Meet the newest member of the family!

This is Flame:

He's a Betta fish, like his predecessor, Norbert. 

Lucy received her Aquafarm for Christmas from Santa, but we only got around to putting the whole thing together recently.  Flame is a farmer:

He provides nutrients to some plants up above (at the moment, wheatgrass and radish sprouts) and they, in turn, clean the water for him.  Impressive work, little fish-farmer!

Lucy wrote a nice piece about him for school:

We are pleased to have Flame as a member of the 83 Durant Family!

Happy Father's Day

Here's what Lucy wrote in school about her Dad:

Nice, eh?

Happy Father's day!

HubBub!

We just spent an amazing day at the HubBub in Boston.  It was the first (and we hope not last!) Boston Book Festival for Children!  Our main motivator was that we wanted to see one of our very favorite authors, Mo Willems!

And we did! He started out his reading (to a packed house!) by telling everyone that they should take their photos, and he posed in appropriate ways:

And then he insisted that EVERYONE put away cameras and have their hands free. It was awesome.  He said we were all there to experience the event, not document it.  It was delightful!  He read from Pigeon Needs a Bath, answers questions from the audience, read from I will Take a Nap (the latest in the Elephant & Piggie series) and was entirely delightful and wonderful the whole time.

And then, he ran to the back of the room and signed books!!!!

Here we are, having Mo Willems sign our copy of Hooray for Amanda her Alligator.

And yes, by the way, we DID dig deep into the Mo Willems catalog to get that one.  While all the other kids had their Pigeon and Elephant & Piggie books, I believe we impressed as being very committed Willems fans. He was lovely and excellent.  And now we have his signature and a doodle in our copy!

BUT WAIT -- that's not all!  The day continued with an all-day fest at Copley Place, featuring various literary characters, children's book publishers, workshops, puppet presentations, musical acts, storytelling, and just all around awesome-ness.  There were crafts, including those inspired by Willems:

We even found out the answer to life's age-old question: Where's Waldo?

Answer: OMG, he's RIGHT BEHIND YOU!!!!

We did the treasure hunt, which included getting stamps from various tents/groups that had exhibits and activities. So Lucy made a lightsaber at Einstein's Workshop, and even more exciting, she participated in the Build-a-Lair workshop at 826 Boston. Yes, she built a lair. 

Lucy took part in a photography contest (we'll keep you posted on the results!), made a parachute that she tested in a wind tunnel, and got to listen to the School of Rock band.  It was all incredibly awesome, and we can't wait to do it again next year!

Happy Anniversary!

Ten years ago today, Jake and Bridget got married.  Don't we look dapper here:

Are you thinking to yourself, "huh, I don't remember that wedding"?  That's probably because we didn't invite you.  Or anyone.  At all.  Sorry!

Due to multiple computer updates and moves, we've had trouble locating some of our photos, but I found a few:

This morning Lucy took a picture of us:

Aside from Jake's decidedly less formal dress (and more developed facial hair), we pretty much look exactly the same.  HA!

We also made this silly video back then, using our rather crude tools:

Someday, we will throw a great big party and invite all of you.  For now, we hope we get to see you in the coming year to celebrate.....whatever you'd like to celebrate.  We feel very lucky to have each other, our families, and our friends, and it has been a wonderful 10 years. 

Apparently the 10 year anniversary traditional gift is "tin/aluminum."  Seriously?  I guess it's time to break out the aluminum foil and decorate. Or maybe we'll raid the recycling bin and go redeem our empties?  So many options.  Tin/aluminum Anniversary: I know! We need a periodic table of the elements!

Did we mention the pool?

Last summer, we got a big pool for the backyard, but I don't think we really used it much.  Jake and Lucy decided to improve on it this year by getting started early.  Last weekend, just before all the rain came, they relocated the swingset, dug out a flat area in the backyard, and set up the pool.  Yesterday, Lucy had a chance to use it, despite the fact that it was only maybe 70 degrees out.  She went prepared in her new wetsuit:

And it worked out great:

Yes, she is trying to squirt the photographer.  Alice went kinda nuts and tore around the yard (I regret that I did not get photos or video, but it was more important to watch what was happening).  She is very pleased that there is a large pile of dirt, apparently set up just for her to dig in.

Here's the full situation in the yard (yes, it still needs some work):

It was a fun time, and exhausted everyone, as pictured here:

And then Lucy got dressed up for guests:

Yes, that is my dress she's wearing, a little vintage number from sometime in the early 1980s.  It was a good time.

More updates soon, I hope!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Field Trip Day!

Lucy and I are going on a field trip to the Swan Boats today!  The day started with Lucy waking up in tears, believing that we had all overslept and she was going to miss her field trip.  It was 6:50 am.  She has to be at school at 9:10.  We are not going to be late.

More updates from Boston later!

Here are the girls first thing on the bus:

And here's the whole crazy class:

 The swan boats were lovely and we had simply marvelous weather. 

We had a nice walk to the playground and also to the Make Way for Ducklings statue, and then had a picnic. And then it was back to the bus!  But wow, what a great field trip!  Let's do it again next Friday! (Zoo Trip!)

various updates, somehow related

1.  We're getting a new washing machine. Should be delivered Friday.  Fingers crossed.  Until then, our clothes are kinda dirty.  Sorry if we smell.

2.  Also Friday: Lucy's class field trip to the Swan Boats in Boston!  She's very excited.  I'm serving as a chaperone.  Any advice?

3.  Alice has an ear infection. We have a new regime of 10 day of ear washes and ear drops twice a day.  FUN!  Not really. She's mostly compliant, and given her motivation re: treats, it's going pretty well so far.  You may recall that Lucy had a lot of ear infections.  So frequent, in fact, that we began to document them, like with this fabulous video: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeb/3026867905/in/photolist-5BAD4m-5BtunF
Alice also seems to be in good spirits and does not seem to be affected much by the situation.

4. I took Alice on a walk today.  We were walking along at the Reservoir.  She ran for some birds.  I attempted to run, too. I am not sure exactly what happened, but I ended up on the ground.  I held onto the leash, but hurt my left ankle.  I laid there for a while, with Alice coming up to lick me.  I got some assistance from a neighborhood lady.  A man tried to help, too, but Alice's bark kept him away.  We got a ride home and I've been doing the ice/elevate thing.  So far, I think it's just a bit twisted.  We'll see how it's doing in the morning.  Hopefully it won't affect my ability to go to the swan boats!

5.  Further Reservoir update: for the past little while, we've been marveling at a charming family of ducks who have made their home at the Res (as we call it).  There was mama, a papa, and 11 duckings!  Totally adorable!  Over a couple of weeks, they were whittled down to 9 ducklings (not sure what happened to those other two,  but apparently this is a pretty good survival rate).  We stop in almost once a day on our regular dog walks to see them.  They've been growing up, getting more and more adorable, doing awesome diving tricks and following their mom about.

On Monday, we took Lucy for a brief walk after school (it had been raining all day and we were glad to have a moment of merely misting to get out and about).  We were AMAZED to see the ducklings following their mom, not around the pond, but walking down the street.  In fact, we followed at a safe distance, watching them cross streets and get from the Reservoir, then cruising down Bennett street, hopping into some backyards and popping out on Vernon street, and then just walking across Third Street, around the gazebo park.  We were so excited.  We tried to continue following, but somehow they gave us the slip (likely into a backyard?) so we gave up and came home.

BUT a few hours later, Jake drove downtown to pick up Alice from the Social Pup, and he spotted the duck family again!  It was awesome!  They made it all the way down to First Street and ended up in a parking lot of a business there.  They even got traffic to stop so that they could cross the VFW Highway so that they could get to what we presume was their intended destination: the mighty Merrimack River!  Here's their path (roughly, as google doesn't have a "duck path" option):

I hope to be able to add some video from Jake soon, because it is ridiculously adorable.  Make way for duckings, indeed!  And hey, on Friday, Lucy's class will be visiting the Make Way for Ducklings sculpture!  Serendipity indeed!

Goodbye, washing machine

The dude came today and gave us the news: our washing machine is dead.  So long, washing machine.  I remember when we first got you, and you looked like this.  That was in 2006, when we were all a little younger and we blogged more frequently. 

Time to go shopping.  Stay tuned.

Washing Machine, aka Hal.  2006 - 2015  RIP.