Conference in Boston

Trade Show

Acumatica sponsored a trade show in Boston ... so we stopped there on the way home from Maine. Mom and kids did not have to go to the conference, so a tour of Boston was in order.

Touring Boston

First stop: aquarium. Julia thought the penguins smelled.

Next stop: Paul Revere's House and the Old North Church

Next up: Boat tour

Day 2: Science Center

  

Other Stuff

Dad got to re-connect with his childhood best friend: Chris Olsen. His Aunt from Japan created a fog exhibit, but it was out of order when Mom and the kids went looking for it.

Viewed the city from the top of the Prudential building and played 'I spy' for a while.

Low Lights

Eating out a lot messed with kids stomachs. Lots of clothes needed cleaning. In addition, eating out wasted a LOT of food and Mom hates wasting food.

On the drive home, we stopped by a park in the Bronx ... and cleaned up Julia after puking. We never figured out what was wrong and situation was fixed immediately after throwing up.

Vacation in Maine

Getting there is half the fun

We had a lot of fun. Turns out that the East Coast is well populated. Some notes for next time:

• Never go into Bore 3 at the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel
• Think twice about New York City at 5pm on Friday

Fortunately we had Cars III so RJ could watch it a few times. Julia watched Arthur and took advantage of the iPad.

Biddeford, Maine

We arrived at 11pm, but that didn't stop RJ from hanging out and playing Legos with his friend Emmit.

We had the opportunity to visit Kennebunkport and pose for a picture before dinner.

The Beach

Kids (and Dad) loved the beach. Water temp was 64 degrees. Conditions were ideal for body surfing, especially at low tide.

  

St. Brendan's Chapel

The community saved us a seat down front (yes, we were late) - and the priest included us in the homily. Afterwards, we posed for some pictures.

Heading to Boston

On the way home we spotted a trolley car museum. Since we could not check into the hotel until 4pm, we stopped. We rang a lot of trolley bells (RJ figured that out), climbed poles, and threw a switch (not part of the tour).

  

Fishing on the Chesapeake

Boy's Day Out

The boys got a day out on the Chesapeake on the Devil Heels fishing boat. After 5-7 inches of rain in the prior week, there were parts of the Bay that were a mine-field of navigation hazards, but Captain Doug kept the boat clear. After getting to the Bay Bridge, we threw in some lines in a reasonably good current and caught 15-20 perch using blood worms. Fishing was easy ... at times we would even get two fist on one cast.

We managed not to lose any fishing lines until the last cast of the day. I caught a perch ... but on the way up ... something bigger ate the perch and got hooked. After a one minute struggle, the line snapped ... damn.

Jeff was a solid fisherman ... his early success kept us from giving up and gave Uncle Z something to show off.

After fishing we headed into Annapolis to cruise ego alley.

Bike to Church

Bike to Church Day

Sunday was reasonably cool, so we charged out of the house for the 2.8 mile ride to St. Luke's. The route is quite hilly so RJ was pretty proud of himself when he made it the entire way without getting stuck. The trail was pretty over-grown, so we both ended up getting some scrapes from thorny weeds.

On the way home, RJ waits at the light at Georgetown Pike and Ridge Drive

Hazards of Church

Going to church is getting to be a bit dangerous. After attending mass and picking out a donut with sprinkles, we decided to go outside. RJ sat down in an Adirondack chair on a sunny porch area. In about 3 seconds bees were swarming his donut. Dad told him to be calm so they wouldn't sting him. He was pretty calm ... especially considering he had already been stung twice.

As it turns out, the issue wasn't the donut, but the fact that there is a wasp/yellow jacket's nest in the chair. Next Sunday we're bringing our wasp killer.

Julia and Dad decided to go back and take the picture above. When the flash went off ... it irritated the bees and we nearly ended up with two more members of the family getting stung.

3 months - 2 batteries

Battery Replacement

Today the family helped replace the battery in the 2005 Subaru Forester. Everybody got a turn to tighten bolts and Mom got to replace the headlight. As you can see from the old battery below ... a mouse had made it's way onto the battery during the winter months to stay warm. A couple shells from the nuts that RJ thoughtfully stored in the garage were cleaned from the battery area as well.

Three months ago, the Honda battery died. The folks from Auto-Zone are pretty happy about all of this. I'm getting good at changing car batteries. Yes ... I know that they do it for free ... but what's the fun in that?!?

Camping at Cunningham Falls

Camping, Swimming, and Hiking

We packed a car full of stuff for a 36 hour trip to Cunningham Falls. Swimming and hiking were the highlights of the trip. And 'camping' involved spending a restless night in an air conditioned cabin.

RJ and the boys patrolled the woods for hours against their arch-enemies ... the girls. The girls were not really playing ... except for Ellie ... who seemed to enjoy the attention of being held hostage.

The Sunday hike was pretty awesome when we got to Cat Rock because there was lots of fun climbing ... for both Julia and RJ. Dad and RJ hiked the Old Misery Trail, while the rest of the crew did the normal hike and beat us to the top by a couple minutes. Old Misery Trail was not too much different from the other trail ... but it had a much cooler name.

Julia decides to put on a show at the amphitheater.

Fixing the office microwave

Panasonic Microwave Genius Sensor 1250W

The door latch broke, and without the door latch, the Microwave would not operate. At the office, I didn't have much to work with in terms of repairs. So I used some computer screwdrivers to pry open the door and discover that a small spring that held the door latch down had snapped a cheap piece of plastic that held it in place. At my office work rate and given the price of microwaves, I probably only had 20 minutes to fix the thing before it would have made sense to purchase a new one.

In true MacGyver fashion I found an old key ring that I could use to hook the spring to a random piece towards the bottom of the microwave. With that in place, the downward pressure on the latch was sufficient to close the door and activate the microwave. Case closed.