Duck Boat Tour with Grandma and Grandpa

after Em's big graduation dinner we made plans to go with her folks and brother on a Duck Boat Tour of Boston - this was one of my "bucket list Boston" items - the tours start at the Science Museum - tour around town pointing out many historical sites and then convert to a boat and go right into the Charles River for the last part of the tour.

Our driver was pretty funny - and the tour was actually really informative

but then boating part was TOTALLY the best!!!

Boston Pride 2010

Boston pride made its wet way through the streets today. We stayed & played with Dan & Farah until the deluge forced us off the streets and into the subway. But we did get to see Dykes on bikes led by Moving Violations, as well as Mayor Menino, Governor Deval Patrick & his daughter who is working tirelessly to drum up youth & queer support for his campaign. Lots of schools, parents, religious groups and even a wet band of Super Hero's.

Then we came home, dried off, made popcorn and watched TV for the rest of the day.

Friday - Dyke March Boston

We went to the Dyke March tonight. R was not in the greatest mood - he really does not enjoy crowded events full of grownups. I was surprised that there were not a few more kids there - less than a dozen probably and none that he wanted to run around with -- none of our friends. Luckily his teacher Jenn was there with her sweetie julie & she got some smiles out of him.
so Boston Dyke march is a march and not a "meander" like the SF version. We had a nice sunset hike through the Common, Back Bay, and eventually looping back into the common.
Estimates were that there were 2000 foks marching - not bad.

Afterwards we headed to Harvard Square for vietnemese food at our favorite neighborhood place Le's.

Adventure Day Marissa

For our "Adventure Day" with Marissa we decided to be very Boston and to walk the Freedom trail. We started by hopping the T down to Park street and then finding the head of the trail there - it took us down to the waterfront where we stopped into the aquarium (and had a bit of lunch) and up through the North End before coming out around Fanuil Hall.

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SkyScraper 1,2,3 ....

Adventure day this week was a trip to downtown Boston to do a return visit to the Boston Public Library and to take a harder look at some of the SkyScrapers of our skyline. The plan was maybe going to include a trip up the elevator at the Prudential Bldng. but the weather was funky so we ended up sticking to the ground on this trip.

He has become really interested in the tall buildings - singing about sky scrapers, building them out of blocks, asking us to draw them... etc. And it was really apparent to me that he's even more nutso about them than last time we were downtown - I thought that he would fall over from craning his neck to look up at the big glass skyscraper.


what you are missing in the photo is his animated babbling and the occasional jumping up and down with excitement.

This is the view he had:



I, on the other hand love the buildings placement....

and the reflection of the old church in its modern facade.

Tortoise & Hare

riding the tortoise at Copley Square, and


bringing the bunny some carrots from the farmers market.

Adventure Day #2 Fall 09

The boy and I needed to keep up the momentum on having a special adventure Weds (it's the day between our T/TH preschool days & I need to keep him on an early to rise, early to bed routine) .... So this week we decided to soak up some BOSTON history - and let me tell you folks, Boston's got History up the wazzoo.





So we headed out on our Red-Line train to central Boston's Copley Square and adventured out to the Boston Public Library.





Nothing says Library like a couple of marble lions right????




Well the Boston Public Library is VERY old & also very gorgeous. Lots of marble, wonderfuly painted walls & ceilings and even a crazy courtyard garden with a pool and fountain. The boy thought the statue was mean Tai-Lan (Kung Fu Panda bad guy for those of you who don't know) & I pointed out that its actually a woman holding a baby. Hmm.








We enjoyed running around & playing in the kids room - which is about the same size as our entire neighborhood library & the boy even made a friend of sorts who we will have to keep our eyes open for on future trips.

There is a cafe & a restaurant that serves a full high tea, but there was no way that one of us was going to sit still for that so I think another visit may be in order - especially if I can drop the kid somewhere first.











All in all - it was another pretty good outing for the two of us. Now I just need a plan for next week....
hmmmm...

We're Here, We're Queer, We Love Pixar

Two big events in BeanTown this past weekend - actually three, Gay Pride Festivities & Parade; RiverFest in Cambridge and UP showing Downtown. Sadly my only photo from Pride is em & boy waiting to head home with balloons at the Park St T Station. The parade ws fun - but like Mexican Food - You just can't compare it to what you get in San Francisco. I think the whole thing passed in just under 3 hours as opposed to SF's over 5 hour behemouth. We did see Lots of Kids & Lots of Churches, a little bit of Leather & our teacher from the boys upcoming Pre-School. Oh, and we got Donuts - Yumm.

At Riverfest later in the day we played with clay & with lots of cool juggling toys.

Then on SUNDAY - Blasto & Cousin Farah both went to the MOVIES - for the FIRST TIME EVAH!!!
We went downtown to see UP - which was PG & not G & would be scary for a little kid who doesn't have a dog that barks constantly thereby making him somewhat callous to attack dogs. After the movie Em had to celebrate with a little spin on the Carousel.

Happy Pride to all my SF & NYC peeps.

Adventure Day #3 Science Museum

Here's my tall boy at a height chart at the kids science museum - the site of Adventure Day #3 (or maybe #4). Today we had the free pass from the library to go to the museum - but no one to go with - oh well. We tried a new way of getting there. We took the EZRide bus - which is a sortof private/public bus provided by MIT tech companies & housing that got a waiver on parking spaces by agreeing to provide a bus service. It runs during commute hours so we got the first bus of the afternoon - at 3pm on Erie st about a 5-10 min walk from our house. For $1 we both rode to the stop RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the Science Museum. Sadly I couldn't find the stop on the other side to figure out how to ride it home - we will save that for another Adventure Day.

At the museum we started by using our free pass to let some teenagers in with us - I hope they had fun (!) - then we went to the Frog Exhibit, but turned around and left cause the guy didn't like the dark room. After that he spent AGES playing with the computer that takes you for 3d views of the inner ear, the heart and the colon - he really likes the colon. I pulled him away to look at the ultrasounds & then we saw the baby chicks hatching. He was to short to ride the bicycle that makes a skeleton across from you ride its own bicycle, but he did try a few other experiments before heading in to see monkeys. We followed all that excitement with LUNCH at the cafe - which has a great view of the river if you sit in the right places. Monito played on the musical stairs while I bought a St$rb$cks coffee & then we perused the Gift Store. Before we knew it it was 5pm and they were kicking us out of there.

We walked to the Science stop T station & took the train to the train & then headed over to Kath & Gabes for some more playtime & kid dinner. All in All a very succesful adventure day!!!!

Warm Enough to Go Outside

 

Back in Boston

Adventure Day - Porter Square

Our most recent adventure day came about because NStar turned our power off to fix a damaged electric pole on our street this Friday. So I decided without further ado we would off and discover another corner of Cambridge. The boy was more than happy to don his piglet/bunny knit cap and head up to the "train" for a trip with Momma.


We caught the red-line heading Harvard bound & stayed on to Porter Square - as I figured we could do a little stop at the StellaBella toy store there and maybe if I got lucky a hop into Porter Sq Books. So first we started off walking the wrong direction but we discovered a block or two of Mass. Ave the other way then doubled back toward our toy haven destination. It was really too cold outside to do much walking and it was not a day to scope a playground so we made do with the train table for half an hour or so then I succumbed to "special treat" ...
at the neighboring donut shop.
After a chocolate frosted with sprinkles & a big sweet coffee for me we took the bus back to Central Sq. enjoying the sights of Somerville along the way. Monito was literally falling asleep on the last couple blocks of the bus ride - I had to shake him to keep him awake. Then I threw him in the ergo or "Pack-pack" and we headed home for a much deserved nap.

Boston is Weird

Okay yesterday it touched 70 degrees and I spent the day out with Lori & all our kids (she has two - Christopher & Conner) - we walked, we had Indian Food in the park, and she had a Pizza party in the park for her hubby's B'day in the evening... That was Wednesday. Today it is grey and raining - it's 50 something degrees and tomorow there is supposed to be 6 Inches of Snow .

This town just doesn't make sense... is it spring? Is it winter? ??

It is match day (good luck Margaret, Maya & Joe) ... ahhh we remember last year like it was...
I don't know just months ago I suppose. Em & I have both been having a little touch of the PTSD this week remembering this time last year.

Saying goodbye to SF

Packing Break

This is what we look like when Melanie & Em take a much needed break from packing - as you can tell by the hospital gown on me I take the breaks a little more often. Thursday June 01 - the container truck gets filled up & our stuff heads off to Boston.....

Boston

& we are stunned!!!!