Easter Egg Dying

Easter wouldn't be the same without dying a few eggs.  Of course it helps that three of us like to eat hard boiled eggs.  This year we opted for the traditional coloring technique with an addition of the volcano.

So none of us knew quite what to expect.  We made the colored paste which happened to have baking soda as the base.  We then filled up the volcano with vinegar and dropped the egg inside.  Each eruption was fun to watch.  All the bubbling turned the colors into a marble motif.

Our favorites!

 

The Dreadful Dragon of Dartmouth

March 13, 2020 was to be the opening night of The Dreadful Dragon on Dartmouth... Izzy's 5th & 6th grade school play.  However the world had other plans and everything shut down a day before.  This loss was felt by these kids who worked for months on the songs, lines, and choreography.  Not fully knowing what was going to happen, everyone kept faith that this group of kids would eventually have their day on stage.  With the creative help of the school principle, the play was resurrected and finally came to fruition two years later. 

 The kids were offered their original roles but had the opportunity to audition for a new part if they desired.  Most kept their roles including Izzy who was cast as the dreadful dragon.

Not all of the students chose to return to the stage as they had other activities that they since were involved in.  That meant the director, Phil, asked for some of the kids to play a second part in the opposing cast.  Izzy was asked to be one of the guards.  This part fit her perfectly as they were the comedy relief and had the audience giggling throughout the play.

We were blessed for Oma & Opa to travel out here to watch the play.

Izzy and her good friend, Daphne (the king).  These two are theatre kids to the core.

I have been wanting to go see the glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History for quite some time.  With Oma & Opa visiting, this was a lovely "excuse" to see them.  The glass flowers (Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants) are a collection of highly realistic models.  These were created from 1887-1936 in Germany by a father-son duo (Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka).  It includes 4400 individual glass models representing over 830 plant species.

When they said lifelike... this is an understatement.  These looked like specimens that were freshly cut.  Such amazing skill and craftsmanship! 

Nearby is a joint that has amazing frappes... Boston Burger Company.  I promise we ate real food before devouring these tasty treats.

Opa - the King frappe (Elvis - banana, bacon, & peanut butter)

Victoria - shamrock special frappe complete with Lucky Charms marshmallows

Izzy's - Nutella frappe

Oma & Micah - M&M frappe.. you can't go wrong here!

Liz - churro-ly we can taco bout it frappe

The school play is not complete without a cast party complete with ice cream and singing (of course)

Phil & Izzy - each have a special place in their hearts for the other.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Madi Gras

Over time we have grown to enjoy our family's celebration of Madi Gras before the Lent season.  It has become our tradition of going out to eat at the Shaking Crab as they have crawfish on their menu.

Micah decided to tray a lobster roll for the first time.

Victoria and her clam chowder soup.  She gets this every year there.

Izzy and I shared a seafood bag complete with shrimp and crab... yummy!

It was Victoria's turn to make the King Cake as she found the baby last year.  Recently she's took an interest in cooking with me mostly supervising.

Whose going to find the baby this year?.... Izzy!

 

Skiing

A bit of a different take on skiing this year... we elected to sign up for lessons at a local ski resort; Wachusett Mountain.  This allowed us to choose which weekends worked better without committing to an entire week or weekend.  Each of the kids were paired with exactly the right coach for their personalities and were not put together.  Izzy's coach was amazing as he saw she wanted to do something more challenging and took her off on her own at the end of the day for a runs down blue slopes.  Victoria's coach focused on improving her confidence.  Once there, she almost caught up quickly to her brother's level.  Micah's coach focused on technique to the point he graduated to blues by the end of the season.

 

Resident Appreciation Week

Resident Appreciation Day falls in March with most programs saying thank you with a small token such a a gift card to Starbucks.  This year we decided to turn it into a whole week of appreciation.  Luckily I have two creative and artistic daughters who loved helping out.  While I was on service, they created a poster with velcro signs indicating which "treat" was for which day.  We snuck in on a Sunday evening and also decorated the resident work room a bit.

For one of the days we make rice krispie treats with any combination of milk, white, and dark chocolate.  My job was to supply the melted chocolate while Izzy's was to drizzle and dunk them into it.  True to Victoria's personality, she added the sprinkles for a bit of sparkle.

Light up toys are always high in demand for pediatric neurologists, especially those that don't make noises.  Why?  It helps us examine eye movements as the kids will watch the toy.  If the toy makes sound, they can track it by listening which gives you an unreliable exam.

Brainy vinyl stickers with clever neurology sayings!

The final day was a gift of Stoggles.  These are more fashionable protective eye wear.  We are still required to wear eye protection when seeing patients.  But these can be used moving forward as any procedure like Botox injections requires it's usage.