We gathered the clan and headed into Boston 
on Friday of our vacation. Sam has been talking about meeting Mrs. Mallard and her ducklings for weeks now, those famous avian stars of Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings. He was not dissapointed! We explored much of the Boston Public Garden, visited the bronze statue of Mrs. Mallard and Lack, Mack, Quack, etc., rode the ‘strange enormous birds’ (aka the Swan Boats) and swam in the Frog Pond – a great respite from the 90+ degree heat wave hitting the city. We also walked Newbury Street from the park all the way to Comm Ave – something I don’t think I’d done for almost 20 years. I’m not sure how I ever afforded shopping there back in the day. We met up with more extended family including Lauren and her husband David plus their kids, as well as Peggy and Mary who are now living in Sommerville. We capped off the day with some yummy ice cream at JP Licks, next door to the Newbury Comics, still going strong after all these years. More photos can be found here.
Tag Archives: Family
Swampscott & Marblehead
So for the first leg of our vacation, we stayed at Julie and Scott’s place in Swampscott. Amy’s sister is always the best host, and her two sons Austin and Mason are the best playmates for Sam ever! He loves chasing them around, which takes plenty of pressure off Mom and Dad. Highlights included simply hanging around and chilling, a fabulous backyard lobstah fest (from the Barnacle, of course), time spent at the pool at Kernwood, as well as a great outing to Devereux Beach in Marblehead with my brother Seth and his boys Caleb, Gabe and Zach. See the full slideshow here.
Mom’s 80th
Rita recently marked a significant milestone – her 80th birthday. The actual day was during the last week of June when I was in the midst of the CNN.com relaunch. We did manage to head down to Savannah to celebrate with a kiddush at my mom’s synagogue, Mickve Israel a few weeks back. The picture at right is by my brother Jerry, and catches us as we head into the kiddush. More photos are here.
Trotz 2.0
So we’ve been keeping this somewhat quiet, but we’ve passed a major milestone and are ready to let everyone know. I am so happy to announce that little Trotz #2 is expected to arrive this October (31st, to be exact), and both mom and baby-to-be are doing very well as we finish up our 18th week. Amy has been a bit sicker than the first time out, but it’s certainly helped to know more-or-less what we were expecting. We’ve had several advanced ultrasound sessions and this baby is MUCH more active than Sam was – flipping around, moving arms and legs, etc. Sam has decided that he’s having a sister – but for now, we are declining to find out that tidbit of info in advance. We’ll see if we hold off or not. Look for more updates here as we progress.