A great week

(Remember to click on the photos to see them larger.)

Last week was so great that I don't want to miss blogging about it. B is finally getting some of his energy back after finishing chemo a few weeks ago, and is jumping right back into life.

Sunday we went to Mixville Park for some fishing and other fun. Luna got her first slide experience, and everyone (except the sane one - me) actually dipped their feet in the water (OK, B kept his boots on).

Monday was errands day, but on Tuesday afternoon, after my bowling league, we headed to Coco Key Water Resort to take advantage of free admission for the 3rd time. We invited our friend R again, and had a great time. He didn't even seem to mind when he got a giant rip in his bathing suit; he just threw his underwear on underneath and was good to go. Good lesson for my boys.

Wednesday E had his guitar lesson, and afterward we let Luna play with his guitar teacher's dog, who is a boxer the same exact age. Both of the puppies had an awesome time playing, but our guitar teacher is a pretty overprotective parent, and we only had 15 minutes or so. Luna had so much fun! This week I'll have to take pictures, since she was invited back again.

Thursday the boys decided to join B and I for our trip into Manhattan. B had good news from his oncologist: his Mediport will be removed on December 11th!

After his appointment we headed over to the Intrepid which has reopened after renovations. We actually took a cab to get there across town, which the boys thought was lots of fun.

First we looked at the Growler, which is the submarine they have there. I think that was all of our favorite. It was super cramped in there, but luckily B never hit his head once!

The Intrepid itself was pretty cool, but not as much to see as I really expected. Considering that the thing held 3,000 men, we didn't really see very much. I would've like to see the mess hall that holds all those men, but my feeling is that they ripped it out for the museum area. It was cool to see the kitchen (galley) though, and some of the bunks, which were really close together, and certainly the anchor room with the giant chains. The planes on top were cool too. I do have to say though, that their short film about the history of the ship was not worth building that whole theater for. We wished we hadn't wasted time on that.

Even the train ride home was lots of fun. We got some food in Grand Central and got on a train that wasn't the next to leave, so that we'd be sure to get seats together, and ate our dinner on the train. The boys thought that was really cool. And they decided that next time they'd get Chicken Tikka Masala too.

We are so blessed that my dad was able to watch Luna for the day, and we stopped by on our way home from the train station to pick her up. Boy was she happy to see us!

Friday was the last day of Great Hollow classes. I got to see where the boys have been spending their Fridays the last couple of months, and was glad to have the opportunity to hear what they've been doing all that time, since when I'd ask them I'd get mostly "we played deer and coyote". Something I was not thrilled to hear since I couldn't see spending a small fortune for them to play tag in the woods.

I learned that they transplanted some endangered plants, and that they can identify several plants in the woods now. They both really want to return to the classes in the spring, but I really have to think about whether it's worth that much money. And the hour drive each way.

Well the week just kept getting better, as Saturday found us at the Lego Kidfest at the CT Convention Center. It truly was awesome to see all the giant statues made with Legos. But I have to admit the place was packed. I'm so glad we had gotten our tickets in advance (a fellow homeschooler got a group discount) so that we didn't have to wait on those enormous lines.

We saw a presentation given by two of the giant statue designers/builders. We got to see the software they use to determine how to make the statues (which, by the way, are all hollow). We also saw adult Lego clubs’ huge displays of cities and other amazing things of their own designs. R was pretty inspired and is thinking he might need a new set now. E mostly enjoyed seeing all the giant statues.

I am really glad we went. It was very inspiring. I don't think they anticipated the turnout though (by 12:30 pm they called it “sold out” and turned away hundreds of people on line). And all the aisles were really filled with commercial vendors having nothing to do with Legos. So although we will unlikely return if they do it again, we are really glad we went.

The week ended on an unusual note. Both boys went to the Yale Pediatric Sleep Disorder Center to be tested. E did great and fell asleep despite all the wires, but poor R was miserable and got only one REM session the whole night. I don't think that was enough for them to tell me if his deep sleeping is the concern I think it is (since he could not fall into one). I actually hope they call us back to do it again, but I'm not confident that's how it will work out. We'll have the results of that in a couple of weeks. And in the meantime, B has finally made an appointment for himself to be tested.

On the way home from the hospital we stopped at McDonald's for some milk shakes, which have become our after-hospital tradition (yeah, we've been there for stitches). Milk shakes at 7 am. That made their day.

So that was our awesome week. Definitely one I wanted to get down, so I remember it.

Titanic Exhibit

Today R and I went to see the Titanic exhibit at the Hartford Civic Center. His interest in the Titanic has not waned over the years, and he was thrilled when I asked if he wanted to go. They actually had a homeschool day where tickets were reduced for homeschoolers, and luckily B was able to take off today to keep E occupied. It was nice to have a day for just the two of us.

I couldn't find much online about the exhibit. The page on the Civic Center website is pretty "unappetizing" and I was concerned that it'd be a rip off. But once we went, we found it was well worth it.

When we got there, we were handed two "boarding passes" and were told that we should look at the wall at the end of the exhibit to see whether we survive or not. We went ahead and purchased two audio tours, and headed in.

The first "room" was set up to suggest the docking area. Here we saw artifacts having to do with the outside of the boat, including the only piece of rope they have been able to retrieve. They also had big murals depicting people planning and building it.

So we stepped up on board and entered a hall which was set up like the hall would have been in first class, with doors and beautiful carpeting leading the way down to the next area. They had great sound effects too, with what sounded like a crowd cheering the ship off. The hall led to an open area with dozens of artifacts depicting what traveling in first class would've been like. It was fun to read about Margaret Brown who we knew about from the movie The Unsinkable Molly Brown. And as students of "Titanicology", we really, really loved seeing all the genuine artifacts that they pulled out of the water.

Next was another hall which depicted third class. We saw a tiny room with two bunk beds in it, and got to hear what it would've sounded like down in the bowels of the ship, so near the motor. After that was one of the boiler rooms. They had a huge chunk of coal which they had retrieved from the site, and rows of furnaces where the coal was inserted (this was actually ingeniously presented with a short row elongated with mirrors). This is the room where the exhibit began to present information about the crash. On the end of it was a "wall of ice" which people were invited to touch, and thereby understand that most people died from hypothermia rather than drowning. (I had to swipe this photo off Google Images, since I actually adhered to the no picture-taking rule.)

The room we arrived in next started the focus on the retrieval efforts; a bunch of items in cases were in the middle of the room, and along the walls were those same items in photographs as they were found at the site of the wreckage. R especially liked this room. Finally we learned about the people on the ship. Along the walls were written the stories of various passengers, and below each story were artifacts connected to that person. It was really fascinating. They actually had vials of perfume from someone going to the U.S. to sell them, and holes in the exhibit so we could smell them!

Also in the last room were a couple of large panels telling stories of people specifically connected to Connecticut, and of course, the large wall where we could take out our "boarding passes" to find out if we survived. We were glad we both had.

It took us about two and a half hours to walk through, and we were really sad when it was over. Since they did not allow photographs, I was really disappointed not to find postcards in the gift shop. (Why doesn't anyone sell postcards anymore?) All they had was a book about the exhibit for 15 bucks. I just wanted a few photos so I passed and bought myself a pencil. R was thrilled when I treated him to a piece of coal from the ship, which even comes with a certificate of authenticity. It was 20 dollars for a piece the size of a marble, but totally worth my boy's excitement at owning something which was actually on the Titanic. (Heck, I still treasure my piece of the Berlin wall.)

I have to say that this exhibit was phenomenal. It was so well conceived and executed, and truly involved all the senses, which helped make it so memorable. It brought the story alive in a way that all the DVD's and books have only done in a way that we now realize was superficial.

After finishing up the exhibit we walked around "the city" a bit, looking for a place to eat. We decided on The Green Papaya Cafe, where we had some excellent Thai food. I enjoyed Drunken Noodles (spicy flat rice noodles stir-fried with chicken, tomatoes, onion, broccoli, bell peppers, snow peas and basil leaves), which almost blew my head off in a wonderful way, and R enjoyed Thai Traditional Fried Rice with Chicken (Jasmine rice stir-fried with egg, onions, peas, carrots and scallions).

We had such a wonderful afternoon together. It was so cool to spend time sharing my son's passion. How blessed I am to have been able to do so.