I’m writing this final blog from 20,000 feet up. I’ll post it using the wireless connection that is now available (for a small fee) on the airplane.

The last few days in Boston (the home stretch, as it will be known) were quite a lot of work, but still fun. I did come away with one solid piece of learning, though: I would rather drive almost anywhere than in Boston. Let me spell it out to you, using our friend, the SAT Analogy:

CA Driving:Rules::New York Driving:Honking::Boston Driving:What The ?!…

one more:

CA Roads:Simple::New York Roads:Grid::Boston Roads:Spaghetti

I think that pretty much spells it out. Even traffic on the 405 at the 101 will be a welcome change from what I’ve been driving around in.

In Boston, we visited the Salem Witch Museum – It was a little cheesy, but we had a good time.

We also walked the Freedom Trail, which is a trail that is marked through downtown Boston using read paint and bricks on the sidewalk. It winds past several historical sites, including old houses, public buildings and the site of the Boston Massacre. It was cool throughout this trip to kind of get a feel for the whole scope of where American history occurred. Both Dominique and I admit it, though – we are history’d out for now.

We also took the kids to the Boston Children’s Museum — It’s a great space, with lots of really open ended hands-on stuff. They could really run around and just try things out. Perfect. Julian had a blast, and says it was one of his favorite parts of the trip.

That same day, we got to visit Fablevision, which is a company that is owned and run by twin brothers Peter and Paul Reynolds, who both graduated from the OMET program (they also own the Blue Bunny book shop that we visited two days before). Fablevision produces all kinds of outstanding media and children’s books. We got to tour their office/studio, interact with some of their super-talented designers and illustrators, and even take a peek at a book / interactive web site combo that is in production. It was really interesting, and the whole group was extremely hospitable.

Yesterday, we went to the MIT Media Lab to meet with Eric Rosenbaum, to tour the Lego Learning Lab and the area occupied by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group – It was a really big treat for me to get to wander around the Media Lab and see that environment. It really has to be the coolest learning and research space I have ever seen. Stanzi and Robby joined us, as he demoed some of his research projects – I think they had almost as much fun as I did.

We ended our vacation with a fun dinner at the Rainforest Cafe – We make a point of eating at them wherever we go, and have visited almost every one in California, plus a couple out of state. It was a fun end to an amazing vacation.

So now we have said goodbye to the trusty Silver Bullet (our rental van), discarded two very well-used umbrella strollers, and we’re almost halfway through our 6 hour flight. It’s been an amazing adventure for all of us. We’ll now get back into the rest of our summer – Stanzi and Robby will resume a tough training schedule getting ready for Junior olympics, I’ll start prepping for VirtCamp at Pepperdine, and everyone else will work on learing and refining their strokes. Dominique, as usual, will make sure that we’re all getting it done, and we’ll all be waiting to see when the next Moseley will come along. There’s still a lot to look forward to this summer.

I’ll try to keep posting about our adventures.

Sorry about the absence. Bad internet at the last hotel left us with not enough bandwidth to upload pictures or update the blog.

On Sunday morning, we woke up early, packed up and checked out of the NYC hotel in Times Square. We’d originally planed on staying longer, but we did a lot more on Saturday than we’d originally planned, and ended up seeing just about everything we wanted to see. Sunday morning, we drove south to the tip of Manhattan, called Battery Park, and boarded a boat for Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Before we did, though, we walked a few blocks over to the former site of the WTC, and Ground Zero. While they weren’t getting much attention from visitors like us, they were still impressive to see. We could recognize several landmarks we’d seen in the news reports, and answered a lot of questions about 9/11 from the kids.

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were fun, and riding around on the boat for a few minutes was somewhat relaxing. We spent about half of the day there, looking like tourists in our “I love NY” t-shirts.

After that, we were ready to say goodbye to NY and headed toward Providence. We decided to spend a couple of nights there, relaxing and recharging before the final leg of our trip. We found a hotel with cheap rates, comfy beds, and a nice pool (the BIG 3 for the Moseley family). We spent the next couple of days/nights swimming (a lot), checking out the town and Brown University, and eating some good food. We even saw Disney’s new movie, Up, which we all really liked. Providence is a cool town, neat looking and smallish, but with some nice places to go. I told Dominique that if it didn’t get freezing cold 10 months of the year, I’d love to live there. Maybe Brown will offer me a summer job once I finish my PhD… Like Janitor, maybe?

We left Providence this morning in the rain, and drove to Boston, our final stop on the tour. On our way in we visited a friend from Pepperdine at his bookstore, the Blue Bunny. It was a great little shop in a cute little town outside Boston, and the staff there treated us like royalty. Later this week, we are planning to visit Paul’s other company, Fablevision, where he and his brother, and a very large staff, create children’s books, software, and other great stuff. I’m looking forward to it.

We drove around Boston a bit, checked into our hotel, and got in touch with a local swim club to see if Stanzi and Robby could work out with them. They were open to the idea, so this evening we all drove over to Harvard University, where they practice, and Stanzi and Robby had a great workout. It was really fun seeing Harvard’s pool – we’ll be back a couple more times this week before we go home. Thanks to the Bay and Ocean State Squid for letting us join them.

It was a good day, although I have to say I’d rather drive through downtown New York than through Boston. At least the NY streets make sense. My GPS is worse than useless here. I’m going to wrap up now and go study my map.

Tomorrow we drive about 1 hour north to Salem to visit the Witch Museum. Should be fun and the roads look pleasantly straight.

Ok – I know I’m behind on the blogging – I promise to catch up tonight.

We’re in Boston, our final stop on vacation. We’re about to head over to the Harvard University Pool so Stanzi and Robby can work out with one of the local swim teams. Will they still be able to swim? Will the Boston team be confused by California kids wearing North Baltimore Aquatics Club t-shirts? More later!

This is going to be short, because we’re tired and have to get up early for a statue cruise tomorrow.

I do have pics posted for the last few days at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/bill.moseley   

We did so much today, that we saw 99% of the things we wanted to see in NYC, and so we’ve decided to move on north toward Boston. We’ll be leaving after we finish up with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tomorrow. I think we will probably stay in Providence, RI for a day or two, and relax. Then, on to Boston and after that, home.

We still have a week of vacation left. Still have lots to see and do.

I’ll try to post something more interesting tomorrow or the next day. I am keeping up pretty good with twitter, though. Follow that at:

http://twitter.com/wlmoseley

Adios for now.

The last two days have been mind-blowing in terms of what we have seen and done. Yesterday, we went to the Air and Space Museum, and the Museum of Natural History, and finished the day with dinner in the Pavillion, which is a mall that has been built inside the old post office in DC, and seeing Night at the Museum 2 in the IMAX theater of the Museum of Natural History – Extra cool, since several of the Smithsonians and the Capitol Mall are featured in the film.

Above: Air and Space, and Natural History  

We saw the Wright Brothers’ plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane Amelia Earhart flew on two of her record-setting flights, and some amazing pieces of space and flight history.

Above: Entrance to Air and Space, and Earhart’s Lockheed Vega

Following that, we walked across the mall and saw a giant squid (real, dead, and preserved – all good things in this case), dinosaur skeletons unlike anything I have seen, and walked through a butterfly exhibit that surrounded us with them like we had stepped into some kind of Disney movie.

Above: Two dead things I’m glad to never meet alive.

Believe it or not, today topped even that. We got up, had breakfast (the bfast at the hotel has been great every day), and walked 4 blocks down the street to Ford’s Theater. We didn’t go in because of the crowds, but it was neat to see it, and fun that it’s so close to us.

Above: Ford’s Theater and the Peterson house where Lincoln died (across the street)

We went to the American History Museum and saw some great pieces of American History – Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers were a must-see, and we enjoyed the Lincoln exhibit which had personal items of his, including the hat he wore to Ford’s Theater the night he was shot, and a suit of his. There was a gallery of African-American photography that was stunning, and exhibits on transportation and the development of light/electricity. Another photo gallery of innaugural shots was very cool to see.

Above: Lincoln’s Hat and a photo of Gettysburg post-battle.

The highlight of my day today was the visit to the Art Museums. We saw pieces by DaVinci (very, very cool), Cesanne, Monet, Manet, Mondrian, Calder, Warhol, Picaso, and Van Gogh.

Above: Van Gogh and DaVinci  

My favorite piece, though (hands-down), was Lavender Mist by Jackson Pollock, my favorite painter. It was like an art history lesson, except that if I’d wanted to I could have walked right up and touched any of them. It is amazing to stand close enough to a Monet to see the individual brush strokes. The Pollock piece is very big – I knew that but seeing it in person is different, and the variation in color and pattern can’t be done justice by any photograph.

Above: Lavender Mist by Jackson Pollock  

As we were walking away from the Art Museum, it started to pour. Not like in Bakersfield, where a rain starts off with drip…….drip, drip…… drip, drip, drip…..

This was like “Oh NO! ….. Run!”

So run we did. We ran up past the J Edgar Hoover Building, right into the Hard Rock Cafe, where we had a great dinner and waited for the downpour to slow to a drizzle. We ran back to the hotel and got into the pool before the rain started again, this time with strong winds. It’s still going strong outside, with some thunder and lightning thrown in.

Stanzi’s period of “taking it easy on vacation” is over. I briefly left the pool to start some laundry tonight, and when I came back she was wearing a cap and racing goggles, swimming laps and doing p ush-ups. I guess she just couldn’t handle it any longer.

We had a lot of fun today and went to a couple of the Smithsonian Museums. I’ll post more tomorrow. Pics were uploaded today though.

Today was huge. We saw so much, but oddly I now have an even longer list of things I still want to see here.

We started off taking the Metro to the Monuments (Washington, Lincoln, WW2, Korean War, Vietnam War). It was interesting standing at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, holding my black daughter, reading the words of his inaugural address which spelled out his anti-slavery position. I’m sure that slavery would have come to an end even without this man, but his contribution to its demise is undeniable. I love that I get to experience the world in so many different ways through the eyes of my multi-racial children. I found myself wondering about the different ways that people experience these places.

The Korean War and WW2 Memorials were amazing, too. The Korean War memorial featured a platoon of sculpted soldiers who looked like they were picking their way through a jungle together. The work was great, and the concept made you feel like you were there. Very cool. The WW2 Memorial was as impressive as you’d expect a memorial for “the war to end all wars” to be. Situated between the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool, the WW2 site is constructed to fit perfectly into the Mall layout. It’s very powerful and impressive – tons of water and granite, and very formidable. I wonder what my grandpa (a WW2 vet) would have thought — I imagine he would have been very proud to be honored in that way.

After lunch, we saw the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court Building. From there, we went on a tour of the Capitol building (also very interesting), and then met up briefly with Debby Kurti, a friend and colleague, and her family, who are on a cross country road trip. We finished up the day with a great deep dish pizza at Union Station, and walked back to the hotel through Chinatown. All in all a great day. Tomorrow, the Smithsonians.

The two pictures above were taken by Gabbi and Julian.

We went to Yorktown today, visited the Victory Center — It’s a very nice museum devoted to Rev. war history, focusing on the Yorktown battle / victory. Hadsome really great artifacts and some living history demonstrations. We got to hear a mortar from the era fired (very loud), and hear a short lecture on surgical techniques (more art than science).

After Yorktown, we drove a little short of 3 hours north to DC. The streets here are something that takes a little getting used to. I think I’m all studied up for tomorrow – I guess we’ll find out. If we lose anyone on the subway, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Today we spent time visiting the Jamestown Settlement. It was amazing to see a place with so much history. So much has happened here, from the first permanent English settlement to early colonization to civil war battles over the riverfront along the James River. It’s cool to walk in the same places where people that I’ve heard about my whole life really lived. So much better than somewhere like Disneyland.

After Jamestown, it was more waterslides (we multi-tasked some laundry in there), a quick dinner, and then back to the hotel for some wandering around and checking stuff out. We’re tired, but we’ve enjoyed our time in Williamsburg. The only bummer is that we’ve only scratched the surface of what you could do and see here. I’m pretty sure we’ll feel that way about every place we visit.

What could be better than water?

You can see photos from our vacation (some posted in real time) at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bill.moseley   

Thursday was a very long day:

Woke up – 4:45 am PDT
Left for LAX – 6:30 am
Arrived LAX – 9:00 am
Flew to St. Louis, MO – 11:30 am
Arrived in St. Louis, MO – 5:00 pm CDT    
Flight was moved back from 6:50 to 8:20 pm

During the layover, Samara ran through the airport continuously. I chased her.

Flew to Norfolk, VA – 8:20 pm
Arrived in Norfolk, VA – 11:15 pm EDT

Got our luggage, got our car, and drove for 1:15 to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA. We drove across (and a little bit under) the Chesapeake Bay to get there. It was very cool.

We got in our room and got everyone settled at around 2:00 am.

Friday:

This morning, we tried really hard to wake up at 8:30 am, but it didn’t go well.

We ended up waking up at 9:30, and stumbling downstairs to have a huge buffet breakfast at the hotel. After we stuffed ourselves, we headed to Colonial Williamsburg.

We spent a lot of the day there, walking (a TON) and checking out the different exhibits. There were some amazing buildings, and some of the 18th century craftsmen were very impressive. We saw a blacksmith, a textile maker, and a cabinet maker that all used traditional tools to perform their work. We also saw several other amazing exhibits. Here is what we did to keep the kids entertained while we were walking around:

We had a great time in Williamsburg. It was cool to walk the streets where the likes of Jefferson and Washington lived and worked. Amazing that the houses are preserved in the same spots where they were over 200 years ago.

After we had our fill in WIlliamsburg, we grabbed a quick dinner, and headed back to the Great Wolf for an afternoon / evening at the water park. They have a huge 3+ acre park inside the hotel.

We had a great time. The lodge is wonderful, and we are looking forward to a day at Jamestown tomorrow (with more water park fun afterwards).

I’ll upload more of today’s pictures to Flickr, and add a link when I can.