Child Neurology Society 2021 Meeting

Juggling raising three kids mostly by myself has made attending conferences like the Child Neurology Society's annual meeting a bit challenging.  This year's conference was held in Boston which has allowed me to attending during the day.  Furthermore, it was refreshing to be able to contribute academically to the cerebral palsy field this year.  The next step is to write this up for journal submission!

 

Boston Lights - Liz's 44th Birthday

After discovering the Boston Lights Festival at the Franklin Park Zoo the same time last year, we were looking for a return this year which was a fun and special way of celebrating my birthday.  We lucked out with some most excellent weather as well.

Again was a light demonstration for the Chinese Zodiac.  Searching for your birth animal was engaging leading to a few exclamation statements with the kids found their corresponding birth year.  We paused at each one to read the description for each.  Izzy is the year of the Ox.

Micah and Victoria have the desired Year of the Dragon.  Micah really wanted to be the Year of the Chicken after his favorite animal.

I am the year of the Snake.  Snakes certainly get a bad rap and so reading the description sheds a bit of light on how they are viewed in the Chinese Zodiac.

There was a section of dinosaurs with the theme music from Jurassic Park playing in the background.  I guess being eaten is a must in this section.

These circle lighted swings were way too fun.  I don't know if it was the changing lights or the fact that they hugged your body just so that made us wanting to have one at home. 

Upon returning home, the kids were asking if we had a cake to celebrate with.  I decided to try something different as we have been caked out from Micah & Victoria's birthday.... home made cookie ice cream sandwiches.  We had a few choices of ice cream flavors (cookie dough, Oreo, and pistachio), cookies (dark chocolate chunk, white chocolate & macadamia nut, chocolate chip oatmeal), and coatings (mini chocolate chips and M&Ms).

Ice cream is not Micah's thing.  He settled with just the cookies though every now and then I caught his hand in the M&M bowl.

The kids, led by Izzy as she's familiar with buying on Amazon, picked out their own gifts for me.  Victoria also spent time hidden in her room creating a layered birthday card as well.  While not on my list of gift wishes, seeing what they wanted to buy me makes my heart sing.

 

King Richard's Faire Returns

Attending King Richard's Faire has become one of our traditional fall events.  This past year it was shut down due to the pandemic making this year a bit more exciting and nostalgic.  Because the weather was fantastic, we opted for more low key renaissance attire.  Micah was thrilled with getting away with just a t-shirt.  Victoria wore her traditional princess garb complete with the crown Santa gave her.  Izzy wanted to go as a fairy with wings.  I went as a low key fairy which was quite comfortable. 

Choosing which show to watch can lead to arguments amongst us.  This year though was agreed on almost everything which was nice and relaxing.  This unicycle guy was a riot with his commentary.

My favorite was Jacques Ze Whippeur (aka Jack the Whipper).  Between his French accent and witty banter, I couldn't help but laugh out loud.  I think Izzy was a bit embarrassed with my laughing as she commented about the jokes being "mom humor".  I guess many others had "mom humor" given the amount of audience members laughing as well.

In this particular stunt, Jack was going to whip the stick between his legs in half from behind.  He spoke of the technical challenges as he didn't want to hurt his right knee, his left knee, or his weenie.

We still seem to enjoy the self propelled pirate boats.  Mine wasn't as crazy given a bit of sea sickness with my passanger.

We tied a wish in the fairy web.

Every year we adopt a few more pet dragons.  New is Micah's two headed dragon.  Seeing them glow in the dark made them that much more magical.

What we enjoy the most is the jousting tournament.  Each year there is a storyline for the three King's tournaments with the last one ending with only one alive winner.  We seem to always be on the side cheering for Sir Demetri (colors black and red) who instigates the fight.  This year, Sir Jeffery won (colors blue and white).  It didn't matter where we sat, Victoria was going root for Dame Robin (colors purple and gold) as she was the only girl.

On the way out, we ran into the king and queen.  Victoria was in her element and twinkled the entire time.

 

First Day of School!

The week after returning from Memphis, the first day of school was upon us.  The kids were quite happy that school was starting off fully in person and didn't have any issues obliging wearing masks nor was there any community uproar regarding the school's Covid policies.  I think almost everyone here just wanted to get the kids back into school that working together wasn't challenging.  This year Izzy entered 7th grade! with a full middle school schedule.  Micah and Victoria entered 4th grade and were pleased to not be in the same classroom this year.

 

Memphis Day #3

Our last day in Memphis was a bit more low key.  I had reached out prior to my general pediatric program manager about our upcoming visit.  She set up a time to come visit LeBonheur which had since undergone a major renovation and building of the main hospital.  Visiting in the time of Covid meant a few restrictions but nonetheless was quite nostalgic.  Chatting not as a resident any more but as a program director shed some light on their residency program and aspects I didn't see when training there.  Above is the view of downtown Memphis from the top floor of the new tower.

On the list of places to eat, was Memphis style barbeque.  My favorite place, The Barbeque Shop, was closed for new floor installation and was opening the day after we left!... boo.  We went to my second favorite place, Central BBQ.  As expected, Micah was in heaven.  Surprisingly Victoria's barbeque nachos were a hit with everyone.

One last day meant one last afternoon at the hotel pool.  We all agreed we were going to miss this afternoon activity.

We ate so much barbeque that none of us were hungry for a separate evening meal.  A bit of a treat though sounded good.  We drove into the Latino part of Memphis to visit a very popular snow cone and burger shack; Jerry's Snow Cones.  The list of snow cone flavor options was well over 50 making choosing a flavor quite challenging.  Izzy and Victoria decided to try what they are famous for - the snow cone supreme.  This is layers of snow cone alternating with soft serve ice cream.  They both loved it but I will stick with a traditional snow cone.

An early flight the following day meant hanging out in the room the rest of the night.  For fun, I brought animal themed face masks helping with a range of needs including acne (that one was for Izzy), hydration, and firming.  Micah was quite adamant that he was not going to wear the giraffe mask which was fine.

Three days in Memphis turned out to be a fun way to end our summer.  I do wish we had one more day as there were a few other experiences that would have been worth the time.  Maybe that means returning one day.