NJ Memorial Day Trip: Birthdays, Baseball and More

We had such a fun trip to New Jersey last week!  Alan and I flew down on Tuesday, as I got a $9 airline ticket on Jet Blue.  Insane deal that we just couldn't pass up.  Then Scott drove down after work on Friday and we all drove back up on Monday.  Alan LOVED having the constant attention of his grandparents and aunts and uncles in addition to the new toys, swings, and exploring that comes from being somewhere new.  The whole way home in the car he talked about Grandma's house and constantly said "bye" to everything: Grandma, Grandpa, Em, Meg, Nate, Evan, Gin, Grandma's car, toys, balls, couch, etc.  In fact, when we got home he had a tough time remembering our house.  But once he got to his room he was quite excited to see his bed and chair again.  Such a fun, fun trip and we were so glad to be able to visit!  Here are a few picture highlights:

Evan at his T-ball game.  Alan loved it.  He clapped every time anyone got a hit, which in T-ball, is any time anyone is up to bat. :)

Giving "Gin" a love.

Playing lots of ball with Grandma.

A little footprint trail after some chalk action that I though was pretty cute.

We went to a Phillies game on Em's birthday.  Mom and Dad surprised her with a birthday deal that included a hat, her name on the birthday board, and a very energetic employee throwing confetti on her and getting our whole section to sing happy birthday.  Well worth it. :)

The first Phils game I've been to in a very long time.  It was terribly hot, but it was a great game.  We weren't really expecting much as the previous game went to 19 innings and ended 12 hours before the start of this game.  But we ended up winning 10-4, and see that guy on the picther's mound?  He got 2 AMAZING hits and 3 rbi's.  Thank you Cliff Lee.  I always knew we wanted him back.  

We also had so much fun as the whole fam went strawberry picking.  We realized that the last time we had done this was with Scott as well, before we were married, and Evan was just a little older than Alan is now.  Crazy how time flies!

After a little convincing, Alan learned that we couldn't eat the strawberries until later and that we had to put them nicely in the box, rather than his, um, not-so-soft throws. 

But the true highlight might have been riding in the truck.  Always a big hit.

As is the lunch afterwords. :)

Uncle Nate, Alan and Daddy playing some ball.

I love this picture.  Somehow the ball always ends up in the "boosh."

We had a fun family barbecue on Saturday night.  The weather cooled down a bit and was perfect for relaxing and a little game of baseball.

And these two had a lot of fun together all weekend long. :)

Isn't Emily an amazing cake decorator?  She made her own cake this year.

And as she blew out the candles, Alan didn't even shed a tear.  We'll see what he does next month when the attention's on him...

Really can't have a trip home without a little name game.  Family Feud was also a blast.  In case you were wondering, save yourself some money and don't buy the DVD version.

Memorial Day waffles.  Pretty sure Alan ate 2+.  And I'm talking whole waffles.

Meg and Alan at the Memorial Day Parade in Medford.  Alan loved the fire trucks.

Watching the parade.

My Dad drove my Grandpa's '54 Chevy in the parade.  Evan drove with him and Alan and I jumped in as he drove by.

Here's a pic of my Grandma at the cemetery in Medford.  We visited many family graves... 4 generations I believe. 

And here is everyone gathered around my Grandpa Foulk's grave. 

Happy Memorial Day!!!!

A Visit to the Farm

 We had such a fun time on Saturday when we went to visit a farm near our house.  Alan absolutely loved it.  His current obsession of running up and down hills kept him very busy, and wore him right out.  We went on a little trail through the woods and he ran the entire way. :)  He loved all of the animals, particularly the chickens and the cows.  There were even some stuffed chickens and wooden eggs that you could "gather" in little baskets, and this made his day.  Also he loved the tractor ride, or "hay truck" as he called it.  All in all, a couple of dollars very well spent, and we'll probably have to go back again soon!

There were lots of baby animals at the farm!  These piglets were less than a  month old.

Plenty of sheep and lambs

The "goaks" and their little kids

And this little baby was just too cute!

Alan needed a little break after all of his running.

May flowers

So, Alan and I did visit Plymouth Rock last week and saw the Mayflower replica, but we didn't take any pictures.  It was super super windy, and Alan wasn't in a very good picture-taking mood. :)  But we had lots of fun and visited the cape as well.  So I thought I'd put a few pictures up of the actual May flowers in our yard, since I realized that the only pictures I had posted previously were when we were covered with several feet of snow.  

The beautiful dogwood tree in our front yard

And we have a couple of lilac trees in the back yard as well

Here is our little garden area.  We only planed a few tomato and pepper plants and there are some hydrangea bushes, raspberries, and little flowers the landlord had planted previously.  We also planted some squash seeds along the foundation, but as it looks like a patch of dirt as yet, I'll spare you the pic.

New season, new sport.  Still need some practice with this one.  So far, Alan prefers pitching. :)

Loving the bike 

And really loving the park. 

We love having our own little yard and a park so close by as well, in addition to a million fun parks in the area.  Alan would be outside every minute if he could.  Turns out a yard is a little more work than an apartment, but a lot of fun as well. :)

Make Way for Swans!

It is such a beautiful, beautiful spring here in Boston.  There are flowering trees every where you look and it is just gorgeous.  The allergens say otherwise, but besides that, so so so pretty.  One of the prettiest places I've ever been in spring.

Yesterday, Alan and I braved the "T" for the first time and went down to the Public Garden in downtown Boston.  (completely unforgivable that I forgot my camera!!!!)  They had a fun little event where they released Romeo and Juliet, Boston's 2 swans that have been at the zoo all winter, into the pond at the Public Garden.  Of course the swan boats were running, and there were plenty of ducks as well.  Alan had a blast.  A park ranger read a big copy of Make Way for Ducklings in front of the statue.  Then we had a little parade behind the swans through the gardens and I cannot stress how beautiful all the trees and tulips were.  The mayor released the swans and then they had cookies, lemonade, and ice cream for everyone.  It was the most beautiful day and a truly wonderful Boston experience.  

Here's the Make Way for Ducklings statue.  Like I said, no camera, so this pic is from wikipedia.  If I had taken one today there would have been children on the back of each of these ducks.  So cute. 

And I just found a few more photos in a local newspaper, and thought I'd post them to compensate for my lack of photos.

Park Ranger reading Make Way for Ducklings

This little girl is in our ward.  They brought out the swans in these glass cages and the kids  all got right up close to see.  Then we followed them around the park.

Releasing the swans

And here's a pic of the swans and swan boats.

Because he's curious...

like Curious George! 

Even though Alan LOVES Curious George, I didn't think in a million years he'd actually pose for a picture with him.  He usually doesn't sit still for one minute, let alone with large mascots, as has been illustrated in previous posts.  So while he didn't like waiting in the long line to take a picture, and he didn't like that he couldn't go up to play with him afterwords (he tried to bring George a puzzle to do with him), he loved seeing him.  I wish I had a video as well.  He walked up to him and gave him a hug, then tried to feed him a banana that was sitting next to him- so cute!  I guess he must be growing up. :)

 

Our Little Relationship Expert

So Alan's new favorite thing is to climb up into his big yellow recliner and read a book or two all by himself.  If he's in the chair and I ask him if he wants me to read to him, he says no, points to me and then the ground, then himself then the chair.  

The other day, I found him on the couch like this:

 

Yes, he is reading Finding the Love of your Life, and taking it quite seriously as you can see.  I guess he figures it's never too early to start looking. :)  Special thanks to Dr. Barlow and his marriage prep class for providing us with such captivating reading material for our 21 month old.  He would be quite proud, I'm sure. :)

Spring Break Visit

We have had so much fun during the past week as Grandma and Grandpa Robertson got to come for a visit to Massachusetts!  They were here for a week during Spring Break.  Scott had to miss a few days as he was traveling for work. Bummer!  But we had such a fun time anyway, and Scott got to experience some of the fun too.  Here are a few pics from our week together.

Even though it was a little cold, we still took a walk to the playground

Alan was NOT a fan of the presentation at the Minuteman National Park (darkness, cannons, etc). He had much more fun finding sticks along the battle trail and running up and down hills.

Grandma and Grandpa at the Minuteman statue in Concord

Making cookies with Grandma!

Walking around Harvard

Curious George store at Harvard Square.  Wasn't as big of a hit with Alan as we had thought it would be, but it was still fun.

We got some very rich Hot Chocolate from Burdicks in Harvard Square.  Soooo good.

The first sign of spring after a very snowy winter!

Alan loved this little toolbox that Grandma and Grandpa got him.

The second sign of spring!  There wasn't all that much to do in Salem, MA (some kind of weird witch stuff) but we did find a Rita's!  They told us it was the only one in New England.   Doesn't get much better than this!