These are from a little over a week ago but certainly worth posting. They were taken in the aftermath of our family playtime in the snow (we got over a foot) and before we headed out of town for the holidays.
Nadine loved the quinzhee. No, really, she did. She’s just ducking to peek out… Yeah.
More choice photos of our dog. Nothing like scratching the top of your nose with your tongue, right? I think we were trying to put together a family photo in the snow or something.
I was having a nice time resting on the couch. Then I invited the dog up and had no space left. Not wanting to be left out, Caleb decided to lay on top to ensure my comfort level was optimal.
Caleb Nadine and I took a trip to Great Brook Farm State Park yesterday morning for some hiking and to see if the animals were out. It was an awesome day — crisp, beautiful, and not too cold — and Caleb and Nadine were excited for the trip. (Click on the photo to the right to see more pictures.)
We didn’t hike for as long as I had hoped — Caleb’s energy waned pretty quickly and it became obvious that he would benefit from a solid nap at home — but it was still a lot of fun. Nadine found a goat friend and Caleb had a great time watching the animals and hiking.
Caleb and I have been commuting to Boston together for a week or two now. Originally Megan and I split the duties (she would take him in the morning and I would bring him home) but it is more efficient if I take him both ways. My office is about a half a mile from his preschool (I’m in the Financial District and he’s in the North End), and our train (the Lowell commuter rail) arrives at and departs from North Station, which is just under a half mile from Caleb’s preschool. The ride is usually right around 12 minutes and I am usually at work within 45 minutes of leaving our house.
So…we are doing a lot of walking, and barring the times when the wind and temperature make things pretty uncomfortable, it is a lot of fun. Caleb enjoys it and the conductors on the train recognize him now (maybe it has something to do with his distinctive bright blue winter jacket and fleece hat with the frizzies on it…). One of them gave him an expired ticket once (I show a monthly pass each time I ride — Caleb gets to ride free) and they regularly punch it for Caleb, pretending that it is a valid ticket. It is very sweet.
And it is also pretty neat to see all of the other commuters smile at him rather than hold the far more prevalent empty stare of the daily grind.
Today was Daddy Day and with Megan out of town for the weekend at an AMC (her job) event, I wanted to do something unique and fun with Caleb. A few days ago I started tossing around ideas and settled on taking him to a farm to go apple picking and check out the equipment and whatever else we could find.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned as we woke up to a fairly even downpour. Picking apples in the rain, I guessed, would not be nearly as much fun as in the sunshine. For better or worse, however, Caleb and I decided to go through with it anyway. What’s a little rain and wet clothes — certainly not enough to stop us from having a good time?
I didn’t take very many pictures (juggling a camera, bag of apples, three year old, and an umbrella is not as easy as it looks), but those that I did take are below.
Just starting out. This is just after we crossed the bridge from Boston to Charlestown.
Heading out of Boston on Hwy. 1
Still on Hwy. 1. Still raining.
Still raining, but now the road is beautiful. We are very close to the farm now.
Boots! Our bag of apples is almost full!
Heading home over the Tobin. Still raining, but we have a bag full of awesome apples to eat!
Yesterday was a pseudo Daddy Day, and a full one at that. Megan has been in New Hampshire for work since Friday evening and Caleb and I have been doing our best to maximize the father/son time as well as the great weather. (Click on the photo to the right to see all of the images from our adventure.)
I’ve been considering a stint in graduate school sometime in the next few years and have been itching to check out the UMass Boston campus. Always ready for a new adventure venue, Caleb eagerly agreed to check out the campus. A short Red Line ride and shuttle bus transfer and we found ourselves on the campus…all alone (well, almost). I had hoped to find at least one random straggler wandering around the campus just itching to answer my questions, but alas, we had the grounds all to ourselves.
…Until we discovered the Mini Cooper concert/ race/ carnival/ extravaganza in the back of the campus. Sheesh. If only they had car seats installed in the test cars. There was a very cool looking course that you could race a Mini around, and at least 5 or so cars were screeching around caution cone corners. Maybe next time.
Leaving the UMass campus we found ourselves wandering around Copley Square, the Hynes Convention area, the Prudential, and eventually, the Symphony area. In case you are wondering, the Borders Books in Copley is very sweet, and the two guys standing at the front to answer book questions can indeed direct you to the nearest music store (not for CDs, but for guitar strings).
(If you clicked on the photo above and looked through all of the images and want to check out some of Stoller’s work, look no further.)
Our neighborhood is great. Every day there is something unique happening.
On Friday we were treated to a very special road construction exercise. It seems that a rectangle of street outside our building was ready to be ripped up (by a massive, massive machine) and then replaced moments later with fresh asphalt. We can’t figure out exactly why the road needed to be torn up, but at least the timing coincided with the start of Caleb’s afternoon nap…
Click on the photo to see the noise up close and personal.
Here’s a map of the walking route we took this past Friday. We started at Boston University (the red marker) after exiting the Green Line. Click on the map for a larger view.
Yesterday was one of the more physically intensive Daddy Days we have had for some time. When asked, Caleb said that we should go to Central Square. Not content with our normal route of a walk to Park Street to catch the Red Line over the river, I decided that we would take the Green Line to BU and walk to Central Square instead. The weather was perfect and I figured it would be a good way to see a part of Boston neither of us had explored much before (Cambridgeport). Click on the photo to the right to see all of the images from our adventure!
The weather was indeed beautiful — sunny and not too hot — and perfect for a long afternoon walk outside. The walking portion of the trip, essentially BU to the North End, via Central Square and the Mass Ave bridge on the way back (instead of the more direct Longfellow Bridge) was just under 6 miles long. Roughly 5 of those miles Caleb trudged from the comfort of my arms or shoulders. (What’s a stroller?)
We learned a few things along the way, namely that Boston is beautiful in the summer, and the park along the Charles River (adjacent to Storrow Drive) is simply made for running/ strolling/ taking everything in.
Megan took some great photographs of Caleb and his friends the other day. They were hanging out in the playground next to our apartment enjoying the fantastic weather. Caleb did a few tricks on his skateboard for the camera and is really getting a hang of his balance. It helps when there is nice cushy rubber for him to fall on (the green/ gray/ black ground cover in the photos). Click on the image to the right to see all of the photos!
Yay! Another Daddy Day post! (I think I am almost caught up now.) The photos to the right (click on the image to see them all) are from the end of May. Caleb took a late and rather long afternoon nap, so we ended up heading out on our Friday adventure pretty near to the end of the day (we left the North End around 4pm I think).
In talking through our options with Caleb, he picked Harvard Square as our destination. We made a pit stop at Megan’s office, which is on the way to the Park Street Red Line station, because I forgot to ask Caleb to use the restroom before we left our house. A short ride across the river and we romped around Harvard Square for a bit, taking in some dinner, and checking out Eastern Mountain Sports for skateboards (they had none).
On our way back, we decided to take the scenic route along the waterfront and took our time moseying home.
