Freedom!!!

Louise and I had a rare treat today - a few hours with other adults and no need to speak in baby-talk (though we did find ourselves pointing and grunting and repeating words to each other; for example: " Look, Lou-Lou!  Firetruck!  Firetruck!"  To which Louise would drolly reply, "REE-ooo, REE-ooo". )

Kai's Grandma Barb, and her friend, Mike, watched over Kai for the day, while Louise and I went with her brother Mike (Uncle Meeko) and his fiance, Aynsley (Auntie Ayns) for a drive.  We initially figured we'd cruise along the coast south of Boston, stop by Plymouth to check oot the Rock, then onto the Cape, maybe stop in Hyannis for a cafe-lunch on the sea, wave at the Kennedy Compound, then gently wander our way back to Bedford to catch Kai waking from his nap.   

Unfortunately, the realities of getting four adults on vacation out the door caught up with us, and after the required stop at Starbucks, we figured we only had time to sprint over to Plymouth, run past the Rock, slurp down some chowda, and floor it back before Kai went apoplectic.  

 Thanks to Meeko's driving skills and a total disregard to the welfare of his rental car's future drivers, we got to Plymouth in decent time.  Plymouth itself looked like a pretty town.  Many buildings still looked like they were built in the 1700's and the downtown had a pleasant array of shops to peruse.  The wind was wicked-sharp, and we were freezing on our walk to and from the Rock.   

For those not in-the-know, there IS a Plymouth Rock, and it IS about the size of a large coffee table.  '1620' is etched into the side of it, and from the looks of it, it was seemingly done by the Plymouth High School 4H club.    In other words, the rock was a bit of a let-down.  We read a bit of history of the rock (it no longer merits a capital letter) - it was sorta created in 1740's and there's no record of any Pilgrims landing at any rock in 1620.  Over the ages, the rock has been moved around, chiseling, broken, repaired, and finally housed under a mausoleum-looking structure for everyone to gaze down on (and, probably, to sputter in disappointment).  

We had a pleasant lunch at a marina, where we pigged out on fried fishy foods, then cruised back home.   When we opened the front door, Kai must have gotten used to his Grandma Barb & Mike looking after him, for he was a little slow in cheering our names, almost as if he was thinking "Oh crap, the smothering and pampering are done now that those Mom & Dad people are home!  Now I have to clean up all my junk, wash my hands, look at their eyes when I want something, what the hell??!!!".  Then he looked at both of us, called out "Dada" and "Mom-Mom" and took both of our hands and pulled us down for a cuddle...  Little things like that are what parenthood is all about!

Hope everyone had a pleasant holidays with family and friends - Aloha from Boston!