Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

Well, Wayne probably ought to write this email, since he and Paela were the busy bumblebees this week. I just did the work thing during the day and hung out with the two of them in the evenings!

Sunday, Ian Davis and Betsy brought their kids over to play and hang out. We had a good time with them, and they brought a deliciously decadent chocolate pie with them; we saved much of that for Tuesday so we could celebrate chocolate day in style.

Wayne says he was feeling bored, so we helped think of things and places they could explore. Monday they found a splash park about 20 minutes from us. That was lots of fun, though Paela took some time to warm up to the idea and the splash park drew a crowd from several neighboring cities (it seemed). Most likely it was so popular because it was one of those rare sunny days sandwiched between several rainy days in a row on either side. But after watching the 50+ YMCA kids splashing, she crept over to put her hand into the spray stream. Then she dragged Wayne through the entire area, heedless to his hesitation of the water: he hadn't planned to get wet.

So Tuesday Wayne and Paela headed out to Camilla and Victor's place so Paela and Cameron could  amuse one another. Paela literally ran to see Cameron when she got to their place, she was so excited. I think they also may have played at the mall play structure in the morning, because it was too rainy to play outside. Rainy days are hard on Paela and there are a number of them in Boston.

Paela and Wayne finally made it to our local library story time. Paela absolutely loved it (well, other than staying close by Wayne the whole time in case he should get ideas about leaving her!). Along with nursery at Church, she's starting to figure out that it's fun to sing songs in a group and will practice the hand motions at home. We should ask what songs they since in nursery, since a few we can only guess at based on things we see her doing. She particularly loves the good old wheels on the bus and the itsy bitsy spider. At story time, she got really excited for Bingo and a couple other songs she recognized, but the only words she spoke in public was to shout "'Fire!" when she saw another child with a pacifier in his mouth. Later that afternoon they hit the zoo again with Camilla. It is a small zoo, but Paela loves to tell me all about the monkeys and other animals she's seen (or thought she's seen...) when I get home. The lion was especially active that day.

Thursday Wayne took Paela along to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, courteous of discounted library passes again (love that feature of the library!). Wayne tells me Paela loves to loudly shout "Jesus!" when she sees a picture of Christ, and that she also enjoyed riding on the escalator with Aunt Camilla -- which Wayne enjoyed because he could focus a bit more on art while Paela was otherwise occupied! [I'm a bit put out with the state of the public cultural functions of the Boston area: they have all become shadows of their former glory, left to a state of financial disarray. Instead of focusing their efforts on putting together a quality museum, it seems they are more interested in cheap gimmicks. Also, this was the first medieval art I have seen since Germany, which made me realize how second-rate American owned medieval work is. Man, I love the stuff -- but it was so much better in Europe! --wayne]

We also found a very small, but free, petting zoo about 20 minutes from us. They have a running dairy farm and make their own ice cream, so you can eat ice cream and watch the cows while you eat it. It's on a huge state park, so there are tons of trails to go hiking on too, if you are so inclined and have longer legs than certain toddlers we know. Wayne and Paela didn't get terribly far on the trails before Paela stopped and asked to be carried, please. [She grabbed my legs and demanded "kids! kids kids! It took me a few moments of confusion to realize she wasn't concerned about kids but wanted to be "carried." The words sound so alike from a toddler.] But they had a grand time touching pigs noses, and feeding sheeps and goats, and (of course) sampling ice cream. 

Saturday we enjoyed quite a lazy morning, playing with some toys we got from nice freecycle folks in the area. We later failed to get to Walden pond in the afternoon, because they close the whole park down (apparently) when the water tests too high for bacteria (because too many people are enjoying the water) and kick everyone out (who knew?). We learned this too late, of course, and didn't even get in to the pond. But someday we'll make it, and we'll go earlier in the day before bacteria gets too high! Walden pond (yes, Thoreau's Walden pond) is apparently a hopping, local swimming hole. It isn't far from us, so we will try again soon.

Our failure with Walden, though, prompted us to finally check out pool on the air force base a few minutes from us. I get access because of my employment at Lincoln Lab, but we hadn't tried it out. It's actually a really cool pool! It's got a huge water slide, and goes pretty deep on the deep end [a real 15 footer! not like those cheap 6 foot deep ends in California] , and is mostly indoors so we can go even when it's raining. Plus there's a nice big wading pool that Paela got a kick out of. We'll definitely do that again soon.

And today, we hung out with Camilla and Victor (again!) for the afternoon. And now we're reading the final Percy Jackson book, so please excuse me.