Elliot

We welcomed our little boy today! His name is Elliot. He arrived at 7:23 this morning, weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz and 19.5 inches long. We're really enjoying getting to know him today. :)

Thankful

I'm thankful for an uneventful pregnancy and access to excellent pre-natal care. I'm thankful for how our little guy has been showered with love and affection (and mountains of gear) before he's even arrived.

I'm thankful for snuggly and/or entertaining pets.

I'm thankful that we ordered our Thanksgiving meal from Whole Foods and now we (Ed, Brad, Kris) can all relax instead of cooking.

I'm thankful for Minuteman Masters Swimming, without which I would be pretty out-of-shape (and even more grumpy) right now. I barely feel pregnant when I'm in the pool. However, riding a bike (even on the trainer) has been a no-go for weeks.

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband, family, friends, and colleagues. And I'm thankful for Facebook and blogs, which help me keep track of what they're all up to. :)

I hope you're all having an excellent Thanksgiving!

Congratulations, Robin and Cyndi!

My good friend Robin (with whom I worked closely for many years) and his girlfriend of 23 years, Cyndi, tied the knot on Oct. 31. We're absolutely thrilled for them! I saw some photos from the event and Robin's vintage fedora was quite excellent.

Bev (who has known Robin since college) organized a celebration today. Ed and I joined Bev, Robin, Cyndi, and Jennifer for an afternoon of indulgence at the Chocolate Bar (Langham Hotel, Boston). I think I must have sampled a couple dozen desserts. The cinnamon sugar beignets were my favorite, as they were reminiscent of Hawaii-style malasadas. A great time was had by all!



Later, Ed and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items. The smell of sugar near the bakery made me feel just a little sick. :)

Visitors!

My dad and his girlfriend Sherry visited last week. We had several gorgeous days of sightseeing. It was a super fun visit. :)

On Sunday (10/25), we went for a nice walk on Battle Road in Minuteman National Historical Park. My dad took this photo:



Ed and I played around with our newish camera and took these:









I love the way this photo came out:



The next day, Kris and I took my dad and Sherry along the Freedom Trail. These photos are his.





Kris accompanied Dad and Sherry on a trip to Maine, which roughly followed the tandem ride Ed and I did earlier in October.



On the last day, Ed made us dinner. Here he is doing his best Swedish Chef impression.



We can't wait to have Dad and Sherry visit again! My dad will be back sometime after the little guy shows up. I hope we have an unseasonably warm January for his sake.

The cat tree

This is cute! And very unusual. Betty and Lola usually hang out farther apart from each other.



Whereas this... this is a crime against nature.

Anniversary trip

Last weekend we celebrated our anniversary with a belated trip up north. I would have loved to go to Acadia, but I can't sit in a car for that long now. So we went to Wells instead.

We started out with a stop for yummy cider donuts and pumpkin whoopie pie at Cider Hill Farm in Amesbury, MA. These goats were really hoping we would share with them.



Afterwards we went to the Southworth Planetarium at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. The projection of the night sky over Maine was stunning, but we both fell asleep briefly during the gas giants segment of "Eight Planets and Counting." :) Still totally worth the trip.

The next morning we woke up to high surf at Wells Beach, just steps from our hotel room.



Here's Ed hanging out on the deck near our room. Obviously this didn't last long.



We did our longest ride ever on the tandem, about 50 miles. We started at Wells Beach and took the coastal route up to Biddeford Pool, then came back inland. (The ride is the Southwest Coastal Challenge on pg. 136.) This stop was near the start of the Fireman Tri in Kennebunkport.



Captain.



Stoker.



We stopped at the Clam Shack in Kennebunkport, a local institution and a place Ed visited many times with his family on vacation. We refueled with clam strips, fries, clam chowder, and clam cakes. We resisted the whole fried clams, about which Ed said, "They fry up sea scavengers, and sell them for $40/pint... and people buy them."



We immensely enjoyed a belated anniversary dinner at Fore Street in Portland. Insanely good. Here we are about to enjoy the dessert sampler. Clockwise from pink splotch: concord grape sorbet, orange-vanilla creme brulee, dark chocolate torte w/caramel sauce, apple tartin with pear-rosemary sorbet, sweet corn ice cream, lemon-ginger pannacotta. Mmmm.



No trip to Wells is complete without a breakfast stop at the Maine Diner.



We walked on some lovely trails at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve.







We finished off our short vacation with a stop at Stonewall Kitchen in York for jam and pumpkin pie soda. Mmm. Then we filled up a couple of growlers with altbier and pumpkin ale at the Portsmouth Brewery before enjoying some lovely tea and popovers. We really enjoyed our last trip as a two-person family.

Chicago

Rachel and I had a fun girls' weekend in Chicago. We went out for our friend Virginia's post-wedding party and to do some sightseeing/hanging out.

On Saturday morning, we had brunch at Orange. Insanely good. We shared an autumnal omelet and an incredibly yummy flight of silver dollar pancakes. Being very light drinkers, we totally didn't get at first that a "flight" meant we got to sample all four kinds. :) We had pumpkin, apple w/marshmallow fluff, sweet potato-bourbon, and carrot-corn. Yum, yum, yum. Rachel called Josh from the restaurant just to gloat.



Of course we went to Cloud Gate (the bean) in Millennium Park.



Obligatory bean-distortion photo.



A nice couple wearing Tufts gear took this photo.



We saw some Scientology protesters downtown. I'm guessing these are the same people profiled in "The Assclown Offensive" in a recent issue of Wired.



The Chicago Tribune building was inspired by the Rouen Cathedral in France. We viewed many random chunks of other structures (e.g., a piece of Harvard, a piece of the Taj Mahal, a piece of the Kolner Dom) embedded in the walls.



Chicago-style deep-dish pizza at Pizzeria Due. We did not factor in the pizza's volume when we ordered the medium. Sigh. One of the toughest things about traveling is having to walk away from leftovers.



I helped Rach pick out a jadeite mixing bowl set for Virginia at P.O.S.H., a super cool vintage china store. After P.O.S.H. we got to check out Design Within Reach and Room & Board.



Here we are at Virginia and Craig's Wedding Afterparty. So fun! The food was so good. I had many pieces of cardamom coffee cake from the Swedish Bakery in Andersonville.



This is one of the coolest wedding gifts I've ever seen.



We hung out at the party with Rachel's childhood friend Cait and her husband Joel. Afterward we got to see their awesome downtown condo and pets. Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of Henry the dog, but check out those crazy whiskers on Frances the cat.



The Arlington House Hostel was excellent, very reminiscent of a college dorm. Though this is probably the last trip I'll take for which I'll bring a 1500 cu. in. backpack and stay in a hostel. :)



The Chicago Architecture Foundation's River Cruise was sooo good. Here's the full view of the Trib building.



More CAF River Cruise.



Sears Tower, um I mean the Willis Tower.



View from near the Navy Pier, looking back toward the city. We walked around on the Magnificent Mile after the cruise. The Chicago Marathon had just finished and we saw lots of skinny limping people in space blankets wandering around in the 35-degree weather.



The internets were right. The best view of Chicago is from the women's bathroom on the 96th floor of the John Hancock Center.



Shortly after I took this photo, a woman brought her husband into the women's bathroom because the men's bathroom has no view.



We had a super fun trip! But I am sick of airports. So I'm happy that there'll be no more travel... for now.