And finally, the rest of the vacation...

On Monday we took the girls to the Hall of Science. We used to have a membership when we lived there and went frequently, but Nina didn't remember any of it. That was money wasted I guess. Kidding! Nick and I always enjoyed ourselves!
The museum was a hit, as always. Nina enjoyed this surf board that demonstrates how it's easier to keep your balance with your feet further apart. I can't remember what Maggie said her favorite thing was*, but both girls really liked the thing that you drop your coins into and they whirl around and around and the drop down. You know, the coin donation things. That was probably their most favorite thing actually. I tried to explain how that makes a good model of orbital motion, but they were having none of my educational explanations.
Look at us, having fun:

Here's Nina's surf board thing:

and here's Maggie, standing next to the hotel she built:

We got in for free thanks to the reciprocal membership program and our Boston Science Museum membership. We had wanted to go to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (free thanks to the reciprocal membership our Boothbay Botanic Gardens gets us), but it was closed on Monday. Which was fine, it was so, so hot that we wouldn't have been able to handle it.
That afternoon, we met up with some old friends at the North Queensview playground, and there was merriment all around. On Tuesday we went into Manhattan and got the girls' Austrian citizenship paperwork filed, saw some more old friends, and did the playground one more time. And we left for Maine bright and early on Wednesday.
*Nick remembers: Maggie's favorite thing was the model of a power grid, which demonstrates how the grid can absorb the extra electricity load when one major line is damaged, but if too many are down, the grid will shut itself down to avoid destroying the remaining lines. This is how major blackouts often happen.