Junior sleuths society

Veteran's Day 2008.

Lauren headed to Cambridge with three friends (on the subway! by themselves! huge rite of passage right there) to go to the Harvard Natural History Museum as part of a big Biology project.

Greg was at work, talking on his phone and doing what he does at work, where he is usually found on Tuesdays. (His company doesn't take those kind of holidays off. Moment of silence for absent G.)

That left the three of us (Maddy, Sam and me) for the day. I took a break from homework & projects in the morning and we decided to go letterboxing.

It's no secret that Sam loves everything to do with sleuthing and puzzles and mysteries so he loves it when we go on a letterboxing adventure. Plus it gets us out in the fresh air at the same time...just right for a day off from school. We hadn't been for a year or two (I know I've posted about letterboxing before but somehow can't find it in my archives) so we clicked here for a refresher.

[You could really make this two days of activities: the first day you could make your stamp notebook and even carve your own stamp from a rubber eraser. The next day you could follow the clues to the treasure. I'm just saying.]

Letterboxing is basically a treasure hunt arranged by kind and interested strangers. At each site, they bury a box with a notebook (for you to sign or stamp with your own stamp), a stamp (to stamp your own notebook like a passport book), and an inkpad. On the website, you can search for a location near you and download the clues to find the buried box. We chose the one in Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Concord.

Thank you, veterans.

There were clues like "go to Author's Ridge"
"you will pass a sphere on the right and a hollow stump on the right"

"walk 20 paces"

"...behind the tree you will see a partly buried rock.
The box is under the rock."

The thrill of discovery!

I was kind of concerned about the ethics of bringing Louie
to a cemetery
(would he want to dig anything up?)
but he was very well behaved

The stamp: "the earth laughs in flowers [Ralph Waldo Emerson]"

It was a good day.
{Let me know if you try this...I'd love to hear about
other sleuthing adventures}
p.s.
Lauren successfully navigated the city and the subway
and finished her assignment.
She came back spilling with stories of getting a bit lost
(she did some sleuthing of her own after all)
and loving the glass flowers
and the stuffed llama.

Columbus, we really like your day

After getting all of our have-to-do list done this morning (statistics for me, homework for the girls, flopping around and bored moaning for Sam), we headed east for a chilly but lovely hour at Wingaersheek beach just outside of Gloucester (by the way {helpful Boston insider info}: pronounced glaw-ster, not glou-cest-er).

We figured it was the least we could do on Columbus Day; since he traveled all that way to our shores we could do the same. Yes, I got carried away with photos. (In fact, we also made a movie with MORE photos if these 21 photos aren't enough...)

So that was the best part of the weekend (even though we missed Greg, who had to work today) along with a nice day out with Greg on Friday when the kids were at school.

  

The worst part? Coming home from that Friday date and finding that Louie got out of his gate, got into the Halloween face paint and smeared it all over our sofas and rug. And then had the nerve to have two days of diarrhea.  Grrrr.

This girl

This girl turned 15 a week or so ago. Without even asking permission. I'm in denial.

Oh, those oldest kids. They really know how to stick it to their parents and they don't even know they're doing it! {I can say that because I am an oldest child. And married one. Married very young, too, thereby proving my unknowingly-stick-it-to-the-parents, oldest child theory.} Every milestone is bittersweet for us poor parents: excited and joyful at the growth and a bit shocked and sad and...aging at the same time. Time doesn't seem to listen to our whining and pleading to PLEASE SLOW DOWN. We're turning into ancestors before our very own eyes.

But if there's one lesson parenting brings, it's this: it's not all about you.

Sometimes parenting reminds me of a certain Grover book. (Stay with me here. You know...the blue, furry, spazzy Muppet?) We have long loved There's a Monster at the End of this Book, both when I was growing up and with my own kids. Grover spends every page pleading with the reader "please, please, oh please don't turn the page. 'Cause there's a monster at the end of this book! Didn't you read the title?" He tries to tape the pages, he builds a brick wall, but the pages keep turning, closer and closer to the end of the story. Then, of course, at the end HE's the monster at the end of the book.

That's me, trying to slow down the story, trying to maintain the happy status quo. I haven't decided what is the monster at the end of this book. A grown child? An empty nest? Regrets? Monster me? Whatever it is, it won't be what I fear, I'm sure. Maybe it will even be cute and furry (but we already got a dog). I just want a certain Miss L to go back and curl up on my lap for a few more stories again. Is that too much to ask?

I thought so.

Anyway, what was I saying about it's not all about me? Oh, yes.

Happy {belated} Birthday, Lauren! You're a fabulous, beautiful, loving, stubborn, talented, sunny bright spot in our lives. You go, girl. Just not too fast.

Apples to wackos

We were sitting around playing Apples to Apples this morning when we stumbled into a hilarious coda to the game. Hilarious to us, that is. Is it dorky or cool? I can't decide.  It might be a case of had-to-be-there.

Whatever word cards you win, you act out at the end.

We started out pretty straightforward:

^

flirtatious

^

patriotic

Then we started combining words and adding props

and things got a little wacky:

^

temperamental & dangerous

^

unscrupulous & cool

(nothing says cool like smoking a pen?

kids, don't try this at home)

^

saintly & powerful

^

scary & loud

And my personal favorite:

^

dangerous and cheesy

(grandma is threatening to grate M's finger)

One of those welcome signs on the overpass would have sufficed

We're here for less than 24 hours and guess what?

We got robbed in Utah! In my own growing-up hometown! What's up with that?

Our rental car was parked in front of my parents' house last night and someone broke in and took:

- Greg's Garmin navigation system that I brought from home (the one he always puts away but I left out in plain sight on the front window)
-Lauren's ipod, left in her purse, along with...
-Lauren's digital camera AND
-$100 of Lauren's hardearned babysitting money she wanted to use for school clothes

Yeah, Lauren didn't come out of it so well, poor thing.

Oh the irony!  Lauren is the one who considers Utah to be nirvana: where we waterski, play, see family, sleep in...the land of fun + relatives + cute boys + vacation + Hire's cheeseburgers + no chores.  And this valley here? Literally the land of milk (Aggie ice cream, creamies) and honey (Cox's). 

Sorry, Utah, you just slipped a few notches.

We'll give you some chances to show us your good stuff in the coming days though...