Jack's first trip to Fenway

     It was finally time for Jackie to experience his first trip to Fenway park with Daddy.  We started the day by going to the Owl for breakfast and he had already been up for a while and eaten so he only had some toast.  But its tradition so we had to go there.

     He had the whole day planned in his mind so we had to go to the trolley train to ride into Fenway.  Of course the train wasnt ready for us so Jack spent time asking me when the train will get there....over and over.

     The tickets were also pretty good too.    I had gone onto Stub Hub to get them a couple of days ago.  It was great that the team is doing bad because the tickets were practically going for nothing.

     He wanted popcorn but not ice cream.  Well, he wanted ice cream but not soft serve. 

     During the game we heard the announcement that kids can run the bases after the game so you know what we had to do.  Its the first time in my life I was able to get onto Fenway Park so I made sure to bend over and scoop a whole pocket full of the infield dirt.  They wouldnt let me run the bases with him ( i really didnt ask but i would have gone if they let me).  So he started at first base, there were so many people on the warning track that I didnt get to see him running the bases except when he crossed home.  I asked him if he wanted to run again mostly for my purposes but of course he wanted to.  An employee stepped in front of me when we tried to go in again but I cant even tell you what I said but I wasnt going to be denied.  Needless to say, he ran through the bases again.  This time I got a picture of him crossing home plate.

After the game, which the Sox won 2-1, we jumped on the green line and headed off to the common.  We got us some MacDonald's food and ate it at the foot of the state capital, just feet away from the finest bums the city knows. 

  Jackie thought he was funny by splashing me with the waters at the foot of the statue of the boobied women.  Yes, thats no the official name of it but thats what it is.  Maybe it has some other significance, but wha the hell, i'm immature.

Jackie really had a good time on the subway.  He really didnt want to sit down because he liked to bounce around.

This guy here has been trying to save me since I was a real young kid. 

     Can you believe that they used to drive relief pitchers from the bullpen to the mound.  I laughed when I saw it because I had totally forgot about it.  What a great memory to see.

     We moved our seats down right behind the plate area in around the sixth inning.  I dont think Jackie really cared because the original seats were pretty good.  I just wanted to see if we could get a ball.....which we didnt.  I ended up buying him one after the game which he enjoyed just as much.

     I loved to see him smile the whole day.  He really had a great time and repeated it several times on his phone calls to Aunt Jo, Doe and Nana after the game.

     Here is Jackie crossing home plate.  What a treasure!!!

 

Filter free Jack

Is that a guy or a girl?? I shudder to look up when I hear the words out of Jack's mouth. Cat says to him, Its a boy Jack!!!...we stand five feet from a hippie working behind the Dunkin Donuts counter with long hair, plenty of facial hair and dangling earrings.
  "Well Daddy, its a girl with a baird and all this" (circling around his face)....
Catherine tells him noooooooo Jack, girls dont have beards.!!!!!...
I just cannot take them to Dunkin Donuts anymore. This one was almost as bad as the time he met the midget.

random photos from summer

                                                  James and I went to a Sox game in mid-August.....

                                                           Mark and Robin from George's

                                                           Catherine lost a tooth recently

                                Will and Laura at the Labor day party over Tracy and mike's house

                           I came home one day from work and saw this whole crew on the lawn.

                                   Jackie got these treats to celebrate his first day of kindergarten

     Lyn and I went out for some drinks recently and were sitting out on the street level seating.  All of a sudden this freak guy comes running down the street dressed this way.  He came by again and I yelled to him how much i appreciate superheroes.....he donned this pose and I just couldnt resist a picture.  I have come to learn that he might be a radio personality in the city who does these things around.....its a bad economy they say so you have to take jobs when they offer them.

Catherine's First trip to Fenway....on the monster

      We started at the Owl and ended in the common.  It was Catherine's turn with daddy and she chose to go to Fenway park.  Well the sox haven't been doing all that well lately so we were able to jump on Stub hub and get some cool tickets for a very good price.   
     She wanted to go out to breakfast first at the Owl and I was happy to oblige because i was hungry and needed some paMcakes.  Cat wanted some eggs and bacon, of course bacon.  I think we are going to have our own pig so we can shave off some bacon and freeze it because these kids love bacon.  Laura has even changed her name to Bacon. 
     Getting back to the Red Sox, Catherine wanted us to take the trolley train so off we went to the green line and crowded trains for us.  We got there just in time for the game to start.  The seats were good, behind home plate in the grandstand.  Catherine told me several times that she prefers this view of the Red Sox then watching it on TV because its better than TV.  She had her Ellsbury t-shirt on and it must have inspired him because on his first at bat he hit his third home run of the year.

     As with anything we do with the kids, its all about the food.  Catherine was telling me for two days about how she wanted to get some soft serve (ice cream).  When we walked she couldnt wait to tell me that she wanted some cotton candy....blue of course.    She was so cute talking about everything she was seeing.  At one point i had her pose for a picture at the entry door at the park.  A member of the Sox staff must have taken notice of her cuteness because he came over to her and asked her if this was her first game at Fenway and she told him yes.  He said that he wanted to celebrate that with a ticket upgrade.  When I showed him what tickets we had he told me that our tickets were better than the upgrade.  I was quite pleased with Stub Hub at that point.  We got my peanuts, her cotton candy and in we went.

     As the game went by she was looking at the program she bought outside and kept asking me if it were the sixth inning yet.  I had told her that we would get her soft serve during the middle of the sixth and she was looking forward to that.  So the game went on and we had about three waves that we got to stand up for (kids love the wave). Here we go red sox here we go, clap clap...many times.  Ellsbury hits a home run and Catherine jumped a mile when the crowd went wild.  She told me they scared her....but not that much because she recovered quickly and gave me a hiiiiiiiii five.

    The sixth inning came and it was soft serve time.  we decided to take a little bit of a walk while we ate the soft serve.  We ended up up at the entrance to the monster seats.  The man checking tickets at that area asked me if i had tickets and i told him that i didnt and that I just wanted to have a look from this area.  He also asked Catherine if this was her first game and she said yes....in her cute voice.  Well, who could resist because he told us to put our hands out and he stamped our hands with a Wally stamp and told us to go in.  Onto the monster seats we went and a lady saw us and told us she had an empty seat next to her and down we went into the seat with Cat on my lap. 

    After two innings in the monster seats the sun was mighty hot and Cat wanted to go back into our original seats in the shade.  They ended losing but that really didnt matter.  Off we went out of the stadium and Cat wanted a ball...so she wants to say that she caught a ball....we actualy bought an autographed ball at the souvenier shop. 

          Onto the green line we went.  It was just way too tempting on this beautiful day to pass by Park Street in this crowded, smelly subway train so we stopped and hung out in the common with some Burger King food.  She was so cute all day and kept telling me what a wonderful time she was having.  She wanted to call everyone once we got inside the car and call she did. 

     Okay, here is my hack at vanity.  I"ve been working out like crazy the past month or so and have even hired a personal trainer...well, now i'm on my own and i continued to hit the gym.  Not until I saw this picture did i realize how much the belly has gone.  i'm liking it!!

     It was a long day but a very special one for the both of us.  She's a precious little girl who appreciates everything.  I just enjoyed the heck out of today.

Jack starts school.....almost missed it too!!!

  For some reason they start kindergarten on Friday after all the kids have been in school.  But Jack was ready for it....welllllll.....thank goodness we had him ready very early because the bus that was supposed to pick him up down the street with the other kids came right to the house very early.  I barely had the camera ready...The bus that picked him up wasnt supposed to pick him up.  We didnt realize this until the right bus came by to pick up the girls and asked where Jack was...oooooooo boy......so, the bottom line is, on Jack's first day of school ever, he got on the wrong bus!!  But all was well, it went to the same skool.

Have fun at skool kids...another year

 Have a good day at school girls!!..Daddy loves you.

Yes, i know the correct spelling.....but another year has come and the endless summer has come to an end.  We had fun!!  It was so cute the last couple of days anticipating the first day of school.  Catherine, who we expected to be weepy, was a star.  She was excited but not too scared.  She cant wait.  Laura, on the other hand, was up really late last night.  When it came time to put Clover in for the night he had snuck out into the main rooms and we heard Laura having a dog conversation with Clover.  She came into our bedroom shortly after and I ended up lying on her bed until we both fell asleep.  This morning Jimmy even came into my room early just to talk.  Mostly to let me know he was awake and ready to go.