Late Feb & Early March

February 24 - we went ice skating at the Frog Pond on Boston Common.

Tim turned the big 40 on February 26. We went to the Bull and Finch pub for dinner to celebrate. The Bull and Finch is where the outside filming of Cheers was done. The inside doesn't look at all like Cheers except for the wooden indian chief. The walls are all decorated with Cheers memorabelia, though. Then we came home and had chocolate cake and opened presents. Jamie gave Tim Wii points, Rachel gave him a Red Sox coffee mug, and David gave him The Jungle Book. We also got Tim several MIT/Sloan mementoes.

On Wednesday, Feb.27 (continuing Tim's birthday celebration), Tim, Jamie, & I went to see the Blue Man Group. It was an amazing show, and the three of us thoroughly enjoyed it!! It was much different from what I expected. For starters, we were right next to the "poncho" seats. I had no idea that I might need to have a poncho for this show! There was a lot of flying paint, marshmallows, and goo. But they have it down to a science, and we didn't get messy at all. The whole experience was indescribible. It was a percussion, comedy, art, audience participation "concert". I highly recommend it to anyone who gets the chance to see Blue Man!! Rachel opted to stay home with David and the sitter, and it was probably a good thing. I think it would have been too intense for her.

Jamie had his 6th Grade band concert on March 6. He did a great job!! He played tympany on one piece, the bells on another, and the snare drum on the final number - which was the Indiana Jones theme. It was fun! We sat behind his homeroom teacher who commented that Jamie is a very smart boy. He makes us so proud!

Saturday, March 15 was Wellington's winter carnival. Jamie and I worked the inflatable catepillar for two hours! Whew! Rachel, Tim, and David had time to go around and play at the other games. It's much like Crestline's Carnival. Jamie says that Crestline's is better, though, in large part due to the Teacher Review.

Sunday, March 16 was Palm Sunday & the day Tim left for his trip to California. We took him to the airport and still made it to church on time. Jamie and Rachel passed out palm leaves during the service. The palms were much different from what we use at home. Each person got a single, long piece (like a really long piece of grass), rather than a "branch". That afternoon, we had an MIT Easter party at a ceramics place. The kids got to decorate their Easter eggs and paint a ceramic piece. The pieces will be fired and will be a nice memento. (I'm using that word a lot tonight!) I guess I'm realizing how short our time left is here.
After the party, a large group of moms took our kids to Friendly's for dinner. We were a very loud party of 5 moms and 11 kids! But the Friendly's people were very friendly indeed, and we had a nice meal together.

We had to celebrate St. Patrick's Day without our patriarch this year, since Tim was in California. The kids said that it just wasn't the same without Daddy, even though we had a special meal complete with green mac & cheese, broccoli, and Irish soda bread. I did refrain from coloring the milk green this year.

David has been taking swimming lessons at the YMCA in Waltham this month. He really enjoys the lessons! His teacher, Brandon, is really good with the boys. There are 4 boys in his class, and one of them is David's best buddy, Ethan. David's favorite thing is making "fire water" - kicking in the pool.