Isaac made up his own team of superheroes at bath time last night.  We were talking and Isaac had lots to say.  It was impressive to watch his nimble and unbounded imagination reel off new superheroes and new powers on the fly.  As with all superheroes, some are more impressive than others (Aquaman, I am looking at YOU).  We (I) named his team Strike Force Five.  Isaac was searching for a name and then I recommended Strike Force Five which prompted him to give me his seal of approval with a finger point and a "You GOT IT! Daddy."  They are as follows:  Shockwind, Blackwing, Gorax, Bach and...Nick.  Their superpowers range widely.  Here is exactly how he described them to me:

Shockwind: He has a light blue and dark blue outfit with a cape and he shoots fire from his hands.  He is the leader of Strike Force Five. 

All in all, very impressive and auspicious start. 

Blackwing: He is dressed in all black and may or may not have a cape.  He shoots claws out of his claws.  He doesn't have hands, he has claws.

Still going strong.

Gorax: He is really, really, really strong.  He looks like a rock.  

Yep, every superhero teams needs one of these guys.  In fact, Isaac unwittingly described Thing, which goes to show you just how crappy the Fantastic Four are--a 3 1/2 year old came up with a copy of Thing in like three seconds and he isn't even the leader of the team.  

Bach: He is a superhero.  He can sleep on any piano.  

I think we were listening to some piano music on the way to swim lessons last weekend and I told him it was by Bach and he told me it made him feel sleepy, so I imagine that is where this comes from.

Nick:  Oh, yes, Nick is a superhero.  His power is he is shy.  He goes like this "Awww...and when people come over he shoots them."

So there you have it, X-Men as devised on the fly by Isaac Anthony.  He also told me that sometimes Blackwing, ready for this, shoots caves at people, whatever that means.   He also told me that they all have long bows because we are reading Robin Hood and everyone has long bows now.  

 
  

Isaac talks about Feen Bean Buntalope so much he is basically part of our family.  So I decided to do some digging and find out more about Isaac's giant imaginary friend.  Here is a quick interview regarding the mysterious Mr. Buntalope:

It was a Friday night and Bianca and I were both tired from a long week, but also tired from the long winter.  Bianca turns 37 on Monday and she has a pretty amazing life to show for it, so we wanted to do something fun and different.  We decided that we'd get a hotel room in the heart of Boston and go on an adventure in the city.  We also made sure it had a pool because when you have a 3 1/2 year old you could be next to the Louvre and without a pool you failed in your trip planning.

We found a good deal on a room at the Seaport in Boston, bought, and the next morning after the Saturday rituals, we headed out.  The hotel is really amazing...the beds were memory foam and the TV was an amazing uber high def machine.  Isaac was delighted and Bianca and I were as well.  We got in almost exactly at three and we were in the pool by three thirty.  It was a nice pool with a view of the harbor and Isaac showed off some of his new swimming moves.  He was able to kick is way the whole length of the pool using a kickboard.  He also did a bit of free swimming between Bianca and I.  Overall it was pretty impressive.

For dinner we wanted some authentic chow so we skipped the fancy, new places and found a small seafood place that had been in the same location for over 90 years.  Bianca got a delicious bit of fish and chips and I got a lobster that I split with the I-man.



Isaac was thrilled with the IDEA of lobster, but less taken with the actual eating of the lobster.  He liked the claw meat, but not so much the knuckle (heresy I know).  He REALLY like the corn and playing with the lobster's anntena.  The lobster was actually very good, incredibly fresh, seeing as the ocean was actually under our feet as the restaurant was built on a pier.  

The next day we...yes...went to the pool again.  While the memory foam mattresses seemed good in theory, they took my tweaked back and made it an outright wreck (tweaking your back is pretty common when you play with a 3 1/2 year old).  I could barely sit up and had a difficult time walking.  I took a shower and felt a little better.  We grabbed some breakfast and then went out into the city.



It was slow going, Bianca picked up the slack and the I-man.  

We stopped at Quincy Market and had lunch and then around 12:30 we found our way to our final destination--the legendary Hilton Tent City.  HTC is Boston's oldest and most authentic outdoor store.  The building is a dump, in a rough part of the city, but the gear and stuff inside was amazing.  Isaac had fun playing in the two dozen tents and Bianca almost found what she was looking for in a bag.  After that we made a trek back to the hotel and then hoped in Suby for a return trip home.