Weekend in Boston

Last week, on the 22nd, was our nephew, Kaleb's, first birthday and his celebration was on Saturday, so we packed up our Routan and pointed the beast east Saturday morning.  After dropping Rocco off with Gloria, we met up with mom & dad on I90 at the first rest stop in Mass.  They were hauling our niece & nephew, Anna & Reid with them.  It was nice to caravan with them because we have never been to this area near Boston and they had a GPS with them.

My handsome nephew enjoying his birthday cupcake.

Kaleb's party was at Michael and JoAnne's friend's house, Jamie & Geoff because their little boy, Travis, was also celebrating his first birthday.  Michael sent me a text Friday asking what kind of food they should get for us.  I did not want to have them go out of their way, so I said fruit and salad fixin's would be just fine.  We brought a good amount of food with us, just in case.  We had nothing to worry about.  At the party, they had plenty of veggies, lots of hummus, and lots of fruit.  Jamie also made a nice platter of tomatoes and basil for us (I really wanted the fresh mozzarella on the other platter, but I did good and resisted my longings for the sweet, delicious cheese).  There was one other item that I really wanted and that was the cupcake!  They had regular yellow cupcakes, and then I noticed there were some that looked different.  Holy cow, they were angel food cupcakes with strawberries on top!  Geesh, I really wanted one. I love angel food cake, and to have my very own little one, heaven!  I ignored the cupcakes as best as I could, took some pictures of kids eating them, but did not indulge in one myself.  

Kaleb's best bud, Travis, lovin' the chocolate.

We left the party, battled some good ole' Boston traffic on 93, and ended up at my brother's new apartment in Dorchester.  Their new apartment is beautiful with granite counter tops, travertine tile in the bathrooms, and windows everywhere.  Their old apartment was also very beautiful and in a great Cambridge neighborhood, but it was a lot smaller.  For dinner Saturday night, JoAnne made us quinoa with kale, summer squash, and zucchini.  She normally makes this dish with two slices of bacon in the kale, but she decided that they could live without it for the night.

                                                                

So incredibly yummy!

It was really delicious and it was something that we all enjoyed.  Michael and JoAnne love eating meat, but the great thing about these two is that they really know how to cook.  I love going over to their place because I always learn something new about food.  I also love how they do not really make us feel weird for not eating animal products (though JoAnne kept referring to us as their "vegan friends," which we think is hilarious.)  They even bought us soy milk, not really knowing if we drink the stuff or not, but they got it just in case.  They were thoughtful and extremely caring and it makes me feel all warm & fuzzy.  Thanks guys, we love you!

Just an update on my tushy, it is still very tender, so unfortunately, I think I will be taking one more week off from running and yoga.  I am totally bummed and I am missing my outlets.  Maybe it will be better by Thursday, then my dad and I can take our weekly run.  That would be nice, but I am not pushing my luck.