they make target fun

my favorite

 since i would have to pay out-of-state for the ceramics class i've been trying to take for years, luke and i came up with an "education stipend" for me to use last semester.  i took a soap making class, and when i saw that my most favorite pizzeria had a cooking class, i signed up for it too. 

 

we met at pizzicletta and learned how the owner had traveled by bike all around italy, and became passionate about pizza making in wood fired ovens there and upon his return.  he showed us his dough recipe and how to make gelato.  we sampled several types of wine.  then, he sat us down at the table and said "ok, now we will work our way through the menu".   i thought i must have misheard, but, no: he brought out one pizza after another after another until we'd tried them all, several times.  margherita and kale and lemon and marscarpone and prosciutto.  you guys, i came home with a serious pizza-heaven-high, and i fell on the bed where luke was laying and said "this was one of the best food nights of my life". 

boston, our last day

 mateo is really into rainbows these days so of course he loved the elevator of our hotel. i took a photo to remember the craziness that ensued each time he spotted it.

 we walked to the area of the children's museum and i took a photo of the image i'd seen in so many windows for so many days.  :)

our first stop was flour bakery, which i'd heard so much about.  it was amazing.  it had unreal pastries and coffee and the bakers were super friendly and it felt like home.  home for people passionate about baking.  i want to go back.

ruby slept, mateo enjoyed.

next we went to the children's museum which of course was a total hit.  these pipes to crawl through and chase each other were one of their favorites.

 this bench, in the middle of crawl spaces and aquariums and toy houses and train tables, was ruby's absolute favorite.  she just wanted to sit and relish a piece of furniture just her size.

these two, with the city behind.

 

we left for lunch and i tried to take a photo of the three of us before crossing the river.  i like how it turned out.

we met luke for lunch at new saigon for bahn mi sandwiches in honor of our sister in law ashlei.

 

luke has a lot of family in the area and we'd planned to meet them all for dinner on our last night.  it was up to us to choose the restaurant and we'd heard a lot about pizzeria regina, but so much that we were afraid we might be asking all these locals to meet us at a tourist trap.  luckily that was not the case!  turns out it was a favorite and is our new favorite.

 

but more importantly, it was so, so great seeing his uncle and aunt and cousins and having dinner and catching up in the short time we had with them.  it is always so good seeing them, and like my family, always too long before we see them again.

we loved boston and the people in it and the food in it and the beautiful parks and buildings and culture and history.  we want to go back!

boston day 3

 

our third boston day was so much fun, because my family met us in the city!  we met my aunt and uncle and cousins in front of the aquarium and had a great time touring around the seahorses and sting rays and penguins. 

 

i took a lot of photos of the kids and our family in front of various sea creatures but the are a mess of blur so i will spare you them here.  this one of my dear sweet cousins helping ruby touch the water was the only one that came out.

luke met up with us and we walked and ate at quincy market.  i made a mistake getting the seafood macaroni and cheese...

la familia, in boston!

luke had to leave us for his conference again, so naturally, we walked over to the north end and found ourselves, again, at mike's pastry.

we got cupcakes and cannolis and coffee and split everything.  soon it was time for them to head home so we walked them to their car where they had homemade cookies for us, a phone for ruby, and a bus for mateo.  mateo and ruby were already in cousin heaven but at that moment they were beyond - beyond.  we were all sad saying goodbye, since it is always too long since we see that part of our family.

 thanks to the new, exciting toys buying me time, i walked through downtown toward our hotel and "just happened" to pass by h&m.  the little ones were happy so i was happy and shopped around to my heart's content.  :)

later we went to dinner by ourselves because luke was still occupied,  and as i began pushing the stroller back through the completely deserted and dark downtown of a sunday night i had my first bit of doubt that i maybe shouldn't be on my own, mostly because how could i ever defend myself (ourselves) with a child on my back on one strapped in a stroller.  i said a quick prayer and turned onto the street of our hotel and saw that it was lit up with construction crews for 6 blocks straight - right up to the door of our hotel.  i want to remember that part.

boston, day 2

luke was in conference-world all day on saturday, so i was on my own with these little ones.  i had a bit of anxiety about traveling alone with them, i guess because i had so much i wanted to do and see in boston and because i wanted to find a nice balance of things for them and things for me and then of course there was the simple fact that there are two of them and just one of me.  so i went into it knowing i would have to be flexible and might not see everything, and i made the decision that their naps would be on the move so we wouldn't be stuck in the hotel for hours each day.  we brought the bob stroller with us which felt huge in a city but was my total vehicle and saved me by holding kids and cameras and snacks and sweaters.  ruby slept a lot on my back, and i ended up having a lot of photos like the one above, where i would take a picture to check if she was asleep or not (in this case, not).

  

we started the day walking around smelling the blossoms and trying to find a place downtown to eat that wasn't a chain restaurant.  we couldn't find a local spot, so we went to mateo's old favorite place in michigan, panera.  we don't have it in arizona and he was super excited.  i get anxious about eating at chain restaurants when i know there must be amazing local options around, but this was a good compromise.

 

 after breakfast we walked straight to the skywalk observatory, 52 floors above boston, which was completely empty except for us.  ruby slept and mateo and i had fun finding fenway park and our hotel and watching boats in the water and planes in the air.  then he spotted a photobooth and we took a few strips of photos.

 

ruby woke up soon after and seemed to have a great time although i'm not sure she ever noticed the amazing views of the city outside the window.  

  

the observatory building was connected to luke's conference area so we met him and an old michigan friend for lunch at a really great asian-latino fusion restaurant.

 

 after lunch we said goodbye to the conference guys and headed to the boston museum of fine arts.  here is mateo above, demonstrating his new learned-in-boston skill of making the lights change for us before we crossed over to the museum.

 

i was a bit panic-y about these two in the museum.  going to an art museum is one of my most favorite things to do and this one was open for maybe 3 more hours and neither mateo or ruby wanted to nap.  instead they wanted to crawl and walk and fuss and touch.  i tried to keep them still and semi-quiet which worked for a small amount of time.

 

i took several photos of our favorite pieces to show luke, since he couldn't be there.  this miro made me nostalgic for barcelona.

 

ruby's first picasso (she is not too happy to be strapped in).  mateo's first picasso was the old guitarist on our chicago trip.

mateo decided that this painting was his favorite.  

then he searched each painting hoping to find one of a rainbow.

 eventually i gave up on trying to push them into museum moods and let them play in the indoor courtyard.  i will admit my heart was beating a little faster than usual since time was flying by and we'd seen maybe just a quarter of the art i'd hoped to see but (!) thanks to God this play time tired them out and soon i had two sleepers on my back and in the stroller, a coffee for me, and 1 more glorious hour of the museum open just for myself. 

this one i thought luke might like.

 this eames through-the-years room was really interesting.

 this part made me think of my sister in law ashlei.

this van gogh and amazing frame around it made me happy.

 so it ended up working out for the most part and i am so grateful for that hour of quiet time in that beautiful museum.  we were the last ones to leave that night (we were somewhat lost amongst the ruins of egypt until a guard helped us to the gift shop).  we walked back to where luke was finishing up, and then walked back through the city to chinatown where we had pho and fried rice and garlic chicken.  i like how every day of our travels ends with me sharing the giant meal we had.  :)

boston, the beginning

 

this spring luke had a conference in boston.  we've stayed home during several of his midwest conferences waiting for a more exciting place for all of us to visit together.  this was it.  it was ruby's first flight (she has been more of a mega road tripper in her little life), and our first flight with two babies.  it went well, thanks to mateo having his own seat and all of us being together.  we've both visited boston in the past but this was our first time to really dig in and we had the best time.

 

we had pricelined a hotel (we are a little crazy about the excitement of bidding really cheaply and not knowing what you will get) and got the back bay hotel - it was right in the middle of everywhere we wanted to be and in a historic old building that used to be the police station.  we arrived to a room with chilled champagne and truffles and a card that said "happy birthday karen!, love mom".  the hotel said we should just enjoy their mix-up, so we did!

 

the next morning luke got up early with the mateo and walked to the boston public library down the street.  he got there just in time for story time (ha!) and said it was really great and really huge and funny because instead of the classic "go sit with your mother/father" commands, there was a lot of "go sit with your nannies" which is a bit different from story time in flagstaff.  ruby and i got ready and we all toured the library together.  it was, of course, classic and gorgeous and we could have spent all day there.  we went to a room with an exhibit on maps and a friend told us not to miss the secret elevator and the room with the miniature rooms, both which were great.

this first day in boston was luke's only day with us so we decided to walk the freedom trail together.  we passed beautiful historic buildings, old massacre sights, cemeteries, little flower stands and newspaper corners.

 

(and pretty boot window displays)

 

we walked through the common and the public garden and saw the classic willows blowing with the musicians playing below.

 

we explored old cemeteries and laughed when we decided to rest for a few minutes and then looked down and saw paul revere's grave at our feet.

we had argentinian sandwiches for lunch, got fruit at a farmers market, and we stopped at a park where mateo and ruby could finally stretch and be silly.

 

they created this game where they would crawl to the middle of the sidewalk when it was empty, wait for the street lights to change so the masses of people would be almost on top of them, and then they would make a mad dash laughing and screaming to get out of the way.

 

we followed the trail to the north end where we fulfilled our touristing duty to eat giant cannolis and espressos.

 (we may or may not have come back here a few times during our trip)

 we visited quiet memorial gardens

and old brick churches where mateo practiced his new winning smile.

just as they were getting crazy and tired and hungry we finished the freedom trail on top of bunker hill, where we could look back and see the city we had just toured in the distance and beautiful homes all around us.

we both kept thinking about how different this day felt for us- exploring the history of the united states - something we always do when traveling or living abroad, but something we haven't done much here.

  we played awhile in the grass and watched the sun set and then went straight back to the italian north end to eat fresh homemade pasta and drink italian wine.