Then back home for bed. The bear had to sleep at the fish's so me and my mom could have the bed. Woke up at 8am and went to bikram yoga. It was my third day in a row, my hamstrings! were sore, and my mom's first time. It was a great class and my mom really liked it.

Then home to shower and brunch at Gaslight, though first the bear took us into the Athenaeum for a quick tour. He's a member. I've never been to Gaslight before but always wanted to. The prix fixe menu was great for $10. It included coffee or tea and fresh squeezed OJ, and your choice of entree (egg stuff and bread stuff). Yum! Plus we got the assorted basket of breads. I want more!!!

Then we got over to the waterfront/north end for our 1 hr. Segway tour. The staff is a little unprofessional and unorganized but overall the tour was fun. We were first practicing on the greenway to get used to our segways. At one point the bear glides up next to me backwards I think and says 'Do you have any Grey Poupon?', what a pick-up line!, and then he proceeds to fall off his segway. Douchebag says what?! Our tour guide took us all along the waterfront and the harborwalk and then into the north end. Along the waterfront by the aquarium where there was lots of people my mom was trying to avoid a kid and caught her wheel on a park bench and crashed pretty hard. She even hit her head but luckily was wearing a helmet. I think the tour guide was mad because before the tour he said helmets were only required in those under 18 and that we didn't need them, no one has ever fallen, and then my mom did. He can't say that anymore! I don't think I could have taken more than an hour, my legs and heels were sore from yoga!

After that tour we went home to take care of the beaky. Then took the T to Kenmore and had dinner at The Elephant Walk. Great service, big place, spring rolls were great and my tofu amrita as well. My mom's tofu noodle dish was lacking in tofu but overall we had a great dinner. Then we walked to Berryline. I got green tea w/ raspberries and white chocolate. My mom got original with blackberries and the bear got peach plain. Then we went back home and me and mom watched The Haunting in Connecticut on my laptop. Then we were pooped and it was 11:30. Quite a full day.

Mom woke up at 7am Sunday. I woke up too but stayed in bed. She got coffee and went running for 45 min. She had to take the train back at noon so we didn't have much time. I was going to take her to The Paramount but at 10am the line was already coming out the door. So instead we went across the street to The Beacon Hill Bistro. It was much better than the Paramount. No waiting!! and the food was great. We shared a spinach and cheddar cheese omelet and vanilla pancakes. With tip our meal was $26 which is comparable to The Paramount. I think the Paramount just lost my business to the BHB. Sorry Paramount your quality has sacrificed to get all those customers through the line. Go to the BHB.

Then it was on the T to South Station where me and mom waited for her train and talked about sad family stuff. All in all a great visit! I have to say I planned it very well :0) and my mom is up for anything!!!

so i talked to my dad wed. on my drive back from indianapolis to say i would be home late that night and my brother was coming in on thurs. and i'd somehow get the kids to see him over the weekend since my brother would be at the wedding. he seemed fine. my brother also talked to him that night and now i'm finding out that my dad was real upset and bringing up my parents divorce 17 years ago for making things difficult now w/ seeing the kids, like it's our fault, he always blames my mother like he had no part in the divorce, and also saying that kids shouldn't move away from their parents. sounds real rational. so they were in a big fight and the conversation ended w/ my dad saying fine don't bring the kids to see me, go to your wedding.

so on thurs. first you drive thru liverpool before getting to my mom's so my brother ended up stopping at my dad's work. then when he got off work they went to his house and stayed until my dad said he had to go pick up 'his kids' (the grandkids that his wife has custody of and live with). so my brother came to my mom's and we spent thursday night there. then on friday and saturday basically my brother was off doing wedding stuff in syracuse and me and mom were w/ the kids. the kids ended up not going to the wedding because it was too much hassle.

i hadn't talked to dad since wed. but my brother said that he told dad he would try and get the kids to see him again. my brother ended up staying until monday morning instead of leaving on sunday so i figured sunday was a better day because my dad had to work on sat. anyway. so then sunday came and my brother called my dad but he didn't answer and he left a message. we never heard from him.

so on monday i left dad a message saying that i was here until wed. and if he could do dinner monday or tuesday night. today i get a message from dad and it says something like 'It's your father...Martin...thanks' and the tone is all mad. So i call him back and he's out to eat at Mother's Restaurant, he eats there all the time and we get in a big fight. He's mad i didn't call him again after wed. and i say that i was w/ the kids and jeremy had been in touch w/ him so i figured he knew what was going on and how we tried to call on sunday but didn't get a hold of him and he said he wasn't answering the phone, so how can we arrange stuff if you don't answer? he thought we were coming w/ the kids Saturday night to Mother's and that he told my brother but my brother never told me and according to my brother he didn't make any plans for me to do that and my dad gets all crazy yelling about how my stepdad ruined our family and he's not coming to my mom's to see his grandkids as my brother had suggested in the voicemail.

so basically my brother had this big fight w/ my dad about the kids on wed. before even leaving michigan that i never knew about until today. my dad was looking for anything to be mad about. he told me when they came on thurs. that they just did it because they felt bad and that the whole time at his house they were yawning and seemed uncomfortable, maybe because they just drove all day w/ two little kids and just wanted to get settled in. then dad was questioning if they went to the lake, the lake is where the in-laws go in the summer and my brother has stayed there before so that's just my dad again being retarded about them not staying w/ him even though there's no room. and also my dad must be mad about the fact that he's 60 years old and now stuck at home w/ 2 little kids w/ handicaps. again, you chose that life, it's not our fault or our fault that you're divorced and we have to try and please everyone. both me and my mother have gone out of our way to see the kids, even if we've had to drive to the in-laws or go to michigan. it's not easy for my brother to get around, and again he came here for a wedding.

it's ridiculous to bring up shit from 17 years ago and to take your situation w/ your new life out on us. you didn't call us either. instead you ignored calls from us. that only makes the situation worse! now we don't want to deal w/ you. you're being unreasonable! i wanted to see my niece and nephew as much as i could. opportunities like this are very few. i knew i would have more time to see my dad after they left, and i did just see my dad in october and i could see him again, easier than seeing my niece and nephew in michigan.

not sure if i got all the sides represented here but that's the story kinda.

Got lots of good photos and videos and each time they get more and more comfortable w/ me, mainly JJ, he's the shy, younger one who still is afraid to come to me. Ella not shy at all so she's fine w/ me but I rarely see them so though they both can say Auntie Heather, I'm not sure how much it means to them.

Spent lots of time w/ Ella. She likes my laptop. I had to rent 2 movies from iTunes for her, Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, which I remember buying the VHS when it came out in 1998, and Scooby Doo and the Goblin King which came out this year. I also had to buy Shrek because she wanted to watch it and it wasn't available to rent on iTunes and I couldn't find it for free online. That cost me $9.99, the rentals are $3.99 each and then buy two songs for $0.99 each, Ring of Fire and U Can't Touch This. At least you get it all instantly w/out having to move.

We also played some games online including stuff on PBSkids.com. I could just leave her in my room on the bed and she'd be happy clicking the mouse all alone until her mom made her stop because she was doing it for too long. We did some dancing and pretending to be bears and crocodiles, zombies that ate brains, we pretended to film a cooking show, watch out Rachel Ray!, and all kinds of fun stuff.

I've been feeling crappy for the last week or so w/ bad PMS. Finally went for a tough run today for 6 hilly miles out and back on the road my mom lives off of. I didn't want the hills but they're unavoidable around here. I'll probably feel it tomorrow but I definitely needed some running. Hope to keep it up now, plus I'm on vacation so I should easily have the time.

Had another abstract accepted to a meeting in Feb. in Cali. I want to go since it's way more fun than Indianapolis where I just presented at a conference last week but I don't think my PI will send me, saying the budget is tight. I think it's just an excuse not to send me but I did the work and I think I should get to present it, not just my collaborator. He gets to go because his PI wants him to, not fair. So he'll be presenting the work even though I'm first author. Oh well, I only have about a year left in my postdoc anyway so I should just be happy about that and start counting down the days, and the work. I think I have a good plan set for the next year, now I just need to execute and get everything done and wrapped up so I can leave on time. No clue where I'll look for a job but I gotta start thinking about it.

Anyway, welcome Jack!

From left to right:

Cousins Tracy (RIP), Tammy, Brian J., Karaoke Brian, and Me on Timmy's lap (he doesn't have a messed up head, it's just how the picture scanned).

Then along came JJ

And now they both just keep growing

So tonight I call my brother to find out about JJ's first birthday and mention that it's weird that I thought it was today and I didn't want to be insulting and ask them to check the birth certificate, though I really thought they should, just to make sure, but as we were on the phone my sister-in-law gave the birth certificate to my brother and he reads out that his birthday is the 11th but at this point I think he's just kidding and saying that to be funny but after a couple minutes he says that it's true, today is his birthday and they were just stupid and for some reason thought it was yesterday. So yesterday they had his party and even my sister-in-law's family came over and no one questioned the birthday, except me of course. Holy shit, if it wasn't for me, my family would be celebrating poor JJ's birthday on the wrong day.

Guess it could be worse, they could have forgotten it all together. At least they were a day early!

Sorry JJ you have stupid parents. At least your Auntie Heather is smart!!! Hope you and Ella take after me :0)