Vacation, Part IV

On the swan boat -- a beautiful spring day in Boston

Outside the Eric Carle museum

Before the first pitch

This next group of photos is from the middle of the trip -- Amherst and Boston. We spent a few hours at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. It is possibly my favorite U.S. museum.

There is a library of more than 3,000 children's books, with a comfy corner for reading and playing with toys and puppets. (Cooper and I used puppets to act out Where the Wild Things Are.) There is an art studio where children can create collages, drawings, mosaics, etc. In the auditorium, we watched short animated films based on children's books.

The two galleries that were open included original works by Carle, Leo Lionni, Dick Bruna and more. The Carle/Lionni works were organized similarly to the "Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry" exhibit at the Kimbell Art Museum in 1999. We just missed the opening of another exhibit that includes work by Mo Willems, another favorite in the Damm house.

That evening we were in Boston for a Red Sox game. The weather didn't cooperate, at least not for us Texans -- 48 degrees and drizzly. We stayed as long as we could. I was particularly worried about Katie being outside for too long. We were mildly hazed by fans as we left early.

Cooper loved the whole Fenway experience -- walking to the park, buying a ball cap and T-shirt, playing catch with a woman in stilts on Yawkey Way, eating a hot dog, watching the game from our standing-room-only seats in right field. He also made lots of friends with the fans around us -- not surprising if you know Cooper. He'll start a conversation with anyone. (American Idol fans: Ayla Brown, the tall high school senior who was voted off early this season, sang the Canadian and American anthems. She had trouble with the high notes.)

The next morning we were back downtown for site-seeing, including the swan boat rides. Those photos and more are here.