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Weekend Update
Apr. 19th, 2005 09:50 amYeah, a little late, but, anyway...
Friday - Baltimore
Drove down to the National Aquarium in Baltimore to celebrate Justin's 13th birthday. We found it very similar to the New England Aquarium. The dolphin show was really well done, but much shorter than I expected - then again, it was probably sized just right for the younger attention spans. Highlights included the seahorses, the rays, and the rain forest exhibit. Although most of us couldn't pick a single favorite event for the entire day, Rachel had no such trouble and decided the poison dart frogs were the best.
After leaving the aquarium, we toured the lightship, the submarine, the Coast Guard cutter, and the lighthouse. I was able to provide a significant amount of entertainment on the boats - especially the sub - due to my height and the lack of availability of height below-decks. I really would have liked to get down into the machine shops and engine rooms - although I can understand why they wouldn't want visitors there. The space I was having issues with drops significantly, and the amount of greasy, possibly sharp and pointy machinery climbs in the other direction. Funny thing was, it reminded me of the basements (and sub-basements) of MIT, which reminded me of childhood explorations through those halls.
We wrapped up the day with supper at the Hard Rock Cafe, and then a three hour ride that got us back around 10 or so at night.
Saturday
My sister-in-law, Pat, had watched Brandon while we went to Baltimore, and had planned on going home that night, despite warnings about the 10-20 head o' deer that were lounging around the tree farm down the road. However, since she just had a new (i.e. used) starter put in her car two days before, her car wouldn't start. Saturday, after much frustration about the lack of Rabbit diagrams to be found on the web, and the use of Rachel's Barbie mirror and AM/FM radio (just the reflective portion), I located the starter. Pat applied a couple of taps with a wrench, and the car finally started.
Watched The Incredibles for the first time, and enjoyed it.
Justin and I did the monthly tree survey - now measuring 130 trees and shrubs. Took us longer than usual, as we had to water them as well.
Sunday
Patched the lawn with some new grass - this stuff has rhizomes, so it should self-patch once it gets going. Justin cleared Fall leaves out part of the Stone Stream, to help keep that from plugging up once rains finally arrive. Rachel moved about 10 buckets of driveway stone from where snow shoveling misplaced it down to the bottom of the driveway where it keeps washing out. I had the pleasure of pulling out about a bushel of poison ivy, which in turn inspired one of the five poems I wrote later that evening.
I'm sure there was more, but that's quite enough for now. =)
Friday - Baltimore
Drove down to the National Aquarium in Baltimore to celebrate Justin's 13th birthday. We found it very similar to the New England Aquarium. The dolphin show was really well done, but much shorter than I expected - then again, it was probably sized just right for the younger attention spans. Highlights included the seahorses, the rays, and the rain forest exhibit. Although most of us couldn't pick a single favorite event for the entire day, Rachel had no such trouble and decided the poison dart frogs were the best.
After leaving the aquarium, we toured the lightship, the submarine, the Coast Guard cutter, and the lighthouse. I was able to provide a significant amount of entertainment on the boats - especially the sub - due to my height and the lack of availability of height below-decks. I really would have liked to get down into the machine shops and engine rooms - although I can understand why they wouldn't want visitors there. The space I was having issues with drops significantly, and the amount of greasy, possibly sharp and pointy machinery climbs in the other direction. Funny thing was, it reminded me of the basements (and sub-basements) of MIT, which reminded me of childhood explorations through those halls.
We wrapped up the day with supper at the Hard Rock Cafe, and then a three hour ride that got us back around 10 or so at night.
Saturday
My sister-in-law, Pat, had watched Brandon while we went to Baltimore, and had planned on going home that night, despite warnings about the 10-20 head o' deer that were lounging around the tree farm down the road. However, since she just had a new (i.e. used) starter put in her car two days before, her car wouldn't start. Saturday, after much frustration about the lack of Rabbit diagrams to be found on the web, and the use of Rachel's Barbie mirror and AM/FM radio (just the reflective portion), I located the starter. Pat applied a couple of taps with a wrench, and the car finally started.
Watched The Incredibles for the first time, and enjoyed it.
Justin and I did the monthly tree survey - now measuring 130 trees and shrubs. Took us longer than usual, as we had to water them as well.
Sunday
Patched the lawn with some new grass - this stuff has rhizomes, so it should self-patch once it gets going. Justin cleared Fall leaves out part of the Stone Stream, to help keep that from plugging up once rains finally arrive. Rachel moved about 10 buckets of driveway stone from where snow shoveling misplaced it down to the bottom of the driveway where it keeps washing out. I had the pleasure of pulling out about a bushel of poison ivy, which in turn inspired one of the five poems I wrote later that evening.
I'm sure there was more, but that's quite enough for now. =)
