My Crazy Day & Our First Visit to the Science Museum

Yesterday was an interesting day...nothing bad happened, but I felt like I was running behind all day!

The kids and I had planned to go to the Science museum. We were going to leave the apartment at around 11 am. So, the kids started their school work between 7 and 8 am. We were going to stop at 10 am to take showers and then head out. The museum is only about a 15 minute walk from our apartment.

At 9:55 am, the cleaning lady showed up, which was great, except that we then couldn't get in the showers and because it was a new person, I didn't want to leave until she was done. Sometimes when the cleaning people come there are two people and sometimes there is just one lady. Of course yesterday, there was only one...and she was slooooowwwwww. So, she didn't get done cleaning until almost noon. So then, we all had lunch, took showers and finally got out of the apartment!

We walked to the Science Museum and it was great! (Pictures at the end). The kids really enjoyed themselves. There are three wings of the museum, each with three floors. In two hours, we were able to partly cover two floors in one wing. We could have spent another two hours on just those two floors alone! I am so glad that we live so close to this wonderful place. It will be great to be able to go there when we are "snowed in" and I don't want to drive anywhere.

So, we decided to leave the museum at about 3:15 and we made it back to the apartment by about 3:30. I had a get together with some of the ladies from church that evening and I wanted to make a carrot cake, so I needed to get started.

For the get together, we were each supposed to send five of our favorite recipes by email and then bring one of them for everyone to try. This way we can all get new ideas for what to make for dinner. I sent my five recipes in, and I had decided to make the carrot cake to take, since I knew that most people were taking main dishes.

Once I got home, I looked at my ingredients list, made a grocery shopping list, got the kids all situated and headed out. I also had to purchase a bundt pan, because I didn't have one here. There are no Super Targets near us, but there is a shopping area that has a Target (for the bundt pan) and a Stop and Shop (for groceries). The problem is, we have quite a few of each of these stores pretty near to us, and I couldn't remember which ones had both of these stores beside them. So I put our Garmin (we named her Rita) into use. I looked up both Target and Stop and Shop and I found the two that said they were the closest and I headed for the Stop and Shop....wrong move!

First off...it was rush hour - NEVER try to go anywhere in Boston during rush hour!!! After driving for a few minutes and going about 1 mile, I figured out that I was headed to the wrong Stop and Shop. But at that point, turning around and trying to go to the other one would have take too long (so I thought). So, I just kept driving, made a couple of wrong turns and finally got there. It was a REALLY small Stop and Shop (they are like Albertsons - decent prices and located everywhere). But this one was more like a Super 7-11...not much selection, but a little bit of everything.

I was able to find all of my ingredients, but I was worried about the powdered sugar. It didn't come in boxes, only really large bags. I figured I could just call my mom and ask how much powdered sugar was in her box, and then use that much out of my bag...problem solved! (so I thought!!!)

I then got back in my car and punched Target in the Garmin and headed for the nearest target. It was 2.6 miles away. It only took me about 25 minutes to get there! Once again, do NOT try to go anywhere during rush hour traffic in Boston! So, I finally arrive at the Target and wouldn't you know it...it was right next to the Stop and Shop! I decided I didn't have time to be mad, so I headed in quickly to purchase my bundt pan. I found a bundt pan and got into what I thought was a quick line...it was not! After about 3 minutes in line, I remembered that I had wanted to pick up some new socks and I could see them from the checkout line. So, I got back out of line, grabbed a few pair of socks and got back into line. I checked out and then saw that they had a special of a hot dog and slurpee for $2. I decided to surprise the girls with a treat for dinner. (David and the boys were going to the movies together). So, I got in yet another line and ordered three specials. I asked if they had bags to put the hot dogs in, he said no, but I could get back into line and request a bag...I decided against that option and put the hot dogs in the bag with my bundt pan and socks. I then had to fill my own slurpees...there were no lids. At this point, I was NOT getting back into line to ask the checker to get me three lids, so I just decided to carry them with no lids and drive carefully.

I arrived back home at 6 pm. (No, I didn't spill the slurpees - we all made it home in one piece!) I knew I needed to work quickly. The cake takes 50 minutes to bake and it has to be cool before I can frost it. I enlisted both of the girls to help me put the ingredients together quickly. I got my Kitchen Aid out and started measuring sugar and flour etc. I asked Marissa to grab the grater attachment for the kitchen aid to grate all the carrots...she couldn't find it. Apparently, it didn't' get packed and it was still back home in WA. There was not enough time to panic, so we just started grating...did I mention that my recipe calls for THREE cups of carrots! Thirty minutes and two band aids later, the carrots were grated, the ingredients were mixed and I checked the ingredients list one last time. I realized that I hadn't put the allspice in. I quickly rummaged through my shopping bags to find it because it was one of the ingredients that I had specifically gone to get at the grocery store. I found it, opened it up....and apparently I had purchased WHOLE allspice, not ground. Once again, I thought - no time to panic, I will crush it myself. Well, a messy counter and a sore thumb later, I discovered that you really need a spice grinder to do this job correctly.

I was definitely at the point of frustration. So, I started thinking what can I do now...I have to be at my meeting in 45 minutes and it's a 20 minute drive there! So, I put the cake mixture in the fridge. I called the person in charge of the meeting and asked her to add one more recipe to my list - cola roast. Fortunately, I had made a large one this week and still had quite a bit in the fridge. I heated it up and headed out the door.

This was my first experience driving in Boston at night - probably not a tradition I will keep!!! I had Rita in hand (Garmin) and headed out to try and only be 15 minutes late to my meeting...got lost twice, finally found it, found a place to park and then thought I was in the wrong spot! You have to ring a buzzer to get into most of the apartments around here and I knew that I needed to go to apartment #3, but the wrong name was on that buzzer. So, I paced outside for about 10 minutes until I got ahold of David (finally home from the movies) and verified the apartment address and then got up the nerve to ring the bell... I was very glad that it was the right place!

The story ends up great, I had a great time hanging out, chatting and eating some great new food! On the way home, I stopped at yet another Stop and Shop and purchased some GROUND allspice. I also found that they had boxes of powdered sugar there (I need it to make the frosting and that 1 lb. is in a box!) I finished the cake and baked it last night. I will frost it today and we will have it for dinner tonight!

Marissa posing with a VERY large grasshopper model.


All the kids were able to create fish and then control their movements and interactions with the other fish on the tv monitors.


Learning about conducting electricity!


Jace in a model of the Apollo Command Module.


Chaz with a Star Wars Space Ship.


Chaz and Marissa built solar cell cars and raced them.


Brynn posed with a pendulum clock.


All the kids posed with the Tyranasaurus Rex outside the museum.