Saturday, April 10, 2010


vacation....spring break for our kids.  grace and t.j. are out of school for the next week! oh, how we love to have our vacations...a break from our routines!  certainly, the last 2 weeks have been anything but routine! 
so, we're off to boston! we'll have a nice getaway and that's just what we need...time away!  lots of time away....except wait! we have left daisy and fitzy at home! we'd have to be at some far away tropical island for us to leave daisy and fitzgerald home for too long....that's no fun!
we all got up early this morning and jumped in the car after much hustling and bustling to get the car ready to roll! i'm so delighted that we didn't leave last night....it got too late and staying home allowed us to have a better nights sleep!  we have all been in need of slumber....we've been rather upside down.
we arrived at kit and grady's  house by about 10a.m. grace and t.j. were highly motivated to get back to the town where they learned to walk, talk and ramp up their highly social beings!  we all love to go back to visit. grace and t.j. jumped out of the car and ran into the house. vacation had officially begun! always delighted to reunite, the kids were ready to start the fun.  the kids were happy to get together...they're always happy to get together. it's a comfort level like no other!  it's a mutual admiration society! that's a gift...for us all!  it's been almost 11 years since we moved to connecticut and when we get together, it's like yesterday!
the kids had soccer and crew....we had plans to take showers! a treat for us! hot water and shampoo are wonderful gifts. we had our showers, dressed and headed to boston.
oh! the days we lived here with our new babies...how many days i drove our little babies into boston..."pahked the cah" near the public garden,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Garden_%28Boston%29 
on charles street...to be exact.  i always got a great parking space!  we'd go into boston after breakfast and behind early commuter traffic...i'd pack the stroller into our station wagon and we'd roll and stroll through the boston common
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Common
boston public gardens, visit the ducklings, walk up newberry street...stop in some stores, grab a bite to eat and head back to our sweet south shore town in time for naps!
it was a wonderful time in our lives...with babies, it was so easy to pop into town by car, sometimes by commuter boat.  we had the best of both worlds...a lovely place to live near the beach and quick jaunts to the city to keep me feeling invigorated by the culture,  the city life and easy access to the beautiful parks and walks along the charles river.  it kept me feeling energized...as a new young mom, far away from family and old friends. i had the parking karma and boston was an easy city with babies!
http://www.bostonusa.com/ 

biff and i were comfortable in boston...we had chosen to live near boston rather than too far removed from the city...i was afraid to be in the boonies...and as biff knew from the beginning, life would be better near the beach...we had talked about that from our beginning!
biff was in a new sales territory...i was in a new life territory...as a stay at home mom!  boston allowed me
to continue living some of my life before baby!  cities energize me.  i've had some great city living...and i don't need to do that again...but...WOW...i love so much of the culture and diversity that our cities have to offer!
i loved those days!  today we told the kids stories of our trips to boston for church, shopping, the head of the charles, mass. general hospital doctor's visits...when we were expecting t.j. and the same hospital when t.j. broke his arm at 17 months. what happened?  he was "cwib divin'"...t.j. attempted to climb out of his crib at 17 months...after an afternoon nap....he did his best to imitate his monkey sister, almost 3, and landed on the floor...broke his wrist! 
we had lots of boston trips then...almost weekly! we always walked from massachusetts general hospital http://www.mgh.harvard.edu/default.aspxto the public gardens to see the ducklings...and let the energetic babies run, run and run some more before getting back in the car to go home!

we had lots of detours with t.j. and grace! it seemed, whenever i was alone with them...wherever...whenever....they would both dart in different directions....laughing and singing all of the way! as an old friend said of her twins, "i feel like i can finally breathe once they're both buckled into their stroller!"  that was our life! and we had irish twins!

funny to see them today...walking together...casually...through the boston public gardens and the boston common....just talking and laughing together....and chasing after crazy squirrels like they did so many years ago....and laughing like they had never done it before!
biff and i strolled behind them...so grateful for moments like these!  so happy to see them enjoying each other....and not bickering!
we walked over to the ducklings...in the public gardens...as a tribute to robert mc closkey
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Way-Ducklings-Robert-McCloskey/dp/B0007D9VJG 


some of the prettiest prints of boston, that i never tire of are from kennedy studios.
http://www.kennedystudios.net/ 


before t.j. was born, grace used to run into the open door at kennedy studios in our little south shore town!
after t.j. arrived, the lovely woman, susan, who we knew by name...thanks to grace sent us the sweetest card, a print from kennedy studios!
we had a great day...found great parking...again! the parking karma never dies!  we parked on beacon street http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_Hill,_Boston

just alongside of the public gardens and across the street from "cheers", the restaurant...the t.v. show!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEq5M1wA4hk 

we had so much fun!  we walked through beacon hill 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beacon_Hill,_Boston 
past the state house, along the freedom trail and over to fanueil hall to meet my older brother and our 2 niece's for lunch at the union oyster house...another landmark.
http://www.unionoysterhouse.com/ 

such a great day, great weather, time for family and time for friends...we went to meet ll of our friends for dinner at an awesome sports restaurant to see the boston college vs. wisconsin hockey playoffs! oh, the fun we had!  
http://www.bc.edu/  almost everyone we knew up in our little town near boston seemed to have graduated from boston college!  grace and t.j. are all set to go there too!  they certainly have the school spirit!
grace and t.j. still laughing together after a long day with family and friends!  go b.c.!