Since we've moved away from Boston, somehow we seem to find some reason for a summer trip back - in 2005 and 2007, and now this year - despite the fact that the summer humidity in Boston was one of the reasons we left! This year the excuse was the wedding of our friends Tara & Jason. The trip got off to a good start when we both managed to sleep on the red-eye flight. That didn't preclude us from taking a long nap once we arrived at our host Becky & Gordon's place, though.
Tara & Jason's Wedding
The first wedding events were the bachelor/bachelorette parties on Thursday night, the day we arrived. The guys met outside of
Fenway Park and started out at the evening's Red Sox game. We soon discovered a strange property of this group of 8 bachelor party participants: other than the groom, no one knew any of the other participants! "That was just in case I needed to send you on a mission," quipped Jason (
Reservoir Dogs). After the game we proceeded to the
Middle East in Central Square for some food and overly loud live music. Several of us had taken red-eye flights that day, so by shortly after 11pm we were starting to fade. We said our goodbyes until the wedding on Saturday.
(photo courtesy of Penny)The bachelorette party, on the other hand, started with manicures/pedicures, then dinner, a wine bar, and karaoke. Corinne and I had prearranged to meet at midnight on the platform of the Central Square T stop (how romantic), so she actually had to leave the party a little early; I was done early and had 45 minutes to kill. During that time I saw the best and worst of
Central Square. First, I witnessed an actual fight - or at least the end of one. Immediately following that, I stumbled into a mob of people on the sidewalk, watching the Celtics come back from a 20 point deficit to win game 4 of the NBA Finals. There really is nothing quite like watching a Boston team play in Boston, whether it be live or televised.
The wedding was held on Saturday at the
Artists for Humanity Epicenter. In typical Boston fashion, the weather was hot and humid. Becky was gracious enough to give us a ride to the T so that we would at least start the evening dry. Unfortunately some scheduled maintenance and unscheduled fires on the tracks caused a large section of the Red Line to be closed. The MBTA was using buses to ferry people around the work, but the buses were predictably slow and overcrowded. Worried that we wouldn't make it in time, we opted to take a cab. (Thank you, Boston, for reminding us of some of the reasons we left!)
The ceremony and reception were held in the same building, with interesting and colorful local art decorating the walls. Corinne and Tara originally met when they were both living at
WILG at MIT, so the reception was a good opportunity to see lots of fellow alums.
At one point during the cocktail hour between the ceremony and the reception I noticed a Budget moving truck out one of the windows; the back of the truck was filled with plates of salad, with the caterer dressing each one. However they got it done, it was great. I do wish I had gotten a photo of that truck, though.
Last fall Jason and Tara moved from Seattle to Denmark when Jason received an offer to work for
LEGO in Billund. As such, Lego
Mini-figs played a prominent role on wedding day, used for both the wedding cake topper and each of the place card holders for the attendees. Corinne and I were given an Engineer and a Chef, which we very much appreciated. ;)
The next time we'll see the happy couple will be our scheduled trip to Denmark in July, just days after they have returned from their honeymoon!
Becky, Gordon and Lily
Mike & Lily in the Park
When we weren't involved in wedding activities, we spent a good portion of the rest of the time with our hosts Becky, Gordon, and their 1.5 year old daughter Lily. We took walks around the neighborhood, which also happens to be close to our old neighborhood. We walked to a local community park/garden where a group of new moms meets for "play-time", and had lunch at The Neighborhood Restaurant (that's the name). And we also made sure to make time for
Christina's Ice Cream. We also had some fabulous home-cooked meals, thanks to our hosts! There are some additional photos and stories on their blog,
The Lilypad.
Christina's Ice Cream
On Sunday morning, Becky and Gordon hosted brunch at their place for the old MIT Aero/Astro group. Little did we know that they actually had a mini baby shower planned! Sara made a beautiful ABC cake, while Becky bought supplies to make personalized
onesies. Each couple used markers, stencils and their imagination to make Rocket the most stylin' baby on the block. We got some of everything: nature (ladybugs and flowers), science (rockets and pi), and sports (the NY Yankees - like we'll ever let her wear THAT one...)
With so many kids running around all day - Jaydon, Abigail, Lily, Caroline - we started to get a taste of what it will be like to have our own.
Making onesies
Judy & Jaydon making onesies
Shawn writing Pi
Finished onesies
Jaydon driving while "texting"
ABC cake
Cutting the beautiful cake
Jaydon and Abigail, awaiting cake
Corinne was 5 months pregnant for this trip, solidly in the second trimester. She was still small enough that she could wear a non-maternity dress to the wedding; she just added a shawl over the top to hide the places where it didn't quite fit the way it did before. But she still looked great!
The combination of the flight, more walking than usual, and the hot and humid weather did create some discomfort, though, in the form of swelling of the feet and ankles. At each doctor's appointment, the gynecologist would ask her if she had any swelling; after this trip, the answer would have to change from "no" to "yes". I guess we should look into those
compression socks before our Denmark trip in July.
Our flight back to Portland left Monday night, and unfortunately we spent most of Monday preoccupied by some distressing news we received from Leif. But that is a story for another post.
- Mike (& Corinne)
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