Today James and I spend a lovely day together in Boston. I used to do this all the time with the boys, when I wasn't working, or had a less-stressful part time job. But haven't really been able to carve it in with just James, and now that Joel Andrew is in school. Part of me wonders - is it because I am selfish? Want a run day? Need a day to get the house in order? Or is it because I am sad we will be missing Joelly? Because we pay so much for James to go to an awesome pre-school that he loves and it is hard to justify taking him out of an awesome structured environment to end up spending lots of money in Boston? Either way, I have resigned myself to a nice balance. James is going to Kindergarten in the Fall; the summer is going to be incredibly busy; we need to get 4 of these days in before it is all gone. Day one, happened today and it was glorious.
For some reason, these photos are all out of order. But enjoy anyway.
So, we went into the Aquarium, which is a family trip favorite. I have to day, first of all, it was 60 degrees, in Boston, on February 1 today. It was a bit unerving, but we rocked the puffy vests. The aquarium was DEAD today - hardly a person. See it in my pictures, it was like we had the place to ourselves. It was clean, and nicer than I remember - probably due to the lack of people. It was also expensive. This was the first time I didn't buy the membership, so for just he and I it was almost $50! But I guess taking care of all those fishys are expensive!
He had the map, we touched the rays, he loved this. We saw the penguins. One thing I notice about the differences between my boys - James can stare at something for hours. Joel would look at it, want to learn about it, and want to move on. James wants to watch what they are doing, talk about what they are doing (don't bother him with facts, he knows what is going on and those penguins do not like the water today, it is too cold).We had 90 minutes in the Aquarium, which would have been overload for just my Joelly - for James, I had to usher him out.
He said his favorites were the penguins, seadragons, and touching the rays. When they were little, if they were good they usually left with a toy - and James seemed to remember this so we are now the proud owners of two new Ray stuffed animals (James thought of his brother, and although I resisted, buy one get one 1/2 off - thanks, NEAQ).
After lots and lots of fun we went to the North End to meet Ama and Grumpy and Suzanne for dessert. Yes, this kid got dessert before lunch! The boy spend 20 minutes in the bathroom with Grumpy, which Grumpy still can: "never comprehend how your boys enjoy sitting in public restrooms doing their business." (he is a bit of a germie). Ama and I had a good laugh at this. They spent an hour together today and 20 minutes of it was in the potty.
Our meeting with Ama and Grumpy was brief, we decided to get some real food and had sandwiches at Bricco, which was a good choice. The good weather gave us a place to sit outside in the alley. James loved watching the birds. We got lots of delicious food for dinner tonight too.
He ate his sandwich right up and exclaimed a few times: "I LOVE this sandwich!" He loves me too, he said. We drove home, had a fun car wash experience and he passed out in the last 10 minutes of the ride. It was a great day with my big guy.
It makes me sad when I see all the moms and their strollers, chasing after their babies and remembering I was one of them. But then I get happy, because I have my big boys who chat with me and still tell me they love me, and don't require diaper bags, and eat delicious food with me (well, James does), more and more.
Here's to a few more day dates together, James!
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