peter pan.

a few weeks ago i took tate and beck to see peter pan. it was awesome. they loved it. at the end i asked them each what their favorite part was, and they both said "the whole thing!" and beck asked if we could go to more plays. i would love to take them to plays all the time...if only schedules and funds would allow. isn't the theater cool? i'm not sure how old it is, but it was fancy and had an elevator that was hand operated. i thought the boys would have been more excited about that elevator but i guess it freaked them out a bit...they wanted to take the stairs when we went back down. oh, and traffic! ugh. we left an hour before showtime and took our seats about two minutes before the curtain went up. thank goodness we didn't leave a moment later. such a fun night, and it was cool to do something with just the big boys...need to do that more often.

in the backyard.

wells scaling a pallet.

the boys built a fort. and defended  it.

one of the things we did over spring break.

we did lots of fun things over spring break. the science museum, both zoos, the library, playing outside, the children's museum...but apparently i only took pictures at the children's museum. 

driving a digger. heaven.

operating the car lift.

we discovered a new area...with real tools!

and now a long series of wells using a screwdriver while wearing pink safety googles. because it was the cutest thing ever. 

new bedford.

so (weeks ago) we went to new bedford. to talk to a guy about a table. really. he makes custom tables and we are contemplating getting ourselves one. a real grown up dining room table...complete with grown up prices. so after we discussed table options we went off in search of a park where we could have a snack before driving home. well we found historic downtown new bedford...one a booming whaling community. we checked out the visitor's center, had our snacks in the glorious sunshine, and played around outside the whaling museum (we would have gone in had it not been so expensive). our little errand turned into quite a fun afternoon.

parker's maple barn.

we drove up to new hampshire to go to parker's maple barn. the boys had good friday off school, brian was on research time, and some friends of ours were going. so off we went. it was a nice drive up, about an hour away...it would probably be really pretty in the fall. at the barn we learned all about maple syrup and how it is made (basically it takes a ton of sap- 40-60 gallons depending on sugar content- for each gallon of syrup. and they just boil it down). then we ate breakfast at the restaurant...there were 11 kids (9 boys, 2 girls) between us all, and 4 adults. so that was interesting. the kids actually did really well in the restaurant...but we were quite the spectacle i'm sure. especially when tate was paralyzed with indecision when it came time to order and completely broke down. that was rough. but eventually he ordered and recovered (i think he was just really hungry). overall...good trip. and could be a fun seasonal tradition to keep up while we're here.

new ride.

yeah that's right. we upgraded to the minivan...excuse me, "swagger wagon". and we love it. she is not fancy, just the base model, but she is brand spankin new. and we had just about the most pleasant experience buying a car that is humanly possible. plus wells had the time of his life climbing in and out of every. single. car. in the show room. repeatedly. we have already driven up to new hampshire and down to new bedford. oh yeah. now she just needs a name?

three boys. one chair.