Cape Cod- June 2013

Kevin has a summer teaching schedule that is very conducive to long weekends, and Great-grandma Ruth was celebrating her birthday this weekend, so we left for the Cape early Thursday morning and came back Sunday afternoon. We picked up Kevin's cousin Chris and his little dachshund Harry on the way so we had a very full an fun car ride. Our first stop, naturally was Great-grandmas for lunch. James oftentimes sits in regular chairs now, and Great-grandma even game him little sandwiches which he nibbled but generally ignored in favor of potato chips. Great-grandma is so wonderful with James. Even though she's 90 (89 that day) she keeps toys at her place for him and plays with him when he visits. She reads him books and feeds him snacks.

Lunch with his great-grandma

Next stop was Grandma Kathy's. James always has a wonderful time with Grandma, so we left them to it. Kevin and I went out for our 4th wedding anniversary,and were home early enough to put James to bed. Grandma gave James a stuffed Mickey Mouse doll which James ran around celebrating, and then took to bed with him along with stuffed Fudgie. So now James has every naptime and bedtime with both Fudgie and Mickey! Grandma had to leave to pick up Andrew and Katie at the airport. Unfortunately, Katie's flight left Baltimore and then returned to Baltimore so none of them got home until 3 am!

Citrus-flavored snuggles for grandma

Stretching exercises

Bugging Nomar in the Scratch Lounge

Going for a walk with Nomar and Grandma

Gift from grandma! Mickey! Mickey!

Friday was Great Grandma Ruth's real birthday, but since the party was planned for Sunday only some of us were there. Kathy, Nesie, Steve, and all four grandchildren, James, and I were there. We ordered Chinese food, and Nesie baked a cake so we sang Happy Birthday and celebrated.

Harry the dog + Legos + Snuggles from Great Aunt Nesie = James heaven

Katie, Steve, James, Kathy, and Andrew

Chinese food and cake!

After singing happy birthday

James asked for cake: "Cake! Cake! My turn! Yummy yummy!"

Even though I've known about it for a long time, I've only recently fallen in love with the 28 Club. ("The bar where I grew up."-Kevin) It's a dive bar, but like most dive bars we go to, it's plenty nice. And the drinks are very cheap. To be fair, the regulars seemed a little put out that we existed. This was even before we might have had the opportunity to do anything obnoxious. Perhaps they thought we were summer crowd people since they easily ignored us when we went in November. Anyway, everyone was put in a pleasant mood by the Bruins- sending them to the Stanley Cup playoffs! Woo! I am more of a fan now that the Bruins saved Casey. For some reason when we got home I thought I should make nachos for everyone complete with blue tortilla chips, plum tomatos, and fresh advocado- yum!

Katie and Andrew with 28 Club lighting.

Me and Kevin schmoooping it up

Bruins win! Woo!

Nachos

I had to get up with James 3 hours after going to bed. I was so very very tired on Saturday! When James and I emerged from naptime we went out to lunch in Hyannis with Kathy and Andrew. James ate burger straight from the bun, and ate mussels for the first time! We were a little nervous but he was fine. Then we did a big long walk of Hyannis after which I was ready for another nap. Luckily Great Aunt Nesie offered to babysit James for the rest of the evening. We're so lucky James is so loved on the Cape. There was actually a bit of a babysitting tug-of-war because Great-Aunt Mary also wanted to babysit, but she babysat James on our last visit, and Nesie was also very nearby to us. Katie actually walked him back before bedtime. James had such a good time there- he learned Uncle Chris's name, and counted up to 20 for the first time there!

Lunch in Hyannis

First mussels with Grandma

Grandma walking in Hyannis with her three boys

Huge Adirondack chair in Hyannis

Street art in Hyannis

Unbelievably, this was our 30th trip to the Cape since Kevin and I have been together, and James's 14th visit since he was born. Of course, Kevin grew up on the Cape, and even I used to visit with my family when I was younger, so we've actually been there a lot more than that. Our last visit to the Cape was just this April, and we're already planning our next trip. We love it and we love everyone there.

Casey's Accident 2013

On Friday morning I woke up to terrifying news. Jon told me he'd heard Casey had been in a car accident. It's been a very scary few weeks for our friends and it felt like another horrible thing was crashing down on us. Kevin was still sleeping when I heard so I tried to get as much information and contact Casey's wife Victoria before I woke him up to tell him anything. Since we couldn't really get any information, I waited until Kevin got up. I started with the most important part first. Casey was stable in the hospital and we were expecting him to recover.

Later we found out that he had been hit by a cab while he was riding his bicycle to the T on Thursday night. When he woke up he was in the ER at Mass General. When we first heard he was at Mass General we worried that he was there because he'd been sent there for serious injuries because it's one of the best hospitals in the area. It turned out that the accident had taken place near Mass General so they were able to rush him there easily. His wife Victoria and his two kids live some distance outside of Boston so it took some time for Victoria to get there and see exactly what was happening.

 

Casey and his family near their home in Massachusetts

Casey is home recovering with his family. He still has a ways to go. I hope he knows how very loved he is by all of his friends and family.

There is this terrible feeling when you find out that you have suddenly lost someone you care about, or that you might lose someone you care about. Not just the pain and the horror, but also the regret. You wish you had seen them more, told them more how much you cared, loved them even better than you did. Over the years that follow, I will endeavor to do those things. If we're lucky we won't have to be reminded of loss for many years to come.

Update: The Boston Police report says that the head coach of the Boston Bruins Claude Julien witnessed the accident, called for help, and stayed with Casey until the ambulance arrived. How amazing! Thank you for saving our friend, coach!

Boston Bruins v. NY Rangers 2010

We recently went to a ice hockey game in Madison Square Gardens, making this the third time in a few months that I've been after never having gone before. So that's a country music concert with Brian, a Celtics game with Kevin's large crew, and Bruins. All three times I have been extremely stressed about work while trying to enjoy myself. Also we lost (BOS 2 @ NYR 3) But the Garden is awesome no matter what.

Me and Kevin and Madison Square Garden

Also I heart ice hockey. I can definitely enlist myself to the one Boston team that Kevin does not follow. Between the two of us we can now cover all the bases (goal posts?).

Bruins v. Rangers