Boys' Trip to Boston 2016

Kevin went to Boston with his friends Casey, Jon, and Pete to see a Red Sox game. They had dugout seats so they were pretty excited. Kevin said the view was one of the best parts of the game. (The Red Sox lost.)

Pete, Kevin, Jon, Casey

They also spent some time in Swampscott with Casey both before and after the game. They ate out dinner there and stayed overnight there. In the morning, Casey gave them a tour of The Cabot Theater where he is the Executive Director.

Jon, Casey, and Kevin at Mission on the Bay


On stage at The Cabot


Tour of the Cabot

Writers' Retreat 2015

Kevin and Pete went back to Wellspring House, a writers' retreat, last weekend to work on their writing. Kevin has been working on his novel. For a long time. If you're desperate to know more, a small chapter "Brendan and the D" was published in the Natural Review, a literary journal in the Fall 2011 issue. But you'd have to get your hands on a physical copy to read it. (I blogged about it here if you want a tiny peek.)

Pete and Kevin going for a refreshing walk

Last year's visit to Wellspring House 2014

Writers' Retreat 2014

Kevin went to what I called a writers' camp, Wellspring House. It was his friend Pete's idea, who is also a writer, but I had to encourage and bless the expedition because we have a young baby at home and Kevin can be very selfless if you don't stop him. So off they went for writing, writing, and rewriting. He also got to enjoy nature walks and of course, dinner and drinks with Pete. As payment, I requested he take pictures for me. Here they are!

Pete and Kevin

The House

The Nature

The Novel (on the wall)

Visiting Pete, Adrienne, and Leni 2014

On Sunday, we headed back but made a stop at Pete and Adrienne's place. We saw Pete recently, but haven't seen Adrienne and Leni in a while, and none of them had met Miranda. We sipped wine on their porch, had dinner, and watched the kids play. A nice interlude from Miranda screaming on the highway!

Leni (tickling Miranda), Miranda, and Pete

James cracks me up in this one.

There's Adrienne!

Lots of stuff happening here.

James loved spending time with Leni. She's a little older than him, but he was happy to follow her lead in the playroom.

Dinner date!

Ballerinas and superheroes! Of course.

• Pete visited in January
• Pete, Adrienne, and Leni came to the Cape in 2012

Casey and Pete Visit 2014

We've had back-to-back visitors for a few weeks, ad the last two weekend we had Kevin's friends Casey and Pete visit. This meant a lot of partying for Kevin. Which taught him that he's too old to go out two consecutive nights in a row. This is something I learned a long time ago.

But both guys got to spend a lot of quality time with me and James too.

 

Casey trying to potty train James

 

Pete showing James photos of his daughter Lenny on his phone, 

and sending her funny face pics of James

Thanks for visiting, guys!

Pete and Adrienne Visit 2012

On Sunday, Pete and Adrienne came up from Providence to visit us on the Cape. We finally got to meet their little daughter Leonore ("Leni") who is 6 months older than James.  Kevin first met Pete while they were studying for their MFAs at the Iowa Creative Writers' Workshop. He's basically Kevin's one close friend from grad school.  We let James and Lenny get to know each other over lunch, and then we took everyone down to the salt water pond near the house. It's one of my favorite places in the world.  That's why I have too many photos below.

Our two families

Lenny approves of the pond

James is too busy building imaginary sand castles to make friends.

Pete and Kevin chatting while the ladies chase the kids.

Oh oh, Lenny is raining on James

Woah, this is what it's like to be 6' 8"

New buddies

After a fun afternoon in the sun we all headed to Great-grandma Ruth's for some of Grandma Kathy's meatballs. Always a family favorite. Thanks for visiting for the day, Cocos!

Aunt Denise, Lenny, Kevin James, and Choppers

Like James, Lenny enjoys iPhones.

Pete and Adrienne's Wedding 2007

Pete and Adrienne got married! Kevin and Pete became good friends when they attended Iowa Writers' Workshop together. This is the first wedding Kevin and I attended as a couple. We road-tripped from Charlottesville to Chicago (12 hours each way!) to see them get married at the very cool Architectural Artifacts Building in Chicago.

Adrienne and Pete right after they got married

They had a lovely ceremony with great nontraditional readings. The had a cocktail hour on the roof, and the reception inside with all the student artwork on display in both places.  They had a super awesome wedding favor: pins of their faces. We all wore them during the reception.

Friends playing music


Pete's family. For reference, Pete's Dad is 6 feet tall.


With some of Kevin's friends from grad school in 2007

Dance floor from above


Me and Kevin wearing our Pete and Adrienne pins