Days of Christmas

Christmas, as we know, is 12 days long, and we try to keep the days between Christmas day and Epiphany as festive as possible. One of the perks of the academic calendar is that we've never had to work during these days!

On St. Stephen's Day, Dec. 26, we made our semi-annual trip to Canada to visit my nonagenarian grandparents. Unfortunately, we had to make it a short trip, because it became very clear shortly after we arrived that Adele was going to be the next victim of the Virus (that started with Dad and eventually got through everyone but Jon). She was was so feverish and cranky that we got no pictures and, after a gift exchange, lunch, and conversation, and after taking no pictures at all, we beat a hasty retreat before Adele infected anyone else.

We did get a chance to stop by Niagara Falls on the way back, and, briefly, got out of the car to gaze at the Canadian Falls:

At home, we hunkered down with Adele's sickness. Miles was still standing

So we enjoyed some outdoor time in Grandpa Jim's big backyard, gathering twigs and acorns and what turned out to be the bio-degenerate remains of a doggy chew toy. Good times!

Sunday afternoon found us at the Memorial Art Gallery for the exhibit on Little Golden Books art.

The gallery was lovely; I hadn't been in years.

I was fascinated by different cultures with art featuring breastfeeding.

From the American Art section, this was entitled, "Non-Fiction." 

Around the museum were scattered these devices called Infinity Boxes. They were really quite small; here, Adele gazes into one:

But they were filled with mirrors and lights and other objects that appeared to multiply in a circle of reflected images:

Jon's panorama

MilesFinity

Leah, Abby & TaiTai met us there.

So did my uncle!

My pics aren't as good as Jon's, but I liked this box best.

This lovely bench was covered with poetry.

After we made the rounds, we lingered by the fountain. I was beginning to feel myself getting sick, so the running water and plant life felt restorative. The kids were energized by them too.

I gave Miles a dime for the fountain and told him it got him 10 wishes. He was quiet and close-eyed for a long time, thinking of all his 10 wishes before casting his coin.

These 4 were so glad to be together again.

That night was pretty rough. Adele's ear infection made itself known in the form of half a night of wakefulness and screaming. Only Mickey cartoons could mollify my little sufferer. The urgent care center confirmed my suspicion in the morning. Fortunately, the good old Pink Medicine works as well on this generation as it did on mine. She is back to her usual mischief, today!

I got a bit sick too, but by Monday night, after a good nap, I was well enough to take Miles to one of his first feature length movie theater experiences. We saw the reboot of Annie and we are huge fan kids of Quevenzhane Wallis, now!

He was dancing in the aisles. The soundtrack is now his motivation music.

On the morning of the 30th, I got one of my Christmas wishes:

I wanted to go out in it immediately, of course, but it really wouldn't have gone too well with everyone's various illnesses. So we spent the day at the Rochester Museum and Science Center! Another one to which I hadn't been in years. It did not disappoint!

Digging for dino bones.

There was a whole beaver lodge and beaver theater with puppets and costumes. Obviously, we lingered there.

Miles passed a good amount of time on the little construction site they had. Here he is, in his gear and ready to go:

This pic is not mine, but I wanted to show the climbing maze in the Adventure Zone exhibit to give context to my story:

Adele was just not herself, still, very clingy and whiny as ear infected 3 year olds tend to be. But she lit up at the chance to try the climbing maze. Up she went, but in several places, it all became too much for her and she would find herself stuck and crying in corner up there. We sent her brother up after her, though, and with an instinctive compassion I don't always see in him, he encouraged her ("It's okay, Adele, this way, I am here" etc), prodded her, and even gave her a boost in several places (she stepped on his knees and shoulders to ascend). When they got through, Adele was so flushed with her success that she only stayed to high five us all before diving back into the maze. Miles patiently helped her get through it a total of 3 times before we made them move on. It was beautiful to watch! Grandpa Jim and Mercedes thought so too. 

My favorite part, and I suspect, the kids' too, was the huge room of animatronic dinosaurs. We couldn't get enough of them!

There were even costumes!

The view from the dinosaur room. You see East Avenue, with downtown in the background. I love this city.

Despite all the sickness, we were thoroughly pampered by my dad, Agnes, and Mercedes. As a result, we're all healthy and rested and have a bouquet of good memories from our 10 days in NY. I miss it already!