Happy Birthday, Mommy!

It's a big one for Ann today.. the big three-oh.. so we made sure to load up as much of the day as we could with stuff she loves.

After everybody was done working, and with her time at daycare, Ellie, Aunt Susie, Ann, and I went down to Boston's North End for a good Italian dinner. Annie enjoyed her gnocchi, but maybe not as much as Ellie enjoyed her rigatoni and special helping of fresh mozzarella cheese from the restaurant's chef. She was also quite excited when the bread and olive oil arrived -- "I can dip my bread, Mommy," she let us know.

Back at home, before Ellie's bedtime, Susie served the Wacky Cake she says she's most proud of in her life. It featured a big strawberry, Ann's favorite food, which clearly caught Ellie's eye, too. The cake tasted as good as it looked.

Hope you had a good birthday, Annie.

We love you.

A closer look at "The Masterpiece"

Strawberry Picking!

Today the weather was perfect and the strawberries were ripe, so we headed out to a local farm to pick some strawberries. This year, Ellie was a great help finding and picking strawberries. She even worked by herself for a little bit. Although, I'm pretty sure she ate more strawberries than she actually picked. Aunt Susie came along, and we had a great time. We picked about 8lbs of strawberries!!

 

 

Oh yeah!  

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Ellie took this picture of Nick, all by herself!

Bunker Hill Day 2011

Happy Bunker Hill Day everyone! Today is the 236th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill where the colonists ended up losing the battle, but it was a turning point in the Revolutinary War. And everything happened right where we live...literally. So Bunker Hill Day is a pretty big deal in Charlestown. In fact, its like St. Patrick's Day to Southie. We have parade and everything. Its a day that Townies look forward to every year.

Last weekend was Bunker Hill weekend. There were celebrations all over Charlestown, including a 2 and 8k run as well as the previously mentioned  parade. Ellie and I witnessed both (Nick was in Philadelphia at a baseball game). Ellie was very good at cheering on the runners; saying "good job runners" and clapping as people ran by. The parade route included the main street (Bunker Hill Street) less than a block from our house. So as soon as I heard the police car sirens announcing the start of the parade, I grabbed Ellie and we ran down to the street to watch it!

The parade was the usual mix of reenactors (including British "red coat" reenactors), politicians, bag pipes, marching bands, and a model of the USS Constitution (also part of C-Town) and the Navy personnel stationed at the USS Constitution. Although a little dazed (the parade was during nap time) Ellie really seemed to enjoy the parade. She did well with the crowds. She pointed to the fire trucks and other participants that she recognized. Ellie said her favorite was actually the "marching drums".

Ellie the Chef

Tonight, Ellie made herself a pita pizza for dinner. She spread the sauce and put all the cheese on all by herself, one piece of cheese at a time. It
took forever, but it was what she wanted. She loved it!


















Oh yeah! We also made chocolate chip cookies today!



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Touch-A-Truck!

This past Sunday, June 5, was the 4th annual Charlestown Mothers Association Touch-A-Truck day. What is Touch-A-Truck? Well...we filled a large parking lot with various types of vehicles so that kids, and kids at heart, could get up close to, climb on, sit in, and explore. We had fire trucks (yes, plural an antique fire truck and a current engine and a ladder truck), an ambulance, a police cruiser, construction vehicles, duck boats (again, plural), dump truck, tow truck, garbage truck, recycling truck, cherry picker, box trucks, a large crane (my personal favorite) and more! There was also ice cream, balloons, music, fruit, and other free giveaways.

Nick and Ellie acting silly in a Duck

We had over 2800 people attend the event this year. We even had a line around the corner before we opened! Mother Nature cooperated and we had a warm, sunny day with a light breeze. Everyone had a blast!

I truly hope the only time I see Ellie in the back of a police car is at Touch-A-Truck events!



Ellie was so excited about her popsicle...before lunch!



I was co-chair of the event so I spent time coordinating the trucks, designing the truck layout, and on the day of I was in charge of parking the trucks. I also was in charge of making sure that the volunteers who were working around the trucks wore the safety vests that I had donated. There were almost 40 trucks at the event! 

Ellie is "driving" a garbage truck



And she was excited about her balloon...until is flew away

Ellie climbing into the operator's cab of a VERY large crane!

Ellie waving from inside of the crane's operator's cab



The family on the back of a fire engine. Ellie is a little distracted by the new, heavy toy and her popsicle.