A Spectacular Weekend Visitor (Part 3)

Unfortunately the Sunday of Jennie's visit dawned MUCH colder, but we didn't let that deter us from making the most of her time in Boston. After church and naps in the morning, Jennie and the kids and I boarded the 66 bus to visit Harvard. Brian was slammed with work that had piled up due to his long hours at work the week before, plus he's in the thick of studying for oral boards, so we let him have an afternoon of peace and quiet to get caught up and study while went went on another adventure.

We started out in Harvard's Old Yard, rubbing the foot of John Harvard's statue, chasing squirrels and finding a small dirt pile to climb on. 

We then walked over to Harvard Yard where we saw the library (Jennie did some research and found that it's the largest academic library in the world) and Memorial Church, where the kids used the edge of the stairs as a slide (here I was going to link back to when they did this in September, but then I realized that those pictures never made it on the blog!  Maybe someday I'll go back and post those.)  We then walked to the Plaza where the kids found interesting benches to walk on and a rock "fountain" to climb on.  Next we were heading for the law school when the wind and cold really hit us and we decided that we had seen enough of the Harvard campus for one blustery winter day.  So we turned around and headed toward Au Bon Pain for hot drinks to warm us up.  Nathan and Sarah LOVED the hot chocolate that they split!

After warming up inside and out, we headed back out into the cold and Nathan wanted to climb a tree he had spotted earlier in the day.  The kids had a blast and I was really thankful that Jennie was there with another set of hands since both kids wanted to climb up pretty high. 

Sarah lost interest after a while but Nathan ended up climbing up to where I could only barely touch his feet with my hand.  He loved it!!

And because a video is always fun, here's the one I took when the kids first started climbing in the tree.



The thing I find most amusing is that they kids now consider the most prestigious university in the country a glorified playground!

Jennie and I had talked about trying to get one more outing in on Monday morning before she had to catch her plane, but the even colder temperatures that morning changed our minds.  Instead we spend a leisurely morning around the house, the highlight of which was Jennie drawing pictures for the kids on our little dry erase boards.  She drew butterflies and houses and yards and hearts and animals and on and on.  The kids loved it!  In fact, the next day Nathan drew some new pictures inspired by Jennie's work.  The top two pictures below are people in their houses (surrounded by lots of windows) and the third is the yard, complete with a car, tree, pond, grass and sun!

After lunch the kids and I drove Jennie to the airport and said a very sad farewell.  Thank you so much Jennie for coming to visit us - what a bright spot in our lives at the end of a very long and bleak winter!

A Spectacular Weekend Visitor (Part 2)

A few more pictures from around the house on Saturday morning...

After naps we had a big afternoon excursion downtown and thankfully the weather cooperated. There were a few sprinkles while we were waiting for the T, but when we got downtown we were greeted by sunny skies.  We started in the Public Garden, though I didn't realize that the pond was drained in the winter so a lot of the garden just looked like a muddy mess.  Of course we did stop by the Make Way for Duckling statues and let the kids play for a while (every time its such a big hit with them and we have to pull them away so other people can photograph the statues).

Next was the Boston Common where we got a look at the ice skating rink in the Frog Pond. Ice skating there was one of the classic Boston activities that we did not get around to doing this year, partly because I wasn't sure how well it would go the kids so young and partly because the weather has been so ridiculously cold! This particular day the temp was in the 50s (though with the wind it definitely felt colder) and everyone was trying to skate on slush - it didn't look like much fun. Probably the rink will close soon for the season if it hasn't already.

We let the kids play on the Frog Pond Playground for a while before following the Freedom Trial from the Common to Faneuil Hall. It was around this point that we realized that it was St. Patrick's Day weekend and there were TONS of people all decked in green packed in Faneuil Hall. We ate and skedaddled, deciding to walk out onto Long Wharf to look out onto the Boston Inner Harbor.

I don't think our family has been on the wharf since we first moved here, so I was nice to walk out and watch the water and the boats.  We even got to see the water taxi to Logan airport come and go!  It was quite blustery by the water, but we were still able to enjoy ourselves and get a few nice pictures.  This will have to make do as our yearly family photo shoot with our favorite photographer!

By this time we were all getting chilled and tired, so we booked it home and put the kids to bed.  Brian, Jennie and I stayed up late chatting and re-creating a memorable evening the three of us had years ago by reliving hit songs from junior high and high school.

Still more adventures to come next post!

A Spectacular Weekend Visitor (Part 1)

We had the most wonderful present smack dab in the middle of a very trying month of CT (cardiothoracic anesthesia aka heart surgery) and right when the longest winter ever was about to drive me crazy... Jennie came to visit!!

The kids and I drove to the airport to pick her up on Friday morning ("We went through lots of tunnels.... like 100!" per Nathan to get there, though the actual count was about 5).  I think I told the kids the news about a week ahead of time and of course we had been counting down days ever since.  I had asked Nathan if he would recognize her and he replied "Yes, she has long hair!"  but for some reason I hadn't pulled out a picture to show the kids.  Even so when we spotted her near baggage claim Nathan immediately started running to her and gave her a huge hug, with Sarah just a few steps behind.  For the past few days Sarah kept saying "I want Jennie hold me" and that's exactly what she wanted as soon as she was in Jennie's arms.  I squeezed my way past the kids to get my own hug, and I may have had to wipe a few tears of joy from my eyes.

The kids talked to Jennie non-stop at the luggage carousel, on the way back to the car and the whole drive home.  "Jennie... Jennie... Hey Jennie... Jennie... Hey Jennie!"  We got home, fed the kids and put them down for quiet time/nap and then the next hour just flew by as Jennie and I got our first chance to catch up (I was no competition for the kids up until that point!).  We had a nice afternoon just hanging around the house, then got a great surprise that Brian was going to be home for dinner (he hadn't gotten home from work until around 9 for the past three days).  After he got home we took Jennie down to Bottegia di Capri for a wonderful pasta dinner then Brian bought us all doughnuts as a treat.

Saturday morning we hung around the house for the morning, and Jennie had brought a special surprise that we all enjoyed - photobooth props!!  Nathan in particular was super pumped about this, Sarah was at first but then got grumpy and didn't want to participate.  But (amazingly) some sweet persuasive words from her brother got her into another few shots.  Here are some of the best ones - so fun!

Nathan just ate it up!  What a ham!

I love this "nerdy" look on Nathan.

Is it just me or do I look like I have rabbit teeth under my mustache?

I did pull Brian in for some pictures at the end.  I knew it wasn't his idea of a great time, but thanks for being a good sport honey!

And that was just the beginning of our weekend!

First Playgound Day of "Spring"

I know spring doesn't officially start until this week, but last week when we had one day where the high was 56 degrees (!!!!!) that was also sunny AND we found a dry park in which to play, I'm going to call that our first day of spring!

Since we knew that our two favorite parks were still soggy, the kids and I scootered an extra block (3 blocks total) to Murphy Park.  I'm totally going to miss the plethora of great parks around here, but I think that having our own yard again will make up for it.

I had been looking at random photography posts via pinterest the night before, so I decided I should grab my camera and snap some pictures of the kids with the great light I knew we were going to have.  Though Nathan at first didn't want me to take pictures of him (typical), by the end of the afternoon I think I had pointed the camera at him so much he had just become desensitized and then finally cooperative with some great expressions right at the end. 

 Here he's fussing at me for taking a picture, but I think it turned out good anyway!

Nathan did a lot of "hard work getting the bushes ready for summer" with his "pitchfork" stick.  

I got some great pictures where Sarah's eyes just pop...

... then amazingly I got some of Nathan too!

This is him watching some other kids intently.  He is such an observer!

And my favorite picture of the day...

More "Warm" Days!

This past weekend we had another "warm" (in the 40s) day on Saturday. We decided to scope out both of the nearest parks, the T park and Emerson Gardens (our "regular" park). As of Saturday we still had lots of snow on the ground...

... though there were also big puddles of snow melt that the kids and I got to stomp through in our boots.  Daddy doesn't have rain boots, so he was relegated to the sidelines.  And unfortunately I realized that one of my boots has a leak in it as I was standing in a pretty deep puddle of ice water.  But since Sarah was still intent on stomping through the water, and I wanted to make sure she didn't fall over and get soaked, I just had to grin and bear it. 

The play equipment at the T park, however, was clear and dry enough to play, which we did for a while.  But then we decided to walk over and scope out Emerson Gardens.  Still swamp like - bummer!

Fortunately the baby swings were on ground that was a bit dryer and then kids swung for forever!

So far this week temperatures have been mostly above freezing and the one snow we did get was melted by mid-day.  We are supposed to get rain/sleet/snow tonight and tomorrow, but then there's more warm weather to come so maybe (hopefully) it will all melt/dry quickly.

Random Bits of Life

The kids love our weekly storytime at the library. I've been trying to remember to video the kids as they do their favorite songs, but unfortunately last week when I though of it Sarah was in a bit of a funk and needed to be held the whole time. I really want to get her doing the "Two Little Blackbirds" rhyme that she loves so much, since we also have a video of me doing as a little girl. But I was able to get Nathan doing "5 Little Mice".  I love watching his face as he concentrates so hard on holding his hand like a cat.

The words are "5 little mice went out to play, gathering crumbs along the way, out came a pussy cat sleek and fat, *SNAP*, 4 little mice went scampering back..."



We had a warm Saturday a few weeks ago and I knew we NEEDED to get out of the apartment.  I thought we might be able to do some playing at the park if we wore our boots, but after scootering down there I realized that there was even more to this winter thing that I still had to learn.  When you have over a foot of snow that's melting, all the water has to go somewhere and the ground gets saturated pretty fast.  And unfortunately, in the case of our park, this means the snow-melt ends up pooling very deeply all around the play equipment. Thankfully the kids were entertained by scooting back and forth through a large puddle on a sidewalk, so we were able to stay out and enjoy the "warm" weather (almost 50 degrees) after all!



Every morning at breakfast I am serenaded with the kids' adaptation of "There Was Once a Crooked Man".



This one cracks Brian and me up. Sarah says "lemon" as "women", so we like to give her a hard time about it. 

Plans to Survive the Rest of Winter

The last week of February was a rough one for the kids and me.  Thankfully at the end of the week I realized the root of the problem - we were all going stir crazy!  Sarah's fussing about any and everything was reaching an all-time high, Nathan was continually provoking her, and my temper was becoming very, very short.

We had some friends from church who were so thoughtful and offered to baby-sit on that Friday night so that Brian and I could have a night out.  We decided to go all-out and made reservations at the Top of the Hub restaurant, on the 42nd floor of the Prudential center.  We had a wonderful meal, probably the fanciest that I've ever had, and a beautiful view of the city to enjoy.  We had a really, really nice evening.

Unfortunately, the next day I think I felt even more bummed about life.  Maybe something about a taste of a night of "freedom" emphasized how trapped I've been feeling lately with the kids?  The feeling that my life is like Groundhog Day has plagued me lately.  Or maybe it was because Brian and I talked some about life in Knoxville and once again I found myself longing for the future of preschool and grandparents to share the load of caring for these two precious and demanding children.

It was time for some drastic action - I signed us up for a Y membership. 

We headed over first thing Monday morning, took a tour, checked the pool schedule to confirm that they had open swim when we'd be able to get there, and signed up!  I had brought a change of clothes just in case, so I dropped off the children in the kids watch and had a glorious 45 minutes to myself on the elliptical (Sarah had cried when I left her but was ok after just a minute or two, but I didn't want to push my luck on the first day).  After that I took the kids up to the gymnasium and we ran around bouncing/chasing/falling on basketballs, then we found some soccer balls to kick around.  It was just what we needed - a break for me and a place to run for the kids (at one point in the gym, Nathan, breathing hard and flushed, sat down on the bleachers and told me he needed to take a little break.)

The next morning once again we were out of the house nice and early and drove to the Y to find out what the "Indoor Playground Playgroup" activity was.  Well, they had half of the gymnasium divided off for the kids and had set up lots of mats and toys.  The kids ran around and played for a while, then Nathan really wanted to head to the other side of the gym and bounce/throw the basketball some more.  Also, the day before he had noticed the two men shooting hoops were both in short sleeves and althetic shorts, so we had gone home and dug some of his out of the summer clothes box. 

When the activity time was winding up, I took the kids back downstairs to Kid Watch while I leisurely rode the recumbent bike and read my book and tried to soak up my moments of alone-ness.

Wednesday morning I had planned on heading to the Y early again (I want to enforcing the idea that every time we go to the Y, Mommy get some time to herself), but decided I needed a leisurely morning more.  We were still out of the door and to the Y by 10:30 so that we could hop in the pool as soon as open swim started.  The kids had a blast splashing in and out of the zero-entry pool, jumping off the side into the pool, and "swimming" around aided by some noodles and some strap-on flotation belts.  One older lady briefly stopped to tell me "I've never seen children so excited to be in the pool!"  The pool was a big success and I was so happy that it was warm enough in the water and the room that none of us were chilled even after being in and out of the water for over an hour (I think it was in the 20s outside that morning).  Unfortunately the process of getting us all showered and lotioned and dressed after getting out of the pool was a bit challenging and undid some of the relaxing I was able to do in the pool, but I think it will go more smoothly next time around.

So, getting the Y membership was one of my strategies for helping myself not feel so down about life right now, though I don't think we'll be going three mornings in a row again.  Another strategy I decided on for survival was a good book series into which I could immerse myself in my free time.  I needed an easy read but something that would capture my attention and imagination, so I decided to read the Harry Potter series.  I had read two of the books when they first came out but wasn't really captivated by them.  But I have kept coming across other adults who love the series and re-read it regularly, so I thought I needed to give it another try.  I just finished book 5 (of 7) last night - which also explains why I'm still not updating the blog regularly.  But book 6 is still at the library, giving me a bit of a chance to catch up on the blog and my project life album and hopefully on some things around the house before diving into it.

So even though extended forecast predicts a chance of snow for 6 out of the next 10 days, I've definitely felt be more upbeat these last few days then I've felt in a while.  So maybe all these things have helped me snap out of my funk.  Or maybe its that Brian's already a quarter done with this month's CT Surgery rotation, the last "hard" one this year.  Or maybe it's that I'm thrilled about Jennie coming to visit NEXT WEEKEND!  Or maybe its that the days were already feeling significantly longer and now even more so due to the time change.  Or maybe it was God having compassion on me and giving me a boost.  Whatever combination of these factors, I am glad to be feeling more optimistic about making it through this winter and even more glad that every day spring gets a little closer!