Busy Museum Day

Unfortunately, no photos for today. I have misplaced my little pocket camera (oh no!) and I couldn't lug the nice camera along with everything else. Still, try to imagine our great day in your mind. To compensate, I have tried to link to photos from the official websites, which are probably better than I could have taken anyway. Except that these will be lacking my adorable children.

Friday. Jeremy left for work a bit late, catching the 9 AM train. We were all dragging this morning - maybe it was the heat? It has been in the upper 80s  for the last few days - not that I mind having a bit of warm weather after such a cool summer. The rest of us finally managed to be packed and out the door by 10:15. We had a busy day planned.

First, we drove to Alewife Station to park the car and hop on the subway. By the time we parked, paid, boarded, and went 7 stops to Park Street Station, it was 11 AM. At Park Street we switched over to the green line. I berated myself for forgetting the option to get off one stop sooner and just walk, particularly since it was such a nice day. The green line had seemed like a slow trip last time we took it, and it did not fare better today. In fact, although we didn't wait nearly as long this time for our green train, it did poke along for the four stops. Then, at our stop, a bunch of people wanted to get out, and the conductor just closed the doors in the middle of unloading! We just narrowly avoided my nightmare, which is to have some of the kids on or off the train with the rest of our group cut off and separated. Whew! I had worried about it but didn't really think it could so easily happen.

Instead, we all ended up riding an extra stop, and walking the 1/2 mile back to the museum. This turned out to be pleasant. We passed a playground that caught the attention of all the children, so we stopped to play, then that led us on to a pretty park (Lechmere Canal Park) where we ate the picnic lunch we had brought along.

We finally made it to the Boston Museum of Science a bit after 1 PM. Since I had purchased a membership at our first visit a few weeks ago, I felt able to let the kids take it in at a leisurely pace, knowing we could come back. Of course, there is nothing leisurely about following four kids through a busy museum. My one firm rule was that we all had to stay in the same exhibit hall together. Of course, whichever exhibit someone picked, there was a quick dissenting vote from another. There are times when I think my kids enjoy disagreeing more than anything else. It actually worked to my advantage, in this case. Our membership includes free admission, but the many movies (IMAX, 3D, Planetarium) are extra, ticketed events. I vetoed the 3D because they make me nauseou - Dad will have to take the kids to any of those - but I offered to go to an IMAX film this time. Margaret was sure she would enjoy the Rocky Mountain Express (about a steam locomotive in Canada) or the Greatest Places that shows interesting geographical sites, she couldn't imagine sitting through The Last Reef, which was of course the only one the boys wanted to see. So, that was easy enough. I didn't have to fork over more money for tickets and we enjoyed the exhibit halls.

We started with a Live Animals Presentation, where the kids got to meet a box turtle, an African bullfrog, a lubber grasshopper, and a black rat snake. They were actually all quite interested. We then spent time in the Mathematica-sponsored room (about... Math!), the room on models, and the exhibit-in-development sponsored by Pixar, on graphical/digital animation. We stopped in to hear another live show, this time reporting on research projects in the International Space Station. We finished up in the Playground, where common playground equipment was used to study the joys of physics: pulleys, angular momentum, levers, speed, and more. Throughout this time, I learned that if I placed myself strategically in each room, I could usually keep track of at least 3 kids most of the time. The challenge in each room was to figure out who was the fourth one whom I couldn't watch, and then determine which of the other kids might be able to track him or her. I left with the same four kids and no heart attack, so I count that a success.

We gathered forces and departed at 5 PM because we had more to do and see this day. First, after consulting a map, I went against the advice of the info booth staff and decided to walk rather than try to cram back on the subway at rush hour. Perhaps my near-separation-scare of the morning was influencing me. The staff at the Museum of Science information center looked at me like I was crazy when I asked about walking to the Boston Children's Museum, but they did have a pre-printed page with directions, so I wasn't the only one to try it. My careful estimates (made by measuring with the width of my pinky finger on the downtown map I now keep in my purse) put the walk at maybe just over 1.5 miles - that seemed doable with the kids since I had the backpack carrier today so we didn't have to go at Helen's pace. We set off.

It was actually 6:15 when we arrived, but that included a detour one block up to Faneuil Hall where we bought dinner at a hot dog cart and ate them while enjoying music from the street performers. There were also tents set up where people could stop in and play Wii U on huge TV screens - go marketers. That was an unforeseen delay that almost cost us the evening. We rallied and marched on!

You might be wondering why we would try to hit two museums in one day? That is a good question. After doing it, I wonder that myself. But it seemed like a good plan. You see, I wasn't sure if the Boston Children's Museum would be a hit with all the ages in our family, so before I bought a membership for this year, I wanted to try it out. They happen to have a special Friday-night-only admission of $1/person, which beats the standard $14. The kids agreed several weeks ago, when they first asked to come here, that it made sense to wait for a Friday night to try it out. But then, I got to thinking, it is a big endeavor to make a trip into downtown. If we are coming for Friday night, why not make a day of it? And so we did.

As a bonus, Jeremy joined us here. That was very welcome. Not only was I glad to see Jeremy in general, of course, but I could probably not have left this second museum with all the same four children, on my own. Perhaps it is not always such a madhouse as on cheap Friday nights, but wow. Still, the kids seemed to love it. Even James, who really is a bit old for this museum, seemed to enjoy chasing Helen through the play equipment when there was nothing else to grab his attention.

The kids would have happily stayed playing until the 9 PM closing, but Mom and Dad were done for by 8:30 and started shuffling the kids out the door for the 1/2 mile walk to the subway station. Nine stops later, we were back at Alewife Station, finding our car, and making the 15-minute drive home. I had the kids tucked in bed at 9:45. Success!

So, in case you were wondering (as I was) just how far we traveled today, here is the summary (including links to the map in case you really want to follow our travels):

Drive 11.4 miles to Alewife Station.
Subway for 7 stops, transfer to green line, 5 more stops.
Walk 0.4 miles to Museum of Science, with stop at Lechmere Canal Park for lunch
Walk around Museum of Science for 4 hours.
Walk 1.8 miles to Boston Children's Museum (stop for dinner at Faneuil Hall)
Walk around Children's Museum for 2 hours.
Walk 0.4 miles to South Station
Subway for 9 stops
Drive 11.4 miles home.

Altogether, that gives me well over 3 miles of walking today, most of it with Helen on my back. Thus, I feel that I at least get a pass on my running program for the day. Which is good, since I have only been once in the 3 weeks since we moved here. My hips may not work tomorrow, unfortunately, given the way they feel tonight.

A great day - Ipswich, MA

After working over 27 hours in two days, Jeremy had met a publishing deadline and was ready for a break. He agreed to take Wednesday off from work and accompany us to the ocean for the day. The kids have been very excited to see the ocean, and I didn't think I could manage all four of them there on my own, so this was a much appreciated offer. The weather promised to be perfect - high 80s and sunny all day.

We selected Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA - it seems to be universally recommended as "the" beach for the Boston area. At just under 1 hour's drive from our home, it is not out of reach, but not a minor trip, either. We decided, therefore, to make it a full day's outing by combining the beach with a tour of the nearby Castle Hill  on the Crane Estate. That was definitely a good decision!

After a leisurely morning, we set out at 10:45. Traffic was heavy, but thanks to our new GPS (a gift from my aunts and uncles, on its maiden voyage), we found it easily and arrived shortly after 12 noon. We joined a 12:30 tour of the house, which looks, not accidentally, like the best lord's estate in a Jane Austen period film. The Crane family (of four) were from Chicago and made their fortune in plumbing. More specifically, they manufactured bathroom fixtures (Crane faucet, anyone?) at the turn of the 20th century - just the moment that everyone was beginning to install indoor plumbing and bathrooms. This house was their summer home, which they occupied for 6-8 weeks each year.

The house had a bed/bath/sitting room suite for each of the four family members, plus at least 3 guest rooms (which we saw), plus housing for approximately 60 (yes, SIXTY!) live-in staff. Of course, there were also numerous out-buildings, including housing for a live-in staff that might swell to over 120, depending on projects underway, and guest housing for single gentlemen, who were not welcome in the main house. Apparently that would be very improper.

Castle Hill - the grand entrance drive.

Castle Hill - the view from the rear of the house.

Enjoying the patio after our tour, with a view of the ocean.

In a 60-minute tour that stretched to 90 minutes, we were fascinated, and left wanting to come back for some of the alternative tours, such as the "behind the scenes" tour that shows the servants' quarters, the mechanics of the house, and such other hidden gems. (Admittedly, John was not quite as enthusiastic as Jeremy and I were, but he may also have just been hungry by this point; he seemed much more cheerful after we returned to our car for the picnic lunch.) We then, by general acclamation, spent an hour roaming the grounds of the estate, including the 1/2 mile walk down the Grand Allee to the view of the private beach below.

Picnic in the park - or the parking lot, anyway. 

Happy to catch a ride.

The "Grand Allee" - walk from the house to the sea. The kids thought this would be best put to use as sledding hills in the winter time. This photo doesn't quite capture the steepness of these hills. 

Looking back at the house from partway down the Grand Allee.

We finally made it to the end of the Allee, and were treated to a view of the Atlantic Ocean, including Plum Island just behind us here.

After all of this walking, we were more than ready for a swim. We drove over to the public Crane Beach and were in the water shortly after 3:30. The water felt really cold! (According to various posted reports, it was 56 or 65 degrees Farenheit. I would bet on the 65.) The kids giggled in surprise at the taste of the saltwater, particularly when James dove under and came up spluttering, "I forgot to close my mouth!"

After a quick dip for each of them, they retired to the "river" in the sandy beach formed by the hastily retreating tide, where they found many children willing to join forces with them to engineer every kind of dyke, moat, channel, or other water diverting device. James remarked to me near the end of our stay, "Next time we should come first thing in the morning and stay all day. But we should be certain it will be low tide so that there will be a river in the sand that we can play in the whole time."

At the very lowest tide point, around 6 pm, the kids joined with all the others on the beach in hunting clams, hermit crabs, sand dollars, and other creatures, capturing them for a time in shallow pools which the kids dug in the sand to contain them and study them. What giggles when the clams shot water out at them! What surprise at the suction-cup looking bottom of the periwinkle.

On the drive home, Jeremy and I remarked to each other how nice the beach day was, although neither of us had a chance to just sit on the beach and read our books, as we had foolishly hoped we might. (Keeping track of four children turned out to be our full-time job. We expected this, but one day things will change, so we have to keep bringing those books to be ready for the day.)

We ended the day with a stop in Beverly, MA for Italian take-out (chicken alfredo for Margaret, who wondered if it would be as good as the Olive Garden - the counter-clerk with the thick accent smirked and assured her it would be; calzones for Jeremy and James who were satisfied but not overwhelmingly so; eggplant panini for Jennifer, who was very happy with her choice) and some McD for the younger crowd. When we pulled into our driveway at 9 PM, John and Helen were asleep and everyone was happily fatigued.

A great day, indeed.

Thoughts on arrival - Part I

(Originally Written August 2, 2013)

Everything was so wet that I was starting to grow mold. I used my right big toe to scratch vigorously at the new itchy patch on the bottom of my left foot. In the pre-dawn light seeping in the 3rd-floor bedroom skylights of my new home, I lay in bed, listening to the rain pounding against the roof. A gloomy sound, but we were here, finally.

It had been only 2 days since we had seen the sun, but with the damp chill in the air, it seemed like much longer. It felt much more like October than the first of August, but the weather had been odd this year. A late, cold spring burst overnight into a hot, steamy couple of weeks of summer, early on. Then, it all melted away in July, as if summer had spent itself and retreated into an early, wet fall.

We had loaded our van under a steely-gray sky and a light misting drizzle. Jeremy and Glen clamped on the shiny aluminum cover of the immense car top carrier, confident (hopeful?) that the caulk in all the new screw holes would in fact prove watertight.

At 3 PM, the van was finally loaded. There was a tiny cavity in the third row of seats, just enough for a child to wriggle into and sit. The other side was folded flat and piled nearly to the roof, with just enough room to see out the rear window. The carrier on top was a solid block of belongings, all 26.5 cubic feet packed with what we thought would be the essentials for our family for a year. Four bikes were strapped on the rear end hitch carrier, with the baby trailer tucked safely inside the van. A final inspection showed the rear tires were noticeably flattened under the weight, and the clearance  looked too small for even a tennis ball to roll underneath the trailer hitch. Still, it was all in and the doors were shut.

It was a welcome relief to be on schedule. With our intended departure time still an hour away, we could collect ourselves and our emotions, and enjoy a last visit with loved ones. The adults and older kids played one last board game together (Seven Wonders) while the younger ones relished a last few minutes playing with cousins at Grandma's house. Then, it was time.

There were hugs all around, a last photo opportunity, and finally cheerful waves as we crept down the long driveway. Our Boston year had finally begun.

Boston Year

I have a new tag/label for my posts: "Boston Year." On August 1, 2013, we moved into a new home in the Boston area, and we plan to stay for about a year.  This is to be a year of adventures - new experiences, new growth. I wanted to capture as much of that as I could for our family. I debated starting a new blog altogether, but decided that the handful of you loyal family and friends who actually read this would probably prefer to skip the hassle of adding a new URL. And I would always have to decide on which blog to post something - not good for a decision-phobic person like me. So instead, you will see the label "Boston Year" for posts related to our relocation here. You can search for that if you like.

The year in Boston will be a sabbatical leave for Jeremy and I, meaning we are not teaching at all this year. Our work will instead be research/scholarship projects dedicated to renewing and refreshing the "life of the mind" for each of us. Seven years ago we had sabbatical leaves for a semester, although we stayed in our own home in town that time, and we both found it incredibly helpful for regaining enthusiasm and a fresh perspective on our teaching. With a career likely to span more than 4 decades at the same institution, I am eager to do whatever I can to stay fresh, so that I can develop 40 years of experience, rather than 1 year of experience, 40 times.

Already, we can say that this sabbatical leave has shaken things up for us. Jeremy began working  on his project in May, as soon as spring semester grades were in. He will be working on several projects with a collaborator at MIT, and could do some of it remotely. I took advantage of our job share situation and haven't worked very much since May, in compensation. But I have been busy. I noticed that there is a long gap on this blog, since about mid-May. It seems that our summer has evaporated as all of our energy has poured into moving a family of 6 for one year. Actually, it has taken me nearly a whole year to prepare for a year of relocation.

 I started this sabbatical with preparations late last August ( a year ago). Jeremy and I each prepared proposals for our year's activities. We also undertook a small remodeling project, figuring that the 1.5 bath house would rent more easily with 2 full baths (and work out better for us, too, when we returned). When these were approved by the college in November, then I began spending countless hours looking for housing for us, and searching for renters for our own home. We identified tenants first, and then I learned the ins and outs of being a landlord - all the places to notify, register, pay fees, update housing to code, etc. In May, Jeremy and I and Helen drove out to Boston for 5 days to look at the various housing options I had located via the internet and get a lease. All of June involved culling and many trips to Goodwill, and packing - mostly to move our stuff into storage, to make room for tenants. We also had to sort and decide what we would take with us for the year. Since we planned to move with just the minivan and a large car top carrier, we were quite limited in space.

July 1, we moved out of our house and became itinerant. We stayed 10 days with Jeremy's parents, then 5 days visiting friends in MN, then back to my in-laws', then a week on vacation with my dad and his family, then a final 5 days at my in-laws' house. We left MI for the year late in the afternoon of July 31, and arrived at our new home around 8 PM on August 1. And so, it all begins.....

Archival Updates

There are times when I love to write, but can't access the internet. Or, other times I just prefer to write longhand. At those times, I collect pages of writing and save them, sometimes for a very long time. These are accumulating, and I thought I would use my quiet mornings here in Boston to post some old material. So, over the next few days (or longer, depending on how busy I get), you may see things with dates from long in the past at the top of my post. That is the date I wrote it, while the date of the blog is when I typed and posted it. A little non-sequential joy to drive people like me bonkers. How will you feel about it?

Driving in Boston

So far, no crashes. And, we have been back to our home for bed every night, so not hopeless lost. I will call that a win, as far as driving in the Boston area goes. I don't think I could have imagined it - I had to see it.

There is no North here. Roads meander. As Uncle Jim H. puts it, "Roads in Boston go wherever the cow path went." As our family has commented many times these past few days...they ought to have had fewer cows. Or at least cows with a better sense of direction.

Signs might help. If you are on a major road, you might get signs to tell you the names of the roads you are crossing (sometimes), but don't expect anyone to waste money putting up a sign to tell you the name of the road you are already on. You ought to know that already, don't you think? Unless, of course, you just changed towns. Which happens frequently here. The towns are small and all run together. Then the road names change. And you might well be driving happily along and then run in to a road with the same name as what you thought you were driving on, except now you are at the intersection. Perhaps space and time fold up differently, like an extra dimension, in the Boston area. There are a lot of science types in the many colleges around here.

Here is a map of Monday's outing, when I tried to take the kids from our home (point A) to swim at the state park (Point B ). This 4-mile route is shown in yellow. I actually followed the red route, which does, in fact, include a complete circle back to home before getting on our way.

The really sad part of this is that we had driven right past the park the day before, on the way to and from church. Still, neither James (age 12) nor I could get the right direction out of our driveway, or recognize the correct direction when we made it back to the right road. This town may finally break my resolve and force me to acquire GPS. But I am not convinced even GPS can help around here. This town may finally break my resolve and force me to acquire GPS. But I am not convinced even GPS can help around here.

Moving: the ups and downs

In my limited experience, every move involves both exhilaration and disappointment; both celebration and grieving. We are certainly finding that to be true again this time. So, in no particular order, some of our discoveries for this move - the ups and downs. Not surprisingly, many of them come in sets. And yes, nearly universally, first-world problems.

YAY:
Love the space. We are rattling around a bit in 2700 square feet. It might be hard to squeeze back into our own 1700 square foot home after this.

NAY:
No garbage pick-up? Not so excited about hauling our garbage and recycling to the transfer station. Please, no spills in the back of the minivan.

YAY and NAY:
Where, oh where, do people shop around here? No, I am not looking for designer shoes or an international art gallery. Just groceries. And housewares. And a quick meal on Saturday night. I knew we were going to be more rural here in Lincoln than we had originally expected, but we are only 15 miles out of the center of Boston. Is it really possible that we have to drive more than 20 minutes to find a fast food joint? Or even just a local pub with some food?

Okay, it isn't really that bad. We actually have a sandwich shop (lunch only) and a restaurant (dinners) as well as a grocery store right across the street from our house. The kids love the store.  I think they have been every day to buy something - they keep inventing needs. They love being able to do that on their own. But the store is a bit smaller and bit pricier than I had hoped based on a quick perusal back in May. The second try was a Whole Foods recommended by Jamie (our landlord and duplex neighbor). That was 15 minutes away but still too small and way too expensive. It was next to a sit-down Chinese place, a sit-down Italian restaurant, and a Panera's. So, progress.

At church on Sunday, I ended up in the nursery with Helen for half the service and quizzed a chatty woman there about shopping. Have some new places to try in the next few weeks. Here's hoping...but I don't suppose anyone is going to be like Meijer. Maybe this will be the year to try Amazon for all our groceries. Seems odd to be closer to a major city but having more trouble shopping.

YAY and NAY:
What a good way to mark the roads - just point in a direction and head to a town. I am trying to get to something in Wayland? Just follow the signs to Wayland. Don't bother with the names of the streets. Except, I wish someone would bother, just a bit. Like now and then, a street sign to tell me the name of the road I am currently driving on would be reassuring. Particularly since no roads are straight and none keep the same name for more than 3 miles. And, because if I just follow the signs to Wayland, I sometimes go in circles.

YAY and NAY:
Dark at 8:30 pm. Full dark! Kids go to sleep better again. But no more lingering, lovely summer evenings on the deck, in the 10 PM twilight. And WHOA! Why didn't I consider the drawbacks to the lovely skylights in our bedroom? The sun shows up way too early out here on the East coast in the summer.

YAY and NAY:
A 6-burner stove-top is awesome! The professional grade burners and heavy-duty pans in the kitchen are a delight to cook with. But, it is also a bit intimidating. Both of us nearly burned our eyebrows off in the first few days as we learned to manage the turbo-jet burners with an appliance lighter (pilots turned off).

YAY and NAY:
Love the professional-quality, Subzero-brand refrigerator. It is huge and well-laid out. Wish it had been cleaner when we got here, though. That was a lot of territory to cover in washing shelves. And why does this kitchen have absolutely everything, except a microwave? Do I really have to learn new ways to reheat my tea and leftovers?