Day 6: Val and the kids visited our condo. As it was a yucky rainy day, the kids spent their time in the indoor pool. For dinner we ate pasta with chicken Italian sausage all mixed together with tomato sauce. To top off our wonderful evening, the kids watched "The Spy Next Door" starring Jackie Chan.
Day 7: It was raining hard, again. The kids didn't feel like going to the pool so they searched for some other activity. "Color Me Mine" a local paint your own pottery place was open so Maddie, Jennifer, and peter decided it would be fun to do arts and crafts. As soon as we got to Color Me Mine, we saw people running around the place like chickens with their heads cut off. All the kids were furiously painting their sculptures and it looked like it would be a while before we got a table. We were told that it would be another two hours before a table opened up so we thought it best to take a trip to trader joes. On our way to trader joes we passed "Centerville Pie Co.", a local spot recommended by Oprah. We picked up a berry pie, shepherd pie and chicken pot pie. We gathered up our food and sped off to color me mine, highlighted by Jenn's rendition of "rapping", a high speed movement of the left hand back and forth while making a rapper like face. Peter painted a fiery dragon and a small alien, Jennifer painted a cute puppy accompanied by a penguin, and Maddie painted a two piece set of a tea pot and mug. Once their pottery was finished being painted, everyone came home for a delicious dinner of our chicken pot pie. After dessert the kids watched "The Night at The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian".
Day 8: We anxiously waited for the arrival of Sue, Bob and Ann. They arrived and we had turkey sandwiches. Dad and Jason played chess while the girls went shopping. A.K.A drove all around cape cod getting things for Sue's travels. We ate chicken pahm for dinner in honor of Val who had actually gone home to Marshfield.
Day 9: The morning started out misty but started to clear. The weather report said that by 3PM, the sun would shine. Since we had spent the past 4 days cooped up in the condo, weathering the rain storms, we were all anxious to get out and see the sights. Val and the kids had spent the night in Marshfield and were going to stay home but called in the morning to say they were bored and wanted to come down. So, we all (minus Val & Catherine) headed for Chatham. Susannah decided to bike and meet us there.
We got to Chatham and after a lot of searching, finally found a parking spot. We then had a delicious ice cream treat. Jen wanted the same kind that Maddie got, except that once it arrived, she didn't like it.
Since the hour was late when we finally headed back to Mashpee, we decided to eat out. The sox had won their game that day and so we thought we'd go to 99 since the kids could eat for free. The restaurant says that when the Sox win, kids eat free. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. It's only good the next day. We were still disgruntled as the Sox had won the game (technically) from the night before - it had been rained out and they played that day, winning the game. Mary Beth wrote a letter of complaint to the company since they didn't honor the spirit of the offer. When ordering our food Jen asked Maddie what she was having (chicken tenders) and then ordered the same thing. When our food came Maddie looked happy to have her chicken but Jen looked disappointed and only ate about an eight of what she was given.
Day 10: Big day for the Gills. Bob, Ann, Sharon & Darrell arrived with Peter Sr. Sadly, Peter Sr. changed his mind and stayed behind. Sharon had an abscessed tooth and couldn't come but Bob, Ann & Darrell arrived. Thus... the "one-two" punch of Bob, Ann & Darrell was inflicted upon us.
So many stories... so little time. Darrell is an endless source of entertainment. His antics are always good for a laugh or two. He played chess with Peter, Jen & Maddie. He clipped his toenails in the living room (with MB's clippers). Unfortunately, he also had foot fungus. So much for the new clippers that MB had just bought! Then before eating Anne reminded Darrell that he should wash his hands (in case he scratched his feet, thus infecting his hands).
TV entertainment consisted of the ongoing monologue of Glenn Beck, the Obama hater, and evening mass, highlighted by Darrell describing the bells during communion going "ding a ling, ling." Sue and Bob argued about the JFK trip but Bob refused to be a "sucker" for his kids, so Sue booked a flight from Logan to JFK. After another 20 minute argument ensued about the meeting place, quincy center, quincy or Braintree. K Mart was the eventual choice across the street from Braintree. Darrell smoked Peter and Maddie in chess.
Day 10: the trip to Martha's vineyard. Unfortunately the kids could not join us on this trip because even after a short walk to the info center at our resort, Jen complained about cramps in her stomach. Our trip started off on a rough note as Maddie was not notified that once she left the car, she would not be able to come back. As she pouted about not having her camera and sunglasses, aunt Sue made the trip back to the car to get them. Thanks Sue! After everyone had their belongings we boarded the ferry. Once we stepped off the ferry we headed to Anderson's Bike Shop and rented three bikes. We hopped on our road bikes and started pedaling the 6.8 mile journey to Edgartown. After our bikes were locked we all were starving, so we entered a local seafood restaurant. Sue and Jason split lobster quesadillas and salad, Maddie ordered lobster bisque and California rolls and Mary Beth had a Greek salad. After our yummy bite to eat Sue and Jason got back on their bikes and rode another 20 miles around the vineyard. Maddie and Mary Beth (feeling a little less adventurous) noodled around the shops. They made purchases at The Black Dog and Bone yard surf shop.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Lots of Rain
We landed Tuesday, got to the Renaissance Waterfront Hotel, and ate a nice dinner in the North End. 2 tables next to us got into a heated discussion about the Red Sox and jobs for their kids, typical for a North end restaurant. Dinner was followed by cannolis at Mike's. The new park is terrific where the freeway used to be and we ate our cannolis there. MB then stepped in a common Boston Pothole injuring her ankle with a severe sprain. We went to the ER, Mass General, and Maddie made the unfortunate trip as light hearted as possible by posting a picture of MB's foot on facebook. A nice lady with a cool Boston accent helped us with a set of crutches and an air cast and sent us on our way. The whole trip took us over 3 hours in the Mass General hospital. Btw, in Seattle this would've taken us over 5 hours as MB has accompanied Jason on 4 such trips in the recent past.
Day 2's highlight was a trip to the garment district where we got clothes from the $1.50 per pound pile. Maddie and Jason took the T to Kendall St, meeting a rocket scientist, well, a genetic engineer for bio fuels on the T. On their walk to The Garment District Maddie found a vendor for maple syrup cotton candy. She really wanted to take some home with her but Jason denied her. The rule is that if Maddie wants to get cotton candy she must find something "junkier" in order to persuade Jason to buy it for her. At The Garment District Maddie found a pair of lucky jeans and a Boston T-shirt for Jason and she got a bunch of stuff for herself. $47 for 10 pieces of clothing and 1 pair of red canvas sneakers. We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant around the corner called, Salvatore's. Yummy pizza!
Day 3 Val and the kids came in the morning, as did Grandma Anne and Grandpa Bob, Susannah, Darrell and Sharon. MB had a delightful time at Starbucks attempting to get a "perfect" coffee for Sharon. This involved a lot of cream, then because she added so much cream the coffee became cold, we needed to get more coffee into the cup. Sadly, the line had now increased to more than 6 people. Darrell announced very loudly that he had to get out of there. Chaos ensued but finally, we were able to obtain the perfect coffee and get Darrell out of there.
Then when it was time to leave for dinner and the red sox game, another Gill family moment. In order to save the gimps some walking time, Bob offered to take us to the restaurant. Unfortunately, Bob couldn't find the car and so the gimpers actually walked double the distance than the T travelers. While in the sweltering heat, after having walked an unbelievable distance with Bob (listening to his not too complimentary comments about Anne's directions), Sharon, Darrell & Sue, got into the car and hoped for air conditioning. No such luck. Bob was conserving gas by not using the AC. Finally, he acquiesced. Unfortunately, 2 seconds into the blessed cold air relief, Darrell farted. Down went the windows for the rest of the hot trip in. MB & Susannah arrived at the restaurant and we ate Sean's simple Chicken at the Parrish cafe on Boylston Street between Arlington and Berkeley. However before ordering, Darrell proclaimed that we should not order food for him because if we made him eat it, he would puke. After the lovely dishes of chicken arrived at our table, Darrell decided he was hungry. When asked about Darrell's fickle appetite, he replied "well when we ordered I wasn't hungry, but then after the food came I decided I was hungry". When we got to Fenway Park we gave everyone a ticket but found out we were at the wrong gate. When we got to the correct one we asked Darrell if he still had his ticket. As he searched through his pockets vigorously we became nervous. Anne, not helping at all, was yelling at Darrell the whole time. Saying things like "Darrell where'd you put the ticket? The one we just gave you! where is it? Find it now or we can't get in!" did not help Darrell as he looked for his ticket. Finally Darrell pulled out a crumpled piece of paper shoved at the bottom of his pocket and we got into the stadium.The Sox lost 7-2 but the seats were pretty good, about 10 rows back in the center field bleachers. Throughout the game Darrell could not stop rocking back and forth. When Jason leaned over to ask him if he could sit still, Darrell stopped rocking but then proceed to bounce his leg up and down. After about thirty seconds of the leg bouncing, he returned to the rocking. "How come you started moving?" asked Jason. Darrell, slightly angry replied "well, am i bothering you?" Trying hard not to laugh out loud, Jason answered "no, it's just a fun game to play". With a look of relief on his face Darrell responded "well it's too hard, I can't sit still!"
Day 4 we did a canoe trip on the Charles, dodging the kid's camp for junior sailors. On our way around the river we spotted a small red eared slider turtle. Unfortunately our canoe crashed into the rocks and scared off the turtle. Dinner was remarkable at Anthony's pier 4. Jason had lobster bisque, MB gazpacho, and then main courses of a steak, seafood casserole, and shrimp scampi were delicious. The lemon tartuffo and blueberry deep dish pie with ice cream were delicious.
Day 5 we drove to the Cape, dropping off Sue in Cohasset. First home made dinner, chicken sausage over pasta after getting all of the free stuff from Roche Bros for the morning breakfast. We stayed at the South Beach Club and Resort in Mashpee.
Day 2's highlight was a trip to the garment district where we got clothes from the $1.50 per pound pile. Maddie and Jason took the T to Kendall St, meeting a rocket scientist, well, a genetic engineer for bio fuels on the T. On their walk to The Garment District Maddie found a vendor for maple syrup cotton candy. She really wanted to take some home with her but Jason denied her. The rule is that if Maddie wants to get cotton candy she must find something "junkier" in order to persuade Jason to buy it for her. At The Garment District Maddie found a pair of lucky jeans and a Boston T-shirt for Jason and she got a bunch of stuff for herself. $47 for 10 pieces of clothing and 1 pair of red canvas sneakers. We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant around the corner called, Salvatore's. Yummy pizza!
Day 3 Val and the kids came in the morning, as did Grandma Anne and Grandpa Bob, Susannah, Darrell and Sharon. MB had a delightful time at Starbucks attempting to get a "perfect" coffee for Sharon. This involved a lot of cream, then because she added so much cream the coffee became cold, we needed to get more coffee into the cup. Sadly, the line had now increased to more than 6 people. Darrell announced very loudly that he had to get out of there. Chaos ensued but finally, we were able to obtain the perfect coffee and get Darrell out of there.
Then when it was time to leave for dinner and the red sox game, another Gill family moment. In order to save the gimps some walking time, Bob offered to take us to the restaurant. Unfortunately, Bob couldn't find the car and so the gimpers actually walked double the distance than the T travelers. While in the sweltering heat, after having walked an unbelievable distance with Bob (listening to his not too complimentary comments about Anne's directions), Sharon, Darrell & Sue, got into the car and hoped for air conditioning. No such luck. Bob was conserving gas by not using the AC. Finally, he acquiesced. Unfortunately, 2 seconds into the blessed cold air relief, Darrell farted. Down went the windows for the rest of the hot trip in. MB & Susannah arrived at the restaurant and we ate Sean's simple Chicken at the Parrish cafe on Boylston Street between Arlington and Berkeley. However before ordering, Darrell proclaimed that we should not order food for him because if we made him eat it, he would puke. After the lovely dishes of chicken arrived at our table, Darrell decided he was hungry. When asked about Darrell's fickle appetite, he replied "well when we ordered I wasn't hungry, but then after the food came I decided I was hungry". When we got to Fenway Park we gave everyone a ticket but found out we were at the wrong gate. When we got to the correct one we asked Darrell if he still had his ticket. As he searched through his pockets vigorously we became nervous. Anne, not helping at all, was yelling at Darrell the whole time. Saying things like "Darrell where'd you put the ticket? The one we just gave you! where is it? Find it now or we can't get in!" did not help Darrell as he looked for his ticket. Finally Darrell pulled out a crumpled piece of paper shoved at the bottom of his pocket and we got into the stadium.The Sox lost 7-2 but the seats were pretty good, about 10 rows back in the center field bleachers. Throughout the game Darrell could not stop rocking back and forth. When Jason leaned over to ask him if he could sit still, Darrell stopped rocking but then proceed to bounce his leg up and down. After about thirty seconds of the leg bouncing, he returned to the rocking. "How come you started moving?" asked Jason. Darrell, slightly angry replied "well, am i bothering you?" Trying hard not to laugh out loud, Jason answered "no, it's just a fun game to play". With a look of relief on his face Darrell responded "well it's too hard, I can't sit still!"
Day 4 we did a canoe trip on the Charles, dodging the kid's camp for junior sailors. On our way around the river we spotted a small red eared slider turtle. Unfortunately our canoe crashed into the rocks and scared off the turtle. Dinner was remarkable at Anthony's pier 4. Jason had lobster bisque, MB gazpacho, and then main courses of a steak, seafood casserole, and shrimp scampi were delicious. The lemon tartuffo and blueberry deep dish pie with ice cream were delicious.
Day 5 we drove to the Cape, dropping off Sue in Cohasset. First home made dinner, chicken sausage over pasta after getting all of the free stuff from Roche Bros for the morning breakfast. We stayed at the South Beach Club and Resort in Mashpee.
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