Adventures of Evie

  Today we decided to visit the Boston Children's Museum! I've been here once before with Evie when she was 2 and she LOVED it and I was really excited to see how she'd like it now that she's older and able to do more.   She got to play with tools, make some art, and climb up a HUGE tower... Then we did some EPIC fort building all together... and made some GIANT bubbles. We only had three hours because they are opening in shifts now for COVID but we made the most of our time and only missed out on one room. It was fun to play together and experiment with science!  After the museum we had one last lunch in Quincy Market and then rounded up the last of our souvenirs before heading back to our apartment to start packing. 4AM comes really early!! I'm excited to be back home in my own bed but also sad to be leaving my favorite city. I hope to be back with Evie again soon! 

  Today we grabbed some coffee in Harvard Square at Pavement Coffee before we hopped on the blue line to check out the New England Aquarium.  This is one I've done every time I've been in Boston and it never disappoints. It's an easy train ride and the view of the harbor is really nice too!  We got there a little before opening so we took some photos and the girls got to see some old school payphones! It was pretty funny to see them pick up the receivers and find out that we used to have to find phones and put quarters in to make calls!  After a morning looking at the pretty fish and sea lions we walked up the Freedom Trail to Boston Commons to see the ducks. Every time I come they are decked out in some kind of fun apparel. Usually it's rainbows for Pride Week but this time they had on blue and yellow scarfs and sweaters to support Ukraine.  Of course Evie can't go to Boston Commons without playing in the park! So we walked back to the Tadpole Playground. It's...

  Today was a bit of a slower day for us. We only had plans to do one thing and that was visit the Boston Tea Party Museum.  This is another one of those things that despite many trips to Boston I have never done before. I wouldn't really recommend it for smaller kids either. Even though Evie did enjoy throwing tea into the harbor and walking around the old ship there was a lot of role play and history that she just didn't find very thrilling. In addition they do also have a video which re-enacts parts of the war that were a little intense for her. Overall though it was a really fun activity for all of us.  At the end you can sample a flight of teas from the era of the Boston tea party. These are supposedly the exact blends that were thrown into the harbor all those years ago which is pretty cool. You can also order other drinks and snacks or even have a full on tea party with a pot of tea and scones. It was really fun and a nice way to get out of the morning cold. ...

  It's the first full day of vacation and we got up early this morning and in true east coast style grabbed some Dunkin' Donuts to eat while we headed for the train. Our apartment is a short walk to the bus (or train if we choose) and then right onto the T which is nice but we still ended up walking almost 7 miles today and Evie did about three of them like a champ! The rest she needed a lift for. lol... After a short train ride we took a scenic walk across the Charles River and then it was onto the Museum of Science. Although this is my fifth or sixth time in Boston in recent years I have never done the Museum of Science and it looked really exciting. While we were there we got to play with electricity, robotics, weather, mirrors and lights and a ton more. Evie really liked this interactive station where she could try to guess what the animals were based on their skulls and teeth. She did pretty well too!  We spent roughly four hours at the MOS and then we walked up to the tr...

  It's finally here! Vacation day! This week is Spring Break for my niece, so we decided to go on a family trip to one of our favorite places; Boston! Evie is a pretty seasoned traveler...she got her passport when she was six months old and has already visited eight countries and fifteen states...but it's been awhile since she's been on a plane thanks to COVID. She was really excited to carry her own backpack and carry on though. On the plane we had snacks and we played some games... ...and Evie got to go sit in the cockpit with the pilots at the end! I have to laugh because every time she gets on a plane they give her a set of wings and congratulate her on her first flight and in reality, she took her first flight at 9 months old! It's great that they are so nice though. Once we got into Boston we had a few bumps with transportation but we got it figured out and got into our apartment with just enough time to walk around Harvard for a bit before it started pouring! It ...

  It was another rainy day today, but in between the showers the sun peeked out and we found time to dance and play. We're still gearing up for our upcoming vacation and while we're still practicing letter writing and reviewing numbers I haven't wanted to start any particularly large or messy projects this week. So we've been mostly playing outside after lunch and running around grabbing last minute things we need.  When we went down to check the mail today Evie noticed that our tree was in full bloom and dropping white blossoms all over the ground and she was immediately excited. She ran upstairs to get her "Isabela" dress (so called because it's ruffled and black and colorful like Isabela from Encanto when she realizes her true powers), threw it on, and then bolted back down to go out and grab the flowers. She spent a decent amount of time tossing them around and singing and even when the rain started it didn't quell her joy. After playtime we headed...

  Today was a rainy day and since we are getting things ready for an upcoming trip we've been super busy during the day lately! In between cleaning and making packing lists and planning activities for Spring break we decided to make some lip balm.  Evie got this little Barbie lip balm kit and she is super into makeup so she was very excited to try this out. It was trickier than I expected. The wax pellets they have in the kit didn't melt well and the whole thing seized up when we added color to it so it's going to require some trial and error but ultimately we did end up with a swirly flavored lip balm so it was a win! When we went to Nana's for family night Evie got another fun surprise; a blow up chair filled with pink glitter! She wanted to blow it up as soon as we got home even though it was well past bedtime. After we got it blown up she was excited to try it out. I let her sit in it for a little bit and then it was off to bed. It was a long but really productive a...

  We're still soaking up the sunshine this week before it goes away again. Today we had a rainbow day. This is far from the first time we've talked about or learned about rainbows but it's always fun to play with colors. We made some sidewalk puffy paint and had fun spreading it all over the sidewalk. Since we needed to also clean up the puffy paint after she was finished making her designs we made a bucket of rainbow soap fluff and she played with that for awhile and ended up getting it everywhere (which was the plan!) She had fun putting it in containers and pretending to serve me ice cream and then we would roll the containers down the driveway to see what patterns the "ice cream" made when we were done pretending to eat it. Once it was sufficiently soaped up we got out the hose and sprayed everything down. As a little bonus Evie got to make rainbows with the water. She loved this and she has had so much fun playing in water outside lately. We have colder days ...

  Today was a gorgeous day! It was actually almost hot outside and since it was so pretty there was no way we were staying inside. Evie has been really asking lately when we are going back to the beach so today I decided to make a little beach for her barbies and while she was playing with them I surprised her with a can of silly string. We spent some time blasting each other with it (and we saved a little for surprising people later ;P) and when we ran out we spent some time making up stories with her dolls. The sand is made out of Cocoa Wheats and while it worked really well it did leave some brown powder on our clothes. After we finished making a huge mess of chalk, "sand", and silly string it was time to clean up. I started hosing off the driveway and of course Evie wanted to play in the hose. Since it was so hot and she was covered in chalk anyway when I finished up the driveway I let her run through the spray for awhile. It was a super fun day and a really nice reminder...

  Today we had a really slow day. Evie got up late and she wasn't in the best mood. This week has been out of our normal routine thanks to her trip to Children's so since it was so sunny outside we took this as an opportunity to play outside and have a mid-day picnic. At lunchtime we packed up the picnic basket, set up our blanket and basket in the yard, and enjoyed some sandwiches and fancy juice (just frozen berries in fruit juice!), and soaked up some much needed sunshine. Last year we took our picnic basket to the park countless times and played and ate and just had a little break from the day and Evie is VERY excited for park picnics again! She also had dance class this evening. They are starting to really work on their routine for the recital and she's doing a great job following along with it. I can't wait to see how she does this summer with it. :)

  Today was a really fun day. Evie is still a little off her schedule and waking up later but we're slowly adjusting to the time change. This morning after breakfast Evie played and watched some Encanto. Then we worked out together (although her workout was much easier than mine!), and when we finished up with that we had a picnic lunch outside. It's been so warm this week and it's only getting warmer which means summer is on the way! We are very excited about trips to the zoo and the amusement park and water balloon fights and swimming in our pool and just all the things that summer brings. After lunch we made a little kaleidoscope together. Evie had a lot of fun sticking the little transparent stickers on the wheel and then turning it to see what kind of designs it made. We have more projects to do with kaleidoscopes this week but we're going to spread them out so we can enjoy the weather before rainy Spring shows up. Today was also Nana Day. So we got to go and make ...

  Today Evie had her follow-up for her RADS/asthma. The time change caused her to sleep pretty late and when she woke up she wanted a warm bath so we did that, ate some breakfast, and by the time all that was finished it was time to make the drive downtown for her visit. It wasn't a very exciting one today. No tests or anything crazy but she will be back for some another day. While I'm happy that we are past the days of PICU visits every month, I will be even more happy when the days of hospital visits and check-ups and inhalers and everything else are just completely over! (If they ever are...) After we got home we played a bit and then settled in for dinnertime and bed. :)

  Today was a really nice day so we knew early on we would be playing outside at some point. This morning I decided to do a fun craft that we could take outside later and play with...so we made some high bounce balls! Evie got to pick some colors and fill up three different little molds with the colors. She had a lot of fun choosing how she would layer them in there to make different colored balls.  After she had them filled up we put them each into a cup of water for about 10 minutes and then we removed the molds and let them dry for another 10.  Then they were ready to be unmolded and played with! So we took them outside and had some fun! They really do bounce SUPER high and it was also really fun letting her look at how each one bounces a little differently and rolls a little differently. It was a great opportunity to learn about how the shape affects the movement. :) We had a really fun time with this one and will probably do it again in the future! 

  Today we set up a little doctor station and Evie got to bring in her dolls and stuffys for check ups and various ailments. She had a lot of fun filling out paperwork for them and helping me check them out. One of her favorite things to do is use washi tape to make band-aids for her dolls so this activity was a huge success.  She really liked taking X-rays too and telling me how her dolls had breaks or had swallowed too many pickles. She has a stethoscope that makes purring noises and she also is a big fan of Bluey so another common ailment today was a kitty in their belly.  After the hospital closed we had dance! Her costume for the recital came in today but unfortunately it was the wrong size. :/ So we have to wait for it to be corrected. But the recital is months away so it isn't too big of a deal. She had a lot of fun dancing today but she's really begging me to get back into tumbling so we'll probably add that back into her schedule in a month or two. It's going t...

  Over the weekend it was SO sunny. It was so sunny to the point it was actually HOT at one point. At close to 80* outside we spent our whole weekend painting the driveway with chalk, blowing bubbles, grilling out, and playing at parks. So today when it went back down into the 40's and rained non-stop you can imagine Evie's intense disappointment. She was so excited thinking it was finally summer.  When we left kindergarten enrollment, we had a sheet that gave us information on what things they like them to know coming into kindergarten. It's not a must know -- just a guide to where they like everyone to be at. So this morning we worked on seeing if Evie was at, ahead of, or below the range for writing her lower and uppercase letters. It turns out (no surprise) that she's well above where she needs to be so after we finished I set up a fun "beach" day for her with Harvey from Sago Mini. She had a finger puppet and a little beach set up with a hot dog stand and...