Fall 2011 Events

Fall Fun

We went to the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival right outside our house on Columbus, with Alex and her mommy and daddy and baby Charlotte, on an incredibly humid day. The free cotton candy melted in two minutes flat, so the kids were licking it off the paper cones. Marcus conquered his fears to actually enter one of the bouncy houses, which made Robert happy, and we had a great day with delicious Thai, Korean, and Puerto Rican food. There were also free balloon creations for the kids, and Marcus wore his dog hat until it slowly and sadly died a few days later.

We went to the Newton South High School Touch-a-Truck Day, which was pretty amazing, even though Marcus preferred the moving trucks ("the trucks with ramps") over any other truck. We ran into Ryan (from school), his mom, and big sister there--right in the moving truck, actually--and Ryan and Marcus cutely yelled out each other's names in greeting.

We've been enjoying the last few summer-like days, spending as much time as we can on Tuesdays at the playgrounds in JP, and briefly going to the Aquarium too.

We also went to dim sum with Jayden, and to the Yo Gabba Gabba live show/concert at Agganis Arena. Marcus wasn't too sure how he felt about that last one--this thing had seriously high production values, and Marcus sat through the first half pretty stunned. After a bathroom break and popcorn at intermission, he was looking happier, until the music and strobe lights started back up again. Then: "Mommy, I'm all done. I want to go home," he said. "I like the yellow robot, but I'm all done." Well, no big deal: we left, grabbing a hot dog on our way home, and I think that was probably the highlight of his night.

We went to Lily's baby brother's first birthday party (in Marcus's mind, Lily is more exciting than her baby brother, hence her top billing) in Arlington, on the same Saturday as Robert had his softball team's semi-finals. The party was robot-themed, which Marcus definitely appreciated, but he also just liked playing with all of Lily's toys.

On Columbus Day, the Fenway area celebrated the "Opening Our Doors" cultural day; we met Marissa and family there, so the big kids could play, and we just had a fabulous day of it. There was a kick-off ceremony at 10:00 at the Christian Science Pavilion with performances by a kids' choir and some earnest Berklee School of Music students, and then there would have been a mini-parade around the reflecting pool following a brass band, but Marcus needed the first of many bathroom trips that day, so instead we went into the Mary Baker Eddy Library (free for the day) and used their incredibly classy bathrooms (Venetian marble mosaics, etc.) and then checked out the Mapparium. We went back outside in time to get free cupcakes and then do lots of frolicking in the grass, some drawing with sidewalk chalk, and some splashing in the edges of the fountain. It was a weird 85-degree day, and the kids were super happy--if occasionally a bit overly physical with each other, in their usual way. Then we headed into the Pru for lunch at Wagamama (we've had better service, truly), where Robert met up with us from work, and Ko fro-yo at Pinkberry, and then it was back outside and over to the Christian Science Pavilion again for an organ concert, more sidewalk chalk, glass-blowing demonstrations, more bathrooms (the Mother Church also has nice ones, with a comfortable ladies' lounge attached), bubbles and more outdoor fun, and finally some utterly exhausted kids going up to say goodbye and head home.