco Keys

I'm trying to do a little catch-up of this weekend. We got together with 10 families and rented rooms at a hotel that is attached to an indoor water park...COCO KEYS!!! We had been anticipating this getaway for a while and Addi was so excited when the day finally came. What we didn't realize was that it was the same night of Randall's Law Day Barrister Ball (basically you're law school prom). But in the spirit of my friend Ashley's "communal living" idea we left Addi with whoever was there (we did make specific sleeping arrangements) and headed out. It was fun to dress up and go out. The keynote speaker was Ruth Bader Ginsburg. While I don't agree with her almost all of the time I was very impressed by her. She was so lady like and gracious but her talk was just wonderful. She just shared the behind-the-scenes of the Supreme Court stuff that you would never know about otherwise. Like the congenial relationship that the justices have with each other and that on someone's birthday her husband usually bakes the cake and Justice Scalia leads the singing because he is the best at carrying a tune.

We left before the dancing, mostly because I didn't want to show anyone up but also because we needed to rest up for a full day of sliding, swimming and relaxing.

When we stepped out of the elevator though there was a huge group of people just sitting around the doors, it took a second before we recognized them as "our people" we put Addi down, changed and joined the group. That was probably my favorite part...but if Zoe is reading this then my favorite part was going down the tube slides 89 times until my quads were burning climbing up all those stairs.
Zoe was so nice to hang out with Addi for much of the time, she is a huge fan and I couldn't ask for a better girl for Addi to look up to.

girl talk

fish face

slidin'
(you could not get this girl off the slides...she was going crazy!)

Lazy River

INTRUDER!!!

Someone broke into our house last night...

he came through the mail slot when everyone was asleep...

he ran across the couch even though it isn't allowed at our house...

he balanced on the thin ledge above the fireplace...

and jumped on the trampoline...

where he left a little surprise!

the booty: socks, shower puff, m&m's

The St. Patrick's Day spirit continued at Joy School where everyone toasted with their green apple juice.

And finally we finished the day with a steamy bowl of potato leek soup...I think the potatoes were from Idaho though...not Ireland.

Guilty Pleasure

Hulu is a dangerous thing.

Spring Break

Unfortunately our Spring Break was not as springy as I'd hoped but we still had fun. It all started on the day a huge snow storm blew into the Northeast.

Here they are de-icing our plane that left at 6:00pm carrying the 11:00am flight. (ours was the 5:20pm flight but we jumped on this one and it is a good thing, we may not have made it out if we hadn't)

I didn't worry about bringing my camera to EVERY SINGLE PLACE this time so while it was a little more relaxed and tons of fun I don't have many pictures to prove it.

Our first day there we went to the Draper Temple Open House. We had 6 girls under 6 in tow and it was an adventure. Randall was in charge of Gabi (the runner) covering her eyes.

Addi and Gabi with their "dino-est" faces at the Dinosaur Museum.




Grandma and Addi looking at an exhibit.

Addi wanted to be with Grandma every second....me too, she has a pretty cool Grandma.

Savannah, Addi, Gabi and Veronica (with her head turned) playing in the sand and water erosion exhibit.

Addi did not want to look at me, you may notice this theme throughout.

My mom took this, possibly the 4th picture we have of just us since Addi.

Gracie, Addi and Savanna posing together. I made Gracie and Savannah's skirts and my friend Meg made Addi's...it's hard to see in this picture but she puts me to shame.

More Addi, Granny bonding.

The are the girls brave enough to stare right down the throat of a gigantic shark...where is Addi? please refer to previous picture.

And finally the "dig" we brought our own digging tools to dig up the dino bones instead of the dinky brushes they give you there. We're not sure if it's against the rules but they sure stay in there longer. There were only a few times we had to man-handle some boys trying to take their shovels away.


And here they all are for a post-museum swim to get the sand out...it looks like there's room for one more in the corner there.

Jacob has been coveting the frozen turkey's in the freezer for some time and my Mom kept telling him that when we came we'd have a Thanksgiving Dinner. Here is Addi helping my mom peel potatoes...I have to confess that Randall took this picture while Ashley and I were fabric shopping...and not for the first time.

Pilgrims and Indians

(including the 3 girls that my mom watches)

Later that night was my sister, Ashley's B-ball game.

She has never played before, she swam for BYU before she started having babies, but she is very athletic and gives the game a little flail...if not flair.

There she is number 33 and I don't know how she got her legs into that position but I'm sure it takes a LOT of coordination.

Here she is again, now I don't know if you can see her but she is the one facing away from the ball but throwing her arm in a backstroke motion...I'm not sure what's going on here but it sure looks complex.

There's the all-star!

Cheering Section

Tired of cheering she goes back to her favorite spot.

Not pictured:

My Mother-in-law's organ recital at Temple Square (my battery died)

Big Family FHE and pot-luck

Late nights with Ryan and Rhi

Swimming at the Legacy Center (everyone was IN the pool)

Cafe Rio with my friend Meg and her family

Lots of shopping!