Thanksgiving!

 It's official: Oliver is 18 months old and finally done breastfeeding. I hid the boppy, so for a few days he carried a pillow around the house and moaned. He appears to have forgiven me though.

 Oliver is still our blue-eyed baby, but his blond hair is looking browner. I cut it a few days after this picture was taken and it looks darker.

 Phoebe has mastered the art of two-wheeled biking. She learned in about three weeks without training wheels. She likes to point that out to Bruce, who had training wheels on for a long time (I tell Phoebe it's because I was holding her as a baby that he needed the training wheels).

 Oliver got a new set of wheels from Grandma. He is the envy of the toddlers at school drop-off.

 On Thanksgiving, we kept things low-key. Scott worked the night before, slept all day, woke up to eat, and then went back to work. We spent the day baking pies and visiting friends (pictured above). Our friends are currently attending MIT but moving back to their native Rwanda soon, so we have been trying to sneak in as much play time as possible. For Thanksgiving dinner, we went over to Miss J's house. Her parents cooked a delicious meal while we played and played and played. We tried to earn our place at the table by bringing apple and blueberry pies along with homemade vanilla bean ice cream. This year we are thankful to not have to cook so much, and Scott is more thankful for sleep than ever.

 On Black Friday, we headed out early and were first in line. At the zoo. We were so early, in fact, that when we got there the parking lot was still being plowed so we went to a park across the street for awhile. The kids loved digging around in the snow.

 When it was almost time for the zoo to open, we got in line. Success: first ones there. We spent a few hours checking out all the animals, spending the most time watching the colobus monkeys. There were two babies that were adorable, two young monkeys that were very active fighting and picking on all the others, and a few adults.

 After the zoo, we headed to McDonald's for some PlayPlace action. It was quite cold outside, so we were ready to play indoors for awhile.

And after McDonald's we went to a park and went sledding for a few minutes. The kids took turns sledding, then Bruce decided he wanted to build some big ramps out of snow - and Phoebe wanted to sled off them. After one or two runs, Phoebe got a face-full of ice and got scraped and bloody, so we had to go.

When we got to our door, we realized that Scott had accidentally locked us out (with the kind of lock that can only be unlocked from the inside) and was asleep. We headed to Dunkin' Donuts and then to the park until he woke up. It was a loooooong Black Friday.

Fall back.

 Fall has been good to us. We went apple picking with friends.

 We ate apple pie and apple crisp and plain old apples for weeks following this little trip to the orchard.

Scott joined up with some friends to run the Ragnar Adirondacks Relay. It was an "ultra" team, so it consisted of six team members rather than the usual 12 (like the one I did at Ragnar Cape Cod). Scott ran three relay legs totaling 32+ miles. He experienced "hitting the wall," but came home hungry for more. He is planning on running a trail marathon in New York in May; I'll join him if my hip continues to cooperate. I ran my first speedwork since Labor Day this week. I felt out of breath and out of shape, but my hip is back up and running. Yea!

 In the anticipation of winter, we have been park-hopping and making the most of the (generally) mild weather.

 Perhaps the best thing to happen this fall is that my mom came to visit. There was a good deal on airline tickets, so she came. We didn't make huge plans because Bruce still had school, but it was nice to relax and talk to my mom all day and all night.

 The kids loved having Grandma around. Like the kids, she has lots of energy - and she slept very well at night!

 Bruce had one day off school, so we played all morning and then headed downtown to take a boat into the Atlantic to go looking for whales.

 It takes 45-60 minutes for the boat to travel to the bay where whales typically feed, so I brought a DVD player to keep Phoebe busy.

 She didn't last long enough to see whales. Thankfully, she was free.

 We saw a few humpback and fin whales. The coolest thing we saw was a humpback jump clear out of the water. Usually when the whales surface, you see their spout blow upward, their fin glide for a bit, and then their back arch and tail flap down into the water. The biologist on the boat said she couldn't remember the last time she saw a whale breach the water like that.

I'm glad we fit the whale watch in when we did. A few days later, Hurricane Sandy roughed up the waters (and land and air!) a bit. My mom ended up flying out ahead of the storm to avoid the inevitable delays afterward. Boston didn't get as much damage as anticipated; it was very windy and rainy on Monday (enough to cancel school) and some areas had power outages, but we stayed inside and were fine the whole time.

Making a splash

We visit a splash park almost every day. The kids love getting outside and it's the only way to be outside when it is so hot. We often bring buckets and sidewalk chalk, but a few weeks ago Bruce brought some leftover tubing from a stomp rocket project. He was the cool kid at the park: everyone asked him where he got such a cool "toy." Home Depot is where it's at, my friends.

 Phoebe's favorite splash park activity is to fill a bucket and then dump it on my or Scott's toes.

 She also loves to get her hands on sand when she can.

 Ever since we returned from visiting family in Ohio, Phoebe has been elongating and sometimes accentuating her "a"s. Yes, she picked up an Ohio accent that is still here one month later.

Now she says "hey-elp" instead of "help" and "fay-ell" instead of "fell." Phoebe had so much fun in Ohio and still talks about the bus, the bounce house, the tractor, and Grandma and Grandpa.

Enough reminiscing about Ohio; after one splash park outing we went out for ice cream. The kids always get the same thing: chocolate chip cookie dough for Bruce and strawberry ("pink ice cream please!") for Phoebe.

 Phoebe likes to share with dad. One bite for her, one bite for him.

Miss J joins us on our weekday adventures to the various parks and beaches around. She loves to follow Phoebe around and do whatever she is doing, which makes it easier to keep track of them. J has been walking for awhile now, but is getting a little more adventurous and running a little faster; she had Band-aids on her knees for a few weeks from fall after fall on the pavement. Ouch.

The heat is on.

It was hot yesterday - the hottest since the Boston Marathon on April 16. Today was even hotter: 99 degrees. As I type this at 10:25 p.m. (Scott is watching the Miami Heat get their game on - I can't bear to watch at this point), it is 88 degrees.

We are so thankful to have air conditioning, but we still managed to get out of the house a few times during the heat wave. We visited three splash parks in three days. And since it's going to be 91 degrees tomorrow, we just might fit in one more.

Bruce the Birthday Boy

 Bruce had an awesome birthday: it started at 6 a.m., when we brought french toast into his room. He wanted breakfast in bed and had requested french toast the night before. After breakfast, he opened his presents: walkie talkies, a Lego Star Wars sticker book, and a Lego Harry Potter video game.

 We headed to New Hampshire for the Bedford 12K. It is one of a handful of races that is designated a New England Grand Prix race, which theoretically attracts the best runners in the region. The race was stacked and my legs felt sluggish (maybe last weekend's 24 miles? maybe my calf strain that had me running no faster than 6:15 pace the last two weeks? maybe from Phoebe climbing in bed with me at 2 a.m.?), so I finished in eighth place. After the race and a quick cooldown, we jumped back in the car, grabbed lunch at Bruce's favorite burrito joint, and cleaned up for the birthday party.

 This year's pinata was simple: a Death Star. I didn't get a great picture of it. The best part of it was Scott's surgical suture job that he used to secure the rope to it. It was a masterpiece.

 The weather was sunny and in the high 70s, so it was another great year for a party at the park. The splash park sprinklers randomly started going off during the party, and our birthday party instantly turned into a water park party. All the kids ran into the sprinklers in their clothes and shoes. They shed their shirts and shoes after a few minutes, and let them dry on the fence for the rest of the party.

 Phoebe was properly attired after a quick trip home. She was happy to run around barefoot in the sprinklers.

 The Death Star didn't last long. Last year we had to get really violent with the thick General Grievous, so I made the Death Star thinner. It made it through about a half-dozen kids before it exploded...

We had a droid army scavenger hunt, ate cupcakes that sat in the sun way too long, and Bruce scored some more birthday loot. Bruce had just enough time to play with his goodies before eating his requested birthday dinner - Phineas and Ferb-shaped macaroni and cheese - and heading to bed. Happy 7th Birthday Bruce!

Saturday!

My Saturday was awesome. I went for a run at the lazy hour of 7 a.m. and came home an hour later to witness this: Scott, Bruce, and Phoebe scrubbing the bathrooms and cleaning the house.

 

After all our chores were done, Bruce had his first ever T-ball practice (got mixed reviews) and then we headed to the park for some bottle rocket action (definitely rave reviews). After several hours of rockets and playgrounds, we headed to school for the annual PTA fundraiser. We ate pizza while watching a talent show; Phoebe showed a lot of interest in the ballerinas. Bruce signed us up in the silent auction to win a "rainy day activity box," but our $5 bid was quickly outdone. He was a bit sad about that, so we may have to make a box of our own. For now, here's to sunny days!

Outnumbered.

I have heard that having one kid is relatively easy (or at least do-able), having two is almost better because the first has a playmate, and that three is the number where life gets really tricky because the parents are all of a sudden outnumbered. Things have gotten tricky here: Baby J's parents are out of the country for 10 days and they left her with me. Because she is the most easygoing baby on the planet, it hasn't been bad - but I'm left wondering why I still have an appendix and not a third arm. C'mon Evolution!

The day before J's parents left, Phoebe got this lovely bruise on her cheek while dancing in Bruce's bed. It also happened to be the day before Phoebe's two-year doctor's appointment. Nothing like a big bruise to reassure J's parents and the doctor that I'm an involved, stable parent. In other news, Phoebe dropped a few percentiles on the growth chart and is officially on a high-calorie diet. One of her favorite phrases is "delicious butter," so we should be making weight soon.Bruce likes to tell me how big his muscles are and how he does crunches and planks in gym class. I don't think he is flexing in front of the mirror yet, but he is heading in that direction of manliness. Bruce also told me that he and Phoebe should have been twins. He said it would have been more fun that way. I told him he'd have to share a birthday cake and a party with her. "No problem," he said. "She likes Star Wars," referring to his themed birthday party. I, for one, am glad they are not twins.

Being outside in the city

I like many things about Boston, but perhaps my favorite trait of the city is that it's easy to escape. Our living room windows may overlook a parking garage and our weekly trip to the grocery store is always carefully planned to avoid rush hour traffic, but a quiet hike is only a 15-minute drive away and an outdoorsy excursion a walk down the street.
Scott and I went kayaking Saturday night. We've wanted to go for awhile and finally got the chance to see the city from a new perspective. We hopped in a double kayak and paddled around the Charles River. (by the way, check out those hot new glasses on Scott - he can finally see!)
We paddled by the little island in the river, made famous by the Make Way for Ducklings book.We paddled alongside the Esplanade, sheltered from the waves and sailing students on the main part of the river. The weather was perfect. It was awesome.
I love Boston!The kids get plenty of opportunities to get outdoors too. The park is the easiest way to let out some energy. And there are lots and lots of parks.If it sounds like I'm trying to sell Boston, you're right. The only thing this city is missing is some family. Any takers?
For Fathers Day, we served Scott a toaster streudel in bed, had friends over for brunch, went to church (which was more eventful than usual), and then went for a hike in the Fells. Being the awesome dad that he is, Scott carried Phoebe the whole way.
And even scrambled up a few rocks with her.
Bruce had no shortage of energy, as usual, and showed us that he hasn't completely turned into a sheltered city kid.