Leaves & Sand

It’s November but we’re at a lake anyway. It’s warm enough for a picnic outdoors but cold enough to wear our coats. Leaving the warm spinach and cheese pastries, grapes, and sippy cup treat of chocolate milk behind, Matthew negotiates the rocky sand to get a closer look at the water.


“What is that?” he asks, pointing to rock.
“A rock,” I answer him.
“What is that?”
“A rock.”
“What is,” he pauses, searching for the right word, “on the rock?”
“It’s just the color gray,” I say with an air of impatience in my voice.
“Gway. This a gway rock,” Matthew tests the new word out on his tongue like ribbon candy.

The beach has an abandoned look about it, no buoys in the water to mark the swimming area or sailboats on the water. We spot a forgotten fishing lure, purple sand shovel, and child size water shoe tangled in the rocks and sand. We have the beach to pretty much to ourselves, except for a couple walking their dog in the distance.

Matthew drags a long stick behind him as we walk along the shoreline to another rocky patch. Bob and I settle down on a large rock and Matthew plops down close to the water and holds the stick in the water. “I’m fishing,” he explains to us.

 I’m thankful for a lot of things this Thanksgiving, especially for my imaginative boy and kind husband.

Cupcakes, Jellyfish, and Basketball (part 2)

“I’m ready!” Matthew announced, dressed in his Patriots jersey and sweatpants with a football print under a pocket. For day two of Bob’s birthday weekend we were going to the Patriots Hall of Fame and Providence College basketball game.

The museum exceeded my expectations. It was far more interactive than I imagined. I thought that it would be all glass enclosures and trivia facts, which there was a good amount of, but there was a lot to do. We attempted to reenact the infamous Vinatieri snow kick, listened to game calls from inside a helmet, tried on team uniforms, climbed onto the duck tours parade float, and felt what it was like to join in a huddle. The two highlights of the trip had to be Bob getting stuck inside of the padded jersey he tried on, and the room that played tapes of Super Bowl wins and sprayed confetti into the air.o.

Next on the agenda was a quick stop at the North Pole. Well okay, at a store nearby that had a winter wonderland already set up in their basement level complete with a Santa and Mrs. Claus. We stopped by in time to catch the tree lightning ceremony.

Matthew did not nap on our drive to Providence as we hoped that he would. We stayed for the first half of the basketball game before Matthew started to get sleepy.

  It was a long day, but also a very fun day.

Cupcakes, Jellyfish, and Basketball

Last week was Bob’s birthday and to celebrate Matthew and I baked him Cookie Monster cupcakes. I hid them under our bed in a container and left notes hidden around the house to lead him to it. My plan went off with just a couple of hitches, one being that Matthew kept telling him that I made yummy cupcakes, and two being that Bob didn’t actually see my first note on the garage door, that is until I directed him to it after he asked me where these cupcakes were that Matthew mentioned to him.

The following day we took the day off from work and Matt to the aquarium and children’s museum. There once was a time that our birthday weekends were spent together in a favorite hotel of ours, but it was years before we had Matthew or a mortgage. Still, we have fun together wherever we go.

“Ooohh, those are scary!” Matthew says and backs away from a tank of jellyfish. Moments later he is sticking his face close to a tank of sharks, turtles, and schools of fish swimming by. His fears are as unpredictable as the tides.

Next we stop at a tide pool tank with starfish, hermit crabs, and urchins to pick up.


As we were leaving, I asked what everyone’s favorite part of the aquarium was. Matthew replied, “We took an elevator.” Bob and I agreed that it was the new sea lion exhibit. The sea lion exhibit was built outside of the dimly lit aquarium, with walls of glass that overlook a harbor full of salty blue water and sailboats. “I want to give a hug?” Matthew asked while looking at a sea lion inches away from him behind a glass wall.

After lunch, we walked over to the children’s museum where we spent the rest of the afternoon exhibit hopping and doing a craft project together in the art room.