NYC Vacation / Weymouth Staycation

It's Sunday night, everyone is a little down about our nine-day vacation coming to a close...but we really had a great time, the Regan family tearing it up as far south as New York City and all over eastern Massachusetts. We all had a blast - Theo is so much fun these days, showing off his words and peacocking around town like he's Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Here's a little photo essay documenting our adventures:
Things got off to a very exciting start with a drive down to NYC, where we spent three days and two nights visiting Theo's Uncle David and Auntie Donna in Astoria, Queens. Theo was really impressed by the big city, especially now that he's into cars, trucks, trains and doggies, each of which NYC has in abundance. We rode the N Train from Queens to midtown Manattan, and made a stop at the Central Park Zoo. We also enjoyed the impressive playgrounds within the park. NYC does it right when it comes to playgrounds for kids.

Returning home to Weymouth late Monday night, we spent the rest of the week taking little day trips to check out some of the local attractions we've always talked about...first on the agenda was Ames Nowell State Park, which is located in Abington, the next town over from us (where Theo's Grammy lives).
We decided to take the ferry from Hingham Shipyard to Grape Island and Bumpkin Island (not Blumpkin Island, Sue). Both islands are part of the Boston Harbor Islands archipelago. We were super-impressed with both rustic islands, both so peaceful amid the bustle of Boston Harbor. We hope to come back in the future to camp!

Another major hightlight was our trip to the New England Wildflower Society's Garden in the Woods (which, if you'll recall from a previous blog post, we tried to visit last fall but the garden was closed when we got there).

One of these springs we're going to go all-native with our garden plants, which is pretty interesting and apparently important for the environment...they have classes and all kinds of junk at the Wildflower Society...so much to learn. For now we'll add it to our "someday" list (a list which already includes kayaking, juicing, and painting the front porch).
Other outings during the week included Nantasket Beach and the Blue Hills Reservation.
Our staycation wrapped up with a fun summer barbecue at our good friends The Grables home (where Theo went into a bouncy house for the first time...which, btw, when I was little were called "Moonwalks" - does anyone remember this?).

Unfortunately we didn't take many pictures of the party...I think by that point in the vacation we had hit a tipping point for snapshots. Sunday night concluded with a gorgeous sunset outdoor mass at Immaculate Conception Church here in Weymouth, which we attended with our good friend Russell Conlin. Klondike ice cream bars were distributed after mass, much to Russell's delight...

Phew...that wraps summer vaca/stayca August 2010...thanks for checking in with us!