Beach-Worthy Weather

After the mildest of winters and a week of July-like weather in March, we haven't been too sure what to  expect weather-wise but it was a scorching 89 degrees on Monday (sorry Boston marathoners) and near 80 yesterday.  Finley and I are on spring break this week and Dan kindly took off the week to spend with us, which means lots of family time.  However, it also means, lots of time for me to relax and let the boys hang out since I'm now 28 weeks pregnant (have I failed to mention that in this forum??).  Yesterday I had some appointments, so I left the guys to fend for themselves and lo and behold around 10am I got some photos emailed to me from them.

Yep--they'd gone to the beach! Well, a lake with sand...over in Winchester, about 15 minutes from our place.  The emails sounded like Finley was having a blast and they would be home for a late lunch.  Both boys arrived home sunned and covered in sand, raving about all the fun they had.  Finley snuggled in for a nap while Dan and I ate lunch and hung out. When Finley got up, Dan quickly asked him if he'd like to go back to the beach again but this time with mommy and daddy.  A resounding "yes!" was heard from his crib so after changing clothes and reapplying sunscreen, we were off.

This place had everything a toddler such as ours could want:

1. Parking lot right across from commuter line railroad tracks and since it was nearing rush hour, the trains were plentiful.

2. A Beautiful Lake

Fleets of sailboats were all around and it couldn't have been lovelier to feel the sun on your back and the cool water on your toes.

3. Ducks

After feeding the ducks matzah last weekend with GG in NY, Finley was quite interested in these quacking friends that weren't shy or skittish.

4. Big, abandoned shovels, enough said.

5. More toys.  After their visit this morning, Dan brought more toys including our blue ball which was just like one Finley had played with alongside some other beach goers earlier.

Kicking and tossing it were fun, but not as fun at whacking it with the shovel and getting everyone all wet turned out to be.  We threw the frisbee around, dug up rocks to throw into the water, and while Finley didn't get in much past his knees--he thoroughly enjoyed the water.

6. Airplane flight path from Logan right over our heads, lots of planes to watch and wave to.

7. A nearly brand new playground!

Here is Finley peering into his "barn" getting ready to feed all his animals.

While debuting his new-to-him crocs, Finley was careful to take them off and dump out the little foam rubber pieces that were on the ground under the play structure.

He enjoyed being the captain of this little boat.

Even letting on a first mate (me!) and driving the boat to the "boat station" that I explained was called a "dock."

After discovering a long stick, he took it aboard as a fishing rod and came to bring us his catch.  If only he knew how I felt about seafood...

What an afternoon! I suspect this place gets PACKED on hot summer days so it will be nice for us to enjoy it until school lets out :) While we are house hunting, outings like these make me very thankful for how close we now live to such a wide variety of free, outdoor entertainment!  Way to go Super-Dad, all this fun started with you!