Staycation:

THE WRAP-UP

Not pictured:

An amazing trip to the Museum of Science

The Liquid Fireworks in Reading

Having four friends over on Saturday

Making ice cream on Sunday afternoon

Ian had a great time consulting the chart...

And, of course, the whole reason we took our staycation was to celebrate.

My baby turned five on Sunday.

It's hard to believe, that's for sure.

Such a big, thoughtful, kind, intelligent and caring boy.

Parting Staycation Thoughts?

If you have the chance? Do it.

We laughed, ate, played, and truly enjoyed each other's company

without the stress of being on a vacation.

There was no needing a-vacation-from-our-vacation.

There was no need for a "recovery day" because we were jet-lagged or over-traveled.

It. Was. Awesome.

Staycation:

DAY 4

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Swimming in a Hotel

Late Thursday morning, we parked at Alewife, hopped on the T and got off at Harvard Square. Ian loves riding the T, and when faced with the decision between "find-metered-parking-in-Cambridge" and "park-at-Alewife-and-take-the-T," it was a pretty easy choice.

Taking cues from previous rides on more crowded trains,

Ian insisted upon standing during our ride.

If you're local and you've never been to the HMNH, go.

It. Is. Awesome.

We had a fantastic afternoon and LOOOOOVED it.

Um, I really wish you could have been there when Ian turned a corner and saw the Pteranodon skeleton.

There might have been jumping and giddy laughter.

Ian liked it, too. =)

Further glee was experienced when we found the Pliosaur.

It's Ian's favorite marine reptile.

Ian has a favorite marine reptile. He'll tell you so.

And it's a pliosaur.

Heaven. Heaven. Heaven. Heaven.

I love me a man who wears a baby.

Annnnnnnnnd, the obligatory Ian-in-Harvard-Yard shot.

You know, so we can compare his five year-old on-campus shot

with his 18 year-old-Harvard-Freshman-shot.

Blake is so smart and perceptive.

He also insisted upon holding the pole on our ride back to Alewife.

Okay.

So what you need to know here is that

"swimming at a hotel"

means

"going to a water park and having the time of our lives at a hotel."

We went to a hotel in Danvers that has an entire water park.

It was an enormous amount of fun, it was.

...and here's the only shot of me in a bathing suit I'll give ya.

About 2 hours into our water play, Blake fell asleep.

Sitting up.

In a pool

So I got dressed and took him back to our hotel room.

Joe and Ian stayed for another 2 hours.

(side note: Joe and Ian did another 2 hours the next morning)

Staycation:

Day 3

Making Root Beer and Sledding.

Joe got a root beer-making kit from my parents for Christmas.

And this was the perfect time to pull it out.

Joe and Ian had a blast....and they've been enjoying it ever since!

Later that afternoon, the two big boys headed out for some sledding.

(Local folks, we go to St. Margaret's in Burlington for some EXCELLENT sledding)

Fun was had by all!

Staycation:

DAY 2

Geocaching and Baking with Mom.

Soooo.....you'll have to forgive the lack of geocaching pictures.

You'll also have to forgive the lack of pictures for days 5, 6, and 8.

The camera wasn't always there.

But you'll get the point. Right?

Ian's wanted to make Valentine Cookies, so we did.

And they were AWESOME.

(This is my sugar cookie recipe. It's amazing.)

Also? It wouldn't be a vacation without some food from the Thai Diner.

Masaman Curry, Chicken Satay, Spring Rolls.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

STAYCATION:

DAY 1

As you'll recall, the itinerary for today was:

Make Sock Puppets (check)

Go Out For Hot Cocoa (oops...moved to Tuesday)

Choose A Pet Fish (check)

I'd say that two outta three ain't bad.

Today was pretty packed--Ian had a dentist appointment this morning that had been rescheduled not once, but twice due to odious amounts of snow...and Blake had physical therapy. Side note: We've officially reached The Ugly Part Of Winter where the snow loses all of its pristine-ity (just made up that one) and becomes brown and gross and awful. As for the account of Ian's dental visit, I'm proud to report no cavities, no "watches," and many praises from the dentist (which led to an enormous ego boost for me, the-woman-who-is-hyper-vigilant-about-Ian's-dental-hygiene).

I'm already feeling nostalgic for this week. I'm watching the time creep by and know that the week will slip away all too quickly. Ian hasn't been this happy and downright giddy...maybe ever? (And that's saying something, because when it comes to the Happy-And-Giddy Department, Ian's the president.)

And before we begin....Bridget, Joe says this picture is for vous:

P.S. Read Bridget's blog. You won't regret it.

P.P.S. So as to keep this from being a regrettable inside joke,

this photo is an homage to this post.

Here's proof that our day was far from sunshine and rainbows.

On our way home from the store, we heard a strange noise in the back seat...and then Ian started complaining about a smell. For no real reason, Blake decided to throw up. The good news was that he wasn't fluish and ill, which was proven by the bad news: He played in the sick the whole way home.

We did, indeed, purchase a fish today. Ian was beyond ecstatic, and contrary to my own personal feelings on the subject of pets, I actually think that this is going to be a good experience for him. (Local friends, we might be hitting you up for some fish-sitting in the future.) We chose a betta fish that Ian immediately named

Firetruck Matt Jackson.

Firetruck, because he's red (and because Ian knows how to both read and spell the word)...and I'm not sure where Matt came from. But we're in full support of Ian's naming conventions. Because he's so awesome.

In the waning hour of our evening, we settled in at the kitchen table with our Sock Puppet Making Supplies. Have you made a sock puppet lately? If not, you should. It's all kinds of fun for all ages. Tomorrow morning is our Sock Puppet Show. Wanna come?

This is my puppet.

Her name is Pretzel.

Ian giggled the entire time.

This is his Sock Puppet: Natalie.

Joe is particularly proud that his sock puppet,

Beauregard, has a goatee.

The happy Sock Family:

Natalie, Pretzel, Beauregard.

On the docket for tomorrow?

Geocaching and Baking.

(And maybe some hot cocoa...but we might save that for sledding day)

Stay Tuned!

Enter:

STAYCATION

We've been sitting on this for a while.

But today was the day.

In thinking about what we wanted to do for Ian for his 5th birthday (fifth!?),

it all came down to one thing:

Ian hates it when Joe goes to work on Monday mornings.

So we thought it would be fun for Joe to take Ian's Birthday Week off...

...but we didn't tell Ian.

Until today.

Today, we whipped out our 'Ian's Staycation' chart

(I'm geeky like that)

And gave him more than 20 choices of things we can do this week.

(I think Joe looks so professorial, don't you?)

And Ian made his choices:

Monday

Make sock puppets

Go out for hot cocoa

Buy a pet fish (eeee!)

{dentist appointment for Ian}

{physical therapy for Blake}

Tuesday

Bake with Mom

Go Geocaching with Dad

Wednesday

Make root beer

Go sledding

Thursday

Harvard Museum of Natural History

Liquid Fireworks and Ice Cream

Friday

Museum of Science

Swimming and spending the night at a fancy hotel

Saturday

Visit the library

Have 2 friends over to play

Sunday

Make ice cream

Play board games

Birthday Dinner!

Monday

Planetarium visit

Go snow shoeing

Joe and I have been looking forward to this for months...It's been hard keeping a secret from Ian for so long--especially on those sad Monday mornings when Ian gets weepy that his dad is going to work.....and OH! Side note: Ian's birthday dinner request? Pancakes, homemade pizza, cucumbers and broccoli. That's my boy.

What does 70 inches of snowfall look like?

Hi. Yes, we got some snow. A bit. Just a few feet. Logan Airport is reporting 70 inches to date, and after some periods of settling/melting/refreezing, we have 3-4 feet at any given spot in the yard. Our piles are much higher than that, of course, since my big manly muscles excel in hurling snow vertically to allow vehicles and persons to pass unhampered. Perhaps today is the day, and this post is the post for collecting our annual official Snowpile Contest entries.

I'll post additional pictures later. For now, let these give a glimpse of the Jackson Household during the Winter 2011. Here we see the back porch. Should you be interested, notice that I haven't disturbed the table behind the recycle bin, and the snow has accumulated about twice as tall as the bin right next to the house.



And here we see the external view. You can tell which side of the house keeps the thermostat up a little higher than the other. Can you tell, left or right? I'll give you a hint: We live on the left, and we keep the house chilly at night. Shoot, I spoiled it.



Yes, we have icicles. Real ones. Not those stringy light ones. I'm hoping our little ice dam doesn't turn into a little roof leak which could lead to a little water in the bedroom. That would be a little bit of a hassle. For now, I am assuming that the ice along the walls are just evidence of the house that our house "breathes" and that our warmer 70% humidity indoors is leaking out to the chilly dry outdoor air.



The neighbors minibarn serves as a decent snow-gauge for the location of the official snowpile. BUT, and this is a BIG BUT, since the winter is only half over and there is a ton of snow in piles on all sides around the culdesac, it remains to be seen if the town will send a front end loader again to combine the piles into one solid mass of snow at the edge of the forest, or whether they will deploy dump trucks to haul snow away like they did that one year. If I had my way, we'd get all the snow in one pile and wait to see if it lasts until June. I'll be sure to send an update when some action is taken as far as further clean-up.



Ian really likes to lick the snow, but I remind him that unless it is fresh-fallen and on the top of the old snow, it's probably not very healthy to eat. Snow gets tainted with "foreign substances." (What? Canadian snow?) For example, here we see our poopy-looking icicles on our house because the handyman didn't get around to clearing our gutters before winter. Ick. Not a pretty sight.


I have really enjoyed driving the Outback through the winter, and have seen days where I am the only one in the office on a blustery day. Weird. Though, I live the closest to the office of all my coworkers and the roads have always had at least a cursory plowing before I've gone out.
The Outback isn't really that small of a car, but it sure seems puny compared to what we've accumulated next to our sidewalk and driveway!


This year's snowfall makes the previous years' accumulation look like a layer of frost.
Snowpile Contest anyone? Here's the traditional view from the front porch. Again, it'll be tough to gauge at this point, since who knows what the city will do to clean up the culdesac between now and spring. I highly doubt they'll remove the pile from next to the minibarn, though.



So have at it, give your best guess. But beware, Molly has a knack for snow-melt-estimation, so if your guess comes in after hers, you'll probably want to stick close to her guess.
For your review here are some links to previous years piles.
2010 pictures (March 30 Joy, with Molly & Shara close behind) were from Feb 2 with St. Patrick's review.
2009 pictures (April 7, Molly & Valerie) were from Jan 31.
2008 pictures (April 18, Molly) first came Dec 14, 2007, but were updated Jan 15, 2008.