Summer Lovin'

Oh summer, how I love thee. This weekend has been busy and great. I don't mind busy weekends in the summer because I don't feel like I need to savor every second of down time!

Friday

On Thursday and Friday night Eric and I went out for delicious dinners- first with friends and then with my parents on Friday. We went to a place I've mentioned once before called Masa. Masa has two locations, one in the South End of Boston and one in Woburn. First of all they have cornbread, which I honestly could make a meal out of it- it's so good. Last time I got a cod dish, but this time I tried the Pan Roasted Cod with New England Chowder Salsa (I got on the side). It came with fingerling potatoes, lardons and chile broth.

I thought it was great again :)

Saturday

Saturday was Eric's grandmother's 80th birthday! Do you believe she had grandkids when she was in her late 40s? Amazing. Saturday morning I woke up in a Martha Stewart mode so I decided to make chocolate dipped strawberries and s'mores on a stick.

For some reason I get worried about bringing things to parties, maybe because most of what I can eat doesn't taste that awesome to everyone else. However, these were big hits and the only real concern I had bringing them was whether they would make it there in Eric's back seat, which they did!

The party took place in Eric's uncle and aunt's backyard. They had a tent and all went well :)

We got a whole family shot including Eric's grandmother and great uncle. Sorry to be a sketchball and blur out the little boy- I get really paranoid about putting kids up on my blog without asking their parents. He's a cute kid though- and I believe he is Eric's second cousin. I've made some effort to understand second cousins vs. cousins once removed, so assuming his mom is Eric's dad's cousin (which I think is the case) then I have it right :)

Finally, by far the best picture of the day was...

Good thing she is happily obvious to what is going on behind her :)

Sunday

In case we had not done enough this weekend, today Eric and I decided to go explore Concord and see some historical sites at the Minuteman Historical Park. We started with a quick history review multimedia presentation at the visitor center which was great. If you don't really know much about the Battles of Lexington and Concord and you are interested, there is some information on the Minuteman Historical Park's website. The park itself begins in Lincoln, and it includes a walking/bike riding trail that visits many of the sites. However, it's about 10 miles to walk if you go there and back and it was over 90 degrees today, so we just drove :)

One of my goals for this summer has been to explore Concord, mainly because I am tutoring a kiddo out there in the "country" and I figure why not? Of course, I tutor him at 7 am, so I'm not sure what brilliant things I think I am going to do at 8 am, but it's a really beautiful place: trees everywhere and lots of wildlife.

We packed ourselves some turkey sandwiches so we could have a picnic lunch, so we enjoyed that at our second stop which was Hartwell Tavern. This was the home of Ephraim and Elizabeth Hartwell and it was also a successful farm and tavern where visitors would stop on their way to and from Boston :)

I don't think Eric would've enjoyed visiting this tavern as much as the people in the 1700s did...

Yeah, he can't stand up straight in this old tavern :) Let's just say Eric and I will not be buying an old historic home anytime soon! Also, at Hartwell Tavern we saw a great presentation called "Who were the Redcoats?"

(The building behind is a result of our crazy winter- don't let too much snow pile up on an old home!)

We skipped a few other historic homes along the way, so we'll have to go back to visit on a bit cooler of a day. Our last stop was at the Old North Bridge, official site of the battle of Concord :)

There is still a lot more I'd like to do in Concord: Walden Pond State Reservation and kayaking on the Concord River to name a few. I'll let you know when those happen.

For now, we are sitting around watching the first Harry Potter movie. Believe it or not, I haven't seen ANY of them and the excitement of the last one coming out is getting to Eric so he's decided he wants to watch all of them. I agreed as long as I can have my computer with me at all times, long movies are not my thing. I did love the first three books though, then they got a little too fantasy for my book taste :)

How was your weekend? Do you enjoy visiting historical sites? Are you into the Harry Potter movies?