What to do?

We are blessed to live near, not just one college, but five.  Thankfully this provides many opportunities for fun and adventure that is free or at a very low cost.  Smith College is where we are headed today.  It is the Annual Flower Show in the gorgeous greenhouses that the girls have been asking to attend for days, and we finally have the time. 

For a two dollar donation (not required, but totally worth it) we spend an hour or two wandering through rooms of different climates, looking, smelling and lightly touching all the amazing vegetation.  Many colleges offer their greenhouses to the community enjoyment, and it is a perfect way for us to do something just a bit different that our regular wekend events.  The flower show is a bit crowded, but that helps to keep the girls from flying through the dessert room and into the tropics, hurdling the low growing cacti in the race to be the first to do everything.  The crowd forces us to go slower, listen to those around us and work on our severely lacking patience...and that is just my husband and I! 

Since we are living life in the future today (we changed our clocks back already <see previous entry>), we can mosey on over anytime before 4.  The flowers are outstanding this time of year, but the staff keep the greenhouses fun and beautiful year round.  If you are in the Amherst/Northampton, MA area check out the Smith College Greenhouse...if you are in another part of the world, check your local college or university.http://www.smith.edu/

Time Change

My girls have always had a hard time dealing with Daylight Savings Time.  The few days following have been filled with cranky, confused questions about why 7pm is the new 8pm. This year I have a plan.  To minimize the effects on the first morning (Church) and hopefully be done by the second morning (School), I am changing the clocks for our house a day early.  This Saturday is a rare one with no social engagements, so no one will notice that we are already living an hour into the future.  Hopefully by Sunday morning it will be less of a tragedy to get up for church, and by the time school comes around on Monday morning, we should be right on track.

We'll see.