Grandpa Tom's Visit, Part 1

We have tried to keep my dad busy. He flew into Hartford last Thursday and my brother Jeff picked him up. Dad spent the weekend with Jeff, Shannon, and Socha at their place. Sunday evening, I drove over (about 2 hours west of us) to pick Dad up and bring him back here for the week.

On Monday, the kids had no school (Veteran's Day) so while Jeremy worked the rest of us took Grandpa to see some parts of the Freedom Trail that we hadn't seen before. We all rode the train in from our house. The kids have been on the subway a number of times but have been itching to ride the train all the way in. For this particular trip, it was perfect - walk over to the train station, enjoy the ride, and get dropped directly at North Station, which is about as close to our destination (the U.S.S. Constitution in Charlestown) as we could get.

Who doesn't like a train ride?

We had a gorgeous day - bright and sunny. It was a bit cold, but we kept moving. We left the house at 9:30 and returned at 8:30 that night! Can you see the 3 masts of the U.S.S. Constitution behind us?

This large anchor tells us we are getting close!

All of us aboard the ship.

The U.S.S. Constitution museum is actually a pretty nice children's museum - the kids played there for over an hour when I had to drag them away to the next place. Here, the girls help Grandpa learn to roll the sails. 

Grandpa, I am a monkey!

Next, we walked over to the Bunker Hill Memorial. It should have been about 5-10 minutes away, but our crew of 6 was not moving very quickly. Or perhaps more accurately, the our root-mean-square path was not so quick, though there were all kinds of individual, quickly moving particles in many directions.

As the Park Ranger explained, the battle of Bunker Hill is memorialized not because it was a great victory - the colonial militiamen ran out of ammunition and were routed. However, it is considered to be a significant turning point in the history of our emerging nation, because it gave the rest of the colonies the resolve to toss in their hats with the folks up here in Massachusetts.

We climbed the steps in the tower for the beautiful view over Boston as sunset (4:30 pm!) approached. There are 294 steps in all, so I brought back proof that we made it all the way. 

Actually, even Helen climbed most of the tower. I didn't have to start carrying her on the way up until step 225, and she also walked down for the first 100 steps or so. 

Look at me go!

Beautiful sunset back at the bottom as we looked at the statue.

Tuesday was slower - the kids all went to school, and I did chores at home then took Dad to see the Louisa May Alcott house in Concord. He loved it, and I enjoyed it, too. I had just taken the kids on that tour last week, with the same tour guide, but I learned lots of interesting new things this time so I was glad to go back.

Fun fall photos

I have been busy with lots of plain old life lately. Not too much time to think about writing, but I have tried to snap a few photos. The captions will have to serve as the bulk of the story this time. As always, you can click on any individual photo to see it larger.

John and Meg tried out lacrosse this fall. They had about 2 months of "skills and drills" through the local Parks and Rec department. They both loved it, and I loved that it was only a 4-minute drive from our house. 

Here, you see the reason why John's mouth looks odd in the prior photo - he wears a mouth guard. It was highly recommended by the volunteer/parent coaches. Seemed a bit overkill to me, since neither has had any orthodontics yet to mess up, but I complied. :)

Meg dribbles her ball!

Helen loved going to practices and running about with all the other siblings waiting/watching. She was always the youngest one there (excepting non-mobile infants), but she didn't seem to care.

Last week, I took Helen to her day care center on her non-day-care day and stayed with her for an hour during their "special activities" time. The kids had "Movement with Tom" and Helen's teachers thought she would enjoy doing it. They were right. She also enjoyed directing Mommy to put in pigtails, "just like this and here!"

Paying close attention to instructions, the kids scoot!

And they clap in rhythm - serious work!

The scarf dancing was clearly the biggest hit, though.

I am running for all I am worth.

And finally, our ode to Halloween. See the blue plastic bucket on the shelf? Not for long, you won't.

Helen's Parent/Teacher Conferences

I met with one of Helen's daycare teachers today for a "parent/teacher conference." It seemed a bit extreme to me for daycare, but I went with it. And, it was kind of nice to hear someone else tell me how wonderful my child is. Of course I already know it, but an outside opinion, with fresh eyes, is good for building up my prideful heart.

Anyone who knows Helen will not be much surprised by the feedback: independent, quietly assertive, very athletic (and strong), agreeable and friendly with every one, imaginative, self-confident. Unlike the elementary school teachers, her daycare teacher sent me with written documentation so I have posted it here to brag a bit. Since mostly only Helen's relatives read this blog, that seems within the bounds of acceptable.

Also, this seems like the right place to showcase some recent photos of Helen, aged 2 years and 9 months. (I have been taking an online photography class so I got lots of fun photos of the kids last weekend while doing my homework!)

You see her independent streak here? She chose her own outfit to play outside and would NOT be swayed. (Yes, that is a pull-up and mittens.)

Staying on my toes today

Remember back in elementary school when we had to write those "Fortunately, Unfortunately" books? They are a useful device for helping kids learn to sort out sequencing and development of a story line. But I have found that the idea sticks with me as an adult because, well, life really does go that way sometimes. Here is my latest adventure in the genre.

Fortunately, I had a chance to volunteer with M's 4th grade class for a Halloween craft.

Unfortunately, I had to miss my Thursday morning exercise class to do it.

Fortunately, I could make it up Friday morning. (What's a few more hours of missed work for the sake of the 9-year-old daughter who adores singled-out parent attention?)

Unfortunately, that left a 20-minute gap between dropping H off at daycare and exercising, which felt wasteful when I was already missing an extra morning of work time.

Fortunately, I had just found one of the things I need to read for work available for Kindle and downloaded that to take with me to read while I waited for class (which is right next to the daycare).

Unfortunately, I didn't think about carrying the Kindle home on my bike after taking it out of H's backpack and leaving the bag with her at daycare.

Fortunately, I found I could ride well enough one-handed to make it one mile home while holding the Kindle in my left hand.

Unfortunately, I ran into a blocked road (downed power line) which forced me to retrace my (steps? wheels?) path and take a detour to home. I wasn't sure how far out of the way that would be or if I wanted to do it all one-handed.

Fortunately, the detour took me right past daycare again, so I darted back in for the backpack.

Unfortunately, the road had just been blocked off and no detour signs were up yet. And I don't know any alternate routes through town and the GPS was of course in my car.

Fortunately, a nice town crew worker gave me understandable directions to wind my way back towards home.

Unfortunately, when I got home, the power was out. (Our house, and everything on that side of the downed line, were out of business.

Fortunately, I found that we still had water! Now quite thirsty from the hour of aerobics and longer bike ride, I got a nice long drink.

Unfortunately, I couldn't warm up my hot tea from breakfast in the microwave.

Fortunately, I could make a nice, hot, fresh pot of tea using the propane-powered stove top.

Unfortunately, I was dripping with sweat and recalled that the hot water heater was electric.

Fortunately, as I gritted my teeth for the fastest, coldest shower ever, I discovered that I was wrong and the delightful hot water was propane-heated.

Unfortunately, I realized that with well water, I shouldn't have any water, and thus might have just used up all the reserves in the pressure tank with my shower.

Fortunately, I could walk across the street to the grocery store and buy bottled water if needed.

Unfortunately, the store was out of power, too.

Fortunately, I was the only one at home for 5 more hours, so I could survive if the water ran out.

Unfortunately, I couldn't work in my home office because the internet was out and the laptop battery died within 45 minutes.

Fortunately, the town library is on the other side of the downed power line, and has outlets and internet.

So, back to work!

Sometimes it's the little things in life...

Monday afternoon, 2:30 PM.

"Helen, it's time to go get the kids from school. Let's get the bike."

 

"No! I want the stroller!"

"No, we don't have time to get there walking now. We need to bike."

"No!!! Stroller!! I want to walk!!" [She was getting a bit more emphatic.]

"Why won't you get on the bike? You love a bike ride."

[Crying now...] "I want to walk with the stroller."

[Light dawning on Mom] "Helen, you don't have to ride in the bumpy bike trailer any more. Daddy put the seat on my bike. You know - the one Grandma and Grandpa brought out for you from Michigan."

[Reluctantly...] "Well, okay."

About 1/2 a mile down the road, I called over my shoulder to Helen, "Are you having fun? Is this better than the trailer?"

[Giggling] "Yes!"

"So are you glad that Daddy got your seat ready for you?

[Gleefully giggling, now] "Yes! My daddy can do...everything! Because he is a big, big daddy. And I love him."

The End.

The cure to sibling rivalry

I recently found a short paper written by Meg at school, in a pile of papers that she brought home and dumped by my computer which I wanted to share. Meg had handwritten it, but in typing it here, I decided to leave her editing errors in for "authenticity."

By the way, did I mention that Maggie (nee Margaret) is now Meg? Try to keep up. :)

ASSIGNMENT: Writing Homework
Think of a person you admire. Does s/he have any of the six traits of good character (thoughtful self-reflection, responsibility, respectfulness, caring, civic-mindedness)? What does s/he say or do that helps you know?

"Meg                                                     9/30/13

My brother James has many of the traits of good charecter. For example he is responsible. If you give him a job it will get done. He makes sure all the jobs are done and if you need help he will give you it he won't tell you the answer but will help you figure it out so you can learn. It makes your synapses fire. He is fair because he makes sure everyone gets what they need. He also follows the rule that fair is not equal. My brother is awsome and I love him, altho he makes mistakes he is human and he is amazing."

My first day in Seattle - Research Meeting

September 19, 2013 (5:48 AM PDT/8:48 AM EDT)

I have arrived safely in Seattle and have a while of pre-dawn quiet to whittle away in my host’s home before I can start making morning noises. It seems like a good time to catch up my blog, which is woefully behind.

I have traveled here to meet with Melani, Denise, and Caitlin: 2 professors (engineering) and 1 graduate student (psychology) who have been my collaborators on this research project which is occupying my sabbatical leave. I have been working with Melani for nearly 7 years now, and she brought the others on board later. Although we attended the same conference 2 years ago, and had brief meetings there, and submitted a grant proposal together a year ago which involved daily email or skype conversations, this is our first extended, face-to-face meeting in 3 years. I am hopeful that is will give my research “juices” the same kind of creative bounce that it did then, so that I can have a much more productive year working on my own on the east coast.

I spent Wednesday morning packing, with Helen as my helper. Jeremy was working from home so I tried to keep both of us out of his hair. At 12:30 we rode our bikes up to the school and picked up the 3 older ones. (They have an early release every Wednesday.) After 3 weeks of this, I have noticed that the sidewalks are flooded with kids walking home each Wednesday, which still catches me by surprise since there are almost no walkers on the other days. I am curious as to whether this is a warm-weather phenomenon that will soon end, or a parents-at-work phenomenon that will continue through the school year. It is nice to see more activity, but it does make riding bikes home a bit difficult. The sidewalks are really too crowded for the bikes, and I am not comfortable with the kids on the road. It was Meg’s (her chosen name for this year) suggestion that we walk on Wednesdays from now on, and I am considering that seriously.

When we got home, I had a short time to eat lunch with the kids. James was kind of funny – he wanted to know the exact time I was leaving, then took off across the street to where his school chums meet every Wednesday for lunch. He left their party a bit early so he could come say goodbye to me. He was the one I had been least concerned about leaving for four days, of course, so I was a bit startled when he asked to walk me over to the train station. As we waited on the platform, he didn’t say too much, but did mention several times that he was really nervous about how the next few days would go. He has always been a pretty independent kid, and far more so since arriving in MA, so this was unexpected. It was a good parenting reminder to me – both that he is still 12, and that he holds a lot inside. He is often stewing on something that he won’t let on about. I tried to reassure him that even though Jeremy has been out of the day-to-day parenting loop for a few months, he is more than competent to care for them all.

Travel was relatively smooth, yesterday. I had a 6:35 PM direct flight from Boston to Seattle scheduled. To avoid having Jeremy negotiate the drive through afternoon traffic with all the kids in tow, I elected to take public transit. Since trains into Boston are a bit sparser in the mid-day, I caught the 2 PM. (The next choice, at 4 PM, would be cutting things a bit too close for my comfort.) I really enjoyed the train ride, along and past the route where Jeremy commutes each day. Although I have driven into Boston many times with the kids, this was the first time that I saw the trip from his perspective. I am so used to always knowing what daily work life is like for him, because I share it, that this has been a strange interlude of sending him out the door into a strange, unknown sphere. Thus, I found it very comforting to finally see what he experiences and talks about each evening. The train is actually quite pleasant (at least in the uncrowded afternoon) – it starts out through forests and nature preserve areas, then through the inner suburbs, and finally the views change to the gritty parts of Boston itself. (Not that the areas are necessarily gritty, but the views from the train tracks are.) I then had a short walk through North Station to transfer to the T, where the Orange and Blue lines brought me to Airport Station. Thus, after 1 hour of travel, I was waiting for the free shuttle bus over to the terminals.

It took another hour to check in and get through security. I couldn’t believe the line for security. I was very glad that I had elected to take the earlier train, as I would have been sweating it otherwise. As it was, I could enjoy people-watching instead. I struck up a conversation with the young woman behind me in line, who turned out to be a high-school senior at a Boston-area boarding school. She hailed from Oslo, Norway and her parents had sent her (and before, her 2 older siblings) to 2 years of U.S. boarding school to finish their schooling, so that they would supposedly have a better chance of admission to U.S. colleges. She was on her way to visit two colleges so that she could decide which to apply to with Early Decision, but as we talked, it came out that what she really thought she wanted to do was go back to Norway for school, and she didn’t think her parents would like that. She was also nervous about her traveling. Obviously air travel was not new to her, but she said that in the past, her parents would arrange everything, get her to the airport, and then her school picked her up. This trip, she had to arrange it all on her own, starting with getting to the airport from her school, and she was clearly a bit overwhelmed.

When I pulled out my Ziploc bag of liquids for security inspection, she started a bit and asked where I had gotten it. 

“Do you have any liquids or gels in your carry-on?” I asked her. 

“Yes, but where do you get the bags?”

Aha. She knew of the requirement for the bags, but apparently someone else had always helped her pack before, so she didn’t know where the bags came from. I gently pointed out that one had to go to a grocery store and buy them. However, this didn’t seem very helpful as we were already in the security line. I was so happy to (for once) have my natural hoarding tendencies pay off. I reached into my suitcase and pulled out a spare for her. (I had left one in there from my last flight so that I could be sure to find one, then forgotten and packed a new one for this trip.) The look on her face indicated that was the best gift I have given anyone in a long time – and the price was right.

Unfortunately, air travel can never be completely smooth. I soon learned that my flight was delayed 2 hours. Still, this was not as devastating as it might have been. Coming from a major airport, I had a direct flight, for once, so no connections to miss. Also, the reason was crew rest time, so the delay should be fairly precise and not drag out into the continued delays and eventual cancellations that have sometimes plagued me in the past. (Apparently, I should pay more attention to local news. There had been a fire at the airport the day before, in the refueling area, which delayed a great number of flights. Thus, the crew on this flight was late the day before, and was still catching up on mandated rest hours the next day. I am all for a well-rested crew, so what could I complain about?)

Of course, arriving on the west coast 2 hours later is unappealing from a jet-lag point of view, but it was manageable. I slept an hour or two on the plane, and arrived at Melani’s home by midnight (3 AM for me), but still got another 5 hours of sleep before my own clock nudged me awake for the day. I think I should be in decent shape for a long, productive day of work. Speaking of which, the sun is up and I hear Melani starting to move about the house, so I think that I will get on with that day. Let the work begin!