Right before the kids and I took off for our road trip, I got an email that said “Boston Red Sox Invite You to a Game at Fenway Park” in the subject line. I almost, almost deleted it, since obviously it must be spam. I am so very glad I didn’t.

I have no idea how I ended up on a list of “thought leaders” in New England, but because they stumbled over my blog somehow the marketing department for the Red Sox invited me and my family up to the park for a tour, a game and a focus group to talk about what would make us more likely to come back.

The whole thing was so professional, I almost cringe at the fact I even there. I wore flip flops and brought my four year old. No one else had their kid there (I asked! They said beforehand it was OK!) and he was kind of…a four year old. There was an agenda and a white board and notepads.  It was a small group. There was a seat marked with my name and blog name on a printed and branded place marker. They had individual bottles of Perrier for us while we chatted about family events at Fenway and their Kid Nation program. Perrier is way above my class level. It was 90 degrees and my Spanx were the only thing keeping me from literally melting into a puddle on the floor, but there I was, unable to shut up. I ramble when I’m nervous (shocking, I’m sure) and in the moment my brain seemed to think all my ideas were BRILLIANT. Gah. Gaaaaaaaaah.

Luckily I must not have totally embarrassed myself, since they sent a follow up email and invited us back to the Futures at Fenway event coming up in July. At the focus group we discussed in detail what sort of things we’d like to see at a family day event…and then POOF! Turns out that event is ALREADY SCHEDULED. And has been for the past eight years. I probably should have known about that already. Oops?

The real best part of the whole thing was the ballpark tour. I’m not the world’s greatest Red Sox fan (and if you are, feel free to hate me for being invited to this thing when you weren’t), but I am a huge nut about history and Fenway is all about history. Getting to walk around the park when it was empty, visit all the fancy and private levels, see the framed jerseys going all the way back to the very first one with actual red socks printed on it…it was amazing. Especially because I got to bring E and Evan. I choked up a little just editing my photos from the day – they don’t get to spend a lot of time together doing father-son stuff, but what can be a better memory than Evan’s first trip to Fenway? Magical, for real.

Look at that empty, empty field!

There are vintage-style and exposed brick signs everywhere in the park. I love the way they make it FEEL like a historic place.

Some of the fancy memorabilia in the uber-swanky season ticket holder club.

So, so, so, SO many food choices in the park.

I had to bribe him with one of those smooshed pennies to sit next to Wally.

The view from on the field.

Discussing batting practice.

Hello Rockies. Sorry not sorry you lost this game!

Watching the actual game (we only got to stay a few innings)

Delivered right to my seat, hot and delicious

I’m a little obsessed with the way the light-up boards for the scores and stats all use green backgrounds, so they match the rest of the stadium. Plus the graphics have fake drop-shadows, so they look just like the old hand-operated score board (That they still use! There are guys in there!)

PACKED stadium on a Tuesday night!

Goodnight Fenway! See you again soon!

Prayers and thoughts for one of my very favorite cities.

From out visit in 2010

Nothing can snap  all three of us out of a bad mood funk faster than a weekend full of of fun and food and friends. Gorgeous weather and a kid who was charming and happy despite skipping nap time two days in a row didn’t hurt either.

Saturday morning we all went to E’s hockey game, where Little Evan showed off his team spirit.

Babies Gone Wild! I think he was just enjoying the sunshine.

Then we headed over to the Mystic Seaport for Chowderfest.

CHOWDAH!

We had seafood chowder and lobster chowder and beef brisket sandwich and apple fritters and pumpkin spice gelato. E also enjoyed a very very delicious Pumpkin Head Beer while I cursed myself for ALWAYS being pregnant.

That Seaport membership is the best thing we've bought in years.

On Sunday we drove up to Boston to meet my friend Erin (of the much-mentioned wedding) and her new husband. I always forget Boston’s only 90 minutes away and is a fantastic day trip, even with a baby.

Could this city be any more beautiful? I heart it.

We went up early to visit the Children’s Museum in the morning. I’ve been wanting to go since we moved back to New England 5 years ago, but visiting a children’s museum when you don’t have any children is sort of…creepy.

I've never met a kid who loves making faces so much.

I have amazing memories of Boston from when I was a kid – we lived about an hour outside the city from when I was 10 until I was 15 – and I was glad to see Little Evan enjoyed it as much as I did. He’s still too young for most of the museum but the toddler section was fantastic.

Trains! Tunnels! Hats! Loud noises!!!!!

After a couple of hours of inside fun we met our friends and walked over to the Commons to meet up with another friend (and blog reader!) Kim and her adorable daughter.

The brick building in the top left picture is my dad's old office. Right next door is James Hook Lobsters. Dad would sometimes bring home live lobsters and we'd play with them and name them and pick out which one was "ours"...and then toss them in a pot and eat them for dinner. You can see why I'd make a terrible vegetarian.

This Elliot, Erin's husband, being a good sport while we played a game of "freak out the newlywed by throwing babies at him." He actually did a really great job. It took a lot of effort to not start asking "SO, WHEN ARE YOU GUYS GOING TO HAVE KIDS?"

Of course, I can’t go to Boston without visiting the Gardens and the beloved duck statue:

Make Way for Ducklings! That's the island where Mr. and Mrs. Duck live in the book. The ducks really do live there.

It took at least 30 minutes of waiting for bigger kids (and adults) to get off Mrs. Duck for this picture. I guess I should be glad so many people love classic children's literature, right?

We topped off the afternoon with Little Evan’s first carousel ride.

That top left picture is Evan crying and screaming, not because he's scared of the ride but because the ride is over and he's SAAAAAAD to leave his horsie.

We left Boston around 5:30 and even with traffic made it home about 2 hours later. As we pulled into the driveway, my friend Amy showed up to drop off her delicious homemade pumpkin ice cream. I have really awesome friends.

But the BEST part of the weekend is that even after 2 super busy fun days of running around and going places and seeing friends, E has today off. We’re both in our pajamas and have absolutely no plans to leave the couch for longer than it takes to heat up some mac & cheese and refill Little Evan’s sippy cup. SO AWESOME. Plus I have half a bowl of pumpkin ice cream left.

What did you do this weekend? I hope it was as much fun as ours!