Boston

The week after Christmas, the Mr. and I decided we were long overdue for a visit to the Temple, so we decided to take a day trip down to Boston!  We and every other person in New England!  Wow, was it crowded!!  But oh, so fun!

I drove the Mr. and children to the T station, then headed back to the temple.  The Mr. and children took the T to the Boston Children's Museum (pretty much the happiest / most stimulating place on earth, in my opinion!  Disneyland has got nothing on the Boston Children's Museum!  Truly.)  They arrived just as it opened.  The downside: There were probably more people there than live in the entire state of Maine - standing room only, and lots of lines.  The upside: the kids still had a GREAT time!

Her smile cracks me up!

I had an beautiful time at the temple (much longer than we had originally planned but you just can't put a time limit on your visit - especially when we only make it down once a month!), and then took the T out to them at the Children's Museum.  Together, we walked across town (over a mile!) to the Science museum (to 'see the city' but also to save the $3.40 train fare - that's how frugal we are! :) ).  It was a fun, but COLD and long, walk, and we were thrilled to finally arrive at the Boston Museum of Science around 3pm.  (The second happiest place on earth.  Really.)  We had a little sack lunch dinner and then made our way through the crowds to some of our favorite exhibits.  We were able to see an incredible lightning show which thrilled us all (except Wiggles, who kept her hands over her ears and kept asking if it was over....though she quietly sat through the whole 20 min nevertheless!)  The children had fun putting a 'body' together, looking at baby chicks hatching from eggs, doing science experiments, flying space shuttles....we had a blast!  Of course, when the museum closed and we had to leave, the children insisted that the past 4 hours had not been NEARLY long enough and, of course, they are right.  You could probably spend a week there and not see everything.  But we will return soon.

Angel is trying to create an image of herself, carrying the earth.

All in all, a very successful day.  I'm SO grateful for the days the Mr. has off, because I just haven't had the courage yet to brave Boston (and the long drive and the T travel) by myself with all 3 children.  Maybe someday.  But it was wonderful to have a family day!  We really enjoy living so near to such a neat city!

Flashback - A.C. Gilbert Children's Museum

If you live in SLC, Utah and you visit Oregon frequently, you should definitely invest in a Discovery Gateway Museum Pass! My Mom got us one for Christmas last year and we LOVED using it at the Discovery Gateway Museum in SLC! When we got to Oregon, we were THRILLED to learn that our pass also got us in to OMSI and A.C. Gilbert Children's Museum for FREE! We couldn't believe it! Needless to say, we had LOTS of (FREE!) fun in Oregon!

If you've never been to the A.C. Gilbert Museum, you are missing out! They have an entire room devoted to making bubbles....you can build a bubble around yourself (as shown below), make a bubble connecting you and another person, build a tunnel bubble over your head....and more!

One of my favorite rooms was the "BODY" room - you enter through the mouth! You get to experience how different parts of the body work - joints, ears, stomach, etc! Very fun way to learn!

Tea in Asia is always fun!
And three aspiring actors (dressed as toucans) put on a lovely show....with the assistance of their crazy uncle, of course!
For some reason, sitting on the GIANT chair terrified Wiggles - though she is usually clamoring out of reach to the highest height she can find...

Of course, after a long day of fun, the kids were WORN OUT! At least we were channeling their energy into productive activities!! :)

Flashback - OMSI

OMSI is seriously one of my FAVORITE places on earth! (And they aren't even paying me to say that!) If you ever go to Oregon, CHECK IT OUT!!! It has MORE than you could ever see in one day - and the kids section alone is enough to entertain all 3 of my children for an entire day!

We thoroughly enjoyed the insect and reptile lab, making crafts, playing in the sand, the huge 'miracle of life' display which shows the progression of an embryo to fetus to birth, the dementia/alzheimers display, the dinosaur section....and then we parked ourselves in the 'kidzone' for the rest of the trip! (Next time we'll go downtstairs or across the hall...)


Wiggles could not figure out how this ball was "floating"! She would put the ball on the tube, watch (mouth gaping open) as it "floated", then try to grab it quickly, as if to 'trick' it into giving up it's secret. For the life of her, she could not figure it out! It was hilarious to watch her stew over it - it's the longest I've ever seen her stand in one place (honestly!), she went back several times, and she spent longer at that one exhibit than any other place in the museum!
All the kids enjoyed the water table! It's amazing how long it holds their attention - I would get SO much done if I had one of these at my house!

























I watched the cutest little chipmunks gathering acorns for the winter! :)




And, of course, this little gal drove off with my heart! How did I come to be so lucky, to be the mother of such beautiful children?