Heath Hill Revisited

On Wednesday we loaded up our rental car (who knew that a Toyota Camry had such a big trunk--we actually fit all of our stuff minus our crappy double stroller that we finally decided to trash) and took the familiar drive up to Boston. Since David had been out until some ungodly hour the night before, I drove the whole way while everyone else slept.
We were very excited to be the first guests at the newly remodeled Hotel Heath Hill (a.k.a. my parents' house) and even though it's not completely done, it is very nice. Simon was thrilled because there was a huge tv in every room and I think he would have been perfectly happy just watching tv the entire time that we were there. Both kids loved playing outside in the construction zone that will one day be a driveway. Although we've taught them that throwing stones is bad, Papu taught them that throwing stones at a target is ok.
On Thursday we did some shopping and had dinner with Barry and Farrah. Eli seemed to have forgotten his love affair with Barry but he did not forget how much he doesn't like Farrah.
Friday was a busy day. In the morning, David and I took Eli to our condo to take care of some things. Eli was not in a good mood and cried the whole time and then cried some more when I took him next door to see Gab, Harrison and Siona. Harrison was not too impressed with him and asked where Simon was. After that, I took Eli with me to meet Julia for a quick coffee at Athan's. He was much better behaved there and it was great to see her.
Finally, after a stop at Cheryl Ann's (for the best challah ever), we went home so that Eli could take a much-needed nap.
During his nap, Simon and I went to Coolidge Corner to run some errands and go to the park with some friends. We had the following conversation:
Simon: where are we?
me: in Coolidge Corner. We're going to return something to the Gap, then we will go get ice cream and then go to the park.
Simon: are we getting ice cream from Glidah Man?
me: no, silly!
Simon: because Glidah Man is in Israel?
me: yes. We are going to JP Licks
Simon: we have never been there.
me: yes we have, you'll remember when you see it.
We go into JP Licks...
Simon: I don't think I've ever been here before. I don't know where we are.
We walk outside of JP Licks and Simon looks across the street...
Simon: Ooh, let's go to Magic Beans so that I can play in the play area and then get a toy on the way out.
Sure he doesn't remember anything...
We met Hillary at the park with Zachy and David (who was born after we left and is already so big!!) and then Gab joined us a bit later with her kids. Simon and Zach did not get along so well at first, but then they played just as well as they used to. Simon did convince me to stop at Magic Beans on the way back to the car. It is my second favorite store (after Target, of course) so it wasn't so hard for him to convince me. He picked out a car for himself and a train for Eli and a train for Joshua.
When we got home, the Daubers were already there. Shabbos was very nice--the boys played well together and entertained themselves and each other with only a little bit of fighting. We went to the Solomonts' for lunch which was so nice even though we were missing Jackie and Lauren. Joan is going to have to stock up on toys for boys!
Apparently on the way home from shul, Simon hit Joshua and Joshua told on him. Whoever he told said Simon didn't do it on purpose and Simon piped up with "no, I did do it on purpose!"
After lunch, we all took really long naps and I woke up feeling rested and not in a fog of exhaustion for the first time on the trip! Saturday night I went out with Jess and Yael while David hung out with Jesse. We all stayed up way too late for people who needed to get up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight to Florida. And thus ended the Boston-portion of our trip!