Cape Cod...

As you can see, it really wasn't "Beach" weather!
William loved all the sea shells! There were tons!

Yes, he is tasting the seaweed...

And here, he is spitting it out! Ha!

There is something about Cape Cod. I never understood it, why people would go out there and spend all that money, but it really was lovely. The air is super clean and crisp, the beaches were pristine, and the people were so friendly and helpful. William loved the beach, picked up shells, cawed at the seagulls, and yes, tasted the seaweed. I figured it wouldn't kill him. It was cold, and spitty so we didn't spend very long on the beach, but it was worth the drive.

The Rock....

The Rock has been broken many times over the years, and people have chipped pieces off...

The Mayflower 2 is a replica made in England and sailed over here in 1952.

This wins the "Strange Sign" award! It says AK 47's in Stock!

There has long been speculation about the death of Governor Bradford's wife, Dorothy. After being anchored in the harbor for just a few days, and never once going ashore, she fell/jumped overboard and drowned. Today, looking out over the bleak, gray day, and the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean laid out in front of me, I can't say I don't understand her reasons for doing it just a little. I tried to imagine how 100 people fit on that little ship, with animals, and supplies, traveling over 2 months on nothing but moldy hardtack and beer. ( The beer probably helped!) I certainly can't imagine giving birth on that ship! I couple of years ago I read "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick, and it was great to get a chance to actually see the site where it all happened. Fascinating book by the way, you will never think of the pilgrims the same way again!

William and I didn't spend a ton of time here, but I am glad to be able to say I have seen it!

Boston- Day One...

Commonwealth is one of the nicest streets in the city, it has a long green space all the way down it, leading to the Commons...
Classic Brownstones...

George Washington, at the entrance to the Public Gardens...

William, telling me that it's a horse...

William running down the path to the footbridge...

William trying to figure out how to bypass the railing!

William is very fond of benches...

We found the Ducklings!!!

Petting the ducklings...

Tasting the ducklings...(Yikes!)

Rubbing the spit into the ducklings head...

Taking the Mama Duck for a ride!

After walking a long way, William once again shows that he is done.

Some of you will remember his previous display at the Pumpkin Patch!

The duck pond at the Public Gardens.

William was very intrigued by the Tortoise and the Hare sculptures !

These were in another green space on the way back to the hotel.

William and I did quite a bit of exploring today. We were still pretty tired from yesterday, so I didn't want to do to much, but we did make it down to the Boston Common. It was lovely, and I am sure it is even better in summer or spring! The weather was very nice today though, so I can't complain. We grabbed muffins for breakfast and headed out. Jason's conference started this morning, so we missed out on seeing him much today, but since that is the reason we are here, I guess I will have to get over it! We met up with him for lunch and dinner though. On the way to the commons I let William walk some, but quickly realized that this was going to be an all day expedition if I let him walk all the way! He loves to stop and pick up every little stick, every rock, and every leaf, so it takes him about 15 minutes to cover one block. We eventually made it to the park. Will really liked it and I think he would have stayed with the ducklings all day! "Make Way for Ducklings" is one of the books we read at our house pretty often so I think he made the connection. I took him to Barnes and Noble this evening for a little while to run around then we met up with Jason and went out for middle eastern food for dinner. I haven't decided what we are going to do tomorrow yet....I may take him to the Children's Museum or the Aquarium....we shall see.

The Town So Nice They Named It Twice!

On the way up to Boston, we stayed with some friends outside of New York City. We decided to go in to the city for my 31st birthday!

William and I waiting for the train...

William didn't appreciate the fossils just yet...

Amazing iron work on the "Dakota", this is where John Lennon was shot.

Judy Garland and Paul Simon also lived there...

The long oval benches, near Tavern on the Green...

Here's one for you Molly! Robbie Burns!

William passed out about 5 minutes before we got to the carousel...

So, I rode it for him!

Carniege Hall

Cartier all decorated for Christmas! Those were all tiny, little, individual lights!

The Chrysler Building...

We had a great time. First up was the Natural History Museum, it was very interesting, but very busy. They did have an amazing life sized blue whale, the largest mammal that has ever existed! William really liked the sea animals. We stopped for lunch at an Indian restaurant not far from the museum, and then headed in to Central Park. We walked through the park, and I was reminded again how lovely it is. We made our way to the Nation's longest running Carousel, and Will fell asleep on the way. I rode one of the horses though! The only thing I found very strange about this particular Carousel was the music it played. One of the songs was "Sing, Sing a Song" from Sesame Street, which made sense, but the next one was the theme from "Welcome Back Kotter"! So weird! After that, we decided to go down to 5th Ave so I could see American Girl Place, something I have wanted to do for a long time! I was super excited to see it. We made our way to it, and it was PACKED! There were little girls and moms everywhere! It probably wasn't the smartest day to go! The place was amazing though. A whole floor was devoted to each type of doll, one for the Today dolls, one for the Historical Dolls, and one for Bitty Baby, as well as one for the theater and restaurant. I bought 2 dresses for my Felicity doll that I had been wanting for a long time, but I could have spent about 20,000 bucks in there! After that we walked to Union Station and went back to our friends house to drive to Boston! A wild, but wonderful birthday!

Thanksgiving Fiasco x 3!!!

So, first I bought some frozen rolls, and they thawed out some on the way home. "No problem!" I thought, "I'll just refreeze them!" Well they don't refreeze well! They finally rose a little and then got stuck in the muffin pan because I didn't grease it well enough. They were rubbery, doughy and weird, not to mention ripped in places from being stuck to the pan. They were yucky enough to hit the trashcan.

Then, I thought, "Well, I'll make home made wheat rolls!" The only yeast I had expired in October of 2008! I put it in some water and it bubbled a bit, so I decided to go for it and try it out. Well the results are very sad as you can see. These were baked! They just look awful! So another batch went to the trash...

So, after 2 failures I called in the cavalry: My Mom! I got her never fail roll recipe, got fresh yeast and you can see the results are exactly what they should be! I hope everything goes smoother tomorrow! I don't have time to do a second turkey!

Mommy vs. Baby: Who will win?

Ugh. For some reason Jason is having little to no trouble getting William to clean up, but I am having a HORRIBLE time. Defiant as can be, he ignores, won't make eye contact, and throws mega tantrums all to avoid putting 20 poker chips back into a jar! I am keeping my expectations as reasonable as can be, realizing that he is little, and may not understand all that I am saying. But then I think; Hey! He does it when Daddy asks! I am also trying to keep it upbeat, relaxed and fun, until honestly I get so frustrated I either clean it up myself or give up. I just wish I knew why he was choosing to defy me so much, why not Daddy too?

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

This was the best I could do of the show, we were quite a way back, and it was pretty dark...
This is a bad picture, but you only get ONE!

Pudd watching the airplanes over head on TR Island...

Today was the big day! I got home from work as early as possible and we took off to George Washington University for the big show. It was packed! There were about 1500 people in the auditorium, so I figured out pretty quickly that this was not going to be the intimate experience with the muppets I had hoped to have! Ha! The program ended up including Abby Cadabby, Zoe, Prairie Dawn (who are preformed by the same woman) and of course Elmo. Kevin Clash spoke quite a bit, and Sonia (who plays Maria) was great. I felt bad that Elmo got a bigger round of applause than she did though! He's a popular little guy. They showed clips from all the decades, we sang 2 songs together, the Muppets were let out of their bags and talked, and they let the audience ask questions. One little boy wanted Elmo to be an astronaut and go to space with him! Very cute! We then split into 2 groups and one went up for autographs and pictures with Maria, and the other went to pictures with the muppets. With all the people there you can imagine the wait times. We were in the picture line for over an hour, and the only one left for us was Elmo. Kevin Clash ducked down in the picture, and we only got ONE picture so you can't see him. I wish they had done it a little differently, but honestly, I don't know any better way to handle 1500 people either! Meeting Maria(Sonia) was fantastic! She is EXACTLY like she is on TV. It was strange meeting someone who's voice you have heard almost as long as your Mother's and yet she has never met you. I simply looked into her eyes, squeezed her hand and said "Thank You." As a kid, growing up in a small, rural community, with very limited resources, Sesame Street opened my eyes to a whole world that was out there. It was my story hour, my music class, and my preschool all in one! I was disappointed that Cookie Monster wasn't there, but you can't have everything in life!

After all that fun we stopped on the way home at Teddy Roosevelt Island for a quick hike. We saw two deer and came within about 6 feet of them. They are so tame there it's almost scary!

Lightening Santa's Load...

This little piano is what Santa will be bringing William for Christmas. We have some friends that have these and William is always thrilled by it. I can't wait to see his reaction on Christmas morning! Grandma is giving him the little rocking chair, which we got in the mail the other day. It is so sweet! I think he will love it! I find it so hard to pick out gifts for kids before they can tell us what they like...but I think we did a good job guessing this year!

Christmas Pictures...