Using infrared technology, suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was seen hiding in a boat from above. (Getty Images)

My wife and three of our four sons and I just got back from a week of vacation out of the country — no email, no Twitter, no Facebook, no blogging, nothing but time playing in the sun as a family. News eventually reached us at sea about the terror attacks in Boston (see video) that killed three and injured 176 others, but we are just learning about the extraordinary week we missed.

Our prayers are with all those affected, including their friends and families and all those law enforcement heroes who have been and are continuing to work on the case. [UPDATE: Shots fired at Denver marijuana holiday rally]

Here is some of the most interesting coverage I’ve seen of the terror drama since getting back a few hours ago:

• Amazing New Details from the Chase for the Boston Bombers — interview with the Watertown police chief
• The hunt for the Boston bombers — how it went down: Police, citizens and technology factor into Boston bombing probe (Washington Post) — “After a tense day of searches on the silent streets of a locked-down city, David Henneberry was eager to get some air. As soon as authorities lifted the stay-inside order Friday just before dusk, Henneberry stepped out of his Watertown house. Something about his boat seemed off. The plastic cover was flapping in the wind, which made no sense, especially given that Henneberry had tied it down so well that it hadn’t moved even through this winter’s blizzards. On inspection, the cover appeared to have been sliced open. Then Henneberry saw the blood. He came closer, pulled himself up a ladder to peer inside and saw more blood — and a curled-up form. He called 911. Within minutes, he was hurried out of his house, and men in uniforms were firing at the boat and someone was shooting back. Police had used thermal imaging technology to see that a human form was under the boat’s white plastic cover. They pounded the boat with flashbang grenades, a powerful concussive force, to see if the suspect would react; he barely did. Finally, an FBI negotiator on a bullhorn roused Dzhokhar and spent 25 minutes persuading him to come out. Local police cuffed the suspect, who was then taken by ambulance for medical attention to two gunshot wounds, probably suffered the previous night in the shootout with police.”
• Manhunt’s Turning Point Came in the Decision to Release Suspects’ Images (New York Times)
• Bomb victim Jeff Bauman, who lost both legs, helped ID suspects from hospital bed
• A tick-tock of the Boston Marathon bombing manhunt in tweets — from reporters of the Boston Globe
• Bombing suspect, uncle had falling-out over Islam
• NYT: Inquiry Shifts to Suspect’s Russian Trip
• Who Is Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Man at the Center of the Boston Manhunt?
• Meet David Henneberry, the Tipster Who Caught Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
• Surviving Boston Marathon bombing  suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had time to tweet on the run — After killing 3 and  wounding 180, the surviving brother tweets, ‘Ain’t no love in the heart of the  city,” a line from rapper Jay-Z. He adds, chillingly, ‘stay safe people.’
• Boston Marathon bombing investigation turns to motive
• FBI interviewed dead Boston bombing suspect years ago
• The hellish week that traumatized — and bonded — Americans
• ‘We got him!’: Boston bombing suspect captured alive
• List: Victims of the Marathon bombings
• Boston Marathon Bombings Update: Slain MIT officer identified as Sean Collier

Excerpts from a remarkable by Bloomberg News:

Minutes before the bombs blew up in Boston, Jeff Bauman looked into the eyes of the man who tried to kill him.

Just before 3 p.m. on April 15, Bauman was waiting among the crowd for his girlfriend to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon. A man wearing a cap, sunglasses and a black jacket over a hooded sweatshirt looked at Jeff, 27, and dropped a bag at his feet, his brother, Chris Bauman, said in an interview.

Two and a half minutes later, the bag exploded, tearing Jeff’s legs apart. A picture of him in a wheelchair, bloodied and ashen, was broadcast around the world as he was rushed to Boston Medical Center. He lost both legs below the knee.

“He woke up under so much drugs, asked for a paper and pen and wrote, ‘bag, saw the guy, looked right at me,’” Chris Bauman said yesterday in an interview.

Those words may have helped crack the mystery of who perpetrated one of the highest-profile acts of terror in the U.S. since the 2001 assault on New York City and the Washington area, one that killed three people and wounded scores.

The Boston area was on lockdown this morning after law enforcement officials killed one suspect in the bombing and were hunting another, following a night of violent clashes between the two men and authorities that killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer.