Visit from the Grand 'rents

My parents rolled into town last week for a quick visit. The weather turned sour, but we had a great time nonetheless. The first two days dipped into the 40s and dumped rain - so we opted to keep our activities indoors. We went to the museum of science because we had heard great things about the toddler room. And we were not disappointed. Here's a brief sampling of the activities:

a giant litebright

a cave thingy with plush bugs


and a massive xylophone at elliot's level

There were also little monkeys involved and later a temper tantrum. Sadly, I had to go to a meeting and missed out on the monkeys and the tantrum. Too bad.

The next day, still cold and rainy, we set out for the new Institute of Contemporary Art on the South Boston waterfront. Elliot loved running back and forth along a long corridor with big glass walls that lurched above the harbor. Here we are contemplating the moody scene.

Finally, on Sunday, the weather cleared and we set out to Old Sturbridge Village - a living museum of New England life in the 1830s. It turned out to be a beautiful day and a pretty amazing place. I was expecting total cheese. When in fact, the place was rather tastefully presented. All sorts of characters roamed the little village and were quite knowledgeable about history and their particular craft. We spoke to a guy about gardening for a good twenty minutes, and the blacksmith kept my dad busy for longer than some podcast about the stock market.

Here are a couple views of the landscape...



One of the things that fascinated Elliot was this odd puritan bowling game. Here it is in action.



The only problem is you have to pick up your own pins. No automated system here.


At the end of the day, everyone was happy. Elliot got to bowl, my parents got to taste life in the old new england (would that then just be england?), and I got to learn about sticking vegetables in sand to last through the winter. All told, smiles all around.


Then the time came for the grand 'rents to get on a plane back for LA. Elliot had four days of activity and was just ready to rest.

Visit to the Museum

One morning, after breakfast, we decided to go to the children's museum. We figured, we have a child, and we'd like to see other children preserved under glass.


Elliot was a bit taken back by this prospect. But he was game for anything. We arrived at the museum, and as it turns out, we weren't greeted by famous embalmed children, or a history of child evolution. When considering the museum, I forgot to take notice of the apostrophe. It's not a children museum; quite on the contrary, it's a children's museum. A museum for children, not about them. Well go figure.

So, we played basketball.


Posed with Big Poppy...


Traveled through tubes...


And played with water.



All in all, a pretty great day for one and all. We're happy when Elliot's happy, and Elliot found a unique state of bliss at the museum not about children.

Mother's Day

To celebrate mother's day, the three of us went down to the public garden to have a picnic. We bought some sandwiches and fruit at this little market in Beacon Hill. Elliot was unhappy with how much it cost.


He was upset, but he wanted to eat anyway.


I mean how could you stay upset when the woman of honor is looking so good.


After lunch, we all went to the pond to look at the ducks. There were many, and we were told about each one.

Bye bye Boston

I know, I know, long time. We should just assume that every entry begins with this sentiment. It's funny, as time goes on, Elliot is photographed less. Not that he's waning in cuteness - that factor is still very high. Only that I realize that parenting and documenting are each full time jobs. If I can only pick one - it would have to be documenting, but Justeen forced me to reconsider.

Jeannette, Guillaume and Ella moved to London. Here's some documents of their last day in Boston together, hangin' with their pops.

Walking through the cemetery

Preparing to go down slide

And off we go!

It was a bitter sweet day. We had a nice time strolling around and we vowed to do it again sometime soon. And we just might take a trip out to London town this summer to say a quick hello.

Elliot dealt with the pain by digging in the dirt. Whatever works.


And when we told him we weren't interested in having his dirt, he got very upset.