Memorial Day weekend in New England

A few weeks before Memorial Day weekend Kate and I had talked about how we wanted to spend the long weekend. We both agreed that we should get out of the city, but were undecided as to the exact locale. Time went on and about a week before Memorial Day weekend Kate called me at work to say in a rather pleading and un-Kate-like voice that she decided on a destination and hoped I wouldn't mind. Intrigued, I grunted for more. Boston.

Well, Natick, actually, which is a small town on the far outskirts of Boston that I'd actually heard of because there's an Army base there. Although the reason for going was admittedly sad (Kate's grandmother is not doing so well), I was excited nonetheless at the prospect of getting a preview of our upcoming Maine-and-Cape-Cod trip this July. 

Our Memorial Day weekend outings started on Thursday, when I met the family at the Children's Art Museum for a few ours of doodling, arts & crafts, and playing dress up.

After work on Friday, when the weekend began in earnest, we slogged through the Memorial-Day-Weekend-Exodus traffic party (where at one point our GPS told us we would be delayed by 5 hours and 15 minutes) but only made it as far as Queens before Henry threw up twice. We suspected Henry couldn't handle the party's pulsating stop-and-go rhythms, but after a few sips of a McDonald's fruit smoothie he seemed ready for more.

After a non-eventful stop in Stamford, which is actually quite nice, we arrived at our hotel just outside Natick ready for bed but excited for a weekend in New England.

Before the visit with Grandma Williams, we visited a city playground and stopped by a farmer's market. Oddly enough, no one got hurt at either of these places, despite our family see-sawing and Henry's compulsion to stick his fingers into dog mouths and bunny cages.

After the visit with Grandma Williams and a follow-on visit at Kate's aunt's house where Henry threw himself face first off of one of those backyard family swings, we decided to commune with New England a bit more before our long drive back to the Empire State. 

First there was a pleasant park where the kids did lots of dirty things, including burying a dead fish.

Then there was a petting zoo slash farm in Connecticut where Elizabeth bravely rode a pony and properly fed the animals and where Henry punched his hole fist into a draft horses nostril and poked a llama in the eye.

Because we weren't dirty enough after the dead fish and the horse snot, we explored a few local waterfalls where the kids and I rolled up (or took off) our pants and bathed in the dead-leaf-filled pools. Although he was hesitant at first, Henry eventually became so fond of 'bathing' in the pool that he started trying to squirm out of my grip so he could stick his head into the water. It was like he wanted to dive in. Or breathe it in. Either way it was funny. 

After having so much fun in the natural pools, we decided to open up our own swimming pool for the season. In less than 24 hours, Henry managed to barf and poop in the pool. We've since cleaned it, but I still wouldn't eat anything that dropped in there.

Finally, after swimming we headed out for a local Memorial Day parade where, fortunately, nothing gross or dangerous happened, which is good because I think we had our fill. Happy Memorial Day everyone.