Easter & Spring Flowers & Museums

This past month has been a busy one for us but....picking back up where I left off.

Easter April 2012

Our Church in Boston had a lovely service.

As usual, we served refreshments after Service 

and had the fun addition of colored eggs to be festive!

Matt and I had a great weekend walking around trying out our new "Toe" shoes. :)

The flowers and trees during our first New England Spring were amazing!

The tree below is a Weeping Cherry Blossom tree and they were everywhere.

Boston across the Charles River from MIT campus.

There were so many pretty flowers and blossoming trees that I was always asking Matt to stop and let me take a picture. 

Below is a close up of a small Weeping Cherry Blossom. Sooooo pretty!

We visited the Museum of Natural History on Harvard Campus to see 

the exhibit of glass flowers.

Yes, each of these pictures are of GLASS flowers. They look so very real. 

They did even in person.

There was also a Rock collection that was amazing!

This pink specimen is Kutnahorite from South Africa. Doesn't it look soft and fuzzy!?

This green specimen is Malachite Carbonate from Tsumeb, Namibia.

I think is looks like a skyscraper.

This white specimen is Cerussite Carbonate from Tsumeb, Namibia

I think this one looks like a fancy office building made of glass.

This is Crocoite from Tasmania, Australia. 

This one is for my friend Jeanette! For her love of orange. :)

Am I an avid rock lover, you ask? Why, yes. Yes, I am! hahaha

I am also an avid bug lover. Sounds strange, I know, but it's the truth.

I had the most amazing collection of bugs pinned on a board as a kid.

At least I thought it was a amazing. 

Pretty sure it was actually about 20 dead bugs, 

disintegrating from around their pins, making my room smell funny. 

But they were all labeled correctly! :-D

Below is what I thought my bug board looked like.

I didn't have quite that many....but I wished! hahaha

If I could go back in time, I'd go back a arrange my bugs in cool shapes and patterns!

I think the butterfly collection they had was the only thing 

most people would consider pretty.

This also includes some moths but they are some pretty ones anyway. 

It was a great weekend! 

I'd like to give a special thanks to my Darling husband for spending three 

(yes, 3!) hours in that museum letting take pictures to my hearts content.

If you'd like to see more glass flower, rock, and of course bug pictures, just let me know. I have over 300 of them! ;-)

February & March Sight-Seeing

                             

In February we took advantage of a free Saturday 

to explore MIT campus and enjoy the winter weather!

After wandering around for a bit we found these famous buildings. 

Being on MIT campus, I thought it appropriate to gain some knowledge!

***Knowledge***

The architectural style of these strange buildings is called Deconstructivism and were designed by Frank Gehry.

(Yes, that is spelled correctly....I looked it up!)

They are made up of reinforced concrete, brick, and stainless steel.

The MIT Dome.

***More knowledge coming***

This sculpture is called The Alchemist. 

It represents a thinking man comprised of numbers and math functions.

So, I really like this picture of MY math man with the math sculpture! :)

***The knowledge leads to my confusion. hahaha***

Although, I don't understand why a thinking man comprised of numbers and math functions should be called an Alchemist which is a person versed in Alchemy.

And as we all know, Alchemy is a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance concerned with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life. 

Let me know if you have any explanations.

***Getting over confusion, we try again for...More knowledge***

MIT Chapel at first doesn't appear to have an entrance which is very strange indeed.

However, just walk around to the side and you'll find a door.

It is interesting to note that the door is solid, so there is no view of the outdoors from inside the chapel.

We didn't get to go inside but after a little research we found that the inside of the chapel has a metal sculpture that glitters from the circular skylight in the center of the small chapel.

Sounds beautiful, we'll have to go back and see the inside soon!

MIT campus is great for gaining knowledge! 

March brought us our first visit from Melinda and Steven!

We spent a Saturday sight-seeing with them and stopped for coffee and tea at this cute shop in Harvard Square. Notice the spiral stairs in the picture on the right. They led up to a balcony sitting area that is hidden behind the menu board in the picture.

Super cute!

We drove up to Salem, MA and walked around downtown, toured a Witch Museum, and walked out to the lighthouse. 

Here are Melinda and Steven at the famous Plymouth Rock!

You can see the rock on the bottom left. 

Why yes, yes it is quite smaller than one would think it should be.

After a busy, fun day of sight-seeing we had dinner "where everybody knows your name"!

Great day!

Cheers!

February brought us Valentines and My Packy!

February 2011 brought us our first nephew!

Welcome baby Patrick!

I rushed down to Dallas to visit with Beca and new baby Patrick February 2nd 

and brought him his baby blanket I hand made for him.

He was such a cute little guy weighing 3 lbs 13 oz. and being 16 3/4 in length!

We were super excited to add a boy to all our girls! :)

Precious!

While I was down visiting baby Patrick I took advantage of my visit to celebrate Valentines with my nieces!

Uncle Matt and I gave them Valentines cups with curly straws that wrapped around the outside!

We had fun blowing bubbles and drinking red juice to watch the liquid swirl around the cup in the straws.

Matt and I celebrated Valentines at home when I got back.

We cooked breakfast together and I put a heart of crystallized ginger 

on Matt's pancake and a heart of powdered sugar on mine. 

Yes, I did already have a cookie cutter in the shape of a heart. 

Matt and I had a great time playing with his new BuckyCubes I gave him.

He took them to work and uses them on his wall, which is entirely magnetic, to hold papers. :)

Happy Valentines and a great big welcome to My Packy!