4th of July

Happy Independence Day! Henry was very excited to celebrate "America's birthday" today (probably because he assumed there would be cake). We wanted to do something fun and semi-patriotic, but wanted to avoid the insane crowds of the Boston celebration, so we decided to head to Plymouth for the morning (only to find that it is also insanely crowded for the 4th - oh well).

We watched the 4th of July parade:






Relaxed in Plymouth Harbor for a bit:



Went onto the "Mayflower II":




Tested out our strength for loading supplies onto a ship:





Viewed Plymouth Rock (to which Henry said "Wow! Look at that big rock!" I think the history was lost on him, although we attempted a crash course in pilgrim history throughout the day):




And naturally had a 4th of July themed treat:



Back at home we had our traditional backyard barbecue celebration:






Mike and I wimped out yet again on having Henry stay up to watch the fireworks tonight (10:30 - way too late). Maybe next year we will be brave enough.

Happy 4th, everyone!

Henry Day

After the fun of Mother's Day and Father's Day, Henry proclaimed that he wanted there to be a "Henry Day". He was very insistent. My explanation that technically EVERY day is Henry Day did not sway him. So, I decided that today would be "Henry Day". I told him that today he could do whatever he wanted. I envisioned parks, toy stores, ice cream...instead, Henry requested that we "stay inside all day". It pained me to stay in on such a beautiful day, but I obliged in honor of Henry Day.

So, we did various activities around the house.

We planted some flowers for Henry's "deck garden":





We removed all the tracks from the train table and instead put them on the floor:




Then we ignored the train tracks and instead used our trains in new and exotic places:




And we did this for about 30 minutes:




Despite Henry's insistence that he didn't want to leave the house today, Mike got out of work early and mentioned the magic words "bike riding" and Henry instantly left the house.

We decided to be semi-patriotic and bike ride on the Battle Road:








"Henry Day" was so much fun that Henry actually fell asleep in the car on the way home from dinner and went straight to bed upon returning home.

Happy Henry Day!

Pool Party

We had a group of friends over this morning for a pool/sprinkler get together:










This one cracks me up:

Ducks and Pirates

It was a busy, busy day,

This morning, we took the train down to the Public Gardens and Boston Common to meet our friends Kate and Ben:

Henry, Kate, and Ben waiting for the boat ride:




At the Make Way for Ducklings Statue:





Kate and Henry on the ducks:




And, for comparison, here they are together as 1 year olds, and 2 year olds:





Then, we headed to the carousel on Boston Common (those two little specks are Henry and Kate running ahead):




Henry chose a cat to ride on. He named it "Stella" after Aunt Gina's cat:



After the ride was over, Kate was sad that she had to get off and started crying. Henry was worried, walked right up to her, gave her a gentle hug and said "It's OK Kate, we will be back soon and take another ride". My heart melted.

This afternoon, we met at the park to celebrate Alexander's 3rd birthday!









Happy Birthday, Alexander!

Mountain Climber

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

Earlier this week, Henry and I went to make some Father's Day gifts for Mike:




Henry selected a lovely soccer ball piggy bank and a coffee mug to paint. The first of many hand made father's day gifts to come, I am sure.

Today, we celebated the day by heading to Newburyport. Here are Mike and Henry enjoying some public art (the sculpture says you are supposed to "discuss peace" while sitting on it, hence Mike attempting to teach Henry to give the peace sign):




Then we headed to a playground:




And went to a local farm to go strawberry picking:





It was a great day. Happy Father's Day, Mike - we love you!

Chores

Now that Henry is 3, he needs to start earning his keep around here:




I would have taken a picture of him doing the laundry, but I was too busy watching my soaps and eating bon bons.