Exercise is not on my to do list

I wish it was, but to me there is nothing more boring than exercising purely for the sake of exercising. It's great when people enjoy running outside or on a piece of gym equipment for hours a week but it's not for me. I do make an exception for group classes though, those are fun.

There are three times in my adult life when I was in the best shape:

1. Undergraduate college when I lived on campus and spent all day walking from dorm to class to class to class, up (outdoor) stairs and down with a backpack full of books.

2. My first post-college job when I biked 1.5 miles one way to get there. Biking 3 miles a day, 5 days a week, even though the route was flat, was great exercise and my body was happy.

3. After finishing graduate school my husband and I bought our first house in the city center. I walked to work, I walked Pepper, I walked to yoga class, we walked to restaurants and festivals. Walking as my primary mode of transportation was great. I didn't have a backpack on my back anymore, though eventually I did have Big Bro strapped to me in his Baby Bjorn. With cute, human-scale, grid networked streets I could do any combination of loops. It was easy and noncommittal (unlike a long, straight country road), with new things to see every block and I was under the protection of street trees and sidewalks.

I think having exercise built into your lifestyle is the best way to go. 

The lifestyle piece is hard right now. Getting out to a group class isn't easy because of bedtime routines and evening meeting obligations, not to mention the drive. Working out with a video in the living room means kids climbing on me or crying to be picked up. Stroller walks are difficult on country roads with 65 pounds of kids overloading the stroller. Biking/walking as a mode of transportation is impractical in our town.

What is a mom of young kids to do? Just screw it until the kids are older? No? Bad idea?

Hmm...

I guess I'll have to put exercise on my to-do list and run on a treadmill when the kids are in bed.

Spring Respite from Kids

It was one of those evenings. Big Bro started wailing inconsolably for no apparent reason other than it was the 5:00 witching hour. He acted out just to get attention then howled even more. I cooked dinner as fast as I could knowing food would improve the situation greatly.

We really did have a fun day. Big Bro's first day back at preschool after spring break, Lil Sis' first day back at music class, Grandma and Grandpa returned from Florida, it was gorgeous outside so we played and went to the local plant nursery. A good day all in all, but over stimulation for little ones fries their circuits and inevitably leads to meltdowns.

At the nursery we had bought asparagus roots and I really wanted to get them into the ground. Asparagus isn't vulnerable to frosts like other garden plants so it's ok to plant them now even during this chilly spring. Spring! What a welcoming thought. Planting these roots was an affirmation that summer really will get here.

My husband and I divided and conquered to get the laundry switched and the kids out the door. Then I started working on planting the asparagus while the kids tried to "help."

"Go help, Daddy!" I said through gritted teeth in the calmest voice I could muster. I was tired too and my patience was worn thin. After several reminders they did leave me alone. I dug the asparagus trenches in peace. Set the spidery looking roots into their holes, then covered them back up being careful to mark them with sticks so I wouldn't mistake the temperamental asparagus plants with weeds this summer.

 

The best part was that the kids were far away from me playing on their playground with Daddy and Grandma. Sometimes a mama just needs some time to herself!

Big Bro saw me watering so insisted on helping, which was alright. He's pretty good at following directions when he wants to.

Then Lil Sis wanted in on the action too. She was not good about following directions. I fought her on it for a while because we were sharing the same watering can. My own tiredness and frustration was getting the best of me. Finally I put my "smart mom" hat back on and let her do whatever she wanted with the watering can while I got a bucket to do the real watering with.

Although it wasn't as much of a solo exercise as I had hoped, it was a nice welcome to spring and the coming gardening season, and a short respite from tired, cranky kids.

Cowboys, Indians and Action

There are two recent events I wanted to bring to your attention. It always makes me happy to see large scale events to protect the climate and average people. I wish I could join them!

1. During the week of April 22-27 a group of ranchers, farmers, and tribal communities from along the Keystone XL pipeline route called "The Cowboy and Indian Alliance" marched and rode horses to the White House to protest the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry dirty tar sands oil through the United States to the Gulf of Mexico where it would be refined and shipped to Asian markets.

The pipeline threatens air, water, climate and tribal rights of all the people in the path of the pipeline. It passes over the Ogallala Aquifer, which is one of the largest aquifers in the world and supplies water to 82% of the people living in that region which covers 8 states. It also supplies 1/3 of the water used in the US for crop irrigation. An oil spill in this already overused and stressed aquifer would have devastating results.

2. Would you take 8 months off from your normal life to walk 3,000 miles from Los Angeles to Washington DC? That's exactly what 235 people from 36 states and 6 countries are doing. They began their journey on March 1st in Los Angeles and will end in Washington DC on November 1st. They are walking in The Great March for Climate Action and their goal is to change the heart and mind of the American people, our elected leaders and people across the world to act now to address the climate crisis.

Want to join the march? You can still apply. Can't march but want to support those marching? Make a donation. Visit climatemarch.org .

The Climate March Route

Start of the March in Los Angeles on March 1, 2014

 

Living the Dream: A Playdate for Grown Ups

I had all of Saturday to spend with other adults and I didn't even have a babysitter!

"How is this possible? Is this a joke?" you may ask.

Nope. It's all true!

 

"How did this happen????" you ask.

Well, let me tell you...my husband organized a fantasy movie draft. It operates much like Fantasy Sports Leagues, but instead of auctioning on which real life players will be on your fantasy team, we were like movie executives bidding to win summer movies. Here are the movies I won and will be tracking how much they make:

1. Transformers
2. Sex Tape
3. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (opening weekend)
4. Step Up All In
5. The Hundred Foot Journey
6. Let's Be Cops

Will I win? Probably not, but it doesn't matter. It was still fun to hang out with adults, peers!, for most of a day. I can't even remember when I last did that!

We had seven adults in the auction, which included two married couples. Between us we had two 7 year olds, three 4 year olds, and 2 two year olds. The kids did amazingly well entertaining each other without fighting. The only thing we had to juggle was helping the littlest kids go up and down the stairs repeatedly between the playroom and the living room. We adults were corralled in the kitchen to have our own playdate in (mostly) peace. I see more grown up playdates in our future.

Big Bro & Take Your Kid to Work Day

Today was Take Your Kid to Work Day at Dada of Ma'at's work. I wasn't there, but here is what I gathered from stories from Dad and Big Bro.

Big Bro was so excited he was practically giddy. He ran right into the building where he got his badge (it's a secure building), a goodie bag filled with swag, and a rubbery, squishy sunshine that looks part stress ball, part yo-yo. From there they got their breakfast in the cafeteria. Big Bro kept calling it his favorite birthday pie, aka apple pie. It wasn't really pie, but it was a pastry. He ate his treat in Dada's office with his artwork that he made as a backdrop. He did some of the mazes found in an activity book from his goodie bag.

After breakfast Big Bro and Dada went to the Science Room. First they played with a giant air bazooka made from a 5 gallon bucket to make paper cups fly around.Then they saw the Efficiency Vermont booth where they had lots of different kinds of lights for the kids to see and switch on and off.

Then "Firedog" (a man in a fire dog suit) was walking around. Big Bro had been running around giddily since he arrived. He was so excited he went right up to Firedog and gave him a high five.  Then they played some of the 9 hole mini golf course was set up on the other side of the cafeteria.

Next came bottle cap art. It was quite a cool idea to use different colored bottle caps to make a pretty picture of a flower. Big Bro was very excited that he "got to glue stuff!"

After a quick trip back to the office, Dada and Big Bro went outside to see a firetruck and a police car.

As we were preparing Big Bro for going to work with Dada we pointed out that it would be a lot like one of his books, "Caillou Goes to Work." In the book 4 year old Caillou goes to work with his mom for the morning. At one point the phone rings and the mother says the phone is for Caillou. It's Daddy calling to say hello!

Coincidentally, I was waiting in the cul-de-sac to pick up Big Bro and couldn't reach Dada of Ma'at on his cellphone like I normally do, so called his work phone instead. The office phone was ringing just as they returned from seeing the trucks. Dada picked up and happily told Big Bro, "It's for you! Just like when Caillou went to work!" Big Bro loved it.

As Big Bro walked out the front door with Dada of Ma'at he looked so tiny, but he was so happy. I picked him up early so we could go to a birthday party at the local arcade. He had a great time at the party, but on the way home he just asked when he could go back to Daddy's work and stay for the whole time. Then when Dada of Ma'at came home hours later he again asked when he could go back to Daddy's work.

I think he liked it!

The funniest part was as he got in the car he told me matter-of-factly "there were a lot of kids there who had to go to the dentist and they have their own dentist there."

Dada of Ma'at and I were both bewildered until Dada realized he was actually referring to the long line of kids waiting to get their faces painted!

Pete and Re-Pete

"Look at her doing everything Big Bro does," our pediatrician marveled. "You could call them Pete and Re-Pete."

It's true that Lil Sis idolizes her big brother. They are so much alike. She has adopted many of his frequent sayings and behaviors for better or worse. Four-year-old sass just sounds funny coming out of a two-year-old's mouth. Some of the Big Bro-isms that Lil Sis has adopted are:

1. "You be the mommy doggie, I be the baby doggie and Big Bro is big kid doggie." I still don't really know how to play this game other than declaring that we are playing it and maybe woofing a couple times.

2. "Mommy...something to eat and something to drink, watch a show!" Straight from Big Bro's play book where he wakes up early each morning and makes these demands. 

3. "Wrestle?" and then try to jump on Dada.

4. "Noooo!" In a loud screechy tone followed by a curt "I don't!" when unhappy with what they are expected to do.

5. "Wellll...." another stalling tactic used before making up a long line of excuses why not to do something. Big Bro says "Wellll, actually...." We shall see if Lil Sis adds the 'actually' part.

I'm sure there are others but it's late and I can't think anymore. More will come to me tomorrow.

I'm Glad I'm Old

"I'm glad I'm old." the man said with a resigned smile. I was almost finished giving him my spiel about Citizens Climate Lobby, carbon fee and dividend legislation, and climate change while attending a tabling event at the University of Vermont for Earth Day.

It's funny how whenever scientists come out with an estimate of when some of the worst effects of climate change will hit the first thing people do is calculate how old they will be. I will admit, I share that guy's sentiment sometimes and feel relieved that I'm not just starting out my life. I bet many of you do too. But I have kids. I have a niece, nephews, little cousins, and friends who are just starting out, or recently finished college, or are still in K-12 school. I have to care, WE have a responsibility to care and act.

This Earth Day I went to the Climate Convention at the University of Vermont. I went with a clipboard to talk to people about Citizens Climate Lobby. How it gives me hope. How it gives people concrete steps to take to chip away at Washington DC's refusal to act.

At the tabling fair I was less than impressed with some of the students I met. Campus Eco Reps who only thought as large as the campus and their answer to everything was to get more compost bins and teach people how to compost. Composting is important and related to climate change, and it's good to start with the basics. The Eco Reps didn't know much about climate change though, so weren't really concerned. THE ECO REPS WEREN'T CONCERNED BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T KNOW! If Eco Reps are uninformed....ouch.

Then I met students from VSTEP (the VT Student Environmental Program) who wholeheartedly agreed that they are concerned about climate change. One student in particular was especially interested in carbon tax and sounds like he will join CCL. So there's that at least.

Then I went to the speaking event at 1:00. The main focus of the event was to raise awareness against fracking in particular, and fight against Vermont Gas' proposed pipeline to carry fracked natural gas through Addison County and underneath Lake Champlain to Ticonderoga, NY.

Speakers included 350 Vermont, Rising Tide Vermont, Greenpeace, and VPIRG. One of Senator Bernie Sanders' staffers came and read a statement he prepared on climate change and the bill he is co-sponsoring with Senator Barbara Boxer.

From L-R: UVM event organizer, 350VT, Bernie Sanders' office, 350VT, Greenpeace, VPIRG, UVM Prof

It was the young speakers who were the most inspiring by far. Some of the most memorable points are below. My paraphrasing isn't as inspiring as what the speakers actually said, but you will get the flavor of it all.There was lots of whooping and cheering, as well as booing and hissing for all the right reasons.

• Activism is a step beyond hope. Activism means doing something proactive to get what you want.
• 350 VT tried to get a bill passed to Divest State funds from fossil fuels. It was voted down in committee by a vote of 3-2. 350 Vermont plans to try again next year. Call your state legislators and the State Treasurer and urge them to divest. The State Treasurer means well, and accepts climate change is real, but is still very business as usual in her approach.
• Earth Day began in 1970 and sparked a big movement that led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. By 1990 Earth Day got really big, but it was being sponsored largely by oil and gas companies. These companies shifted the focus to individuals and what they can do to reduce their own environmental impact while glossing over the systemic problems that have led to the continuous destruction of the planet. When Exxon tells you they believe every day is Earth Day, something is not right with the world.
• Coming to an Earth Day event is an act of optimism. No individual has power to take on the systemic problems we face, but together we can make things change.
• The Rising Tide speaker spoke about how as a child she obsessed about reducing her own environmental impact, sorting trash to make sure to get out the recyclables, knowing the types of plastic by sight, taking cold showers, etc. Then she realized that those individual actions won't do anything on a global scale, it was only making her feel a little better about environmental problems. She realizes now that she has to fight the system that puts profits and short-term benefits above all else. She's studying environmental engineering as a result.
• Vermont Gas, the company trying to build that pipeline under Lake Champlain, despite its name is not a Vermont company. It is part of a multinational company trying to build natural gas pipelines all over.
• The students participating in this rally didn't cause global warming, but we have a responsibility to deal with it
• At least Bernie is concerned about climate change and introduced a bill along with Senator Barbara Boxer that would price carbon. (CCL doesn't think his proposal will do enough, but we can work with him on that!)

My own conclusions:

1. I had a hard time finding Earth Day events to participate in. This was disheartening. Have people forgotten Earth Day and what it is supposed to mean? We need Earth Day now more than ever.
2. We need more young people in political offices, young people are more likely to recognize that we are in a brave new world and need to see everything through the lense of climate change and make decisions accordingly.
3. We need to retain HOPE, and then take it further and ACT.

Signs stuck all over campus

Photo from BFP on 4/23/14
Look it's me on the far right in a red jacket!

Our Worst Maple Season Yet

We have been doing our own home-sugaring operation for 4 years now.  Easter Sunday, April 20th, we stopped our maple sugaring operation for the year. What a strange year it's been for sugaring. This may just be our worst maple sugaring year yet.

Normally we put in our maple taps into our 6 maple trees in mid-February. The sap flows well with nighttime temperatures below freezing and daytime temperatures above freezing. Typically by early April we start to see warmer days (plus getting tired of boiling) and wrap up by the first week or so of the month.

This year we put in our taps by mid-February as usual. We had one good run and got a really good first batch of maple syrup. Then came another polar vortex which froze the sap in the buckets and sent the trees back into hibernation.

In March we had a couple decent days for sap runs, but we had a few batches that turned out dark and tasted really bad. We're not sure exactly why. Perhaps it was a storage issue, perhaps freezing and thawing sap while they still hung on the trees was enough to doom the batch, or maybe it was a problem with our low-tech boiling method. Regardless, we haven't made much good syrup this year.

Today the sap in the buckets looked cloudy so Dada of Ma'at dumped them out and pulled the taps out of the trees. The season is over, and it wasn't a particularly good one thanks to weird weather. Thankfully we have some syrup leftover from last years amazing production year.

It's not just a bummer for my family's little operation. Hits to the maple production due to weird weather and climate change hurts Vermont's economy. Just this year, Peter Welch (who participates in VT's Safe Climate Caucus) acknowledged that climate change is creating uncertainty for Vermont's maple producers. "The longer we wait to address it, the more difficult it will be to reverse course." Watch the video below to hear his message on climate change and maple production.

 

¿Legos y Mega Bloks? ¡Muy bueno!

I recently wrote about wanting my kids to have a non-commercial childhood, and I really do believe that, but I also don't want to deprive them of popular culture entirely. With most things in life, what we really need is balance.

Lil Sis has been really into Dora the Explorer for quite a while. She calls the both the show and the character Boots the Monkey "Ooh Ooh ah ah!" She even says it with the same intonation that Boots himself uses. It's very cute, but I digress…

If you read my Jumping off the Brandwagon post, you know that I didn't buy her Dora bedding because I don't want her room to look like an advertisement for a certain franchise. Even so, I still wanted to get her something of her favorite TV show because I knew it would make her happy.

In a box of hand-me-downs I found a Dora T-shirt that was just the right size. We gave it to her on the morning of her second birthday. She promptly got her breakfast on it. Ah, to be 2!

I also browsed the internet for Dora paraphernalia worthy of being her birthday present. I found some beanie babies and other stuffed versions of Dora and her friends. They were kind of expensive and wasn't convinced that she would play with him all that much.

Then I found Dora the Explorer Mega Bloks. We got her an adorable set with Dora's house that you can reconfigure anyway you want, plus furniture, a Dora figurine and a figurine of Dora's lizard-friend "Issa." We got a second set with an RV type van because it came with Dora's best friend Boots, (a.k.a. "Ooh Ooh ah ah!") the van can also be reconfigured. It's figurines and dolls, playing house, and building things all in one!

As another big bonus, Mega Bloks are compatible with Lego Duplo. We have a lot of Lego Duplo, so now Lil Sis' Dora adventures can get even more creative.

Summer Camp Excitement

Now that Big Bro is 4 it opens up a world of possibilities for summer camps. I mentioned the idea to him and he seemed excited, partially because he loves the Berenstain Bears Go to Camp book. The latest issue of KidsVT has a camp guide for 2014. I've been looking through it and getting excited about the possibilities. There are so many fun to try for big and little kids. I don't even know if half these camps were around when I was growing up, but I wish they were.

The selection of camps for four-year-olds is more limited than the big kids. There are some cool options though. There are adventure camps at Sugarbush, creative camps at Flynn Arts, gymnastic camps, Science camps, music camps, film making camps, and aviation camp for teens, a camp at the Humane Society to learn about animals, wilderness adventure camps, farming camps, Irish dance school, sculling camp, sleep-away camps and more! The options are endless! 

I really loved the camp I went to when I was 13 and 14 years old. I went on to be a camp counselor when I was 18 and 19 at a Girl Scout camp. I hope my kids will enjoy camp as much as I did. For now, it is exciting to enroll Big Bro in a half day, week long camp. Hopefully his cousin will be in it with him and it will be the start of a wonderful childhood of summer camp.

Check out the guide for yourself!

Pepper's Diagnosis

The kids and I took Pepper to the vet the other day for her annual checkup. I wasn't expecting anything eventful would happen, except for maybe some light shaming about how her weight continues to climb.

We have blamed her weight gain on her compost pile raids and maybe because the kids feed her at the table sometimes. It's an issue we have discussed at past visits too. In response, we fortified the compost bin security and told the kids not to give her snacks. Even so, she found a way to breach the compost pile fence and between January and April she gained 6 pounds! She now weighs 76 pounds but should weigh more like 60 pounds. How is this possible? She did get a new food perhaps that was the culprit.

"You know," the vet said, "her coat looks a little duller and less full and I would expect. I would like to test her thyroid function."

Turns out that low thyroid function in dogs can cause weight gain, give them low-energy, and a personality like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh.

"I was just thinking the other day that she acts like Eeyore!" I exclaimed. "I thought it was because the kids take up so much attention so she feels neglected."

Sure enough, the test came back positive. Basically the results tell us that Pepper's brain is screaming at her thyroid to produce the right hormones. Her thyroid responds with mostly silence.

So my puppy is now a going to be a chronic medication taker. She will take a pill every 12 hours to replace those hormones her thyroid doesn't make. I will let you know if she starts shedding the weight and more importantly, if her energy level picks up.

An Easy Fit

I joined another Board

Perhaps I'm nuts

But this one seemed really important

This one deals with my son's preschool

A school I will be involved with for the next 3 years

4 years counting this school year that will be winding down on a couple months

2 years for Big Bro, and 2 years for Lil Sis

This Board feels really comfortable

It relates directly to my everyday existence as a mom

My fellow board members are almost all women in my age bracket

They are all working with little kids, or have little kids of their own

An easy fit

In my first meeting tonight I shared my thoughts and was well received 

Glad to have a voice

Glad to see the inner workings

And I can't wait to see how the school will grow and improve

Years of Living Dangerously

Have you heard about the documentary series Years of Living Dangerously?

James Cameron, Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger are executive producers of the series, which focuses on understanding climate change with a star-studded cast of correspondents. It airs on Showtime but the first episode was made available on YouTube. I watched it last night so here is a summary:

Palm Oil - Indonesia

Harrison Ford learns about how deforestation is contributing to climate change.

Deforestation contributes 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions annually, that's as much as all the transportation in the world produces!

Palm oil is in products found in every grocery aisle in a supermarket. Even Ben and Jerry's ice cream contains it, and lots of your other favorite snacks and toiletries: Cheez-its, Oreos, soaps, etc. The problem is when palm oil comes from sources that produce sent in an irresponsible way.

Indonesia is the worst country in terms of deforestation due to the burning of jungle that is replaced by palm oil trees. The Forestry Ministry is corrupt and lets industry illegally slash and burn forest despite lip-service to the contrary. Doesn't even protect its national park.

Texas

Don Cheadle learns about the drought in Texas. Ranchers have been forced to reduce cattle herds by more than half. Texas is that a 50 year low for its beef herd count.

As a result, meatpacking plants are closing leaving thousands without jobs. People are forced to find work in other cities and are subject to foreclosures on their homes and low wage jobs in cities.

Many people here believe the drought is a natural cycle or an act of God. "God is not a scientist",  "there will be no calamity with the weather."

Cheadle talks to Katharine Hayhoe (an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University who is also an Evangelical Christian) about the evidence showing that the drought is not due to natural cycles. 

Hayhoe is providing a bridge between science and religion. She says there is no conflict between science and religion--by studying science we are learning what God was thinking when he created the world. 

To those who say "God would never let [climate change] happen" she says, God does let bad things happen, but he also gave us the brains to make good and bad choices.

Like many of us, she gets angry when politicians who know better lie out right saying that the climate is not changing. It clearly is and human activity is the cause.

Syria

Thomas Friedman learns about how drought forced Syrian farmers and country residents into city slums four years before the Arab Spring. Fields had become dry and overcome with naturally-occurring salt.

Data shows how the area around the Mediterranean Sea is getting drier as climate change worsens. Syria is "in the epicenter."

It was the farmers that led the uprising. Commander Abu Khalil calls Syria's uprising a "revolution of freedom" and "the revolution of the hungry." Increased drought from climate change will cause more displacement and conflict to come. We need to be prepared.

Pepper and her Hens

We have had our chickens for just about three years now. They have a big coop that we refer to as the chicken condo, and they have a fenced in yard to protect them from predators. The problem is they have pecked and scratched their yard so that it is nothing but weeds.

Sometimes we would corral Pepper inside and let the chickens be free-range for a short while. Pepper loves to lunge at the chickens when they are up near their fence. She's not doing it to be aggressive, she's doing it because she thinks it's fun.

This Spring after a particularly harsh winter, the chickens looked more longingly at the brown grass beyond the fence than usual, so I let them out. However, instead of corralling  Pepper inside I put her on a leash to see how she would do. She wanted to sniff the chickens but she was being very calm. The chickens never let her get anywhere near them anyway.

The next time I tried it I left Pepper off leash. She still was very calm and didn't bother the chickens. So it looks like they can peacefully coexist free-range on the land afterall.

Brave Big Bro & the Dentist's Drill

Since Big Bro got his first baby teeth, we brushed them with toddler toothpaste. Then I took my daughter to the cleft palette clinic and the dental hygienist Lil Sis saw there said that both kids should use a scrape of fluoride toothpaste. We had noticed that some of Big Bro's front teeth looked a little strange, so quickly made the switch.

Big Bro had his first dentist check up A few months later at age 2.5 when his dental insurance kicked in. The dentist confirmed that there was decalcification, but he could tell we had changed our routine because the decalcification had stopped. Fortunately it was small enough and would not need a dental intervention like fillings. The plan was to do our best and hope we could keep them that way until they were replaced by his adult teeth.

Fast forward to the present. When we took Big Bro to his latest dental appointment they said he needed two fillings. Ack! 

The morning of his appointment came and I was nervous. I didn't know what to tell him or if I should just not tell him anything about what was about. I told him we were going to the dentist but that was it. Big Bro was excited knowing that he would get a prize at the end.

I put on a brave face but my heart was pounding as I stood at the back of that little room while he got prepped in the chair. Would he need a shot a novacaine? How would he react to it all?Thankfully the dentist has a three year old son himself and put us both at ease. Dr. D explained the tools he would use: the Tickler, the Squirter, and Mr. Thirsty (Drill, water pick, and suction). No novacaine was required. 

Both Dr. D and his assistant marveled at what a good patient Big Bro was. They said he did as well as an eight-year-old would and that he was their best patient of the day. It was only the morning but they didn't think they would get a better one all day. Big Bro was so good that instead of filling just one as they planned, they were able to do both in one shot.

Feeling relieved that it was all over and with prizes in hand, Big Bro and I met up with Dada of Ma'at and Lil Sis for Daddy's day off. Hopefully we won't have to do this again. Big Bro seems to be like me though, miss a day of flossing and I'm flirting with dental disaster. Darn mesials.

Daddy's Day Off

After a week of over-engagement with night and weekend meetings galore, Dada of Ma'at decided to take a day off to save me from two more straight days and nights in a row as a solo parent. We decided to go to ECHO--the Lake Ecology Museum.

 

It was a gorgeous, spring-like day. Don't be fooled by the hats on my kids in the picture. They didn't really need them, they just love their hats and are too used to wearing them all the time.

 

We learned about soft shelled turtles. Lil Sis was so into them she pointed at them and talked to them for a good 10 minutes straight. Eventually she was willing to leave the turtles be and check out what Big Bro was doing.

Big Bro had tired of the turtles several minutes earlier and was playing in the magic sand that changes color to make sand creations look like a color coded topographic map: mountain peaks to water and every elevation in between.

Then we traveled on to the touch tank. Big Bro scared a sea anenome back into hiding, and Lil Sis loved petting the sea stars. They both liked watching the hermit crabs.

The next big feature was the watershed table where Lil Sis adopted one of the toy fish and didn't want to give it up. Big Bro was old enough to understand the exhibit better and wanted to find the boards that dam the river.

Next was the activity room where kids can just be kids and play. Both Big Bro and Lil Sis enjoyed playing in the toy boat and fishing with magnetic hooks.

After lunch in the cafe we headed to the Alice and Wonderland special exhibit. There were golf balls to play with where the objective was to guide the balls through various physics experiments into a hole using ramps shaped like flamingo heads.

Taking another scene out of Alice in Wonderland, there was an optical illusion hallway to make you feel like Alice as she grew into a giant. It made the grown ups a little dizzy.

It was such a treat to do something fun as a whole family on a weekday. It made solo parenting that night more tolerable too. Well, except that the kids were up extra late after taking a rare afternoon nap to recover from all the day's excitement.