fun weekend

We just got home from a whirlwind trip to Boston and then Wareham, MA. In Boston, we showed Elisabeth (and a sleeping Charlotte) a few of the MIT sites, including Baker House where I lived. Elisabeth thought it was pretty neat, but for the most part all she wanted to do was play tennis. "This is where Mommy lived for four years, Elisabeth." "Oh. Daddy? Will you take me to play tennis now?" Now that's enthusiasm.

Then we went to see my dear friend Becky and her family. I lived with Becky at Baker for 2 years (and despite that fact, we're still great friends...). I hadn't ever met her 20 month old little girl, Lily - which is shameful - and I was so excited to pinch the cheeks I had been seeing in pictures for the past 20 months. I was also very excited to see her condo because, well, for some number of years now I've heard a lot of things about it. I mean, I think it says a lot about my IM habits when I can go through her condo - that I've never been in - and tell you details about the things that went into the decisions about paint colors, furniture, mirrors, light fixtures, deck furniture, etc. It is a beautiful condo and such a fun area.

Then we drove down to Wareham, MA (which is on Buzzards Bay) for Adam and Alicia's wedding. Elisabeth had been prepping for this for months, practicing all of her "dance moves" in the house. She was ecstatic to have students willing to learn her dance moves. Almost immediately upon arrival, Elisabeth taught "Owl-ex" all of the moves she had filed away in her brain. Then later that evening, she made him put on a recital at the rehearsal dinner. He, in a rare showing of good sense, convinced her that they could dance somewhere other than the dance floor.

That very same day, Saturday, Charlotte took her first steps!!! She stood there, holding on to the coffee table, with a very different look in her eyes. We surmise that she watched Lily earlier in the day and decided her time had come. Her personal best is 5 steps in a row, and since Saturday, her interest in walking has plummeted. But, we have a repeatable 4 steps which I think counts.

On Sunday, we had Becky, Gordon, Lily, Mia, Mike, Jen, Jeff and Nathan over to the house where we were staying and Becky made something called Dutch Babies. I think it sounds sick and wrong to say things like "hey, throw the Dutch Babies in the oven, " and "can we eat the Dutch Babies?" but I learned long ago that people from Fall River have funny sayings and so I don't ask. Dutch Babies are a sort of oven pancake and you put fruit or syrup or sugar or, Gordon and I think you could put things like flank steak, sausages, cheese, etc on them. It was really great to sit around a table with wonderful friends.

Later Sunday was the wedding, in perhaps the most beautiful location you could get for a wedding - overlooking the bay. After the ceremony, there was the reception. Elisabeth had the time of her life, dragging Jesse, Alex, and Amanda out on to the dance floor and making them twirl and do the marching dance.

Let's just say that 2 late nights + travel + sleeping in a different place than usual = crabby children and crabby crabby Mommy. That said, I was sad to leave. I definitely would have enjoyed staying a few more days.

But alas, I don't have any vacation days yet. I'm a working girl, now, so back to it I go. You will all be very happy to know that I did not embarass myself in court at all this past week. Sure, sure, there may have been an angry missive mailed to a higher up, it may have been about me. But its ok. The author is lacking in credibility. And it provided a good laugh for everyone involved. It took me a little while longer to laugh, but I'm laughing now.

I'm adjusting to this working thing, and I think that with every day I get a little faster with my job. Pretty soon I'll be working 9-4:30 and I'll be much much happier. And maybe post a few more blog entries. As it stands, I keep mental notes of blog posts to write. And, it turns out that with all of the other stresses going on in my life right now - the mental notes aren't worth the price of the paper they're written on. So somewhere in the depths of my brain, I have a wealth of hilarious stories to tell you. Maybe one day they'll emerge!