The Worst Places in Boston

I loathe the Aquarium* and Faneuil Hall. Too many people, too many kids, too many germs, etc. On Sunday we decided to hit both up. Don't ask why... just trying to be a good mom and have some fun with the kids. Epic fail.

Beatrice and Theo slept 80% of the outing. Not that I'm complaining. I'll take a sleeping kid any day. Julian had fun, checking out the fish and the tide pool. All was going OK until a woman zipped by us dragging her 5 year old son, screaming she had lost her 3 year old daughter. Its a parent's worst nightmare. I went over to the woman and suggested she go to Information to alert security. They needed to lock down the place. She didn't want to leave the area in case her daughter was looking for her. Poor woman was not thinking rationally, I totally get it.

My sister told her she'd go down to security and asked what the girl was wearing. It was quite chaotic. My sister jetted down the walkway towards Security and Dave ran after her attempting to locate the little girl himself. I turned back to our kids in the strollers (Cory was now standing with them) and started the conversation about how important it is to always know what our kids are wearing, head to toe, coats and shoes included. Then I looked around "Where's Julian?!?" Cory thought he was still with Dave but I had just watched Dave book it down to the next floor. Oh God. I ran back to the tide pool to find him, then ran back to Cory who went out to find him while I stayed with my kids.

About 1 minute later we heard, "Would the parents of a little boy in a green and grey sweater please report to Security." Just as they were making the overhead announcement, my sister, the lost little girl, and a Security Guard were coming up the walkway. Cory ran down to claim Julian just as Dave showed up and they were handing him off to Cory. So that raises the question, how does Security know when its actually the parent and not just a pedophile claiming a kid? I know that Julian said Cory's name and went to him but what if you have a super friendly kid or non-verbal kid? Julian was completely unfazed by the incident and in all fairness he didn't do anything wrong, he didn't wander off from us, we wandered off from him!

Needless to say our day at the Aquarium ended right after that. God damn, I needed a drink. To calm down, we went to Quincy Market. At least it wasn't crowded or anything. Then it started raining on the way back to the cars. Just the last kick in the nuts we needed.

Although I made the day out to be miserable it really wasn't that bad. No matter how crappy the circumstances, whenever we are with my sister and family, we can find the humor in it.

*In all fairness, I don't totally loathe the Aquarium as it was the scene of my first 'real' date with Cory. We stopped at the penguin section and witnessed a male penguin mount an unassuming female penguin. He got down to bidness, then spunked all over her back. I thought that only happened in the smut movies. That memory forever bonds me and my husband.

And It's Only Tuesday...

I am writing this post from bed. I am in the last stages of the Plague of 2010. Cory and I had a lovely overnight in Portsmouth, NH this past weekend. We had a great day and night until Cory started throwing up at 3:30 a.m. After a vomit filled drive home, he stayed in bed all day while I took Beatrice out of the sick zone. I felt fine until Sunday night, then not so fine. I have never been that sick in my entire life. It was even more fun because after I'd throw up, I'd lay down and the nausea would subside, then the baby would roll and kick and get the juices flowing all over again. Not that I blame him/her, what was going on in my body was violent. I would imagine it was a bit like experiencing a tsunami.

Thank goodness it was only a 24 hour bug and not a full blown flu. To date, Beatrice has not caught it. We're really keeping our fingers crossed that she avoids it.

And we're currently in the midst of Biblical Flood of '10 Part II. So far the basement is dry. Let's hope we can catch a break on that one. Rain, please just stop, just f-ing stop.

So I'm thinking I need to get some sage to cleanse this house or cleanse our bodies (though really I think I purged the devil on Sunday.) Clearly we've done something to piss someone off and need to get our luck turned around. Hope your week is off to a better start.

Here are the things I would be writing about if I wasn't still queasy:

• The delicious dinner we had in Portsmouth
• Meal planning for this week

So as to not end this post on a depressing/whiny note, a funny story about my crazy daughter. She has this habit of speaking of herself in the third person (I think that's common for toddlers, right?) She also has this habit of being a drama queen (again, par for the course with 2 year olds.) Lately every small bump requires ice and a kiss. So the other day, Cory was walking past her in the hallway and miscalculated, bumping her slightly. Without missing a beat, she recoiled, shot him the dirtiest look and said "Bea walkin." She then stormed off into the living room (dramatically holding her arm to her side like she'd been stabbed) to tattle "Daddy push Bea." What a diva.

Spring Tease

We took advantage of the nice spring weather on Saturday and went for a picnic at the Public Gardens. First we stopped in Chinatown for Vietnamese sandwiches, spring rolls, and Chinese buns.

We hadn't eaten Vietnamese sandwiches before. The sandwiches are usually made up of pickled carrots and daikon, cucumbers, cilantro, chili peppers, mayo, and various meat fillings or tofu. We had ours with shredded pork, no mayo. The spring rolls were fantastic too. Best picnic lunch to date.

We couldn't leave Chinatown without a stop for Chinese buns. I am a broken record with my love for these heavenly treats. They are seriously some of the best things to ever pass my gullet. Beatrice is wild for them too. She likes the custard and coconut filled ones. Here's a picture of her stuffing her face.














In a moment of generosity, she hooked up her hungry, pregnant mama.














We savored every last drop of sunshine because we knew it was only a tease. Rain and snow (!) in the forecast for the next couple of days.