July in Lowell

As I write, fire works are being set off (illegally) all over the city.  It is crazy all over our neighborhood; it seems that every house here on the hill has apparently been issued a considerable array of fiery, boom-making exploding devices.  We're *very* close to New Hampshire, where fireworks are legal and plentiful ("live free or die," and all that), so people really seem to go a bit crazy around this time of year (and really for a considerable portion of July).  Combined with the alcohol consumption that's going on at the fireworks-setting gatherings, it's pretty clear that it's not a good night to take a stroll through the neighborhood.  Yikes!  So I'm staying in to do a quick July blog update.

So far, July has been quite lovely.  We had a fun little gathering (a.k.a. cocktail party) for Jake's Birthday (well, technically, I guess that was June 30th).  We spent today -- the 4th -- in Sudbury with Paul & Kathy at the big parade.  It was hot and sweaty, but Lucy thoroughly enjoyed collecting candy. 

Yesterday, we went to to see our favorite local baseball team, The Lowell Spinners.  Now Spinners games are always a great time, but we chose this particular game because of its quite exciting theme: Harry Potter night.  Yup.  Baseball and Harry Potter -- they go together like....Huffle Puffs and Slitherings, right? 

The pre-game entertainment was an actual quidditch match, pitting the Emerson College team against the Boston University team.  Do you think I'm kidding?  I'm not.  Here's the scoreboard at the park:

Unfortunately, they were playing in the outfield, rather far from our seats, so I didn't get any great shots of the teams in action.  But, Lucy and Jake got to take a little trip on the Hogwarts Express:

Do you see them in there, next-to-last car?  Look:

Someone's delighted.

Anyway, the whole thing was pretty great Harry Potter-themed fun.  We left (the baseball game, not the quidditch match) after 7 innings, with a score of 0 - 0.  Turns out, we missed all the action, as the final score was Spinners 2 vs Tri City Valley Cats with 7.  SEVEN?  Wow.  Oh well.

Here we are together at the game:

(I'm holding the camera, so I look all weird here.)

The photographer there also took our photo, which you can see here: http://lowellspinners.smugmug.com/2012LowellSpinners/July-3-vs-Tri-City/B-Fan-Photos/23957139_qGVHCw#!i=1944393765&k=FpWMNK2

Next up: visit from Ma & Pa, then our southerly trip to Grandma, the beach, Uncle Brendan/Aunt Jennifer/Luke, and who knows who else.....Cheers!