Boston Museum of Science

Winter is off from school this week. I took some time off this week to hang out with Winty and provide Iz an opportunity to get some work done at her office. Monday night we headed down to Chelmsford and stayed with my sister-in-law. This made for a quick strike into Boston on Tuesday. We took the Commuter line into North Station and then the Green Line to Science park. The children enjoyed riding the trains.
Rosey, Little O, Maya, Grace, Winty and myself met up with cousin Brad at the Museum of Science for some big science fun. There was a great snake and reptile exhibit which opened up on February 17th featuring the largest display of Reptiles in New England. The Kids also enjoyed the the mock-up of the Apollo command module, the dinosaurs, and, and various other wonderments in the museum.

Final swim lessons until Spring

The girls enjoyed their final swim lesson this past weekend. Grace got promoted to level two, while Winty is going to work on her skills in the level one program again this Spring. Next up is Gymnastics. The girls are very excited to do some tumbling to through the rest of this Winter season. We celebrated the end of swim lessons with a trip to The Chelsea for lunch.

Last Total Lunar Eclipse until 2010

This is the last total lunar eclipse until 12/21/2010.

Reading stories

Uncle Tommy got to read stories to the girls before bed last night. It all went mostly well, except Winty didn't exactly like Tommy's pronunciation of Wabbit.

Uncle Thomas and Austin

Yet another impromptu visit from Thomas this week. He's bringing Austin with him, and they will be hitting Okemo, Stratton, and Mt. Snow. Unfortunately I'll be stuck in the office for the remainder for the week.

A few days off

I have been enjoying a few days off from work. It's so nice to be able to break up my vacation time and take a few days off here and there. I worked at the Mountain on Friday & Monday, and we a fit in an overnight trip to Chelmsford to visit Teresa and her family. I even found some 2008 Bigfoot.

Fab Floaters

A visit from Cousin Aaron

Cousin Aaron was in New England this week. He popped in Thursday night and we had take-out from the India Palace. It has been a long time since we last saw him. It was the first time he got to see the basement brewing operation since we plumbed the basement sink back in 2005.

Happy Valentines Day!

I just realized I'm not wearing any red today. Oops. Winty has the day off again today due to all the ice out there. So, all those Valentines we worked on this week will have to wait until Friday. Travel conditions today are still marginal at best. Have a great day and don't forget to shower the one's you love with smooches today.

Seven days later

I finally got my appetite back last night. I felt famished when I got home. That Tofu and refried bean burrito was oh so good. The pale ale I enjoyed with it was equally as yummy. Appetite, I'm glad your back. The sky is puking again today. We got around 6-8 inches of really nice white fluff, only to be topped of with sleet and freezing rain, followed by a downpour. It took two changes of gloves, and snow pants before I got the driveway totally cleaned up this morning. Man it's a mess out there. Speaking of messes, I tried to burn the kitchen down this morning after I started a piece of bread on fire in the toaster. Tragedy was narrowly averted when I removed the flaming toast and threw it off the porch into the snowbank.
Did I mention Cousin Aaron may be coming for a quick visit this week?

Still no appetite

I'm feeling much better today, but still no appetite. I have had to force myself to eat. What a PITA this is. I really love food but have no desire to eat. Bah, more noodles, and toast today.
On a side note, my mechanic called, and they need to replace the catalytic converter on my Subaru. Holy Friggin 700.00 expense. I guess I better get on top of filing my taxes.

Sunday Pow

I awoke Sunday morning feeling much better then the previous three days. I was able to roll out of bed, grab a snack and make some coffee. I packed up my snowboarding gear and headed over to Mt. Snow to work the rescue gig for the day. Ahhhh, at last I was finally off my back and out into the fresh air for a day of snowboarding.
Shortly after my arrival at the mountain, the skies turned from deep blue, to blowing snow. It was a brilliant day of fresh turns, and plenty of pow. It feels good to be recovering from this bout with the flu.

Oh, you don't know the shape I'm in

I heard about this debilitating flu bug going around. Today, I'm officially recovering from it. I have been laid up since Wednesday. I have spent the past three days either in bed or on the couch. I was so ill that my eyeballs ached. I can't remember the last time I was so sick that anything hurt so much. So Aside from missing a day of work, I missed two days of snowboarding. Just to add insult to injury it snowed Thursday, and it is snowing today. I'm finally feeling a little better and will get at least one day of riding in this weekend. I haven't been this horizontal since 95 after I picked something up on the airplane on my way back from Hawaii.

Friday Glissading

I got out of bed twice Friday. The first time was to take the girls to school. The second was to pick them up. I had the camera with me and was able to document the girls glissading as they made their way home. It's amazing how a five minute walk can turn into an hour long adventure.

Pffffffttttt!

No skiing or riding for me today. I came down with a fever yesterday and barely made it thru the workday on Wednesday. I was laid up in bed all day today. No Stratton, no turns, no Thomas, No Roddy. It was just me and my pillow today. I'm resting up so I can hopefully recover for some skiing this weekend.

Winter R&R

It's official I'm taking some time off. It's once again that time of the year, where I will start to work those four day work weeks. As some of you may or may not know I'm an avid Snowboarder. Starting Thursday this week, I'll be off at least one day during the week for the next eight weeks so that I may support my gravity fed habit. I'll start this all off by meeting up with my brother and some of his friends for a day a Stratton. From the looks of the weather, we may get to enjoy some pow.
Ain't life grand?

Haiku Wednesday

Very moist outside.
Calling for some snow tonight.
I want Winter back

The Amber Rye IPA Hybrid

Iz and the girls decided to go to Chelmsford on Monday to visit her sister. They would ultimatley surprise their cousin Buddy. I seized the opportunity by going directly to the basement after work. After a month off, I finally got a brew in the fermenator last night. I had been planning on making a Rye IPA. For some reason I had 1% chocolate malt included in the grist, so as a result the beer is more of an amber color then that of a true pale ale. I seem to be blurring the BJCP guidelines a bit these days, but what they heck I'm an alchemist and I deserve to do my own product development.

The original gravity rung in at 1.060 which was slightly short of my target gravity (1.062). Close enough for a basement hack. This was my first experiment with Rye. I plan on monitoring this beer closely to see how it turns out. I'd be very pleased to come up with yet another arrow for my brewing quiver.

No joy in Mudville.

McNeill's hosted the third annual Family Garden super bowl party last night. This is the third year that I have organized this fundraiser for my youngest daughter's pre-school/daycare center. It's a fun family oriented event. We all had a blast. I'll try to dig up a photo to post from the fun.

Hands Free Leaping

Grace paddled up a storm this weekend. Winty is still happy using the marshmallows to keep her afloat while she kicks.
Enjoy this footage of Grace jumping into the pool all by herself.

The sky is puking!

Looks like the weather is going to take a turn for the heinous today. School is getting out at noon. I think I'm going to cut out early myself since they are calling for a half an inch of ice in my neighborhood.
What's it doing in your neck of the woods today?
No alpine sports for me this weekend. We'll probably hang out at the pool Saturday and Sunday.
There is also the option to brew some beer. Hey! I think I'm on to something here.