Category Archives: Family Adventures

Chaperoning Science School Field Trip

Wood Neck Beach
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01287

Today Allison and I drove for Andy’s Science School field trip to Wood Neck Beach. In grand CSS tradition we did not know if both of us would be needed to drive until we got there to find out. Turned out that they could use our help so I drove three of the boys from Andy’s class and Allison drove Andy and Evie and another kid from class. All good kids in these classes. So smart and inquisitive. We got to Wood Neck Beach which has a marsh area and we explored the marsh looking for different specimens for the tank back at Science School.

captain panic swallowed by quicksand

A Cape Cod Marsh has many different parts to it including some shoe sucking muck. One of the boys who rode with me lost a shoe in the muck and Andy got sucked into quicksand. Luckily Allison sprung in to action to pull him out while I laughed and took photos. Such a good dad.

One of the coolest things that we saw was a Mantis Shrimp. The kids even caught the thing twice. It was the biggest thing in the marsh and you could see it coming along a mile away. At about six inches long it looks like a lobster with no giant claws. There are some Mantis Shrimp like the peacock Mantis Shrimp that have these club-like appendages that they can use to fire off an insanely strong punch that can shatter shells of their prey. They can break glass with the punch too because the water around where the punch lands boils instantly, like the heat of the sun hot. It is crazy. I do not think this was that particular type of Mantis Shrimp, however. It was pretty cool to see, though.

@benspark96

What we think may be a Mantis Shrimp 🦐. Found during a Science School field trip at Wood Neck Beach.

♬ dudada dudada – FUNNY

Mickey and Minnie at My Cousin’s Daughter’s 1 Year Birthday

Its the mickey mouse clubhouse
Photo-A-Day 2.0 #01286

Today we went to a birthday party for my cousin’s daughter. She turned 1 year old. It was a nice chance to spend some family time with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins. My cousin Shaun and I work together and talk most every weekend. We also play a lot of X-Box but that’s besides the point. His sister Carissa lives out in California but when she comes home she packs in all the parties and get togethers she can. So today we celebrated her daughter’s birthday and we had special guests of Mickey and Minnie at the party.

Hanging with Mickey

I decided to embrace the surreal Mickey and Minnie, who could have used a (disney) Magic Eraser on their costumes. Also, Mickey definitely had a Latinx accent. Minnie sure could play some soccer, though. They came and danced and took photos with everyone. I watched all of it and couldn’t help but think that someone who would have loved the whole experience would have been my Grandpa Rick. He just loved to have fun even if it was completely silly. So I danced along and tried to embrace it. I think I did a good job of that.

Family With Mickey and Minnie

I do love this photo because of Andy looking side-eye over at Minnie and Eva is smiling pretty authentically. Which is hard to capture for an angsty teen who did spend much of the time texting her friends about these guests and the absurdity of the situation. I mean, the kids enjoyed it, for the most part, the little ones, but the rest of us just kind of stood around and watched as these performers tried their best to bring the magic for the kids. It was a fun time overall. Plus I took the night off so a 2 day work week is even better.