Stasia blossom, Children's Museum

We had high hopes that the snows of yesterday afternoon and evening would continue into today, but by daybreak, the white slate had been wiped clean. With temperatures slated to rise into the 50s, there was no question whatsoever that today we'd be in rain mode... heavy rain mode. We didn't get an early enough start to make the trek to New Haven and Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History, and it was too wet to risk a journey to the Roger Williams Park Zoo. So Stasia and I opted for something intermediate—and closer: the venerable Children's Museum of Southeastern CT in Niantic. This wonderful kid's-sized place has been enjoyed by all of my children and now, with Stasia, grandchildren, and we had a terrific visit, complete with rides on a fire truck and a fishing boat, work in a global market and a vegetable market, encounters with intriguing animals, and, finally, an education about the weather. Stasia delighted in cherry blossom time, which, given the unnatural warmth, was likely to be unnaturally early.