Photo Catch-up - May

It is August and not a rain cloud in sight. However, back in May...

We donned our rain jackets and headed into Boston to meet our friend Maria H and Audrey. Not that I have any pictures of Maria and I together... oops :(

Before we met our friends the girls and I snuck down to the public garden to visit the "Make way for the duckling" sculpture.


Daddy caught up to us just a bit later. He dropped us off then went to find a parking spot.*
This is the only picture I have of the friends we met...just the kiddos.


I guess in this case the lack of pictures indicates I was just too busy having fun.

*Aaron is a Westerner at heart and HATES paying to park. So, even though he had to leave in the middle of dinner to go move the car he counted this day as an immense success because it only cost $1.86 to park in Boston for 6 hours. Boo-YAH!

Independence Day/Dependence Night

We were so thrilled to go to a big barbecue (complete with tiki-torches) on the Fourth of July. I was nervous about how Tessa would do - sometimes she does wonderfully in groups and sometimes, not so well. Luckily two of her best friends, Melanie and Alyssa where there. They played with her while I was stuffing my face full of delicious shrimp and the dessert buffet and quickly she turned into a standard run around ragamuffin.

Tessa with Melanie and Alyssa at the Lake

After eating everyone headed to the fireworks by the lake. Every year we've been in MA we go to our town's fireworks - which we LOVE - but this year decided to go to the fireworks in the town our friends live (do you love my vague "internet safety speak"?). But I am out-of-shape/lazy and didn't want to walk, so we drove to get a little closer, which in the end, really didn't do us that much good (as you'll soon see).



We had fun waiting for the fireworks. But when the show started poor Tessa hid under the blanket saying "No farkles, no farkles," and eventually fell asleep.


Then we headed back to our car and the 30 minute drive home.

Then the car didn't start.

Then we had to hitch a ride with friends who had come to the barbecue and lived close to us, including calling back a family that had already it the highway. I'll be honest, I was/am so embarrassed, as if our family hasn't needed enough help this year. So much for Independence Day.

Then the next day Super Dusty came to the rescue (as usual - see mishap and related endorsement #4) and our car started.

Then the next week we took the car to the shop where, after 5 diagnostic checks and 50 successful startups, the mechanic couldn't find a thing wrong with it.

Then we renewed our AAA membership.

Mishaps & Endorsements

I guess no Christmas travel is complete without its adventures, even if is a non-Christmas-early-December-attempt-to-avoid-travel-excitement trip.

Well to be honest, we (and by that I mean Aaron) only had one, pretty major, travel mishap. The other mishaps happened after we (and by that I mean I) got home. But I am going to use this forum to get sympathy for them as well. :)

Mishap #1: Aaron vs. Airport security - When Aaron got to work last Thursday and told a co-worker that he had lost his license she asked "What did you do?" She apparently was a bit scarred from being a passenger while he was driving them around Philadelphia on a business trip. He clarified that he had lost, as in "misplaced" it - not lost as in "had it suspended".

The timing of this was rather unfortunate. You see, Aaron returned to MA from ID a few days before I did via the 4:10 am shuttle to the SLC airport. At 8:45 am I get a call from him with the question "Have you seen my driver's license?" I insta-panic for a second before I find out he was already through security with an hour to spare before his flight.

However getting through security involved the following:

• A phone interview between some unseen security guy and Aaron, through the ticket counter guy. Various semi-random questions were asked that would come up on a quick background check and then what we assume was confirmation by the ticket agent that Aaron fit the description on his drivers liscense photo...which we assume is available to high level airport security via the inter-web.

• Removing an extra 7 lbs of luggage from his overweight suitcase (which he shoved in his carryon).
  
  
• A rigorous security screening which triggered a positive for nitroglycerin (2nd time this has happened to us...anyone with insight why?) and resulted in an even more up close and personal search of his person (clothes stayed on in case you wondered...like I did. I believe the phrase Aaron used to describe it was "just shy of invasive").

Moral of the story - it isn't the end of the world to show up at the airport without ID, but it is definitely better to check for your drivers license before you leave the house.

Non-mishap #1: Emily vs. travel with a toddler - Luckily Aaron was our weathervane for bad travel luck on this trip and despite my extreme anxiety about weather conditions and behavior (of both Tessa and I) our trip home was a breeze.

Related Endorsement #1: This was the first time we flew Southwest and I am a big fan because -
A) We got a screaming deal.
B) you can reschedule your tickets if you want (which makes total sense to me and I think other airlines are real ninnies for being so strict with their policies).
C) The flight crew attempts to be humorous.
D) the seats are unassigned and parents with children under 4 get to board very near the beginning of the group.

We had to use a smaller airport, Manchester, NH, which was only slightly farther away than Logan Airport but so much friendlier. And parking was even cheaper than we'd thought so perhaps next time we'll just suck it up and pay for parking (shocking) - Thanks to the Browns for letting us park our car at their house!

Related Endorsement #2: Southwest uses the Chicago Midway airport and in this airport they have a restaurant called the Potbelly Sandwich Works. I was drawn in by the reasonable prices of their sandwiches (even cheaper then I'd expect to pay in the "non-airport" world) and then as an added bonus because I had a baby with me an employee took my order and I didn't have to wait in line. I got teary-eyed at this. Seriously.

Mishap #2: Aaron vs. writing a check - First thing in the morning, after returning to "real life" at home I get a phone call from our local bank branch.

Turns out our mortgage check wasn't going to clear without over drawing our account by $1000+. Once again insta-panic...but for longer than a moment. The bank manager said if we could transfer the money into the account he would process the check after we did that...but what money would I transfer...and HOW did this happen? I had just gotten paid before we left, we didn't spend much money on the trip, and Aaron had just gotten paid that past Friday.

I asked the bank manager (whose name is Chad) if I could call him back...I checked the balance via the 800-number and we had more than enough to cover the check...what the...? I called Aaron...he hadn't written any big checks (I'll admit, I was a bit disappointed to find out I wasn't getting a mink shoal for Christmas)...there really must have been a mistake. So I call the bank back (after confirming the phone number Chad gave me was legit and I wasn't being scammed...I am so cynical), told Chad I was really confused, explained why, and somehow in the course of the conversation realized that, although Aaron had assured me that he "could handle writing a check" he had in fact written one from my "business account" which, sadly has no money in it, instead of from our joint account. WHAT A RELIEF...a quick transfer of funds and problem solved.

Related Endorsement #3: Sovereign Bank, Essex St. Salem Branch & Chad. True, we have unknowingly bounced a check (or two) with no phone call - but I was sooooo incredibly relieved that he called to solve this issue. They actually did a similar thing a few years ago when a huge check had initially cleared but 7 smaller checks didn't. Without a phone call they swapped the order and saved us $231 in over draft fees. AND when we refinanced our home equity loan the same week Tessa was born the manager at that time (Rhonda, I believe) was incredibly helpful. And of course it also helps that they haven't collapsed.

Mishap #3: Emily vs. spoiled toddler - While we were in Idaho, in unfamiliar surroundings I had to rock Tessa to sleep each night in order to have any success putting her to bed. So of course she was pretty mad that I just plopped her in her crib when we got home...so mad that she made herself vomit. Yeah...that was Tuesday night, Wednesday night Daddy was on duty (and he rocked her to sleep), so I am very anxious to see how Thursday night goes...

...just an update - I'm finishing this post during Thursday nap time and she went to sleep as she usually does (sans vomitting)...fingers crossed for tonight.

Mishap #4: Emily vs. Target parking lot - Picture me happily doing some Christmas shopping. Then picture me standing in the freezing cold drizzle trying to decide if I should have my car towed because it won't start or if I should just call a friend to get a ride home and let Aaron deal with it later that night. Don't worry, it all finally ended well when some amazing, wonderful, fabulous friends came by and managed to jump start our very very very dead battery. This was after a previous, unsuccessful attempt by a kind stranger who was parked in front of me. I was pretty much resolved that there would be a towing bill and a new alternator in my future...but that was not to be. After that I had some quality time with a box of chocolates...and I don't feel guilty at all.

Related Endorsement #4: Dusty and Crystal Pyne - who are amazing and wonderful (and have a really cute daughter). I am so grateful that in additon to a link to their blog I'm going to go ahead and link to the Chik-fil-a in the Northshore Mall. They own it, we love it - and if you order right it is very healthy. I do not - I order the chicken nuggets & waffle fries, which I coat in Ranch dressing, and a milk shake to top it off.

October Fun - Part 4

The next visitor to stop by was a good friend from high school (pause for dramatic effect)

Christin! (Applause....)

The really great thing about having friends from the distant past (10+ years...geez!) is that you can just jump right into activities and conversations without that whole "So where did you grow up?" and "What did you major in at college" conversation. I was immediately able to ask her about...well...stuff...you know - gossipy girl stuff.

We had a lot of fun. This was her first visit to New England so I got to go back to the old-school tourist stops.

We had some fun times in Concord, MA.

Christin was such a fun playmate for Tessa! She was like a completely overqualified yet still amazing nanny! The three girls had a good time.

And the next day we traipsed around Boston.

Daddy bought this rose for Tessa...he haggled the seller down by 50% and the seller sealed the deal by "recognizing she was a girl..." as in "for this beautiful girl, half price..."

This is when Christin and I were papparazzied by Aaron - I feel violated.

You'll be surprised to find out that we went to Marblehead on Sunday (perhaps old age is making us predictable?)

Tessa has become incredibly fond of doing her own walking, particularly if she is holding the hands of people prone to swinging her on the count of three. While we were walking around Marblehead she was just tromping along and would not let me pick her up. When we got back to the car we discovered that she had been walking for who knows how long with her hat like this...can anyone see a trust metaphor in the making?

The big deal of the trip was HaLloWeEn (same day we went to Concord)...and we had so much fun.

Christin made a rocking Goldilocks costume...Aaron teased me for checking the stitching on the sleeves but they seriously looked 100% store bought!

Our pieced together bear costumes were a bit shabby in comparison but still super fun.

I know this post is about Chrisin's visit but I have to do a Tessa side note:
While we were getting dressed Tessa was cruising around the house laughing and chattering. She obviously had no idea what was going on but still got all caught up in the excitement. We trick or treated down the fancy street a few blocks from our house. Tessa and her entourage.

I am not kidding - this was one of the funnest nights I've had in a long time. Tessa got a LOT of candy for someone who weighs 22 lbs...but since we all helped we didn't feel guilty eating as much as we wanted.

Christin and I headed back out to walk around Salem (sans wallets unfortunately...with no abandoned cottages with porridge to be found). While Daddy was putting Tessa to bed she remembered the candy and be-bopped out to have a snack.

This is a picture of Mommy letting Tessa break the pretty strict family rule that "pretzels are NOT a snack!" Poor kid, I'm pretty sure all the adults were sneaking Snickers behind her back...wait, was it only me?

Hum...what other highlights of the trip might be of interest...

Oh yes - Christin got roped into making us dinner. I had meant for it to be a "cooking together" experience but she did all of it. However, it did fulfill one of my fantasies about participating in one of Christin's fabled dinner parties. Too bad I didn't get any pictures of the 3 game hen roasting, bum up, in our oven. It was delish!

Friends and Family

Here is a shout out to:

Aunt Pam and Uncle Mark

Uncle John

(We didn't take any pictures
but I did find out he shares my affinity for our nation's 2nd president)

Jamie, Merril, and Juliet

They all visited in the month of June. We love love love showing off where we live, thanks for letting us drag you around!

The better bookend

I got to stay with high school friends on my way too and from Idaho Falls (IF).

On the way to IF I stayed with Maria. I was so excited to see her life. I got to see the wall where the buffalo head once hung. I got to go to swimming lessons. I got to see what an actually food storage looks like (in pretty good detail..wink wink, maria). I got to eat KRISPY KREME donuts. I am always so grateful to spend time with an old friend with whom I can just jump into a real conversation without all the "and where did you go to school?" mumbojumbo.

On the way back I stayed with Emily. She made me a vunderbar dinner which I could smell as soon as we walked in the door. I got to spend some time with her two boys. Rett climbed right up in my lap to snuggle (i.e. get some of the food I was eating) and Nixon and Tessa made eyes at each other through the gate that we put up to seperate boys from girls (I really was hoping for a cuter picture but Tessa, for once, wouldn't look at me when I took her picture). I also got to watch my first ever full episode of American Idol.



Also on the trip I got to visit high school friend Tara and meet daughter #4. Erin is just as cute as her three sisters.

And finally, because I am that kind of person, I also got to see Mindy's mom. Tessa was really shy with her but when 10 year old Mackenzie got home from school she went right to her and off they went to play in the toy drawer (I've got to get one of those ...a 10 year old or a toy drawer, either would work.)

Tessa's First Architectural Convention

The AIA convention came to Boston and we went to the AIA convention. Tessa really seemed to appreciate many of the vendors...particularly those that had flashy lights or gave her a pen.

One of our friends from school was in town for the convention. Aaron showed him around town a bit, took him on the highway to give him a good scare (we like to make people feel welcome) and the whole family went to dinner with him on Friday night. (His wife is a blogger so I'll give a shout out to her for managing all five kids while he was away!)

After the convention we went to the beach to eat our lunch. But it was too windy to really have much fun.


While we were walking on the floor of the convention I realized how I was nearly completely out of touch with the "practice" part of architecture, This was emphasized when we were perusing the AIA bookstore and I was enthralled with the stacks and stacks of books on architecture and urban theory. I guess one more example of how Aaron and my experience and interests are complimentary, as opposed to equivalent.

Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes

For Tessa's party we had a few friends over and took funny pictures with bug bodies and decorated cupcakes. As you can see, Tessa takes after her Dad in more than one way!

Then on Tessa's actual birthday I took cupcakes (and Tessa) into Aaron's office. She was swarmed by coo-ing women who, among other things, loved her shoes.

Finally that night I decorated an official "birthday cake" cupcake for Tessa.

She was very excited to have one of her own...

but upon sampling the frosting...

gave Dad a look and said "I can't believe you actually EAT this stuff :P !"

and quickly turned her attention back to her (low sugar) Cheerios.

Good girl...I don't know where she got it, but good girl!

When Blogs Collide

One of the highlights of the trip was seeing a good friend of mine from High School. Emily had her second child in June so we were excited to meet each others babies. Here is a picture...

...as well as a link to the correlating post on her blog.

Now is the part where I blatantly flatter Emily! Lately I've been obsessed with hair, and as you can see in the picture, her's looks so good!! I couldn't say this in person because it would lead to the obligatory "oh, you too..." and "oh, it just doesn't do what I want it to." It was also fun to feel like I know her kids, especially Nixon, from reading her blog obsessively. There are some real blessings that come from technology.

Tour Guide

At the beginning of the month "Auntie" Mindy came to visit. She left her two girls in the able hands of her husband for 5 days and came and played with us. She got here late late on a Tuesday night. Wednesday morning (she'll kill me for posting this but she's not a blog reader so she may never know) she had a bad reaction to flying, food and weak stomach from the flu she'd just gotten over...but luckily she recovered by noon-time and we got to go look around downtown Salem.



Thursday we did the required, and enjoyable, tour of the Minute Man National Park with stops in Lexington and Concord. We made sure she had a sub at one of the local sub shops. I got to show her off to my book club (and vice versa).

Friday we trekked into Boston and went to the Museum of Fine Arts. That is a great museum. It is huge and with a new addition in 2010 will be even larger. Tessa slept through most of it but woke up in the Contemporary Art section (Mommy's favorite) and was thrilled with the art! If you think about it, contemporary art does look a lot like a children's book.

My driving made Mindy car sick. I think if you asked her that she'd agree. (Now that I think about it my Mom got car sick with me as a driver too...odd.) So Saturday she wasn't too thrilled about going back into Boston so we stayed local, visited the beach at Marblehead and drove around there, then we came back home made bean dip and invited another college roommate and her family up to watch a movie.





It is great how hanging out with a long time friend can be so easy and comfortable!!



Mindy left Sunday morning then Wednesday afternoon another friend, Jen, flew in. This was Jen's 3rd trip to New England so we had to dig deeper into the tour guide books to find new things to do. As a result I have a long list of fun things I've just seen for the first time. So, those of you who may have already come to visit...never fear, if you come again I'll be able to keep you entertained.

This was our itinerary while Jen was here.

Wednesday night we went to Salem Beer Works for dinner. Yum yum. Thursday Jen, Tessa and I headed to the Minute Man National Park for a recap of the events and some stops at the smaller sites there. Then we drove up beautiful New England roads filled with fall leaves to Lowell to visit the fabric mills there. Now, if you have lived in New England you may be thinking. Lowell?!? But you'd be surprised, the mill tours are very interesting and informative and I recommend them. I'm putting them on the list for when Aaron's parents visit again because there is a Quilt museum and a streetcar museum near the mill sites and I'd love to spend more time there. Not live there, just spend time there.

We had to hurry back from Lowell because we were going to the show Wicked at the Opera House that night. There were some nail biting moments in traffic when we thought we'd miss it but we got there in plenty of time. The show was great. Jen had seen it before, and she and I had read the book. Aaron hadn't seen it and whispered to me as it began "This isn't a musical is it!?" but he liked it a lot also. The musical itself is done well - it gets the same point across as the book. But the book is also very good and much more in depth so even if you've seen the show I recommend reading the book.

Friday Aaron took the day off. We had to get to Boston early for a follow up visit with Tessa's neurologist. She was a little show off and did all her tricks really well for the doctor. She is meeting all of her adjusted age milestones and the doctor is still thrilled with her. We had a little scare earlier in the month that required another MRI just to be cautious but there was no reason for alarm.



After Tessa's appointment we walked through Beacon Hill to the Charles River and walked along the Esplanade, then trekked up to Fanueil Hall to Wagamama. When Jen, Aaron and I went to London last year we ate a Wagamama. Then the opened a store here in Boston and Aaron and I ate there the first time I took Tessa into the city just for fun. We bragged to Jen...so she had to come out here to eat there also. After lunch we got rained on heading back to the car, then we went south to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum. Once again Tessa slept through a lot of that but woke up during the Cuban Missile Crisis and enjoyed the rest of the museum. I was amazed at this point that she was still being cheerful after more than a week of entertaining people.



Jen made us spaghetti for dinner that night. The plan was dinner, movie and assemble the Revolutionary War puzzle I bought when my family was here for the 4th of July. (Jen and I were both surprised that we had never put a puzzle together before since we were both so excited to find someone to do one with). The movie we were going to watch was Casino Royale because Aaron and I had never seen it and there was a scene in it Jen wanted us to see. However, we rented that movie from Blockbuster and then went to return some DVDs to the library...yes, you can guess what happened. We returned the DVD we had just rented. So we watched Liminy Snicket instead.





Saturday we picked up the DVD from the library then headed to the Cape. We got a bit of a late start but still did a lot of things we wanted to. First we stopped at Plymoth Rock then continued to the Cape. That means beaches and lighthouses. We saw Marconi's radio tower location, the Cape Cod national seashore. Yes, Aaron did swim in 65 degree weather in October....I'll try to get the video of him getting beat up by waves. We saw 2 working lighthouses and 3 that had been moved and didn't work any more. We also so a fox, 2 wood peckers and a TON of sea lions.



Sunday Jen ran the Witch City 5K (finisher 226) while Aaron, Tessa and I went to church. Then Jen and I went to the Stone Zoo, a long with 5,000 trick or treaters, it wasn't quite the quiet Sunday activity I had imagined. Aaron cooked us some Chicken Masala for dinner.

Monday Jen, Tessa and I once again headed south of Boston. Jen humored me as we went to the Adams National Historic Site. In case you didn't know, I LOVE John Adams. He's right up there with Bon Jovi if you ask me. The site was great. We took a trolley ride and got 1.5 hours of guided tour for five dollars. And to top it off, the parking garage was free with our validated ticket. You really, really can't get better than that!

Home again for dinner at a local restaurant. Tuesday the tourists extraordinaire (Jen, Tessa and I) hit the Peabody-Essex Museum in the morning, the Boston Hot Dog Company for lunch, and Salem Cycle and Salem Beer Works for souviners. Then off to the airport and woosh then Home.

Tessa is bored today..."Aren't we going to go anywhere?" But then again she is also taking a very long nap so perhaps she's just recuperating.

So...who's coming to visit next?