Our Weekend + Mother's Day in Photos

Well HELLO blogger, long time no write! First off heres some THD news: We may be adding a third "hipster dad" soon which would mean a new blog design and a lot more posting! But enough about that! I just wanted to throw up some cute photos & captions from this past weekend. We had a very busy and fun filled three days complete with a very lovely Mother's Day so here we go!

Friday morning I dropped Sierra off at daycare and sadly went to work but the day flew by and the girls met me downtown for a family art outing. We went to the samson projects gallery in the South End of Boston to see "you dont deserve me" the new solo exhibition from one of my favorite artists and people, Steve Locke, who I had the pleasure of being taught by at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Here are a few of the pieces from the show. If you're in the area you should totally check it out. The work is amazing!! For directions and info check out samson's website here.

A lot of the paintings featured men sticking their tongues out which Sierra loved and walked around the gallery sticking her own tongue right back out at them. It was adorable and awesome to see her enjoying art. At around 7:00 we headed to our local vegan pizza shop and went home for Family Movie Night. We watched "Bee Movie" -- awesome. "WHY IS YOGURT NIGHT SO DIFFICULT?!"

Saturday morning the weather in Boston was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. It had been raining for about two straight weeks so as soon as we woke up we got out there and enjoyed it. We have been meaning to go to this awesome playground on the Charles for months so we finally did it and it was well worth it. Although a lot of the structures were geared towards older kids - a zipline included - Sierra still enjoyed herself and we saw lots of baby ducks which was awesome. After a nap and some lunch we headed to Foxboro to see our favorite soccer team, The New England Revolution.

Not only was the weather awesome but we won 4 - 1! Sierra also got to see her favorite part of the game, Slyde the Fox, the team's mascot. GO REVS! After the triumphant win we headed home where Sierra proceeded to stay up until midnight against our wished but finally passed out - and so did we.

Although we thought it was going to be raining for Mother's Day the sun decided to come out and play and the day was beautiful just like Saturday - thanks Mother Nature. In the morning we let Mama sleep in and Sierra and I called / FaceTimed all of our favorite Mamas to wish them a Happy Mother's Day!


There is a little warehouse near our home that holds Antique sales every Saturday and we are frequent visitors as you can see :-). It's on the Brighton/Watertown line and not to be missed if you're in the area. The guy is super nice and you can haggle down to basically whatever you want he's even given us stuff for free just because he thinks S is cute!

After we wished everyone a Happy Mother's Day we started our own with some vegan breakfast at the Allston Diner which you HAVE to try if you're in the area. They do vegan and non-vegan and it's so delicious / affordable. You won't be disappointed.

After brunch we hit up another playground near the diner where Sierra played with some new friends and ran so much she passed out once we were back in the car. With the sleeping toddler we decided to just drive around Boston and finally parked near the Charles for some windows down feet out the window relaxation.


After Sierra woke up we headed home to refuel with some lunch and possibly a beer. I cleaned out our sun porch while the girls blew bubbles in the driveway aka "our yard". To end the daywe headed out to Nahant Beach which is a 30-40 minutes drive from the city but well worth it. We had a nice picnic for dinner, dipped our feet in the water and watched the sunset. All in all it was a great weekend and I can not wait for the summer / more great weather! -Craig

Weekend in review.

We had a lovely weekend. It was over too quickly unfortunately but here's a little of what we did. What did you do?

We started our weekend a little early and went out Thursday evening for "First Thursdays", a night once a month when galleries have new show openings. We started the night out at the Aviary Gallery, a great little art gallery / boutique in Jamaica Plain right off of Centre St. The show was "Process Objects and Instrumentation", Homemade instruments and paintings by Jason Sanford. It was a really nice show and Sierra fell in love with a little painting of a cellphone.





After Aviay we headed over to Yes.Oui.Si, Boston's multi-sensory exhibition space. The opening there was named "The Salon" and featured an artist that I graduated with from MassArt, Kira Leigh - Congrats Kira! There were 5 other artists along with Kira and the show was awesome. If you live in the area make sure you see it before it comes down March 9. Sierra was very interested in this little circular painting.

After work on Friday we had planned to meet up with a great friend and artist named Toai and do First Fridays, same as First Thursdays but on Friday go figure. Unfortunately Sierra was not feeling up to it so Toai and I adventured out just the two of us. We went to The Harrison Ave Galleries which is virtually a strip mall full of galleries, vintage markets and  cafes. It's awesome. So although it was a bummer Lauren and Sierra couldn't come with - it was nice seeing an old friend for a nice night of free wine, pretzels and art.

These "The Next One Will Be So Much Better" paintings by Joe Zane were by far my favorite pieces of the evening. So awesome:

Saturday morning we went to brunch with our good pals Liz (http://www.lizisfoodie.com) and Stephen at the Otherside Cafe. The Otherside is the best place to grab a bite in the city w/ vegan / meat-eater combos. Delicious for all involved! Stephan and Liz are both old co-workers of mine so it's great to catch up once in awhile as I don't see them as often anymore! Plus vegan ranchero breakfast is pretty awesome. You may also want to check out online culinary classes for tips on how to create your own vegan ranchero breakfast!

Sierra took this photo ^ (she's been obssessed w/ "take pick-churrs" lately.

After brunch we headed down to New Bedford to visit my grandmother who isn't feeling so hot. We figured a visit from her awesome grandson and awesome-er great grand daughter would cheer her up! I think it worked even though we did get the "Are you married yet? Please do the right thing for Jesus" speech - but that's OK she rules anyway. Her house is a treasure chest to any antiquer by the way. Check out her awesome kitchen (pics by Lauren of course that antique hound!).

After visiting with mémé we headed to my parents, ate dinner and headed back to Boston where Sierra went quickly to sleep and Lauren and I had a few drinks to unwind and listened to Brand New and Taking Back Sunday like we were 16. All in all a pretty great day.


Top Picture: Us sitting in the car for 30 minutes outside my parents house because Sierra was napping and we didn't want to wake her hah.
Bottom Left: A piece of my parents house
Bottom Right: Sierra playing with her Valentine's Day Gift from Gramma & Papa <3

Sunday morning we woke up watched Newcastle United beat Aston Villa 2-1 and take 5th place in the Premier League (WHAT! I COULD WALK ON AIR RIGHT NOW) and then Lauren and Sierra headed to Nana & Pépé's while I stayed home to get some work done before we headed out to our friend's Andre & Liz's house in Newton for some Super Bowl action. (That was the best run on sentence I have ever written!)


By "Super Bowl Action" I mean tons of baby kisses...

Sierra loves Eila! You should too follow her Mom and Dads blog at http://husbandwifebaby.wordpress.com !!! ADORABLE.

Sierra decided the sour cream (vegan) and hummus was just for her? Needless to say we got to bring the hummus home after she stuck her entire fist into it... Whoops.


Here are the men watching the game... 

And here are the girls 'watching' the game... Could we be any more stereotypical? Whoops.


I may add Liz actually does watch football I just caught her on an off moment. I may also add she is a New Yorker and wanted the Giants to win...

Her husband Andre? Not so much... this is him drowning his Super Bowl loss sorrows in beer, guacamole and twitter... Boo Giants!

Well that was our weekend. Hope you had as much fun as we did! xo -Craig

PHOTOS: Weekends

Friday's for most people mean checking their watch every few minutes waiting until it's 5:00 so they can scream TGIF and rush out the door to head to the bar with their buddies. For me it means screaming WE SO EXCITED and rushing home to my lady and my baby for a weekend of adventures, playgrounds and naps. Here are a few photos of what we did this weekend:

Here we are in Brighton Center playing 'airplane' (one of Sierra's favorite games as you can see. 

Sierra created a game called "pick up all the pinecones from this random church's "front yard" and throw them all onto the sidewalk. It was basically the best game ever. (p.s. that coffee is from CafeNation if you haven't been, you're missing out)

Sierra found the only patch of sun and was just soaking it all in.

Later that night we went to go see the New England Revolution vs Real Salt Lake at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA. Our family is pretty into "The Revs" and we have been season ticket holders for years. Before the game we did some tailgating which is always a lot of fun, who doesn't love a grilled tofu dog? Mmmmm....

Here's a view of the stadium from the ramp when you walk in.

On Sunday we decided to head to New Bedford to visit the grandparents and some friends (and maybe get some free laundry services - Thanks Mom & Dad!). Our lovely friend "Uncle Matt" bought Sierra this awesome turquoise wagon which we used to pull her to this little playground near my parents house.

My Dad may be 55 but he doesn't let it show, this is him doing back flips on the monkey-bars.

My Dad rules.

This is Sierra and I playing one of her other favorite games "peek-a-boo" through these little windows. I was trying to get a kiss but she wasn't having it.

My Dad basically stole Sierra the whole time which is fine with me because I love watching them play with one another, he is a very proud grampa.

This is Sierra's very cool p-leather jacket which she insists on wearing quite regularly now, as well as her sweet Timberland boots which are much too big for her right now but she loves them so we let her wear them anyway.

A rare photo of Sierra standing still long enough to snap a decent photograph!

Meet "Baby" Sierra's AmericanGirl Bitty Baby doll we got her for Christmas, although still nameless we're a big fan of her and she comes with us all the time. Now accepting name suggestions by the way.

Here we are wagon-ing back to my parents house after the playground.

My beautiful girlfriend & our beautiful baby striking a pose.

FAMILY (from left to right): Uncle Will, Lauren, Sierra, Aunty Jill, Uncle Matt, Grandpa and Gramma.

Later that night we went to visit my sister who has two little girl twins, names Autumn and Ashley. They go to bed a bit (lot) earlier than Sierra so they were less than enthused with our play date but we managed to snap a few decent photos in between crying :) - Here is Autumn being adorable.

Ashley and Sierra just lounging around. Well hope you enjoyed the photos, It's only Tuesday and I already am looking at my watch to see if it's Friday! - Craig

p.s. SEE MORE of our weekend @ http://www.beforeiwasamom.com