Benjamin Says....

Benjamin watches a lot of Minecraft videos on youtube and is pretty better informed about pop culture than any of the rest of us. He also picks up on phrases and is adept at using them correctly in conversation. A couple of recent favorites:

To me as we discussed what Julia might choose to eat for dinner: "I reckon Julia will choose sushi."

To Andrew as he was eating this plate of french fries with short rib gravy (which were delicious): "You're totally going to take that stack down, Dad!"

Surprise!!!

What could evoke this reaction from Julia?

A trip to California! We gave the kids the news that we will be spending a week in San Francisco and Mendocino in May. To say they were thrilled would be a slight understatement! We can't wait!!

Field Trip: J&W Culinary Museum

We recently discovered a small Rhode Island treasure, the Johnson and Wales Culinary Museum. Unfortunately, it's going to be closing to the public this week. So we were thrilled to get a glimpse before the doors close!

sitting in the diner car, chillin with friends

what'll you have?

order up!

The Italian Mr. Potato from Federal Hill!

Beach Treasures

60º in February!! And sunny! The outdoors is calling...

"Can we go hunting for seaglass?" asks the 8 year old.

"Sure!" say the parents.

Hop into the car and 20 minutes we're exploring the pier by the Narragansett sea wall! This is why I love Rhode Island... one of the reasons anyway!

And it was a successful outing! Ben found this treasure. He and Julia decided it was the top of an old ink well.

'

And Julia claimed it was the best sea glass hunting day ever! She found a piece of red (very rare apparently) and blue (which was her goal for the day when we starting out) along with plenty of green and clear. The pieces are tiny but still beautiful.

We headed off to lunch and then we hit another spot, Moonstone Beach, which we had never been to before. The beach was beautiful, a little windier and cooler but quiet with clear, blue water and gorgeous rounded stones. Unfortunately, the tide had come in and the best sea glass areas were covered but we found a few pieces and decided that it would certainly be worth another trip!

Field Trip: Boston Science Museum

An extra special surprise for Julia's birthday week - a trip to the Boston Science museum, complete with Dad, a Magic Treehouse Planetarium show, an exhibit on Da Vinci's inventions, and an exhibit on chocolate! It was a hit!

First exhibit was simple machines on the playground and in the park where Julia and Ben both tested how fast they could run.

Next up, the chocolate exhibit! Yum. Except there was no chocolate to eat... we had to remedy that later!

Hands-on time - building our own version of a "claw machine" that you would find in an arcade.

And we were geologists in the Discovery Center!

The Reader

This made my heart flutter! Julia's first car trip where she chose to read a book and ended up getting so caught up in it that she read the whole thing! 

Wheeeee!!!

Some of our snow finally stuck around long enough for us to get some good sledding in!