Quick trip to Wellesley

Yesterday there was a memorial for my grandfather in Cambridge.  We had missed the memorial for my grandmother, which was held in June, so we made an effort to go to this one.

Friday night, Eric and I had tickets to see Mike Birbiglia here in Philadelphia, so we couldn't leave til Saturday morning.  We were on the road at 8:30, and hit no traffic going up.  I have to give it to my kids, they are excellent travelers!  We took our station wagon, instead of our mini van, so all 3 kids sat across the back seat, and Charlotte could look at her brothers.  They watched movies, looked out the window, snacked, talked to each other, and napped.

We got to my cousin William's house in Wellesley around 1:20.  Originally I had thought that we would try to go into Boston and do something really exciting, but instead we spent all afternoon hanging around the house, and it was great.  Asher and Benjamin both went outside and played with their cousins in the snow in the woods behind their house.  The boys were so independent and had so much fun with their cousins.

After time in the snow, all the kids came in, William built a fire, and I made hot chocolate for all the kids.

Asher, Daddy and cocoa

Hot chocolate and a roaring fire

We had a big dinner of turkey meatloaf and the boys even ate seconds!  Surprisingly, since the last 2 times we stayed there sleeping was a disaster, all 3 kids slept quite well.  Our little cousin, Lilah, told William that she likes playing with her boy cousins, but that the baby (Charlotte) she wasn't so sure about... because all she does is put things in her mouth and chew on them.

Sunday morning we had breakfast with our cousins and tried to get our act together, which meant we managed to leave by 10:30 am.  We went to Hi-Rise, which is the bakery where I was working 10 years ago at the time that I met Eric.  I hadn't been back in several years... and it was so surreal to go in and see all 3 of my beautiful children in the place where I worked when I was single, not sure if I'd ever find love.

my 3 angels with their snack

Asher in front of the counter

Benjamin attacking his rice krispie treat

10 years, 1 husband, 1 degree, and 3 children.  Not too shabby.

From there we went to lunch at my cousin Jess's, and then on to the memorial service.  Asher got upset that there weren't any toys there to play with, so Eric had to take the boys out for a walk to get them food (at this point, Asher had eaten 2 breakfasts, 1 snack, 1 lunch, and needed MORE food).  They didn't come back until the service was almost over.  My dad dealt with Charlotte most of the time, but I still had plenty of time chasing her around and missed some of every speech.

Then back in the car, and home again.  Eric went very fast, since we were promised it would be snowing.  Lucky for us, there was no traffic and no snow, and we made it home in 5 hours (including stops for gas and pee).  It was a lot of driving for not a lot of time, but it was a wonderful weekend seeing our family.  I missed my grandparents so much- ordinarily after something like that, we'd all go back to their place and sit around their library and talk about the event.  It was nice to remember them they way they were, in their prime, and it felt a little like going back in time, in a town with so many memories.  Very bittersweet.