The Zoe and Silas Show

One of the main reasons we wanted to buy this house is because of the location. Our backyard abuts a beautiful, 90-acre park. Not only do we treasure the green space (and the fact that no one will ever build behind our house!), but I also love the fact that the park is the center of this wonderful community. They offer lots of programming for young and old. Every Sunday afternoon in the summer they run an entertainment program geared towards kids, and on the docket today was a visit from  The Creature Teachers . The weather was absolutely gorgeous - 75 degrees and sunny! Before the show started we enjoyed some handcrafted ice cream from the  Crescent Ridge  truck. Today it was oreo for Silas and vanilla for Zoe.  The performance space at the park is pretty awesome! The Creature Teacher running today's show was very engaging and knowledgeable. All 3 of us learned a lot! We met Holly the Flying Squirrel, a milk snake, a box turtle, a porcupine named Otis,...

It was supposed to be 60 degrees on Sunday so we decided to head back to Drumlin Farm . This weather has been a gift considering it's almost December! It was so sunny and beautiful in Boston that morning that I decided to also pack a picnic lunch. This ended up being a tad too optimistic on my part, but we had a great morning nonetheless! We had never seen the foxes at the farm before, so that was really cool. When we skype'd with my parents tonight (Wednesday), my mom asked Zoe what animals she saw at the farm (Sunday). Zoe said, "fox!". I thought, wow, I can't believe she remembers that. I asked her what the fox was doing and she said "run". I asked her what color the fox was and she said "orange". By the end of the conversation my mom & I both decided she was a genius :-) We got up close and personal with some goats, And we got to check out the greenhouse area where all the produce is grown that the farm sells. We eve...

Derek & I have wanted to go back to Drumlin Farm since becoming Mass Audobon members this summer. The forecast looked good for this weekend so we made plans to go this morning. We love this place so much that I decided to invite a couple of friends who have never been there. Timery & Jason (15 months old) made the drive over from Ipswich and Iris, Steve & Peter (13 months old) came from Cambridge. I had a playdate with Wendy, Sydney & Ivy yesterday and they decided to join us too! I have worked really hard to create a great circle of mom friends, but unfortunately most of them don't know each other. I have often thought that Timery & Iris would get along, and Wendy has been a close friend since the kids were born, so I was excited to finally get them all together! L-R: Steve, Iris & Peter (in arms); Dave, Ivy (in arms), Wendy & Sydney (in arms); me, Zoe & Silas (in stroller); Timery & Jason (in stroller) In total, there were 7 adults...

Derek got subpoenaed back to court for an EMS case he was on awhile back, so I got to take the morning off today to hang with Silas & Zoe. What a treat on a summer day in the middle of the week! Since we're Mass Audobon members now, I decided to check out the Boston Nature Center . This spot rocks. It's only 10 minutes from our house and is an oasis located in the heart of three converging city neighborhoods (Mattapan-JP-Roslindale). There is a big parking lot, a conservation center, and several miles of trails in and around acres of woods. After walking one of the shorter trails, we discovered the coolest part of the BNC - a hands-on exploration area for kids! It's a wonderful space for parents to relax while the kids play, There are sand and rock sifting tables and rain catching barrels, The best part was definitely the sand/mud table. Coming from a family where all the members don't necessarily like to get their hands dirty (Alissa-St...

After visiting Drumlin Farm back in June we decided to become Mass Audobon members . Our Saturday afternoon plans ended up falling through this weekend so I was scrambling for something to do at the last minute. There are a bunch of wildlife sanctuaries that I want to check out, so we decided to go to the Visual Arts Center in Canton. They had a coloring table set up in the museum so we did that before hitting the trail to the woods. After coloring bird pictures we headed outside. The trail was really rough so we ended up not venturing too far. The kids needed to be in the stroller to get down to the woods, But then they were able to explore, At first they felt more secure behind the stroller with me, But ultimately the pine needles, sticks and pine cones were far more interesting! Unfortunately the mosquitoes were TERRIBLE so we couldn't stay too terribly long. I love getting them out of the city and exploring nature - we have many more Au...