Date night!

A few weeks ago, Brad and I went on a date. Woo! It was great fun. There was an Australian Circus in town (Circus Oz), and Brad got a great deal on tickets. We got our friend, Karli, to come stay with Bearsy, and we headed off for a night on the town.

Boston, like all big cities, has pretty specific areas for specific facets of life. So, when you want to go see a show, you'll probably end up near the Boylston T stop, as that is the theatre district. If we hadn't ended up on a slow train and had to hustle to get to our theatre, we would have enjoyed walking around and just looking at everything. It's a fun, busy, zippy, artsy part of town that we definitely want to go back to sometime.

We dashed in just a few minutes after it started, the usher actually seated us is better seats than we paid for (!), and we enjoyed an hour and a half of crazy acrobatics, juggling, balancing on tall/wobbly things, and live music. It was just a fun time of being awed by the things people can do. Oh, and we got a soft pretzel and...wait for it...an RC cola. I didn't even know they made RC anymore! 

After the show was over, we thought briefly about getting something to eat in the area, but we ended up heading home so that Karli could head out and get on with things she needed to do. We did, however, order Boloco burritos on my phone's Boloco app and picked them up when we got off the train at our stop. I love that app. I just tell it I want burritos, and it has them magically ready when I get off my train.

Although we didn't stop for dinner down on ol' Boylston, we did walk through the Boston Commons on our way to a train station. It was so beautiful with all the snow, so I tried to snap some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

The Frog Pond...an ice rink in winter!

The State House

Park Street Church

Oh Boston, you're so pretty! At least...when the snow is white, not gray. 

A Visit from the South

For Claire's birthday celebration, my parents came into town! It was really fun having them here for such a big life event (and not just for the fact that no one makes grits like my mom...even though I follow her recipe exactly). It was super fun having them at Claire's party. I'm pretty sure they loved it, too. 

But, since they were here for six days, and the party lasted only two hours, we had to come up with some activities to fill the rest of the time. There was a lot of Bear-cuddling, obviously, but we also got out and did a few things. 

Back in August, we went with Brad's parents to Cape Cod and had a blast. Now, March is definitely not "in season" for Cape Cod, as they actually end up with more snow than the city does (i.e. we get 10 inches, they get 15), but we're rebels and went anyway. We went to the best restaurant on the Cape, The Keltic Kitchen, and spent a few *extremely* chilly minutes on the shore, getting some photographic documentation of our visit. We kept our itinerary to a minimum, as Claire is a one-year-old and has limits.

Keltic Kitchen

Hanging in the car while the grandparents get pictures.

We saw this house whose fence was made of old doors. It was so cool.

As usual, we set aside a day to get lunch at Regina's in the North End and cannolis at Mike's (we also picked up Bearsy's birthday cupcake). We had planned to walk toward Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church after picking up our cannolis, but we ran out of time (and by that, I mean that Claire's window of pleasant wakefulness began to close). We settled for a walk through Quincy Market (not for food but for the shops), which was great for Brad and me because we found some Boston art that we wanted. 

Regina's. Mmm.

We spent another day visiting Cambridge, which included lunch at Mr. Bartley's, a walk through Harvard Yard, and quick browsing at Black Ink and the Curious George store. Due to some unplanned walking in the wrong direction, Dad came to the sad realization that Cambridge, MA is not nearly as universally quaint and classy as his mind had always seen it. I felt bad about shattering that vision for him, but unfortunately, it's true. Harvard Square itself is quaint and rather Americana, but Cambridge, as a whole, is not. Bless it.

Mr. Bartley's. Iconic Cambridge.

We squeezed in a lunch at Shawarma King (mmm...we love some Middle Eastern goodness). and Brad and I got a date night, as well (we saw The Monuments Men and loved it!). An excellent time was had by all (especially Claire). We've been adventurers around here lately, so here's hoping I get on a blogging streak and tell you all about it. 

And now, some gratuitous Bear photos:

The Best of Bear: Party!

Although I'm no Pinterest-party-throwing-Mom, I did manage to pull together a first birthday party for Bear. My parents were in town, and we were able to have some friends over to celebrate with us. 

Of course, we had our friend, Charlie (and his family) over. Charlie and Claire are six weeks apart in age, so they were each other's special birthday buddies this year. We also had our upstairs neighbor, Anne, and two friends from church, Tim and Bobby, join the fun. Because our birthday party ended up being scheduled for the same day as the men's retreat from church, we had a birthday breakfast...which gave the dads and male guests time to head out to the retreat. Brad made cinnamon rolls (from scratch, y'all...he's a keeper) and bacon-egg cups, Mom made grits, and I put out yogurt and strawberries. I'm very helpful like that.

Thankfully, Brad had the foresight the day before to pick up a birthday cupcake from Mike's (while we were getting cannolis, of course). Claire did a fabulous job of tackling that sucker, and she seemed to enjoy it very much. Although, I don't think she enjoyed being messy. She gets that from me. 

We had a really fun time and are so grateful for our friends. We wish that more of our friends and family from down South could have joined, but we're thankful for the people that the Lord has brought into our lives here in Boston. We love them so much!

And with this post, I'm wrapping up my birthday posts for Bearsy's first birthday...two weeks after the fact. :)

My parents sent these gorgeous roses to Bear on her birthday. They were so beautiful.

Our dear Senora Romine sent Bearsy this wonderful trio of book. Claire particularly loves when Brad makes the "SNORT" sound in Are You My Mother?

Reading (and wishing that Brad was making the SNORT sound)

Special birthday tv watching

Birthday picture with Daddy

The awesome cookie bouquet from Auntie and Uncle Paul. We all enjoyed it!

Claire ate this one on her actual birthday. This was her first, intentional snack of refined sugar. She loved it.

Mom and Dad brought this amazing quilt from Mrs. Tidwell. My jaw dropped when I saw it. Claire can't get enough of it (neither can I, truth be told).

Birthday guest! Charlie's sweet sister, Elizabeth

Party outfit!

Our neighbor, Anne

Eating birthday grits

Making faces with Bobby

Bobby, Brad, Bear, me, Tim, and Anne

Jonathan, Elizabeth, Brad, me, Bear, Rachael, and Charlie

Trying out that cupcake.

Family shot

She loved it.

Busy and focused.

With Nana and Poppy.

Thanks for sticking with me through the Bear birthday posts. Hopefully, I'll have some fun posts coming your way soon!

The Best of Bear: Part late

Well, this was supposed to go up last week, but I got a little off. Sorry about that.

In appreciation for Bear's first year, I was also going to link up some of her travels. For a little thing whose dad is in graduate school, she's actually traveled quite a bit! If you haven't been keeping up with us throughout the year, here's a little round-up of Bearsy's journeys:

Alabama's Gulf Coast
Cape Cod 1, 2, and 3, plus Martha's Vineyard
Hogwarts...I mean, Orlando, Florida
East Tennessee
North Alabama

And, this little list doesn't include the day we met up with our friend, Kylie, in Asheville, North Carolina or ended up spending the night in Greenville, South Carolina or took Kat up to New Hampshire and into Maine while she was visiting. Bear is quite the traveler. We hope this continues in 2014!