Birthday Trip

First things first--it's Celia's birthday!



We capped an eventful day with a small first birthday celebration for my big girl. Neither Natalia nor I could find the real birthday candles, which is why we settled for the somewhat-less-traditional Pottery Barn candle route. (Andres and Celia entertained each other while we looked.) Everybody enjoyed the singing and the cupcakes...especially my daughter, who destroyed her birthday dessert before devouring it. As I sit here writing this, cupcake residue litters the path between where she was sitting and the bathtub.

We earned our sugar today. It was Veterans Day, so a rare weekday that both Natalia and I were home, with kids, with no outside events constraining our time together. The sun finally decided to come out after about 4 days of rain and we decided to hop the train into the city for a leisurely birthday stroll.

The original plan was to ride the 9:51 commuter rail into North Station, hit Faneuil Hall, and then visit the North End for lunch. That all changed when we arrived at the station promptly at 9:52, just in time to see the train pulling away. Oh well.

So we changed our plans, drove to Eliot Station instead and rode the D line into Hynes/ICA. Andres enjoyed looking out the window as we wound through Newton and Brookline, and also seemed happy when people sat down next to him. "They sit next to me daddy!"

It was windier than we had expected in the city, so after a short walk down Newbury Street we sought refuge (and a snack) in the Pru mall. Traversing the mall while pushing a stroller can be difficult; there are a lot of levels and escalators, and some not-so-obvious routes for those who are unable to walk up them. When we emerged at Copley the sun was out, the weather was warmer, and we were all ready for a nice walk to the Public Gardens. We walked around the pond, over the bridge, and found Mr. and Mrs. Mallard.



We heard some bagpipes across the street in the Common, so we headed there next.



Turns out we had stumbled on a Veterans Day parade! Our day in town was getting better and better.



We watched the policemen and soldiers pass on by and then, after a quick stop at the Frog Pond playground, walked down Charles Street looking for lunch. Everyone was hungry and tired by this point and in desperate need of a break. We found refuge at Nino's Pizza (very good pizza and about 5 times the available seating as at The Upper Crust, where we initially stopped) and lingered there until we were ready to make the long trek (10 minutes) back to the T. Natalia and I looked at each other on the way back and laughed about how exhausted we were (it was just 2:00).

The T ride home was uneventful. Andres fell asleep in the stroller on the walk back to Arlington, and though Celia (in the Bjorn) managed to stay awake for a bit, the train eventually lulled her to sleep. Neither of them woke up when we arrived back at Eliot.



As I said, we all earned our cupcakes today.