The last weekend of April was quite exciting! Dada was hosting his Ph.D. advisor, Bruce Menge, who came out to the MSC (Marine Science Center) to give the annual Riser Lecture. Caden got to participate in many of the activities, beginning with a fancy dinner on Thursday night. Of course, he could hardly stand keeping still and not being the center of attention with so many of his friends around the table (Sal, Steve, Kylla) and managed to individually coax everyone into a visit to the lobster pond. Man he was excited when the waitress brought Dada [their] lobster dinner (he loved the calamari, too, and got to have ice cream for being so good)!
Friday, things got even better when Heather, Jeremy (other friends from Lubmengo Lab days), and, especially, Isaac arrived. Caden and Isaac stayed with a babysitter (our 14-yr old neighbor, Katherine) while the parents went to the lecture and reception and dinner at the Nahant country club. What a nice surprise it was to return at 9:30 pm to 2 fast-asleep kids and a little book they had all put together about their activities of the evening (including playing baseball, reading books, and eating pizza)!
Saturday, we had brunch with Heather, Jeremy, Isaac and Bruce. Because of the Monday holiday, the garbage truck showed up, causing much excitement.
At one point, Caden walked over to Bruce and said 'can I have a hug?' That reminds Mama of a story her parents like to tell about her requesting hugs from visitors! Bruce seemed to enjoy playing blocks, helped Caden with his ice cream during lunch at Lime Rickey's, and started getting excited when big trucks drove past!
After a great visit, Dada drove Bruce to the airport on Sunday morning and returned via D'Amici's Italian Bakery where he picked up cannolli for us. Caden was happy to discover a new treat! It was our first perfect spring weekend, weather-wise, so we spent lots of time on the deck on Sunday.
In the evening, since Nana and Aunt Erika were in Colorado visiting Great Grandpa Ray, we got to video chat with them! Caden was so excited, and it was wonderful to see the smile on Grandpa Ray's face. Caden 'listened to' Grandpa's heart with his stethoscope and played virtual catch with him with his baseball (on the screen, from L to R, is Grandpa Ray, Aunt Erika, and cousins Monica and Sean).
Mama was gone in California last week - meeting with people and doing research at Bodega, then giving a seminar at Moss Landing Marine Lab - so Dada and Caden didn't have a camera (although they managed to capture Caden with underwear on his head on the webcam to send to Mama).
We've had lots of good family time since Mama got back. Caden is still building with blocks constantly. Here's a 'castle' he built all by himself, with 3 people asleep upstairs, and is about to knock down using Rocky the Crane.
He has also rediscovered cooking in his kitchen since Nana sent a pair of plastic gloves, and he observed that gloves are sometimes used in food preparation.
1 comment:
mmmmm cannoli :)
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