School vacation week. When I think about it, months in advance, it always seems like so much time. I make hundreds of loose plans and think we’ll have all the time in the world. Then it arrives and suddenly it’s over! Whoosh. Blink and you miss it. I am not, and hopefully will never be, one of those mom’s who eagerly counts down the days until the kids go back to school. (no offense intended to anyone out there who is)

This week we took a mini-vacation to Boston. We drove down Tuesday morning, checked in to our hotel and then walked to the Children’s Museum. I have never been there and the kids had a great time. Lots to see and do. We even ran into a friend of mine, who was there with her friend and five kids. Her son came up and said hi to Eve. It was a fun surprise. :)

Snack outside the Children's Museum.

After that we took the subway home (the kids were most excited about that!) and stopped at a Whole Foods Market by our hotel for dinner. I discovered that I love Whole Foods. :) I wish we had one closer by. They had many, many hot and cold salad bars, lots of tofu and other veggie options, and everyone found something tasty to eat. It was jam-packed and therefore I wouldn’t want to do my regular weekly shopping there, but it was a great place for dinner.

Dinner overlooking the... well, the parking lot to the Whole Food store. Plenty to watch anyway.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and arrived bright and early (the best time to arrive!) at the Boston Aquarium. The kids were thrilled (subway ride) before we even got there and ever more excited to see seals in a tank outside of the museum. We were having a great time before we even went inside.

Penguins in front of the aquarium.

I’m glad we got there early because the place really filled up fast! By lunch time I was exhausted and ready to leave. We took a quick trip through the gift shop (at my request, my kids still don’t ask or expect things from gift shops… though I sense that is changing quickly!) then we headed back to the hotel to get our car out of the valet parking before our time expired and they kept it forever! Or just charged us extra. Then we drove over to the Museum of Science where things were already in full swing. We managed to get our tired bodies to the cafe for some lunch and then, re-energized, we hit the Blue Wing. Alan was very excited for the lightening show. (Ask him how he stumped his physics professor in college.) We spent some time in the electricity exhibit, waiting for the show. The more excited Alan got about it, the more excited Eve got, and the less excited Lex got. He eventually insisted on leaving so he and I escaped before the turned out the the lights and turned on the noise. Lex was very tired at this point and I think coming down with a head cold.

It's electric!

We explored our way through three floors of the science museum before we could go no more. Then we dragged ourselves back to the cafe for a final snack (cookies and m&ms!) and a pass through the gift shop. Lex didn’t pick anything at the aquarium and he saw a super cool magic trick demo outside the gift shop. Guess what we bought? :) You’ll have to ask him about it next time you see him.

When we found ourselves planted, and transfixed, in front of this huge exhibit (a very large version of Lex's favorite exibit at the Montshire) we decided it was time to get some food.

Then, in case our kids weren’t tired enough and to avoid Boston commuter traffic, we went for a walk to find dinner. It was chilly and windy, but luckily the kids are amazing and they kept it all together. We ended up at The Cheesecake Factory. Have you been to one? It was loud and the menu was overwhelming, but they gave us a nice big booth and the food was good, so we were all happy. One final hurrah before hitting the road!

We bought a fun book called "Zero the Hero" at the gift shop. That was handy to have while we waited for dinner to arrive.

Then back to the car and back home. New Hampshire welcomed us back with a beautiful sunset and the kids fell asleep in the car. Have I mentioned that the kids amazing travelers? They are!

I posted all of the pictures in a Picasa album. I started adding captions as well, but now both kids are up and I have ignored them for too long. Maybe I’ll get a chance to finish the captions later tonight. Maybe now. The pics are all there though. :)

1204 – Boston MA, April 2012