Early May 2015

Early May has brought us a number of exciting events. We started off with a bang at the South End Baseball "rookie ball" (T-ball) kickoff, with a giant parade, led by a brass band and the T-ballers, with all the bigger kid teams following us.

We walked around the streets of the South End and then finished at Peters Park for hot dogs, cotton candy, bouncy houses, and some playground time.

Since my classes were over for the semester, and I had a bit more flexibility, I went along as a chaperone when Marcus's grade visited the Museum of Fine Arts one Wednesday. We walked up to Boylston and took the T over, and then had museum guides who led us on an hour-long tour when we got there.

Then we picnicked out on the lawn for lunch and went back inside in small groups. The kids especially loved the ancient coin room (giant moving magnifying glasses, plus a design-your-own coin interactive computer station).

The practice cast of Abraham Lincoln was a hit too (you can touch it), and they made it a point to try out all the special benches we saw (the MFA has a thing where many of the benches are art in and of themselves).

Finally, we also navigated by Magic Treehouse books for awhile: "Okay, who's read Monday with a Mad Genius?" I asked, herding them into the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit, and of course Mummies in the Morning made us have to stop at the ancient Egyptian wing.

The first Sunday in May, after church, we went to Harvard Square for their May Fair--lots of freebies, great food vendors, sidewalk chalk art displays, and other fun things.

We went to Home Depot one Saturday, and then spent some time the next day getting our deck set up for the summer.

Though we didn't put our tomatoes in right then, we did get around to planting Marcus's sunflower (he started it from a seed), a bunch of herbs, and a blueberry bush for me as a Mother's Day present from Aunt Mary.

It was such a lovely afternoon, the kids played with sand for the longest time, and we ended up grilling and even eating upstairs.

We've had a busy, productive month!

Marcus's orchestra went on a Saturday field trip to a school in Somerville to play together, and the entire school had a healthy family fun night one night in the gym, with trampolines, smoothies, and Chinese food for dinner.

While Marcus was playing chess and making music with other kids one Saturday, we went with Samantha to the Waltham New Watch City Steampunk Festival. She played ring toss and marbles, got to sit on vintage nineteenth-century bikes, and hula hooped for the longest time.

We also ran into Anya and Anand, who had never actually met Samantha, it's been so long since we last saw them!

There was the giant bubble man, and also a spinach-filled arancini that Samantha just devoured. ("I normally don't like spinach, but I like this spinach!")

After the festival, we drove over to Patel Brothers for some shopping (mmm, mangoes and dosa mix!) and Santa Banta, across the street, for a great Indian buffet for lunch--lots of veg options, two made-to-order chaats included, and thaandi included as well as gulab jamon. Oh, and Samantha was free, and moms were $10 off for Mother's Day weekend!

Later that same night, we left the kids with Grandma and Pop-pop and we went to a Parents Play Date at the Children's Museum. There were appetizers, a cash bar, and all the same exhibits to enjoy, sans children.

We especially liked getting to climb through the climbers, both the three-story one in the lobby, and the construction-themed one upstairs.

When we left there, we walked to our Zipcar, parked a couple blocks away, under a gorgeous art installation under an overpass, designed to look like a starry sky, and we had a nice dinner at TW Food in Cambridge (mmmm, foie gras creme brulee. . . ).

On Mother's Day, after church we went to the zoo with Grandma, Pop-pop, and Aunt Mary.

We saw some animals, including the pregnant gorilla due May 18th, and Samantha informed all the other children that the lion died (true--Christopher the lion died about a month ago and the zoo had not yet replaced him).

We went out for Chinese food and Korean frozen yogurt from the zoo, and then we took the subway home, stopping at a brand new playground about six blocks from our house (its grand opening was a week and a half ago), and then Robert let each kid choose a flower for me for Mother's Day.

 

Go back to web essays or over to links
robertandchristina.com was made with a Mac.
© 2015 C&R Enterprises
Email christina@robertandchristina.com or robert@robertandchristina.com
Created: 5/10/15. Last Modified: 5/10/15.