Vroom, vroom

I never understood the allure of those ridiculous "stroller"-type things that you can rent in the mall when you forget your own stroller. The ones at the South Shore Plaza look like red racing cars. But seriously? Annie thought it was cool. She held onto the steering wheel the whole time, as if she was taking a Sunday drive.

 

It was probably the fact that it was something new, instead of that boring old stroller that Mommy and Daddy always put her in. The other thing I realized is that while previously I thought that no one in her right mind would actually rent these things, in truth, a lot of parents use them. I even saw one poor woman trying to push two of them around - one for each kid. I guess when you don't have kids and you're not paying attention, you don't realize just how many red cars are speeding around the mall!

And speaking of "something new," Annie will be taking her second ever plane trip this weekend ... we're in Buffalo for a whirlwind visit to attend a memorial service.

Albany for lunch

Jim and I have a tradition with our Aunt D., who lives in Buffalo. A couple of times a year, we meet in Albany (D. takes the train and we drive) and we go out to lunch. Albany is not exactly half-way, but it sort of feels like it is, since it's right on the New York - Mass. border. We always go to the Albany Pump Station, a brewery and restaurant. It's a nice, open space with good food and service. We eat lunch, then we go back to the train station and visit. We've been known to play some cards, drink hot chocolate, or just sit and talk. Then D. gets on the next train back to Buffalo and we head back to Boston.  It's the closest we get to dropping in on family for lunch, but still being able to go home at the end of the day.

Today we continued the tradition with Annika. We met D. in Albany around noon, went to lunch, then visited at the train station til she had to go home. Here are Jim, D., and Annie in front of the Pump Station after lunch:

 

It was a lot of fun. Annie really enjoyed seeing D., and D. was very excited to see Annie.  The car ride was a new experience too.  It was her first long car ride in the new car seat (I think we need to make a few adjustments). But more significantly, Annie is more and more aware of her surroundings. She initiated a game of peek-a-boo during the car ride home - the first time she's done that with me! But she was impatient to be in her car seat. She'd rather be bouncing on Mama's lap.  Then she exerted her independence before bed by refusing to take her bottle! 

Tomorrow we may go to the Rhode Island Flower Show, and we're having friends over for dinner in the evening. Why do weekends go so quickly??

Snow - for real

Yesterday, we got the storm that we were supposed to get last week. It snowed all day long and we got probably about 4-5 inches of heavy, wet snow. We would've gotten a lot more accumulation if it had been colder outside. I think most of it melted as it hit the ground.

Was work cancelled? No! (Actually, they did let us out an hour early, which didn't mean much to me because I had gotten there early that morning so that I could leave early to pick up Annie from daycare). Was Jim's school cancelled? No! Was there a "snow emergency" in Boston? No! (And schools weren't cancelled because it's school vacation week here). In other words, Boston freaked out at the storm that never arrived, and ignored the storm that did arrive. Go figure.

The ground having a good coating of snow now, it was a perfect opportunity to take Annie out in the sled. So this morning, we bundled up and went to Houghton's Pond, where we had gone sledding one time earlier in the season.

 

(Notice that, in this photo, Annie has her very own baby snow ball in the sled with her, so she can defend herself). 

Annie made a snow angel:

  

  

And was quite interested in the snow:

The drive to and from Houghton's Pond was pretty incredible - a canopy of trees over the road, all covered with snow.

 

All in all, a day of snow enjoyment before it turns dirty and slushy and is no longer fun for sledding. This is not to say that I don't want spring to come, but since it's February and we're definitely going to get snow, we might as well enjoy it. Hopefully Annie will have inherited her father's love of the cold and snow!

10 Months!

Our big girl is 10 months today. We went for a walk in the Arboretum. It was brown and gray and dead, but spring felt like it was around the corner sometime.

 

Later, Annika tried a new finger food - oranges. In this case, in honor of Valentine's Day, it was a blood orange!

Messy, but yummy!

Penguins and valentines

Today, Annika went to the New England Aquarium and saw penguins.

 

  

She is our favorite Valentine.

 

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Snow storm?

Welcome to the Blizzard of 2010!

Um, except that it's only raining. Oops. It's about 35 degrees here, which is probably too warm for it to snow. But the whole city of Boston seems to be shutting down. My office closed at noon (not that it would matter, since I'm off on Wednesdays). So I'm assuming that they all know something that I don't know, and that we'll soon have a blizzard.

Why do I want it to snow? Well, I don't really. Except that we haven't gotten much this year, and I'd really like to give Annie more sled rides in her new sled. Plus, I would rather get the snow now than in April.

In good news, the doctor confirmed this morning that Annie's ear infection is finally gone, baby, gone. Also, while we were waiting, I put her on the scale (sans clothes and diaper), because I have to record her height and weight for the 10 month mark coming up on Sunday (for her baby book). Annie is now 20 lbs, 8 oz. She has definitely slowed down in the weight gain department, as she has gained less than a pound from last month. But no cause for concern - she is still her rolly-polly self. :)

We're looking forward to spending the long weekend with my mom, who is coming into Boston tomorrow night til Monday night. Oh, right. I guess that means it's time for me to clean the house!!

Normal-day randomness

Random fact: Today is Norman Rockwell's 116th birthday. Jim and I have been to his museum and studio in Stockbridge, Mass. (in Western Mass., closer to Albany than Boston). I remember that we went there while I was in law school, and it was in the fall. I needed a break from the books, and this was an easy road trip. While we were there, we saw a special traveling exhibit of all his work that was quite amazing. The town of Stockbridge is also quite beautiful, and his studio overlooks rolling hills, which were especially beautiful while we were there, with the changing colors.  I remember looking out over the hills and being amazed that this place was only a couple of hours from our house.  I thought that we'd come again soon, but that was 8 or 9 years ago now.

Today Annie and I met a friend for lunch at the Channel Cafe in the Fort Point section of Boston. This is sort of an artsy area of Boston, with old warehouses that have been turned into art studios and condos. The cafe is owned by an artist and feels very trendy - it is well decorated and the architecture of the building is interesting. The food is great, and Annie got to try some of the tuna that was in my salad. It was mixed with lemon juice and capers and I'm not surprised that she liked it! I need to make tuna like that, especially since I have so many lemons on my tree that I'm not sure what to do with them all.

Later, Annie and I went grocery shopping and literally ran into all of our neighbors! Cathy, who used to live next to us and whose son and family now are our next-door neighbors, Larry, from directly across the street, and Sarah, who lives across the street and down a couple of houses (and who was on the phone with Cathy's daughter-in-law as we were all talking!). They were all at the store at the same time as me. Then I ran into this man that I used to walk by on my way to the T stop, back when I took the T to work and had time to walk to the T station. It felt very small-town.

Now Annie is in bed and we've had a pretty typical evening - we had leftovers, watched an episode of NCIS, and now Jim is working on his homework. Time for some reading and my warm flannel sheets!