October 2013

It's been a lovely fall here--beautiful weather, lots of sunny and warm days, and some good times all around.

Samantha is more adjusted to daycare everyday, and Marcus seems to know every kid in the neighborhood by name. The one day a week he takes the bus, a bigger girl ("my big friend Alia") gives him candy, which he adores, of course, as much for the attention from the fourth-grader as for the candy itself.

He still loves his Lego creations--although he is far less sentimental about the finished things than other kids. This house was so cool I made him pause for a picture before he ripped it apart, literally a minute after completing it, to build something else.

Sam and I are still going to the toddler art class in JP on Thursdays, and that is a ton of fun. When she figures out we're going, she says, "Go do art mommy! Go get paint on nose, paint on belly, paint all messy!" and claps her hands excitedly. In the picture at the left they were painting the bubble wrap and foil, and then we took prints of our kids' areas on separate paper to bring home.

Columbus Day weekend was a three-day whirlwind of fun events. On Saturday we took the train down to Providence for Lexi's team's home opener game, and for a visit with Uncle Michael and Aunt Nancy, who'd flown in from Minnesota for the weekend. We loved hanging out in the Friars' Room above the arena sharing snacks and talking to the other players' families and friends.

On Sunday, after church we took a Zipcar down to meet Sarah and Sean at the cranberry harvest festival in Wareham, near the Cape. None of us (except Sean) had ever seen cranberry bogs before, and the harvesting equipment was very neat to watch. We had delicious, freshly-made cider donuts with cranberries, cranberry lemonade, cranberry sauce to accompany/spread on a pulled pork sandwich, cheese fries, and then a Cape Verdean hot dog. Sarah and I had never heard of those, so I had to ask about them--apparently it's chili, "jag" (rice and beans), and then cheese sauce on top of a hot dog. We were sold--I went to order, but the woman who'd just been telling me about Cape Verdean dogs said they had no more hot dogs. Disappointed, and not wanting to miss out, we asked if she could put all those same toppings on the linguica sausage they had, and had not run out of, and she looked extremely doubtful but finally agreed. Frankly, I think the sausage underneath made it even better, if that was possible, and we all enjoyed the experience. We also had a long wagon ride around the edges of the bogs, a school bus ride from the festival site to the harvesting area, and (for Sarah, Sean, Robert, and Marcus) pedal-boat rides in a duck and a swan. Oh, and free fire hats.

On Monday, Robert took the day off from work to spend more time with us all, and we met Marissa and Jon and Alex and Charlotte at the Christian Science Plaza for the Fenway Opening Our Doors festival. First there was a performance by a kids' choir and then a brass band led all the children around the reflecting pool in a parade, ending in free cupcakes and more music. Then Sidewalk Sam was out with some chalk, and we all had fun with that, and the Mapparium was open as well, and there was a puppet show that the big kids watched some of. It was a beautiful sunny day, and Alex and Marcus biked all around together. We all walked up to Boylston for lunch at the Boston Burger Company--I had the "pilgrim" burger, with stuffing and cranberry mayo on the burger; Marissa and Jon had the Elvis, with peanut butter and fried bananas on the burger, and Robert had the artery clogger--a deep-fried burger patty topped with bacon. The house-made potato chips were fabulous, especially when topped with cheese and ranch dressing and bits of hot dogs. The dads and big kids went back to the festival for awhile longer, to do face (or arm) painting, and to go to the playground nearby and then get popsicles, but I headed home with Samantha to do some things around the house.

The following weekend we went apple-picking at Smolak Farm in North Andover. There were plenty of kids' activities, and then, of course, the apple-picking itself. Robert said it was "too easy"--what he means is that the apples were plentiful and delicious!

Samantha and Alex walked out of the orchard hand-in-hand, both eating their final apples of the day.

 

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Created: 10/21/13. Last Modified: 10/21/13.