The Time the Mason's Came to Town

Get ready for photo overload. Seriously, you probably want to stop reading if you aren't a Mason.

 In May my mom, dad and grandma came up for a week to visit Cedric and see Boston. Mom came up first and our trip pretty much included eating and shopping. 

We also went to the aquarium, which was more successful than our last visit. Cedric loved watching the fish and turtles from the top of the large Caribbean reef tank. 

Dad and Grandma flew in later and we wasted no time starting in with Grandma's "firsts". You see, my grandma has only started traveling recently and she had never been East of the Mississippi or to any ocean. Boston is the largest city she's been to, so far. We started with her first subway ride.

You will see that face a lot. It is the classic "what are we doing, this is nuts, you are crazy, she's taking my picture again" Grandma face :). I make that face myself quite often. Wednesday we went on the Duck Boat tour of Boston and really enjoyed ourselves. 

Grandma wasn't too thrilled about the idea of the bus acting as a boat on the water but once we were on the water she was having a good time. Now Dad has "the face" - it might be a Mason thing. 

Dad even got a chance to drive the Duck Boat. These boats were commissioned by the government for WWII, so it was driving a piece of history! Cedric was given the chance to drive but was too nervous so we just took a selfie. 

Thursday we went to Grandma's first Major League Baseball game, the Boston Red Sox vs. Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. It was almost rained out but Dad had bought covered seats and the rain stopped just in time for the first pitch. 

 Cedric spent the first few innings actually watching the game from my dad's lap while I parked the car and then hid on the other side of my family. I was surprised how well he sat on our laps. 

We stayed through the 5th inning then headed to Boston Beer Works for dinner. We made Grandma try beer with lemons and blueberries (which no one liked but me). 

Friday we braved the colder weather and headed to the beach. We went to Revere Beach to show Grandma the beach and Atlantic Ocean (she had seen it from the airplane coming in).

Mom introduced Grandma to one of her favorite beach pastimes - hunting for shells. They found some good ones too, which made for nice souvenirs. 

Sometimes on the trip Grandma wasn't as impressed, like with the cold at the beach. 

But don't worry, Cedric was right there being unimpressed with her. 

I was so glad I hit record on my camera for Grandma's first time in the ocean. We told her she could go up to the water and touch it with her hand. We forgot to warn her about the waves :).

After nap time (everyone in our family participated) we headed to Back Bay to the Top of the Hub restaurant on the 52nd floor of the Prudential Building. This was Grandma's first time in a skyscraper. 

And first time seeing a cruise ship in person (hey, it may be something small but it counts!). 

We had a nice time having drinks and enjoying the view!

We did do more than sightsee and drink beer, if you were wondering. We ate seafood about every day and teased Grandma with some of the more adventurous dishes. 

                         

You might be thinking something like "Wow Christina, you guys went all over. Didn't I see on Facebook that your Grandma is 86?". Why yes she is, dear reader. And does that mean we let up on her, let her take it easy on her vacation?

According to us, we did - we Mason's are good at packing in the action. We all walked around and ended the trip with an afternoon at Quincy Market (Bob's office building is in the background), North Boston and the Seaport. 

The best part of the trip for me? Having Grandma here, in my home to spend time with her great-grandson Cedric. Cedric remembered everyone from FaceTime and Skype, taking to everyone very quickly. He got very close to saying "grandma" and had fun playing with her. He even teased her with the Jayhawk a bit, which was really not planned at all - he loves that puppet!

So a big thanks to my grandma for braving two flights and a lot of first to come out for a visit. Bigger thanks to my dad for orchestrating the whole trip and convincing Grandma to come and to my mom for her help and support during the visit. It was great but I think we need to buy a house for next time :). 

Easter 2014

Easter festivities began a week early this year with an egg hunt and petting zoo at a local church. 

We did not make it to the actual egg hunt, Cedric was too busy coloring, taking photos and hanging out with his friends. 

The petting zoo was awesome. Top notch, but it's only the best for Wellesley. 

There were puppies, 

lambs, 

chickens, 

bunnies, 

pigs,

goats,

and kittens. The chickens, bunnies and kittens were all wrapped in blankets, to keep them calm and keep the kids "dry". The larger animals were all wearing diapers. All of the animals seemed overly subdued and I began to wonder what PETA would do if they ever found out about Barn Babies. It was very cute and Cedric was overwhelmed which means he appeared underwhelmed. Bob was just whelmed. 

One of the surprising highlights was the bouncy castle. There were lots of "big" kids and Cedric bounced until things got dicey and Bob pulled him out. 

This morning was Easter. Cedric didn't get it and really didn't notice that the toys in the basket were new. The kid has too many toys. 

The grass was the best part, even over the Reese's peanut butter egg. He barely ate half, I think it was too sweet!

We did make it to church, though Cedric only made it for about 45 min before he started shouting "milk" and "mommy". At least we all look good :).

Happy Easter!

Curling or Happy Birthday Bob

Tomorrow is Easter, one of the official starts to spring. After six months of winter, we are in desperate need of some real spring. So in honor of spring officially being here I realized that I better post about one of our great winter outings. Did I say spring enough? SPRING! 

Bob loves to watch curling. Every 4 years he gets really excited for the Winter Olympics and tapes (or has me find and tape) all the awesome curling action that plays on random channels in the middle of the night. Then we watch them. PS - they are not short. 

Bob knows the rules, understands the strategy and gets angry when the network plays commercials and he misses an end or two. The thing is, he has never actually played. The Olympics were over his birthday this year and so I got the idea to google "curling". Turns out there is a curling club, Broomstones, and it is not far from us that was hosting an Olympics open house. Awesome. 

I organized a babysitter and signed us up early, good thing because the event quickly sold out. I kept it all a secret until Bob's birthday, he needed a little cheering up and something to look forward to during his long busy season. I also was lucky that I picked the last time slot, which had fewer people and so we got extra ice time. 

Stuff I learned about curling: 

1. The stones are super heavy (40 lbs). I fell a lot trying to push the stone. That is because they give you one super slippery shoe so you can slide. We had to use a stabilizer so we didn't fall. 

2. The lanes are LONG. It takes a lot of power to try to get the stone across the ice. I couldn't even push the stone a fourth of the way. 

3. The ice has little beads of water sprayed on it before each game, which makes the ice bumpy. The Broomstones Curling Club was founded from the area country club curling clubs that were pushed out back 40+ years ago. They have a great facility with a viewing box, lounge and bar with TVs showing all the awesome curling action. 

4. Sweeping is super hard. Like very very exhausting. It is hard to keep ahead of the stone. It is hard to push down and sweep at the same time. The "broom" doesn't have bristles just some mesh over something like styrofoam.  Does sweeping really help? They say it does yet the Canadian Olympic team had some physicists do research and the theories to why it works didn't hold up. But they say it works so, we sweep. I was bad at that too. 

5. Finally, I learned that the ice is cold (duh) and you should wear shoes with thick soles while curling. Gloves are also a plus. 

All in all, we had a good time. We had to wait a little at the beginning but it was nice to have the extra time on the ice. Will we  be curling in the future? Possibly. Bob is already looking forward to 2018. 

Why does Bob like curling so much? I think it may be because curling was first introduced to the Olympics while we were in college and I'm sure the sport seemed awesome in the middle of the night. Also, it is a sport where it seems anyone can play and be in the Olympics. Especially from America. We aren't as organized as a lot of the other countries and any of the club members from the clubs around the country have the potential. I will say to anyone who thinks curling isn't a "sport" that I'd love to see you out on the ice. It isn't as easy as it looks!

20 Months

Amazing we've made it to 20 months. I have to keep reminding myself to call Cedric a toddler and not a baby. 

Cedric is still a picky eater, though sometimes we find random things he likes when we are out to eat. Below he is using french fries as a means to eat ketchup and he is stuffing his face with plain white toast. 

Now that Cedric is getting older I try to give him a little more space around the house. I'll head in the kitchen to do some cleaning up while he plays in the family room. His vocabulary is quite large for his age and he can say "play", fully understanding what that means. He has a good attention span for someone so young and is pretty good at independent play . . . for a bit.  

Sometimes Cedric is very cranky, tired or sick (or I am) and we turn to the iPhone or TV. Judge away but I've learned that until you are in a situation you'll never know how you'd react. I think that Cedric's vocabulary expanded thanks to a few flashcard apps I downloaded for him. 

Cedric likes Elmo, though we never watch Sesame Street. He loves Chugginton and has recently started asking for Mickey Mouse after I taped a farm episode of the Clubhouse show. His favorite songs are still Old MacDonald, If Your Happy and You Know It, The Wheels on the Bus, and Row Row Row Your Boat. He gets VERY happy when you start singing any of them!

 Cedric loves animals, real and stuffed. He loves to walk the dog and chase birds. Any animal is fair game and is very good at naming a lot of animals. 

 

We acknowledge Cedric is getting older and so are flirting with the idea of potty training. We bought the potty and have been trying to build some excitement. Today I bought him some little undies that he proudly wore around for a bit this evening. Then he went potty IN the potty before his bath. Granted, he was standing but I put the potty in front of him and asked him if he'd like to go and he went. I'm going to call that a win. 

We've done some fun outings lately, which I need to post this weekend. Cedric moves so fast and grows up so much I'm always exhausted by the end of the day. Bob's busy season is over so things are getting a bit easier around the house. 

I'll leave you with the photo below. The jury is still out on hair color. Some days it looks a little strawberry, dirty blonde, or golden blonde. His eyes are still blue though, doesn't look like that is going to change!