April 15 – May 24, 2019

Poor little Sleep Lord! He’s been taking a lot more afternoon naps lately. We’ve tried putting him to bed earlier, as well as wearing him out in the evening. But he just can’t manage to sleep past 6:30, or 7:00 on very unusual days. So afternoon naps are a thing again.

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And so are headphones! He’s really taken with Yen’s noise-canceling Bose, which he started wearing because he says Yen’s new lawnmower is too loud (it’s not – it’s an electric that makes a cute litte hum as it goes along munching up grass).

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He doesn’t listen to music in them, but in this series, he sure looks like he’s having a dance party.

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Meanwhile our usual party animal is chilling on the couch, reading about Rutiodon.

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That hammock is still in our living room! It’s a permanent piece of indoor furniture now. I haven’t decided whether to get one for outside yet.

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Wow, Easter feels so long ago! I got baskets for the kids and hid chocolate around the living room and kitchen. Mina, by the way, is wearing Halloween tattoos for the occasion. (“I’m an old salty bear!”)

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Grandpa helped Mina reach eggs in high-up places.

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Relaxing with Ba Noi. Mina does love cuddling and reading!

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I got Linus some fancy Easter egg stickers with little rhinestones. He bedazzled his shirt with all of them.

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As always, we wanted to visit the Public Garden during the tulip bloom. We also learned that there was going to be a Japan festival on the Common that morning. What we didn’t count on was rain!

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Mina insisted on wearing this parka. We had no idea that she’d turn out to be the most appropriately dressed of all of us. Linus, meanwhile, was a man-about-town in his blazer.

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The swan boat ride started out so well, and then the rain came in!

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We hopped off the boat and hid under the bridge until it passed, then continued on our journey.

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The kids have been enjoying their Halloween costumes regularly. Here’s Linus using Mina’s old witch cape to be a vampire.

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These are fangs.

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Mina wanted to be a cat and tried out here scary face. It wasn’t too impressive.

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Linus is getting a little closer…

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She can’t help being cuddly.

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Cat, cow, unicorn!

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Co Ba got the kids a pop-up book for Peter Pan. They absolutely love it, but I’m always worrying that it’s not strong enough to withstand their enthusiasm.

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The kids’ favorite game continues to be Travel. They pack up their luggage, pile it onto the couch (which is the plane), and then they choose a destination. Often Mina is going to Cincinnati and then on to Florida, while Linus goes to London or Texas.

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They’re sensible little packers! When I’ve taken apart the luggage before, they usually have a wide range of clothes.

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We’ve been visiting the Acton Arborteum more frequently since we moved. It’s particularly beautiful in the spring. Take a good look at Linus’s boots, because you won’t see them again. He lost them in the parking lot of a store in New Hampshire.

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I can make Yen c ome out from behind the camera, but I can’t make the kids smile!

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The trail goes past a little pond with some interesting infrastructure for Linus to examine.

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We always stop and admire this tree, which is a Weeping Katsura. We’re planning our new landscaping, and would go for this but it’s too sensitive to drought. In fact, an arborist wrote a column in our local paper recently saying that not only have we moved to zone 6a in the past decade, we are quickly heading for 7b and should plan ahead!

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We hadn’t been to the Harvard Natural History Museum in a while, so we decided to head over for a visit one rainy day.

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Mina did a lot of pointing.

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Major milestone: Linus can fully see over the glass cases to examine the minerals now! Mina still has to enjoy the woodwork unless one of us picks her up.

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Since viewing Coco, the kids are now excited about Mexican culture – including the language and their approach to honoring ancestors. There’s definitely an ofrenda in our future.

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“More cereal please!”

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I loved this: Linus took the blocks out of this container, had me add a strap, and turned it into a drum. This after we saw a parade of Revolutionary War re-enactors.

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Um, yoga? I’m not sure.

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We found a new place to hike in Nashua, but I forgot to bring the kids’ jackets. Linus borrowed mine and looked rather like Harry Potter.

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They’re eating graham crackers, by the way. Snack of champions.

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We meant to pose for a photo, but I ruined it with my constant, “No! Don’t climb! You’ll fall!”

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Yen managed posing a bit better.

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Just a typical Sunday morning breakfast! Queen Elsa is particularly good at breaking eggs.

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Linus is off again! Not sure where this time.

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Mina put together this smashing outfit.

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Pants optional.

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Totally unprompted hug!

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This may be a hug or it could be an impending attack.

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Linus got hungry one day, and I didn’t deliver a snack quickly enough. He took matters into his own hand by digging into the travel pack and settling into the mudroom for a snack.

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I’m pretty sure he’s designing a new roller coaster.

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We took a mini vacation in the Berkshires last weekend. It was meant to be much longer than a single night, but we were NOT impressed by the hotel.

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The kids kept saying they wanted to “climb a Berkshee!” so we found a little mountain for them.

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I’m always so impressed by how well they handle the terrain.

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The kids both wanted to carry backpacks with snacks and water. You can imagine who ended up carrying them. Up ahead you can see that I’m already carrying a jacket.

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After the hike, we moved on to Naumkeag, a Trustees property that’s long been on our hit list. Linus was way too cute insisting that his umbrella would work best for keeping the sun off his face.

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Whoa, did they know Linus was coming???

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I was surprised (and very happy) that they allow picnicking everywhere, and even provide blankets. Not sure why Mina wanted to lie downhill, though.

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Wait, where are Mina’s pants? Well, she got a little excited about the balls floating in the fountain and fell in. I told her that wet clothes are an excellent way to stay cool, but she wasn’t having it.

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Surprise! We managed to meet up with Kevin, Stephanie, and their adorable Leona. It was our first time meeting her.

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Here’s Mina back at home, uncharacteristically still.

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And Dr Nana opened his office to give Ba Noi a checkup. Looks like her appointment went better than mine: I ended up with a headectomy, handectomy, and tummyectomy.

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