Marlborough Tri

The same weekend we went to Rialto, Ed competed in his first triathlon of the season. He won his age group!



Three generations celebrating. :)

Backyard fun

Every time Ed tried to turn the water off, Elliot said (and signed, for additional emphasis), "More, more!"

Biking, grilling, eating

Elliot and I attended a reception for Team Rialto at Ride Studio Cafe in May. The event included a raffle to raise money for the Pan Mass Challenge, and I was lucky enough to win a copy of a cookbook by Jody Adams, the chef/owner of Rialto, and two spots at an upcoming cooking class. Elliot's Grammie came from CT to spend the day with him so Ed and I could attend the class. It was so fun -- Jody is a great teacher and the food was, of course, amazing.

We started the day with a short bike ride to the Cambridgeport Farmers Market.



Rialto kindly provided us with sparkling water, coffee, and scones to enjoy while at the farmers market.



There was no shortage of beautiful produce and flowers. Ed bought fruit and cheese to take home.









Jody picked out some fruits and veggies for the class members to enjoy later that afternoon.



Once we were back at Rialto, Jody and her sous chef, Cory (?), began demonstrating/preparing a meal of grilled summer vegetables with romesco sauce, grilled lobster with an avocado/tomato/corn salad, and grilled fruit with summer sorbet.



I'm not much of a cook and so was relying on Ed to listen to the lesson while I snapped photos (around 300 for the day!). But one thing I learned is that everything tastes better with olive oil and salt.



Peppers on the grill.



Did I already mention that olive oil makes everything taste better?



The grilled veggies:



The lobster:



The dessert:



Thank you so much to Rialto and Ride Studio Cafe for this great raffle prize. Ed and I had a great time. It's been a while since we've gotten to go out for a classy meal without Elliot and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Waffle 'cross!

Waffle 'cross is back! Hup United had it's 'cross kickoff the Sunday before last. Yes, 'cross season is still a long ways off. But we like to ride 'cross bikes early and often.

Here's our route (just the part from Ride Studio Cafe and back).

So many Hupsters!



Sweet trails in Concord.



Heading into trails in Lexington.



Mud!



Happy Hupsters.



Après-ride at Ride Studio Cafe.



Plans are already afoot for the next one...

Ed's birthday

We celebrated Ed's birthday a few weeks ago with our friends, Rach, Josh, and their son Elijah. Rachel made a super yummy dinner and baked a tremendous chocolate cake in the only bundt pan she owns. :)

Trikes

In early June, Elliot enjoyed "riding" his trike near Horn Pond with his calabash cousin, Elijah. So fun.

Reunion

I'm so behind with everything right now. Will try to quickly catch up with blog posts...

We spent part of Memorial Day Weekend at Yale for Ed's reunion. We had a great time catching up (him) and meeting new people (me). We stayed in a dorm (not so bad, really) and Elliot enjoyed playing with the other toddlers at Camp Bulldog. And I do love returning to New Haven, of which I have very fond memories from when Ed and I first met and, 2 years later, started dating.

Carillon tour and private concert:



Drinking cups and singing at Mory's:





Yeah. This basically could not be any different from my experience at a large, cheap, commuter state school.

Ed singing "Bright College Years" with some of his closest college friends:



People hanging out after the class dinner (I was testing out my new portable DSLR tripod):

Father's Day

I'm so happy to be celebrating Father's Day today with Ed! Here are my guys dressed up for Ed's cousin's wedding yesterday.

Big House Project: Part 10

We're now at the point where our contractor has just a few small jobs left before we have the town inspect everything and Ed can start on the interior finishing.

As a reminder, this is still what the addition looks like from the front:



Our contractor has changed out the doors on the addition, giving us a clearer view of the backyard. We've started to envision what might go in this space. We're thinking about a bench (possibly built-in) along the wall that faces the front, a small couch facing the fireplace (you can see the bumpout in the left of this photo), and two long, skinny tables along the back wall where we can drink coffee and/or eat breakfast while looking out over the deck and backyard. We're trying to maximize the available seating. Once Ed has cut a wide doorway from the addition to our kitchen, this will be a lovely space to hang out with friends.



The post covers are on and the railings and balusters are waiting to be installed. Unfortunately one small part was not correct and should be in next week, when the railings should be done. The three stairways from the deck and addition are also almost done.





We're also thinking of adding a patio in the backyard once the deck and addition are done, with some more seating and a small fire pit.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day rocked. We slept in (we all had minor colds and I was coughing quite a bit, so I skipped the group ride I had planned to attend). Then we took Elliot out for his first ride in the trailer. This is a Chariot Cougar that Ed has been taking Elliot out running in for over a year, so Elliot got really excited and pre-boarded before we had even changed into our bike clothes.

Our first stop was the bike shop.





Then we stopped for yummy sandwiches and coffee at True North. It is far cooler than that awful web site would lead you to believe.



Our final stop was the park near our house. I'm sure none of the other people there thought it was weird that we were playing with Elliot while wearing lycra and bike shoes.





Inspired by this article in Real Simple, I got some nice stitch-bound sketchbooks for Elliot to fill over the years for us. Here's the first page of my "mom book."





My first thought: Wow, this is the best thing ever!! My second thought: How will I ever match this for Father's Day?

Big House Project: Part 9

At the end of April, Ed hired a stone mason (the same one that dug and poured the footings for our sun room/deck) to redo our front steps. They were concrete and were just a little lopsided, with a small platform that would make it difficult to install railings to bring it up to code.



First, the crew jackhammered away part of the original steps. (And prior to this, David's crew had finished up their remaining tasks, including putting up the shutters. The porta-potty and dumpster were removed. It took me two days to notice.)



Then they put in New England fieldstone and bluestone treads.





Mortar.



It makes a huge difference, but it will be easier to see the overall effect once the columns. railings, new front door, and storm door have been installed (probably by Ed).



Everything takes longer than planned, which my project manager experience has taught me to expect. :) In the meantime, our fireplace bumpout is proving to be an excellent place to store Elliot's stroller and tricycle.



(That adorable little Adirondack chair was something Ed found in someone's trash while he was out running when I was pregnant. The previous owners painted "Edward" on it.)