Children's Museum Boston

Yesterday we took the kids down to Boston to the Children's Museum. We have been very fortunate since we have 3 very nice children's museums nearby. The Boston museum is our favorite one though. It had been closed for some time for renovation and they did a great job. The parking is still a little challenging because of the dig. I don't think I have gone to the museum the same way twice. However if you pay attention you will find it without any problems. Anyway we made it down without getting lost and as you can see the kids had a great time. Some of the exhibits we saw on previous trips but there were new ones as well. Emma loved getting her hands on everything.

For those who do not know I grow up outside of USA. Well actually I grew up in a communist country but that is another story. When I first visited America, hands-on museums were one of the things that I had never experienced before. Museums were always a place where you go look but not to touch. Here in the USA kids and adults are encourage to touch and try everything. What a great privilege we have to be able to learn by play. Anyway I am so happy my children have the opportunity to learn that way and as you can see from our blog we are in some kind of museum at least once a month.

This is one of the new displays in the museum. Sam was too scared to go up but Nate on the other hand we couldn't get him down. It is over 3 stories high and even though it looks shaky it is very strong and safe (what a great idea).
Here is a mix of few thing we got to do. Construction zone never gets old and Nate enjoyed playing the blue man group instruments (pipes). The boys got to ride an airplane and play with bubbles.

650 miles+

Here we are again at the beach. Well there is a big surprise since it is finally summer. I love taking pictures of the kids in different places and I have few of my favorites. We have been traveling a lot this week. Well to be exact over 600 miles. With the boys VBS and our trips to the beach and Boston I did a lot of driving. We sure were busy. The main reason was that Fil had to leave for a business trip to San Jose CA for the week so we were on our own (this is the first time he has had to travel since he has been with the company so I can not complain). I have no idea how other wives do it when their husbands travel almost every week. I mean we did fine but I am so tired and worn out by the end of the week.
Our beach girl. No matter what she is up to she always has a time to smile for the camera.
Well boys will be boys. I bet you can guess what the boys have been up to in the water.
Sam busy collecting sea creatures on the beach.

Anyway Fil made it home today and I am looking forward to some quiet time this week. I should also mentin that I have been thinking a lot about our referral lately. I know it would be a miracle to get it so early but I am thinking about it a lot (and praying as well). It is fun to watch the kids play on the beach and think that next year there will be another one around (I hope I will not go crazy with four kids). Man, I can not wait.

Strawberries

The strawberries are ready in New England. Since I don't have the boys with me in the morning (they are at VBS) I get to do all kind of stuff with Emma. We have mainly done some shopping but also catching up on some stuff around the house. Today we went strawberry picking. Emma was not so sure what I was up to but after I gave her one to taste she was going yum yum all the time. However, she did not want to get her fingers dirty by picking them up by herself but she felt free to pick from my basket (that I did not like). Anyway I did manage to pick over 13 lb in 45 minutes. So I guess you know what I have been doing all afternoon. Making Strawberry jam ( it was about time too since I just opened our last one from last year). The boys helped with the mixing and we are all looking forward homemade strawberry jam during the winter months. The rest of the strawberries we ate and I think we are done for a while.

Howdy

Guess what are the boys up to this week? Yep VBS would be the correct answer. They are enjoying it very much. I do all the driving and it is not around the corner.

This year the theme is Avalanche Ranch and it can get really loud. This time the boys are in different groups but I have to say that they are fine with it and both of them are making new friends. They have so much to tell me everyday after we drive home and then they repeat everything to dad who is in CA this week on business.

I am so glad for this church and their passion for children. They run two VBS sessions one in the morning (160 people) and one in the afternoon (120 people) Everything is very well organized and you can see on the children faces they are all having a good time.

Beach

As you can see I have been catching up with my blog. It is not like we do not do anything but with all the running around and the work around the house there is not much time left.

I wanted to post picture from our trip to the beach yesterday. This was our first trip to the beach this year with nice weather. It was sunny all day and very low humidity (and let me tell you it can get very humid in New England). We stayed on the beach the whole time and the kids had a blast (Christie and I were trying to get some color)

Emma can not fit in the bucket. She tipped over and thought it was very funny.
The boys played on the rocks all day long. I am sure they had their own little fantasy world going on. What great imaginations. They only came down to go to the bathroom or to eat (in that order).

Emma working on something. She was busy as well. She did not care for the water since it felt too cold for her.

New Fridge

Yesterday I became the proud owner of a new refrigerator. This is actually the first one we had to buy. After watching the old one (15 years old) leak once in a while we knew the end was drawing near. I am surprised it lasted that long. Anyway we decide to go ahead and got a new one on Friday (we have wood floors in the kitchen and we did not want to destroy them with water). Just in case you didn't notice all the magnets and pictures are up. They delivered it early Monday morning and after a quick installation I took the kids to the beach for the rest of the day (but that is for another blog entry). After we got back we got to fill the fridge with all the food and even the ice maker is working.

Sunday

Every Father's Day for the last three years we headed up to the mountains after church. On Father's Day in NH all the State parks are for free. Well they were at least until now. We learned this year was the last time the state will be doing this. Oh well we will have to find a new tradition to do on this very special day. First stop is always Fraconia Notch. We take the tram up and do a little hike around. As you can see this year we couldn't see much. It was cloudy up on top but we still had a good time (We took the trip with our good friends the Green's).


Part of this trip is that we take a lots of family pictures because of all the lovely spots around. I am sure you will see some of these on our Christmas card.
All the kids on the way up.
The second stop is at the Flume Gorge and we do a longer hike along the gorge. Even it was a little bit cooler than the previous years we still had a good time.

The Green's


Going through the cave (Let's just say that the kids got through without any problems and we will leave it at that).

Happy Father's Day

Guess what daddy got for Fathers day? The boys were so excited. We all got some more mosquito bites that evening but we all had a good time together.



HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Nextel Race Car

We were on our way to Home Depot to pick up some stuff for my project when we saw the Nextel 07 race car. By the way the boys (and daddy)are big race car fans so I had to stop and we got to see it. They got some goodies too (I bet it made their day). It was much more exciting than picking up some wood and nails at the Home Depot.

our two biologists

This is a good story to pass on.

I was working on something on the PC when Sam ran in to tell me that I need to come outside to see something. He looked very excited so I went out to check out what was going on. Nate was laying down on the driveway in front of our garage and he was looking at a leaf. When I looked closely I saw what the big fuss was about. They were watching a caterpillar eating a leaf. These are the times when I know I need to show the same level of excitement as them when they discover something new (I read somewhere). Actually it was pretty cool to watch the caterpillar eating (and was is hungry or what).

I went back to work on the PC and after a while I heard Sam crying. Then I realized that Nate was crying as well. At first I thought somebody got hurt or the boys got into a fight. Well it turned out being as Sam put it,"The caterpillar is leaving us" with a cry that the whole neighborhood could hear. Nate added more crying to let me know that the situation was very serious.

I love my boys very much. We have caterpillars everywhere this time of the year. However, neither of the boys will actually touch the caterpillars. But they will call on their good friend Abby from across the street to do the job (it takes a woman). Anyway they ended up putting it into a bucket that didn't work, more crying.

They are busy now playing with something else so I guess they forgot about the caterpillar for now.

Ethiopian Flag

I almost forgot to post this picture. After driving around Philly looking for a parking spot we spotted an Ethiopian flag instead. We all got excited and I did took a picture of it. Anyhow they have flags from around the world around the city. I am including facts about the flag that I got from Wikipedia. (It is very interesting by the way.)

The Flag of Ethiopia was adopted on February 6, 1996.
The colours of African unity - red, green, yellow - are seen here on one of the oldest African flags. These colours were used for the national flag of Ethiopia in 1897, a year after Ethiopia decisively defended itself from colonial Italy at the Battle of Adwa. The flag's tri-colour scheme has existed since the early 19th c. and was previously the official banner of the Ethiopian Empire's Solomonic dynasty. The royal flag often featured the emblem of a Lion of Judah, a crowned lion carrying a cross centred in the banner's yellow mid-section. The flag is understood to be a link between the Ethiopian church, the peoples, and the nation were united in the one flag. Whilst red is currently featured at the bottom of the horizontal tricolour this was reversed in the mid 19th century and the emblem was added in 1996. What the colours symbolize varies depending on point of view, but generally: red represents power or African blood spilled in defence of the land; yellow for peace and harmony between Ethiopia's various ethnic and religious groups; green is almost always said to symbolize the land and its fertility. Other African nations, upon their independence from their colonial rulers so often adopted these three colours that they are known as the Pan-African colours.
Prior to 1996, and to some extent even today, the 'plain' flag was commonly seen across the nation and the world. Previously, especially during the Derg regime, a number of different emblems were experimented with, however, the basic colour schematic has remained constant. Even the oppressive Derg did not dare to tamper with the colours' layout, but simply removed and changed the imperial emblem after Haile Selassie's overthrow. An alternative coat of arms featuring a five pointed star and rays over a cogwheel surrounded by a wreath of leaves is now the featured emblem.
The star, which is a pentagram, is yellow on a blue disc, which overlaps the green and red stripes. The star testifies to Ethiopia's bright future and possibly echoes the connection with the House of King Solomon, while the yellow rays which it emits are equidistant and are said to represent the equality of all Ethiopians regardless of race, creed, or gender.

What is a mountain made of?

Last week Sam asked Fil this question in the car (We were all present by the way including Fil's brother who got a big kick out of this one).

Sam: Daddy, what is a mountain made of?
Fil: Well sweetie, mountains are formed by Plate tectonics

Quiet for a while.

Mom (me): Honey, a mountain is a big pile of dirt.
Sam (and Nate): Oh.
Why didn't he say so?

We all got a big laugh out of it. Hope you will too.

Jump

One day we headed out to the small airport in Mass to see uncle Vit jump. We got to see him jump already last year but it was still an enjoying day.
Uncle Vit with Emma before take off.



This goes with Fil's brother very well. (He is the one who ended up with six surgeries few years back after his jump snowbording.)
Nate ready to jump.
Sam ready to jum.

Vit showing the boys how to pack a parachute.

Yes he landed safely on the ground.

NYC

We did make to NYC again. This time it was much warmer and sunnier. We tried to do some different things with the kids this time. Both me and Fil grew up in big cities so we did not fear NY at all. It kind of feels like home in a way. We all took the train in. Emma and me took the subway to 86th street and off to the Czech Consulate on 83rd and Madison. I walked from there back to the Fao Schwarz to meet the boys. They got to go up to the Empire State building and Nate hasn't stopped talking about it since. After they got down his words were:"That was amazing" I as very happy that they had fun and were not stuck with me at the consulate and I got a very nice walk back with Emma who fell asleep in the stroller. Anyway I did get the new passport and everything is in order. Sam and Nate on top of the Empire state building.
The kids at M&M's World in Time square. Emma did not like it.
Nate and Sam up front of M&M's race car. For those who do not know the boys are big NASCAR fans. (By the way none of them likes the M&M's car)

Toys R Us

I did not see it last time but there is Toys R Us store right in Times Square. It has its own Ferris wheel inside. The boys did not want to go on (Sam &Nate) So Fil and his brother took only Emma. And she loved it.

Emma at the Apple store.

The boys in FAO Schwarz on the famous piano.

Emma with dad and uncle Vit on a Ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us store.

Philadelphia PA

Well, here we are on a road again. This time we went to Philadelphia PA. This is part of my new passport. For those who don't know I had to go get a new one in NYC at the Czech Consulate. The first trip was a few months earlier (and it was a little bit colder) and this time the passport was ready and I had to go pick it up personally. We got two trips out of this whole process and we were happy to have an excuse to go. This time Fil's brother came with us and we spent few days in Philly. First of all let me tell you we loved Philadelphia. What a beautiful city. The weather couldn't be better and the kids did great. Fil's brother flew into Manchester NH on Saturday night and on Sunday morning we were on our way. Our family up front of a fountain next to the Ben Franklin institute (Science museum) You can see Town Hall behind us (Which is by the way the largest working Town Hall in US, 700 rooms to be exact).
This was a big hit for our kids, exspecially for Nate. You get to go through the heart and Nate got to go many times. He always kept coming back to it.
Uncle Vit and Emma in an airplane.
Me and Emma at the Science museum.
Again the boys by the fountain. They sure did have a lots of fountains around Philly.

The boys with Rocky (I am sorry I did not grow up in US so I do get a big kick out of these things. I have never seen the movie so Fil had to fill me in on the US history on this one). The boys also got to run up the stairs and do there own Rocky version and they were not the only ones.
Love.

This is one of the

landmarks in Philly.

Liberty Bell

Yes we got to see the Liberty Bell and yes it has a crack. This was one of the highlights for the boys. We ended up doing so much in Philly, much more that we planed to do (I was not so sure how much the boys will be able to handle, Emma was in a stroller most of the time but they did great).

King TUT



This is one of the main reasons we went to Philly. To see the King Tut exhibit at the Ben Franklin museum. Fil saw this exhibit when he was a little boy in LA. It has not been outside Cairo since. This is the first time in 30 years and we wanted to take the opportunity to see it. Last week we got every book on Mummies and Egypt from the library and the boys know everything there is about them (They got to mummify Emma's little doll and little piglet, we all got a big kick out of that one).
On the way back from the Art museum we met a Segway tour group on the road. You bet next time I want to travel that way.




Sam and Nate up front of the sand sculptures