October to December 2013
Is this my worst yet? It is, isn’t it? While I’m not sure what happened to October, I can definitely say that the end of November, with Thanksgiving and our trip to Arizona, into December, with the shortest time possible between Thanksgiving and Christmas, kicked my butt. Alas, I promise to do better next month.
A brief summary of events:
– We danced like crazy at the CNS Family Dance party, which unfortunately was rained out and moved to St. John’s. We also went to the magician at St. John’s and Sebastien sat up front with Hannah for the whole show.
– We took a trip to Brooklyn and Manhattan in October, visiting the Museum of Natural History, having lunch at Sugar and Plumm with Jared and Margaret, climbing to the top of the Empire State Building with J&M and Ashlyn and Ben, touring the Prospect Park Zoo, having brunch with Antonella and Mike and visiting the Intrepid. It was a super fun (but also kind of intense and crazy) weekend and reminded me how much calmer Boston feels than NYC.
– Sebastien made artwork for Christmas presents down at CNS – sun behind lava for most of his presents and a lion face for Archer’s nightlight, which he picked out himself so Archer wouldn’t be afraid of the dark.
– We went to a (sort of scary) puppet show at the library. Archer wouldn’t sit still (big surprise) but Sebastien loved sitting with Liam and Finley and watching the show. We also went to a concert by Mr. G. Sebastien loved it so much, we bought the CD and have been listening to it lots in the car.
– We celebrated Papa’s birthday down in RI at Auntie Dani’s house and spent lots of time riding bikes and playing outside on the beautiful fall day.
– We went to the Charlestown costume parade at the monument and trick-or-treated our butts off. Frankenstein and the Mad Scientist lasted longer into the night than expected. (And Sebastien ate one piece of candy for each two he received.)
– Archer had his 15 month well visit, weighing in at 23lbs, 10oz and measuring 32in. (This is 1lb, 5oz less and a quarter inch more than Sebastien at the same age.)
– We went to a hibachi dinner with the Newmarks and to a play date with Liam and Isaac at Isaac’s house (where the kids made their own pizzas and Archer wouldn’t stop climbing and falling down the stairs). Nick and I went to a CNS wine and cheese party and a cocktail party at the Cloutier’s.
– We took our annual Thanksgiving trip to Arizona, hitting all the usual hot spots plus some new ones – the rodeo, the playground, Old Tucson, eating a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and taking a weekend trip to Los Angeles to go to Knott’s Berry Farm. Both kids love love loved the rides and Sebastien closed down the park (while Archer fell asleep in the ergo).
Here are the October and November pics:
– Sebastien and I went to Portland to ride the Polar Express. Archer and Nick had to stay home due to an ill-timed stomach bug. We drank hot chocolate, ate cookies, sang Christmas carols and rode the train to the North Pole to visit with Santa Claus. Sebastien and I also braved the snow for a Nutcracker ballet date in Cambridge. He really liked it, but we both agreed that the second half was a little long.
– Grammie and Pop-Pop came for a visit and got to attend the all-class sing at CNS and the holiday celebration at FUSE. Unfortunately we all passed around a bad stomach bug which started with Sebastien and went through the whole family so we didn’t get to do as much as we had hoped. But we had a great time celebrating Verdi Christmas, going to see Disney on Ice, and going ice skating on Christmas Eve.
– Santa visited us on Christmas Eve, bringing lots of presents for the boys, and then we headed down to Auntie Sha’s house for Christmas Day. Both boys loved running around with their cousins, singing and dancing to Christmas carols. Sebastien and Peter made a dangerous pair but had a total blast.
– After Christmas, we went down to RI to celebrate with the Vuono side. We went to a URI basketball game with Gabi and Natalie, Ra and Papa, opened our presents and went ice skating at the URI rink for Natalie’s birthday.
– On New Year’s Eve, we went to the Newmark’s for dinner and a movie. Nate and Sebastien played so well together all night and the only hiccup was a little sadness when we had to leave.
And here are December’s pics:
