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):

Trip to McLean VA

Last week, I traveled to NoVA for work. It was a three-day, two-night trip, which was too long to be away from Elliot. So Ed and Elliot both came along. (Ed is so awesome. Elliot and I are very lucky.) I was pretty nervous about the trip logistics, but everything went well. We were able to avoid checking luggage and had no trouble installing our car seat (which arrived safe and sound thanks to the fancy traveling bag we bought) in the rental car.

I managed to get a room at per diem at the Ritz-Carlton, so Ed joked with his friends that he was going to be my trophy wife for a few days. The room was, of course, lovely, and we were provided with a crib, fridge, and baby gift bag free of charge. (The gift bag included a diaper, bandaids, a small stuffed cat, a tub spout cover, and a bunch of other first aid/baby care items. Very thoughtful!)

Here, Elliot talks about his first airplane flight.



Brad and Fiona had us over for dinner and Elliot got to hang out with their two lovely kids.



Fist bump!



Ed, Elliot, Fiona, and Clare went to the Air and Space Museum annex at Dulles (the Udvar-Hazy Center). Ed was very excited about showing Elliot his first SR-71 and space shuttle, but of course Elliot slept through the whole thing.







Afterwards, Elliot enjoyed a luxurious lunch at the Ritz. Note the space shuttle jammies, which Ed wanted to make sure Elliot wore to the museum. We own these in 3 sizes. :)



We were so happy to be able to meet up with Ed's college friends Yvette and Dorian and their two sons, Cyrus and August. We hadn't seen them since the last college reunion when Yvette was very pregnant with August.



The flight back wasn't too bad, even though we flew at the "snitting hour" (as my friend Heather calls it -- right around 6 pm). We had the loveliest TSA employee help us out at security, as our enormous car seat would only go through the scanner if it was out of the bag and reclined at a 45-degree angle. He followed us through the checkpoint and gave us tips for future trips with the car seat.

So, everything went well, but between my meetings, having dinner with friends, catching up on work late at night, and traveling with a baby, we were pretty exhausted when we got home and had just one day to recover before our swim meet.

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.

Cape Cod bike trip

Last Friday, Ed rode with his friends Allison and Adam from Watertown to Plymouth on the first day of the trip. Here they are near Plymouth after riding through a tremendous downpour.



Allison is underwhelmed by Plymouth Rock.



I joined them in Plymouth the night before day 2 (Plymouth to Brewster). We were overwhelmed by the extensive breakfast menu at Persy's before we started riding.



Starting day 2. Anjuli took the train from Boston and joined us.



Crossing over the Sagamore Bridge to the Cape.



Sadly, this jersey doesn't really fit anymore.



Along the Cape Cod Canal.



Cape Cod Airport. Not too long after this, we got to Barnstable, where we had ice cream. Adam, Allison, and Anjuli continued on to Brewster, where they were camping. (They rode on day 3 from Brewster to Provincetown.) Ed and I turned around and headed back to Plymouth.