Late-Summer Adventures

Late Summer Adventures

Marcus's Third Birthday in New York. . .

We went to New York for Marcus's birthday weekend, and on Friday night we went out to dinner at Kum Gang San in Flushing with my parents and Aunt Mary. None of us had been back since Marcus's first birthday extravaganza, so it was nice to return and take a picture in their garden. Marcus had great fun playing with Pop-pop, Grandma, and "Mary" this weekend, and he got to see Baby Davy two days in a row (particularly nice since Davy is now back on the West Coast again!). The hit birthday present was a toy banjo that Marcus calls his "instrument" and carts around to pluck (it actually has terrible sound, but it's pretty impervious to toddler-damage, so perhaps those are trade-offs we can live with) in imitation of Pop-pop and his mandolin.

and in Boston:

Back in Boston on Marcus's actual birthday, we saw Great-Grandma and Grandpa for another birthday party, complete with cake and balloons and then pizza at Santarpio's in East Boston afterward.

Babywearing Meet-Up in Central Park:

While in New York, we took the subway into the city for a babywearing meet-up on the Sheep Meadow. Marcus had tons of fun playing with the other 3-4 year-old boys (current and former wear-ees) and Robert chatted with a bunch of the dads while I sat under a tree and talked carriers and wraps with the mamas. There were maybe 20 adults and about that many babies/kids, and we all had a great time. Only one bystander was injured, when a football kicked by a three-year-old rolled downhill into a mildly disgruntled sunbather.

Misc. Boston Fun:

Though summer was waning, Marcus and I still had great fun around town. We went out to Spectacle Island by ferry and played on the beach one day; we had more playdates wth Alex, and Halley, and Garrison; we carefully chose ice cream from a truck; and we enjoyed the final grand finale week of the Storymobile.

Late August Get-Away to Bermuda:

Before I found out I was pregnant, we had been planning to go to China this August, in part because Marnie and I were presenting two papers at a linguistics conference in Beijing and in part just for fun. Well, Marnie went anyway, and presented both our papers without me there, but I decided I didn't want a super-long flight or lots of pollution when I was 26 weeks pregnant. Robert was disappointed, so I told him I'd plan a short trip for us, with just three days for him out of the office, somewhere warm and beachy and sunny--totally his kind of vacation. I saw another good package deal, and I remembered how much fun we'd all had in Bermuda when Marcus was fourteen months old, so we spent four nights at the Fairmont Hamilton (the "Princess") on the last weekend in August. As it turns out, we had very very good weather, with just one day of heavy winds and a brief shower from tropical storm Jose, which was forming to the south of us. Bermuda entirely missed Hurricane Irene, so while New York and Boston were freaking out and closing subway systems and stockpiling water, we enjoyed the beach and flew back on Monday without even a single flight delay or problem (ah, Delta--thank you! the people who took JetBlue were not so lucky, as their plane couldn't get there on Monday to get them home).

Enjoying the hotel ferry ride over to the Southampton Fairmont beach:

Feeding the hotel fish, napping on the beach, and waking up to a fried shrimp lunch:

Building various sand castles:

Napping, on the beach and in the hotel, and posing with the Mark Twain sculpture in the hotel lobby:

Posing in front of the (closed!) Fort St. Catherine in St. George, after a rather warm hike up from the town center, and then playing on Achilles Bay beach right next to the Fort (thank goodness!):

Playing on the Fairmont Southampton private beach:

Having a great time at a Moonlight Movie at Car Park No. 1 in downtown Hamilton on Friday night, having wandered over there with our take-out from the Fish Hut (amazing fish sandwiches!):