Catching Up from the Weekend

Still no internet so I am writing this post in Word to publish tomorrow (Tuesday) at the Marshfield Library. We haven’t been there yet but I have a vague idea of where it is…

Our weekend was full of adventure! Friday the girls and I headed to Hanover Mall; Doug said it had a play area. The girls were both feeling a bit of cabin fever as the weather had been cold & windy much of Thursday and Friday wasn’t promising to be much nicer.

We found the mall with no problem (I almost feel like a local already!) and made our way toward the center. It was a school holiday (for what, I don’t know) and the mall McDonald’s had hired the Ronald McDonald to perform. Brenna ran right out and took her spot in the audience. Caelan opted to stay by Mommy, in the stroller and away from the strange man with big shoes. Ronald put on a great show with education (knowledge of common road signs), magic, music & dancing.

After that ended we found the play area. It is quite similar to the play areas in most malls: large “foam” items to climb, slide on and jump off. The theme here is sports. I guess that’s what you get in an area that has one of every major sports team.



We finished our mall trip with lunch at a very good, very un-mall-like Chinese restaurant. Brenna chose it and I was more than happy to not dine at McDonald’s!

Friday evening Doug had to work late so we drove in to Quincy to pick him up as the other option was a late train. A quick stop at Best Buy for a wireless router and then to the Mad Fish Bar & Grille, just down the road from the house, for dinner. (We had fish. Go figgah…) We had to beat a hasty exit as Caelan was getting wiggly and wouldn’t use the strange potty. We made it home and completed another successful day of no wet diapers!

Saturday was filled with excitement. We idled about the house until late morning (Caelan pottied!), ate some lunch and then we were off to Boston. Destination: aquarium. We drove to the closest “T” station (mass transit, or “the train!” to the girls) and got to not only ride a “train” but switch lines twice. It was thrilling for the girls. Not so much for Doug & I as some of the stations are not stroller friendly.

The aquarium sits right on the pier. It was quite a popular place on Saturday- the line to buy tickets stretched over a block. We promptly turned around and wandered Faneuil Hall and the Quincy Market. We browsed the carts, poked through a few shops and took in the history. Caelan and I even had our photo taken with the Ben Franklin.



Brenna was complaining of tired feet so we decided to hop a trolley for a tour of historic Boston. As it was approaching 3:30pm we didn’t have the opportunity to utilize the hop-on-hop-off feature of the tour but we got to see many places that we plan to go back and visit. Our driver was great and paid special attention to the girls, even commenting on how well behaved they were.

After our trolley tour it was time for dinner. We bypassed the famed food court at Faneuil Hall (ok, we grabbed some huge cookies for later) choosing to dine at Roisin Dubh (the Black Rose), an Irish Pub just down the street. Not only did we have great food (I had a wonderful Irish Beef Stew; Doug said his Shepherd’s Pie was better) but there was also a singer performing traditional Irish songs and American folk tunes. He was really good and we all had fun dancing while he played (there wasn’t much room for dancing but it didn’t stop us!)

In the middle of dinner Caelan began to get restless and cuddly- a sure sign that it’s time to “go”. She and I rushed off to the bathroom where she did her first pee-pee in a potty without her potty seat! It was such a momentous occasion that I had the singer dedicate a song just for her!



As you can imagine, the girls were exhausted when we got home. They got tucked into bed in their clothes.

Sunday began lazily… I made breakfast (Finnish Puffed Pancakes), we all got cleaned up, and then we were off to explore with no destination in mind. With rain imminent we planned to drive around, grab a late lunch and head home early. Well, we drove. We had a late lunch. But we didn’t get home early.

We drove to Cape Cod, which has plenty to see. We exited the car twice. Once for this great candy shop and the second time for lunch (where Caelan did her second pee-pee on a strange potty).



Heading home we passed through many places we want to go back and see when the weather is nicer.

Once home we settled in a relaxed. Caelan announced before bed that she needed to use the potty and led Doug upstairs to take care of business. Woo-Hoo!

Monday had no big excitement. Unless you count grocery shopping… The Stop & Shop has scanners so you can scan your items as you shop. Not only can you keep track of what you are spending (very handy if you’re on a budget) but it also shows you special prices on items that correspond with what you are purchasing. Which I didn’t see as Brenna was in charge of the scanner. She caught on very quickly and by the third or fourth item she could get the scan done on the first try.

Tuesday (which will be today when I publish this tomorrow) will take us into Marshfield, the small town just across the river from our little island. We have a drop in planned for 9:15 & 10am at Tumble Fun (the girls really need to burn some energy!) and then a trip to the library so I can get some much needed internet time!

OK, the gym didn't wear the girls out and they aren't letting me get anything done at the library. Thursday can't come soon enough!