Baby Shower!

We recently headed back to Texas for a baby shower for Jessica's cousin Laura and her husband Joel. They are having a little girl, named Alice, later this summer.



The shower was book-themed. Can you name all the children's books they made decorations for? (If you get more than eight, you're looking too hard).



Posing with the lovely mom-to-be!



One of the shower games we played was a race to see whose "water broke" first. We froze little plastic babies in ice cubes and put them in everyone's drinks. The person whose water broke first got a special prize (and will be the next in our family to have a baby!)



All the cousins together! Quick note: Angie, the second from the left, was the winner of the game described above. Big congrats go out to Angie and her husband James!



Speaking of flies, check out this baby frog umbrella! Does that mean it's a baby frog, or it's a baby umbrella? Either way, the parents-to-be did an amazing job modeling their gift.



Scottie, one of the proud grandmothers-to-be. FYI, she's not smiling for the camera, she had that look on her face the whole shower!



Kathy made an amazing quilt of fabrics from everyone in the family for Baby Alice. They ended up with so many shirts that the quilt is double-sided. That way, when Baby Alice spits up on it, her parents can just flip it over!

Babies in the air!

Good news! It's finally warm enough in Boston to wear a t-shirt outside. Perfect time for a family outing! Speaking of children, we recently attended a baby shower, with photos soon to follow.

Culinary Adventures

When Gracie and Matt visited, we ate lots of great food and saw historical sites all over the city. But mostly we ate lots of great food, including the best hot chocolate in Boston, the best hot chocolate on the Cape (notice a theme?), burgers named after celebrities (like the Scott Brown or the Bill Clinton), and much more.



Continuing on our food exploration, we took Gracie and Matt out to a farmer's market. You'll notice here the salesbugs also happened to make the product being sold.



We also visited the JFK Presidential Library and Museum. Here, Jessica is hanging out in a replica of the Oval Office.



The displays ended in a large, open atrium. The light coming through the glass gave a sense of hope.



The library also overlooked the Boston skyline, which was pretty cool.



Finally, we shared a home-cooked lasagna dinner. Yum!

Rocket Man!

Okay, so the other photo was in fact edited with Photoshop. So here's the actual picture:



We know, not quite as exciting as the other photo, but Matt does work with NASA and got a chance to see the shuttle launch. Congrats Matt, you da man!

Sightseeing around Boston!

Jessica's cousin Gracie and her husband Matt came to visit Boston, so we went sightseeing at some spots we'd never been to before.



Here we are at the Mayflower II. Apparently it's an exact replica of John Mayflower's first boat. John Mayflower is the founder of Mayflower Moving. At least I think that's the history of the boat, I didn't bother to read the sign.



Here is the rock the Pilgrims landed on. As you can see, it's been broken up and glued back together. Granted, there is much uncertainty around whether or not it's the actual rock they landed on. Not sure why they don't just go back and watch the Barbara Walter's footage since she was there to interview the pilgrims as they stepped off the boat.



There was also some pretty architecture in the town of Plymouth.



And even with all the cold weather we've been having, the flowers are still finding a way to bloom.



Later we made our way down to Cape Cod to watch the sunset on the beach. Justin was testing out shooting into the sun with a flash to see if you could still make out the people in the shot. Fortunately, he found a willing model...



And here is a shot of the beautiful sunset on the Cape.



And here is another. Hopefully there will be more later this summer!

Nice Whale!

Jessica's cousin Gracie and her husband Matt just came to town for a visit. While they were here, we did a shot for shot remake of Free Willy. And by shot for shot, I mean we took a picture of Matt standing on a rock pier and had a whale jump over him. No Photoshop required.

Note: Professional stuntman on a closed course. Please don't try this at home.

Overachieving

Overachieving: the process of making yourself look good while simultaneously making everyone else look bad.