Back from Bermuda

This family hardly ever takes weeklong vacations. It's my fault. I've been chained to my mouse colony almost since we've been married--can't leave them for more than 3 days. But finally, the papers are almost done and the mouse babysitting duties have significantly decreased, so I can leave them for a whole week. And when one of my summer teaching jobs got canceled and I had two months of flexible schedule, Jim announced that we were going away. Somewhere. For a whole week. But we didn't have much time to plan on such short notice, so we booked a cruise to Bermuda. You can only cruise two places out of Boston: Bermuda and Canada. Not that we don't love Canada, but... So on two weeks of notice we put the cruise on the calendar. I told the kids all the things that would be there and their eyes got bigger and bigger. We packed up and took an Uber car (Jim's new crush) to the cruise terminal. The kids didn't really believe me that it was a boat because it looked like a hotel. We spent the first afternoon exploring the boat and dancing on the pooldeck. Jed was in as soon as they started playing "Gangnam Style". The kid can't walk across the pool deck all week without a hip swivel. They don't really understand the words, though--after a few tries they settled on "Hey, chilly lady!" Find that poor woman a sarong for her shoulders; she can't have mine, the kids are obsessed with it. They were in a singing mood that day. We've been teaching them the Doxology so that they can participate in the singing in church, and took the opportunity to sing it as loud as possible all afternoon all over the boat. Next day was the sail to Bermuda. We took the kids to the kids' pool and water slide area in the morning. Jed is water slides and Gus is calm pool; their swim styles say a lot about their personalities. In the afternoon we took them to kids' club to play. Jed was fine, but in Gus's class they started teaching them circus tricks. Gus couldn't do them straight off, and somebody laughed at him, and then he was just miserable so I picked them up early and we had snack instead. The cruise we went on doesn't have scheduled seating; you can show up whenever you want at the nice restaurants or the buffet. We had eaten the buffet on the first night and wanted to try restaurant for the second night; unfortunately it was "dress-up night" and everyone else wanted to eat in the restaurants too. We waited about 45 minutes for a table and then had ridiculously slow service (I'm quietly wondering if they make this night difficult to encourage people to go to the expensive restaurants later in the week instead). But the kids did well and earned some video games the next day. On the third day we arrived in Bermuda. We started by swimming the kids around in the big pool, then had a late second breakfast. By that time we'd moored and we all headed downtown. Bermuda is in the shape of a fishhook, and the cruise termainal is at the Royal Dockyard which is way at the end. In order to get anywhere more interesting, you have a bus ride of an hour or a ferry ride of 20 minutes. We voted ferry, but it only leaves once an hour. During the wait, Jed discovered that you could see fish in the shallow water. Huge schools of minnows, some bigger fish eating the minnows, and some yellow striped fish we called bumblebee fish. Once we got to Hamilton, the main city, it was HOT and time for lunch. After that we didn't have much exploring time left so we went to a local oceanography museum called BUEI. The kids loved it, we loved it, and everyone should be eating lionfish. When we got back to the boat, they were playing "Gangnam Style" again and Jim rode on down the tiny hallway, taking up all the available space with limbs flying. The kids talked about that all week. After the previous night's debacle we were going to eat at the buffet again, but Gus begged for the nice restaurant because they had excellent macaroni and cheese, so we went to the other, slightly nicer, restaurant. The wait and service were reasonable the rest of the week (enough people were scared off?) and the kids learned that "dressing up" for dinner means putting on a nicer pair of shorts. They did a great job all week having dinner in the restaurants with napkin in lap and behaving (mostly). Jim took them to play the videogames they had earned the previous evening and Jed fell in love with skeeball. Jed loves to hold things in his hot little hands, and skeeball gives you tickets --it's like the game that pays you back! Day four was our only full day in Bermuda. We had hoped to see Crystal Caves, but since it's clear on the other side of the island it just wasn't doable in half a day, so we went to Fort Scaur instead. You can get there by local bus; the driver was a little concerned, since the entrance is 2 blocks from the bus stop and there's no sidewalk. However, the roads are so curvy that traffic doesn't go very fast, and half the traffic are scooters anyhow which take up less space. We taught the kids the meaning of "single file" and came in a back entrance which was thoroughly explored (including a jungle portion which left us shaking off ants and amazed at the armored spiders) before we went into the fort itself. We brushed off our ants and explored the fort. The fort was constructed to protect the Dockyard, and we could see the cruise ship from the top of the hill. It was well maintained and explained, with lots of staircases inside the hill to explore. The last entry in the guest book was 3 days ago, so no large tours for the kids to interfere with, really the perfect size for us. We exited at the main drive and Jim scouted out the nearest bus stop while the kids and I had some munchies, and then we headed back for lunch. That afternoon we took a fantastic tour. The first part was in the open air of a small boat, hearing about Bermuda and some of its history. We passed a feeding ground for visiting sea turtles and saw a couple really well as they came up to breathe. Then we went to a shipwreck site (the ocean surrounding Bermuda is covered with shipwrecks) and gathered in the bottom of the boat to see the site and the fish through glass. This was Jed's favorite part of the day. Then we went to a snorkeling site with a tiny beach. Gus practiced with his mask and snorkel on the boat and decided he could do it. Jed tried, changed his mind, was bummed out and tried again, but just couldn't handle all the stuff on his face, so we played on the beach and looked at the fish in the shallows. My biologist heart wants to think he'll be a naturalist when he says "Mommy! Look at that fish!" but it's immediately followed by "I want to eat it!" Not a naturalist, a chef. Jim and Gus swam off with their snorkels. After about 30 minutes they came back our way and I asked Gus what he saw. "I saw coral, Mommy. I saw the brain!" Jim took Jed to try out the water slide on the boat, and Gus and I snorkeled around a bit more before it was time to head back. On the way home I had local ginger beer, Jim had rum swizzle, and my poor deprived children were in raptures over their cups of Coke. "Mommy! It's SO yummy!" Day five, last day at Bermuda. We took the bus down to Elbow Beach on the south Shore to see the pink sand. It's pink and very very fine; I was still shaking it out of my ears the next day. The water temperature was fantastic. Jim and Gus bobbed in the swells and Jed and I played in the shallow waves. We dug a few holes and built a sand castle that looked like coral, and after a couple hours of beach, Gus fell asleep on the bus back to the Dockyard. We had lunch and then shopping for souvenirs: necklaces with and without shark teeth, a Christmas tree ornament with pink sand inside, and some sea glass. Then an early dinner and all went to see a fantastic Cirque-like show before bed. Day six, back at sea. The kids club in the afternoon was doing more circus stuff, so we brought the kids in the morning. Today Gus's group was engineering ways to keep an egg safe. Jim and I did a crossword puzzle and played trivia. It was television trivia; and even though Jim knows way more random information than he should, we still bombed it. After lunch we traded off time in the sunshine watching the kids at the kids' pool. In the late afternoon there was face painting on the pool deck and Gus was a fearsome pirate and Jed a terrifying tiger. Day seven, last day at sea, looked much the same. General trivia this time: Jim's knowledge of random facts is a bit terrifying, and I filled in his (minor) holes and we won. The prize was beer coozies, solving the firstest of first-world problems, that my beer is TOO COLD. This morning Gus's group was building legos and Jed was offered a part in the circus show, so after lunch and some time at on the water slides, Jed went to rehearse and we all dried off to see him in the afternoon. His group was the fierce tigers, so he got to spend a second day in tiger face paint (some of the orange is still on his face). He marched across the stage and growled and jumped through the ring of fire (twice). These last couple of days we could really have used an indoor playground; there wasn't anywhere without a lot of sunshine for them to burn off energy, so the ramminess really set in. Day eight, we woke up and everyone helped pack. After breakfast we headed home. Jim went to the office to deal with his >1000 emails, and I dropped off the kids at camp and school to re-integrate asap. We slid right into Friday pizza-and-movie night and are readjusting back to normal. It was a great time, but we loved the island way more than the boat, so next time we'll just fly to Bermuda and spend a lot more time there.

Memorial Day 2013

What a weekend. Gus has been begging for a visit to the Children's Museum, so we started with that on Saturday morning. We arrived right after opening and the line was out the door. When we left at lunchtime, the line was still out the door. That's par for a rainy Saturday. Jed spent as much time as possible climbing the big structure, and then they took turns picking places to play. After the museum, we went to the local seafood place for lunch. Jed bopped wordlessly to Michael Jackson while we waited for lunch, and then he tore into Jim's salad. Gus shared some clam chowder, and I showed him the difference between and clam and a potato. Then we hung out at home for a while and I prepped half of a picnic. We headed to our (reasonably) local drive-in theater. It was raining, so there was practically no one else there. Unfortunately it was also too wet for our typical picnic outside, so after picking up the rest of the picnic at the snack bar, we put the rear seats down and spread a blanket out, and had a picnic *inside* the hatchback. The kids loved it, I was okay, and Jim had to be extracted afterwards. Then we settled in to see the movie, Jim and me sitting against the front seats and the kids on our laps, covered with blankets. We saw Epic, which was not the world's greatest movie but was absolutely gorgeous and had some great jumping-off points for imagination. Gus dreamed about riding a hummingbird that night. After the movie was over, Jim stretched out some more, we put the back seat back up and strapped in the kiddos. Gus was super-tired by then, but suddenly woke up and said with alarm that we hadn't had dinner. "Yes, we did," I said, "we had a picnic inside the car. That was pretty crazy!" "No," Jed said emphatically. "That was awesome." The next movie was Star Trek--Gus was awake for the first ten minutes. No "Gus beep car" this time. Home about 1:30 a.m.; brought kids inside still in sweatshirts and put them to bed. Everyone slept as late as possible, but we made it to church on time. Another slow afternoon, and then the neighbors joined us for an indoor picnic on the floor. Everyone had a blast. Our neighbor toddler had watermelon for the first time and tore into it like a Tyrannosaurus. They're from Mexico, so when she said my guacamole was the best she's had in years, I felt pretty good about it. Addicted the dad to the same puzzle ball that entrapped Kyle after Christmas. That thing is dangerous. Another late to bed. But we wanted to see the parade in Cambridge on Monday morning, so we set an alarm again and got everyone on the move. I wore red and dressed both kids in blue American superhero shirts. Jim may still be a little bitter that when he showed up wearing a Google I/O shirt I called him a corporate hack, but he changed his shirt and called me out on the Gap hat I was wearing later (one of my other baseball caps has mysteriously disappeared, and then Gus stole my hat. He also steals my socks. Yes, he's 6. Yes, I must be Tinker Bell). We didn't get started quite quickly enough, and so arrived in Cambridge just after the start of the parade. Drove right into a spot in Harvard Square that seemed too good to be true, and walked up the parade route to meet Uncle Mike and Aunt Sarah. I'm getting weepy in my old age; all I did was point out to Jed that there were the soliders, and I about burst into tears on the sidewalk. One of the parade drivers tossed a piece of candy right at Jed, who couldn't believe his good fortune. He told everyone for 10 minutes that the soldier gave him candy, and then spent the next 10 minutes looking for another piece for Gus so that he wouldn't have to share it (successful mission). After the parade ended we played for a little while, but Jed wanted to go re-scour the streets for candy so it didn't last long. It was about a mile to the boat rental place, but we figured they'd never be happier to walk that far so off we went. After a few blocks a gentleman we were passing exclaimed, "Those kids don't have flags!" and gave us two. Apparently we'd broken a rule of Memorial Day in Cambridge, and were preceded by a color guard for the next half mile. The kids got a bit cranky near the end, but when Jim increased speed to try to take care of paperwork before we all arrived, they had enough energy to chase him down. No yellow jersey for Daddy. We rented a canoe with two big paddles and two little paddles (and lifejackets of course) for a 5-mile trip downstream to Kendall Square. Jim and I are out of paddling shape and I'm sure we'll be sore tomorrow, but it was fun. I sunscreened my face but not my arms which are now pretty pink. We passed a goose family with 5 goslings, and a lot of brown and white ducks, and a fishing bird that I didn't know what its name was, and a bunch of little sailboats and at least 12 bridges. We passed a scull and Jed hollered, "Ahoy, matey!" Gus was feeling a serious lack of snack (usually I would have had one but we were in such a hurry that I forgot) and whined for the last 15 minutes or so, but eventually we got everyone paddling to speed our way to lunch. It was a gorgeous day. The trip was about 1.5 hours on the river; we've rowed in Jamaica Pond before but had never made it up to the Charles before. Caught the T from Kendall Square back to Harvard Square and met the long-suffering aunt and uncle for lunch who we'd now met late twice. Washed hands well of river water. Nachos and guacamole. Back home for some rest and then finished out the day with a trip to the park, another picnic on the living room floor, and a bath. What a great weekend.

Dudes on vacation

When we realized in January that I would get a few days off from teaching this week and that since I would be finishing up experiments and wouldn't be chained to the mouse colony, we decided to go on an actual spring vacation. (Note: neither of those discoveries turned out to be true. Oh well, maybe next year). We thought about a cruise, but didn't want the hassle. And we're already planning to see family in August. So I began scouring the web for fun family things within driving distance that we hadn't already done, and found Rocking Horse Ranch in upstate NY. It's a dude ranch, with over 100 horses that you can ride without having to shovel up after. But the horses are only the start, with lots of kids sports activities. And it has great reviews on Tripadvisor, so we gave it a shot. First afternoon there and we went straight to the pool. There's a waterslide that you only need to be 36" tall to ride--it's the first long/enclosed waterslide the kids have been able to ride, and they loved it. Jed slides down sitting up, and you can hear his Tarzan howl long before you see him shoot out the bottom. Gus loves still water better, so the pool that never gets more then 4' deep is perfect for him, with lots of room to splash and swim without worrying about getting out too deep. The next day we spent exploring. They give "pony rides" on their super-gentle horses with a pony saddle. Gus thought it was sorta cool, but Jed was transfixed. He rides around in a circle, patting the horse. Gus thought watching his brother ride was not very exciting, so when Jed came around he hollered that we were going to the bounce house. "You go ahead," answered his brother, "*I'm* on a horse." Meeting the barn cats. Bounce house, foam cannons, ping pong. Paddleboats, bungee bounce trampoline, miniature golf. Playground, shooting/archery range, arcade, panning for arrowheads. Pool again. Oh, and cups of popcorn pretty much whenever you want it. Soft serve ice cream that is surprisingly good. Marshmallow roast and guitar singalong. The Gambler and Sweet Caroline. Kids and parents wiped out at the end of the day. Day 3: The kids spend the morning in day camp where they do lots of the above again and have a great time. Jim and I go for a trail ride, which is learning how to keep your horse from biting the bum of the horse ahead of him on the most well-fertilized trail in the country. More pool and pony rides. Beach kayaks. Arcade games. Gus declares that he would like to be a girl. When asked why, he says that girls wear more fun swimsuits. True that. Tour of the stables, where Jed meets a big white horse he would like to ride, and Reb learns that buying a well trained horse is only $1500. I know that's not pocket change and it doesn't include the care, feeding, and shoveling, but for a horse! No, I'm not saving my salary for one, just surprised. Kids show with gentleman whose hobby is reptiles, and he brings out an alligator and a rattlesnake. All impressed but too worn out to see the end. Day 4: More day camp (hike and bounce house today) and trail rides. Jim notes that walking your horse in a line is not very interesting. I tell him that if he doesn't want to be treated like a dude, he needs to put more effort into not being one. And wasn't the bit of dancing his horse did when the horse behind him got too close and nipped his on the bum interesting? Meeting the "character" horse at lunchtime trolling for fist bumps. Jed realizes that the hoof is the size of his head and gives him a head bump instead, getting a genuine laugh from the emcee who must not see new things that often. Packing up and more pool. I introduce Gus to the sauna, which is the first place that has ever been too warm for him. We dry off after pool by standing in the doorway. Wagon ride behind some BIG horses; talk with Gus about Little House in the Big Woods that we've been reading. Wait for the horses to cross the street to their pasture after work (once the horses finally come out the kids are transfixed--which one did you ride, Mommy? That one; his name is Elvis and his best friend is Memphis. No joke.) and then head home ourselves. Overall review: a good time was had by all. Jim wishes there was more grown-up stuff to do. No one goes hungry and everyone is asleep within seconds. About the right length of stay for us. Dudette sore after 2 days on horse, still can't believe one of the young ladies wore flipflops on the stable tour. Bedtime and recovery prescribed for all.