Blizzard of '13

Zach and us managed to survive the Blizzard of 2013 relatively unscathed.  There were 2 feet to shovel, but other than that, we came out ok!  Here's the before picture from yesterday, last night when we were less than halfway through, and the picture of him playing on the porch while we shoveled today.  Also, here's a picture of him relaxing on his Radio Flyer toy between outdoor sessions.

Christmas Decorating

 Boston Common - December 2

Decorating - December 8

Stationery card

Be Merry Prints Christmas Card

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Leaf Peeping

We went to NH for leaf peeping.  Turns out MA seems to have better leaves this late in the season!  We went to Rhododendron State Park to end our visit.  We need to come back in mid-July when the flowers are in full bloom.  I tried a new Zach carrier...doesn't appear I can get him in this contraption alone!!  Zach was amused with the setup...Mom felt like her shoulder was being ripped off - it may need to be returned.

Below is Dad and Zach in our backyard...Jason was tired from hauling concrete and other miscellaneous items to our dumpster (hopefully the dumpster is temporary and not a permanent fixture in our parking area!).

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Apple Picking

We had competing apple picking sponsored events...an event for Deaf Children and one for Deaf Blind Children on the same day!  We chose to go to both.  This worked out well as Zach fell asleep  at Berlin Orchards (pics 1-2).  Luckily he perked up at Shelburne Farm in Stow (pics 3-4).

Portland, ME

Brenna tried a new discount hotel website...Jetsetter!  It would have been great...except our posh Portland hotel didn't have the reservation the next morning, Jetsetter doesn't open until 10AM (and was unresponsive to emails titled "Urgent" and their recommended contact method of Twitter additionally received no response), and we were on hold for 1 hr 40 minutes (then Jason lost cell signal and lost the call!).  Luckily our next phone call went through in <10 minutes.  The other good news was that they "proactively" resolved the situation...we were kind enough not to mention they had failed to respond to emails, twitters, and had been on hold >1 hr...  Zach enjoyed the Children's Museum walking distance from the hotel.

Zach turns 4!

We celebrated Zach's birthday week with tons of presents from family, especially tons of loud, bright flashing toys from grandparents!  First we had some chocolate cake with candles.  Here's Zach protecting his cake from dad and very thoughtfully checking out the 4 candles.

Next was present time.  He especially liked his new remote control!