April Vacation

Last week was Maura’s April vacation from school and we put the time to good use. Except for Tuesday, when Maura had a dentist appointment, we had a fun outing every day she was off from school. I’ve already written about our first outing, down to Cape Cod to go hiking on Monday. On Wednesday we visited one of our favorite haunts, the Children’s Museum. On Thursday was a trip to Weymouth’s annual April Vacation Carnival. On Friday Jennifer took the afternoon off and we took another family hike, this time in the rugged terrain of the Blue Hills Reservation.

We arrived in Downtown Boston on our Wednesday outing in time for an early lunch and a visit with Jennifer at her office building before we went to the museum. Though it rained later in the afternoon the weather was beautiful when we arrived in Boston so Maura and I ate our baloney sandwiches on the Greenway. Because it was Earth Day there was an event going on and we enjoyed listening to a rhythm band and watching stilt walkers as we ate our lunch. Afterwards we met Jennifer for a stroll and desert which she brought with her from an office party. Her building was having an Earth Day event in the lobby and we picked up some biodegradable swag. The Children’s Museum was as usual noisy, chaotic and crowded. Maura had a wonderful time. There were no new exhibits of note but there were a few Earth Day demonstrators there as well and Maura got a piggy bank for her collection.

Thursday morning we spent at home because we had a coupon for an unlimited ride bracelet that started at 2 pm. Maura was very excited all morning. Julie Tittler and Peter came over to join us at the carnival. Maura loves carnival rides and she had a great time, though she couldn’t convince Peter, who is four, to ride any rides with her. Maura is big enough to ride almost all of the carnival rides by herself now, including some of the really wild ones. I didn’t ride with her this time. I would have had fun doing but I wanted to save a little money. I did play a carnival game to win Maura a prize. I won a plush husky puppy throwing darts at balloons. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to spend ten dollars for a two dollar stuffed animal.

On Friday Maura had hot dogs from Windy City Eats for lunch and then went to pick Jennifer up at the T-station. Since we forgot our Blue Hills trail map we went to reservation headquarters to pick up a new one and started our hike from there. We hiked for about three hours, out on the very rugged Skyline Trail and a longer and flatter route back. The weather was almost perfect and the hike was wonderful. It’s really great to get out and get some outdoor exercise on a perfect spring day. We were all exhausted by the time it was over though. The steep and rocky terrain is hard on knees and ankles.

April vacation made me look forward to summer. Maura has a few weeks of activities planned over the summer, she’ll be attending a day camp at one of town parks one week and spend a week apart from us with her grandparents in Indiana and another week with us. We will both be home for most of the summer and I plan on taking her on lots of outings.