Thanksgiving in the Northeast

On November 22nd, we took our first family flight since the three of us flew back from China back when Lucy was a little baby in July of 2006. Those were the days...so young and carefree. We didn't know any better.



Who is that handsome man with all that hair?

On the flight out, we learned a few new things about our Little Peach. Michelle had purchased a special harness that was added to the seat belt to provide additional support for someone of Lucy's size. It also prevented us from having to lug the car seat on the plane, which was great.

Lesson #1: Lucy does not like to buckled in AT ALL. 'I can't move' she would say after some time (where some time could be a few minutes or a few hours), start to squirm, and then cry. And it always seemed to happen just as the captain (curse him!) had flashed the 'buckle up' seat belt sign. I learned to worry whenever that darn sign flashed into the 'on' position.

Lesson #2: Lucy really likes lollipops, and can usually be distracted by them into sitting belted in to her seat. This became less so on the way back, but it still worked to some degree.

So, we landed in Boston without too much difficulty, picked up our luggage, and went outside to wait diligently for our Hertz bus. Man, was it cold! Coldest weather of the season, they told us. Lucy, now the frozen peach popsicle, looked at Michelle and I and kept saying 'I'm cold'. It was obviously the coldest that she has ever been. We scrambled through our bags for mittens, hats, scarfs, whatever we could find to add sufficient layering, but nothing would do. The bus stop was far away from anything that resembled an inside waiting room, and, of course, our bus took forever to come. Meanwhile, it seemed that every other possible bus made at least 2 trips by, mocking us as we waited! Here is a photo of Michelle and Lucy from the next night, just before we went out to the North End. Brrrr!



That Saturday night was too cold to explore, so we stayed in and rested. On Sunday, we had brunch in Acton with old friends of mine from Coopers & Lybrand (Matthews, Cunninghams, Lucchettis and at least 2 kids per family) and dinner in the North End with a biz school friend of Michelle's (Phase and kids), both of which were lots of fun.

We drove down to Wareham on Monday and stayed with my parents through Saturday morning. While the three of us enjoyed our time there and the extra rest that we had (thanks Mom and Dad), no one had more fun than Lucy did. Whether it was making Grandma and Papa play all sorts of games at all hours of the day and night or Aunt Sharon (Pina) and the nieces, Lauren and Rachel, playing hide and seek over and over again, Lucy had constant playmates and had the time of her life (except maybe Disneyland). One morning, Lucy woke up at about 6AM, raised her head and said 'I'm going to find Grandma to play', and then ran out of the room. You go girl! Don't let us stop you. Wake up Grandma, she will love it! Michelle and I wished her well on her journey, asked her to close the door on the way out, and went back to bed. Ah, what a life, however short-lived it was.

Here is a photo of Lucy and the nieces.



And a photo of the Roberts family, sans the photographer, Michelle. And don't we look nice and .... cold! My Dad said it warmed up plenty from the first few days of the trip, and he was right. But going from 15 degrees to 35 degrees isn't my idea of warmer weather!



We spent Thanksgiving at the Pina houshold and ate a great meal. Good job, David, in cooking the bird. Then Lauren decided to play me in a driving game on the Wii. I would like to say that I taught her a thing or two about driving, seeing as I am 38 and she is soon to be 8, but, sadly it was not so. Way to go after the guy with one eye!



The day after Thanksgiving, we tried to feed Lucy to a horse that we met along the way. Woops! Did I say that out loud? Actually, we visited the Garde family, high school friends of mine who were decorating for the holidays and were kind enough to see us that morning.



Michelle and I also went to my 20 year high school reunion. Michelle was a good sport about going. As she said, it was kind of like a wedding, or maybe a prom, in that everyone spent their time either having photos taken or sitting around a large table waiting to be fed. Actually, the best part was meeting up with 8 or so friends beforehand to catch up. It was great to see everyone! Here is our pseudo-prom picture.



On Saturday, we drove to Mystic, CT to visit friends on Saturday and Sunday, some Michelle's (the Hall family) and some mine (the Wilcox family, the O'Donnell family). On Monday, we drove up to Melrose, north of Boston, to visit more friends. All of these visits were great. Here are a few pics:









We finally flew back home on Tuesday, December 2. We were exhausted from all the visits we had (and Michelle for all of the driving that she did), but grateful that we were able to see so many people.

I'll post again soon, mostly about doctor stuff. But that is all for now!