New York MoMa

December 29th

Today it was raining, so we went to the New York Museum of Modern Art.

A bridge!  I'm....not sure which one.

Apparently everyone else also thought to go to the MoMA on this rainy day.  The museum was packed so I couldn't get as good of photos as I would have liked.

The Storm by Edvard Munch (1893)

Apparently Munch only knows how to do one type of figure.

The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rousseau (1897)

I know this one because it was in a coloring book I had as a kid.

The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh (1889)

Portrait of Joseph Roulin by Vincent van Gogh (1889)

Look at that crazy beard!

Still Life with Three Puppies by Paul Gauguin (1888)

Puppies!

The Architect's Table by Pablo Picasso (1912)

Science, in abstract form.

Boy Leading a Horse by Pablo Picasso (1905)

Picasso is capable of painting people who don't look like they were put in a blender and reflected in a fun house mirror.

The City Rises by Umberto Boccioni (1910)

Dynamic Hieroglyphic of the Bal Tabarin by Gino Severini (1912)

Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea by Mark Rothko (1944)

Girl before a Mirror by Pablo Picasso (1932)

The Japanese Footbridge by Claude Monet (1922)

I've never seen a painting by Monet with this color palette. 

Agapanthas by Claude Monet (1926)

This little plant in the corner looks like a ninja or something being sneaky.

Object by Joan Miró (1936)

This is an ex-parrot! 

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí (1931)

This is waaaay smaller than I expected.  It's like, 8x10. 

The Sculpture Garden braving the gloomy weather.

Solar Centrifugal Force (Outward) East by Alfred Jensen (1961)

Pin-up by Richard Hamilton (1961)

The boobs come out at you.

Big Black by Louise Nevelson (1963)

It's a large wall of black things.

Poppy by Ruth Asawa (1965)

Olive and Black by Jesús Soto (1966)

George Harrison John Lennon Paul McCartney Ringo Starr by Richard Avedon (1967)

A wall of musical posters from the 1960's.  And Dan. 

No 5, 6, 7, and 8 by Eduardo Paolozzi (1967)

There's a random viewing window on the other side.  Now they are the art!

Subject from a Dyer's Shop by Lyubov Popova (1914)

Figure by Varvara Stepanova (1921)

Part of the New Mechanical Setting and Sportsmen by El Lissitzky (1923)

Samovar by Kazimir Malevich (1913)

New York is hiding in the rain.

We escaped!  I didn't like this one.  

It wasn't great, AND they stuck us with a 13 year old's birthday party.  I did not like them.

The city is beautiful at night (and a distance).

We got together at our air b&b and played Settlers of Catan.

I will never play Catan with Will again.

This concludes our adventures for tonight.

On To New York!

December 28th

This morning we boarded a bus for New York City.

Because I will ultimately end up driving across the USA to get back to California, I figured I'd start with the bus ride from Boston to New York.  It's a minute long clip of each state, and sometimes big cities, that we passed through.

We were stopping in New York for a few days to hang out with our friends Will and Kerri.

We had a pretty sweet view from our Air B&B.

We were staying in Hoboken, NJ on the hill since it was close to where Will and Kerri live.

Hi Manhattan!

This concludes our adventures for today.

Boston Aquarium

December 27th

Today's adventure took us all to the New England Aquarium.

The aquarium was packed, but we could force our way in with the little ones to see the critters.

This octopus was pretty active and fun to watch.

Suction all the glass!

Dan got some good video of it changing colors/textures.

Dan thinks he's funny.

A moray eel hanging out in the coral.

Moon jellies!

Oh my goodness!  TINY cuttlefish.  They're only a month old. 

These ones are two months old.

These are called Blue Blubbers.  It sounds like an enemy from a Mario game.

This cuttlefish is hanging out with his starfish buddy.

Another one wanted to join the party.

Fun fact, a cuttlefish's eyes fully develop before they hatch.  

They can observe their environment from inside their eggs.

All hail hypno cuttlefish!

Penguins!  These are rock hoppers.

Sea dragons are weird.

They're mom's favorite animal.

I think they're half plant.

Penguins, as seen through a whale skeleton.

Sea turtle!

This guy has an urchin protecting him.

A giant, and a wee, pufferfish!

ALL the pufferfish, and a sea turtle.

Blurry sea turtle butt, in case you were wondering what their tails look like.

The top of the central tank.

Bye, sea turtle!

In the evening, Byron, Colin, Dan, and I went to Boda Borg.  It's sort of like an escape game but....not.  It was a lot of fun though.  We managed to clear five challenges.  

This concludes our adventures for today.

Boston Eve and Christmas

December 24th

We had a slow start to the day, and in the evening we piled everyone into Big Red to go to an escape game.

 After finding parking (not easy with Big Red), we found some fun street art.

 Oh yeah, we parked in a "compact cars only" spot.

We were not in a compact car.

We found a closed street book market that looks like books when the stalls are closed.  Neat!

 We were successful in escaping our room.  Huzzah!

Ah, Christmas tree.  Randomly on top of the Macy's awning.  

This concludes our adventures for today.

December 25th

Merry Christmas!

 So many presents!  (before the destruction)

About halfway through opening presents.

 Carsten doesn't even care.  I'm pretty sure he's still asleep.

 Mom is wearing a sweater that's a Christmas tree.  It was pretty terrible. 

 Something was very funny/exciting.

 Tamzin, in small child tradition found this box to be more fun than her gifts.  She can fit in it.

She could actually get all the way into the box.  Zephan closed the flaps on her.

 And then she sprang out and almost fell over.  It was pretty entertaining for all parties.

Christmas snacks!

Dan made dinner.  It was delicious.

 Ham and sweet potatoes and green bean casserole and bacon with brussels sprouts.  Yum!

After all the presents were opened and dinner was had, Dan fell asleep on the couch.  

I'm surprised there is still shrimp left at this point and Colin hasn't eaten it all.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

This concludes our adventures for today.