Easter 2011

In case no one noticed, I gave up posting pictures on the blog for Lent (even Sundays!)  As with all holidays we had approximately 7.5 Easter celebrations (more or less.)  Sean had an Easter egg hunt at school on Thursday.  He spent Saturday at with Aunt Jo, Grandma, and Dziadziu cooking, dyeing eggs, etc.  Saturday night Uncles Joe and Tadd and Barb and I joined the fray. Sean had a Easter egg hunt, supervised by 7 adults, and then we made Peep dioramas (see Aunt Jo's blog.)  Sunday it was off to northwest Houston and Uncle Nick and Aunt Heather's house for more Easter frivolity.  Nana and Grandpa were there and had just returned from Spain and Portugal.

Chicago Part One

We are in Chicago for Dave to attend the AIChE Global Congress on Process Safety.  It was a public transportation weekend.  We took the "L" train in from the airport, and have been on buses plus more elevators and escalators than we could count.  Public transportation in the age of Google is a snap - I had no idea Google could retrieve everything from routes to the times for buses, trains, and subways. 

Saturday we caught just the end of Chicago's St. Patrick's Day parade, but we did see the Chicago River dyed green.  We re-discovered that Sean plain does not like the cold.  After two days he is beginning to tolerate it, plus some gloves (knitted from Alpaca from the Everything Alpaca store, of course) helped.  Saturday night we spent at the Navy Pier, a little bit touristy, but lots of warm, indoor, things to do.

We spent Sunday at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.  It has almost been completely redone since Dave last visited 12 years ago, and it is awesome.  Aunt Jo needs to visit just to see the wing on weather.   They have a two story tornado maker, and a lightening generator.  After the lightening generator went off Sean spent the rest of the time in the weather wing with his fingers in his ears.  The museum also a full sized 727 plane, an engine and several cars from a Zephyr train, and several other older types of locomotives.  Sean could not get enough, and he and Barbara may go back later in the week. 

 

Sean and an Aggie Leprechaun

 Chicago River dyed green

 Full sized laser guided automatic milking machine, with cow print floor tiles

 Air pressure ball levitation 1

 Air pressure ball levitation 2

 Air pressure ball levitation 3 (we spent a lot of time here!)

Sean at TSA

With special kids chairs!

An Adventure in Frankie Carter Randolph Park

Mid-February continued to be warm.  We went for a hike along Clear Creek at Frankie Carter Randolph park, which Sean called "a great adventure!"

Discovery Green

After two weeks of VERY un-Houston cold weather the Pasta's and the Boyce's met for a lunch and a nice Sunday afternoon at Discovery Green.

Elissa and Dylan

 

Dylan with Minute Maid Park in the far background

 

 Sean and Elissa on the bouncy seat-belt net thingy

Sean pouting when the bouncy seat-belt thingy got too crowded

Plane to Frankfurt

I think I will rent the volvo instead

Karneval Jester of Dusseldorf

The Hoppeditz (jumping child). Brought to life on November 11th at 11:11am each year and the "ceremoniously" buried on Ash Wednesday

Giraffe in the airport!

Mouse checks out the Sixt car rental company giraffe with Karneval hat on at the Dusseldorf airport.

Frankenheim Brewery

Mouse helps get ready for Carnival at the brewery.

Mouse over Dusseldorf

Mouse looks over the city from the radio/observation tower (168 meters) tall

Don't let the mouse drive the train!

Mouse looks out the window as he and Dad wait for the train to Recklinghausen to leave Essen.

No more for Mouse!

St. Gereon Church

Something about this church makes Mouse very nervous.

Mouse in Cologne at Carnival

With the Dom in the background. This was the tallest building in the world before the Eiffel Tower was built.

Mouse takes care of Dad

Mouse kisses Dad's boo boo. The ISP team thinks he got it while sleeping with his glasses on during the flight here. Tomorrow Mouse and Dad head to Cologne to take in the sights!

Doc

Somehow Doc found his way into my luggage. Mouse says he does not know anything about it.

Baggage Found!

Mouse kisses Dad's luggage tag (because Mouse was real tired of hearing Dad whine about the missing luggage.)

Sean heads out to hunt Whooping Cranes (with binoculars!)

Maybe he will see a snipe!

Recklinghausen

Dad still has no luggage. Mouse still does not think that is a problem. They both spent a lot of time at Peek and Cloppenburg department store buying a couple of days worth of clothing (for Dad, not mouse.). They found this cool riding toy on the way back to the hotel.