Leftovers Fried Rice, Memorial Day, Faneuil Hall, and Drumlin Farm

On the plate:  Leftover steak and veggie fried rice

Soundtrack to cook to:  Motown on Pandora

On Memorial Day, I decided to deck the boys out in red, white, and blue.  Since my foot was still bothering me, we decided to have a "home day," where we played around the house and even got out the water table.

William, splashing around.  Alex doesn't really
like to play with the water table when William's
there because sometimes he splashes a little too much.
(Go figure, Alex loves playing with a water table
but doesn't like getting wet.)

Alex did enjoy watching from afar, though.

See what I mean?  William LOVED taking
the water out of the table and dumping it on
the ground.  He thought it was hilarious.
However, in doing so, he inadvertently
dumped water all over himself.  Silly guy :)

William at the water table

More water table fun :)

My friend Kate mentioned that she was going to the Memorial Day parade in Watertown.  After looking up the parade route, I noticed that it was about 1 mile away from our house!  I quickly fed the boys lunch, packed up some snack peas and fruit, and we headed over to the parade!
We found a spot right on the corner, parked ourselves on the curb, and waited for the parade to pass by our area.  Perfect timing!

I caught William in the middle of chewing
on some sugar snap peas.  These boys LOVE
to snack on them.

Mommy and Alex selfie :)

Parade time!

Two large tanks came through the parade route

A lovely veteran gave us a flag. :)

Alex and William were saying, "Hi!"
and, "thank you!" to the veterans and their
families.

Happy Memorial Day!

Our patriotic little fellows

Parade fun :)

Kristen and Pete got William this awesome
T-Rex/American flag shirt from a cute
boutique in Boston.  They offered to get
Alex one as well, but he was being a little
grumpy and said he didn't want it.
Later on...he said he did want it.  Oh well :-/

Our adorable men (with Oscar in the background)

I was happy that I was able to take the boys to the Memorial Day parade, and to be able to explain to them and show them why we were celebrating.  It was a very meaningful and fun day.  We are so thankful for our troops that protect us and to the veterans who have done so in the past.

Leftover reinvention time!  We had a steak and a half leftover from our cook out, so I cut it up into little pieces and made a fried rice dish for dinner that evening.  If you need a quick fix for dinner, then here you go!  I timed myself while making this and it took 17 minutes (with cutting and cooking involved) from start to finish.  Delish!
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 steaks, diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (or grated)
• 1 lb mushrooms, diced
• 1 bunch rapini, cut into 1/2 inch long pieces
• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 5 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Mirin (not necessary, but adds a little more flavor)

Put the steak into a medium/high heat pan and cook it until it starts to
get caramelized on the outside.

Then, toss in the rest of the vegetables and cook for ~8-10 minutes.
(No need to add olive oil, as the fat rendered from warming up the
steak is all that you'll need to cook the veggies.)

Toss in the 2 cups of cooked brown rice, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and
Mirin.  Stir well to combine and it's ready to serve!

17 minutes from start to finish with cutting included.  You can't beat that!

Plus, there's enough leftover for the next evening. 
(I even put this fried rice on tortillas and put shredded cheese on top and
turned these into quesadillas the next night.)

Yummy! :)

Alex enjoying some very, very sour candy from the parade
(War Heads).  This kid loves his candy!

William is also a trooper...a little hesitant at first, but he loved it!
I was impressed!

The next day, my foot was feeling better and I was really wanting to take the boys out and about.  So, we took Oscar on an extra-long walk in the morning, and then made our way to Faneuil Hall and Little Italy for the morning.
It was warm (~72) that morning and sunny, so I dressed the boys and myself in shorts and a t-shirt.  Then, by the time we had gotten ready, got in the car, and drove downtown, it was overcast and about 55 degrees outside.  Thankfully, I have an extra set of clothes for the boys in the trunk, along with hoodies for them as well.  So, they were set and were comfortable.  However, I, myself, was freezing!  Thankfully, there were some stores in Faneuil Hall and I was able to buy a sweater so that we could still walk around.

I asked Alex if he wanted to leave his
sunglasses in the car, since it wasn't sunny
anymore.  He said, "No, it's ok Mommy.
I'll just put them like this."
Stylish and innovative.  Smart kid :)

Alex, sitting with "Red Auerbach"
(former coach and general manager
of the Boston Celtics). 
I told him he could put his hand on the
statue.  Alex did so, then, as soon as I
took the picture, he got up and ran away.
Alex was so sweet and rallied for the picture
even though he was afraid.  What a sweetheart!

Alex, putting his feet in the shoes of
"Bill Rodgers" - four time winner of the
Boston Marathon.
Maybe we'll have another runner in our family? :)

After we had walked around the Faneuil Hall
area (which I hadn't been back to in years),
we saw that there was a "new" carousel.
Alex was super excited to get on the
"Greenway Carousel."  It debuted last
year and has some really interesting characters
to ride. 
I paid the ticket vendor and took William
and Alex onto the carousel.

Alex chose to ride on a fox.  He was super excited.

William rode on a snow owl.

That was William's face as soon as the
ride started.

"Woo hoo!  I love this!"

"Uh-oh!  All done, all done, all done!"
(His exact words.)

About 10 seconds into the ride, and William wanted
off right away.  Poor little guy didn't realize that
we couldn't get off the ride until it was done.  Oh well,
at least Alex enjoyed himself.  :)

Alex in front of a beautiful walkway
along the water.

Alex and William enjoyed seeing the boats.

William's happy, once again :)

After that, it was about time for lunch, so I took the boys to Legal Seafoods (because it was the closest indoor restaurant with a bathroom).  Priorities.  :)  Plus, I knew that the kids liked their food anyways.  Win win.

Woo hoo!  They seated us right next to the aquarium!!  (SMART!)
The boys enjoyed watching the fish while we were waiting for our food.

Mommy and William selfie :)

Well-fed, warmed up, and re-energized, we made our way to the North End to visit Little Italy.  (But who am I kidding?  We were really just vising Mike's Pastry.) :)

Alex wanted to check out the fountain.

Alex, posing by former boxer Tony DeMarco
who boxed in the late '40s and '50s and grew
up in Boston's North End.

After we went to Mike's Pastry to load up on cannolis, ricotta pie, and black and white cookies, William fell asleep.  So, I asked Alex what he wanted to do.  He looked across the street, pointed, and said, "I want to go there."  (He pointed at a Pinkberry (frozen yogurt shop).)  And off we went!

Mommy and Alex selfie.  We enjoyed
some delicious frozen yogurt.  (He got his
standard chocolate with gummies and chocolate-
toppings, and I got a tangerine frozen yogurt.)
Alex ended up eating 3/4 of mine and 1/2 of his. :-p

*PS - Can I have this lighting all of the time?? :)

You see?  William was out coooolllld.

After the froyo, we decided to make our way back to the car.  But first, we had to stop by the fountains in the beautiful gardens/parks that they've been working on for the past few years.

Alex loved watching the fountains.

Our happy little boy in Boston.

We really had a terrific morning together. :)

When we got back home, we played around for about an hour, and then the boys and I passed out for about two hours.  We ended up walking a little over 3 miles that day!  No wonder the kiddos were tired.

William playing in his spot again :)

His smile just warms my heart.

While William drinks his milk, Oscar likes
to climb up on my lap and supervise.  He's
very protective of William.

Our funny dog.  Yes, HE tucked himself
into the covers like this.  We didn't.  He
sleeps like a human.

Dance party!

Woo Hoo!!!!!  My MRI results came back and found that I did not have any fractures at all!  However, they did find that I have bursitis.  The good news is that I no longer have to wear my boot.  The bad news is, I still have to take it easy, so as not to aggravate any existing damage.
With that new information, I threw in some heavy-duty arch supports into my shoes, and the next morning, took the kiddos to the farm!  I couldn't wait to get outside and walk around, boot free.  I took the boys to Drumlin Farm and we had an absolute blast!  This was the first time that we went stroller and purse free.  I packed some snacks in Alex's new backpack (courtesy of Elias and Linda - Thanks so much!  He loves it!!!), diapers, and sippy cups, and we were off to explore the farm and have an adventure.  :)

The boys on our morning walk.

William enjoyed running around in the grass.

The boys smiling with the sheep.

Snack time!  Time to break out the
sugar snap peas, apple/mango sauce packets,
and snack traps.

Our two happy boys, enjoying the beautiful day.

They looooooove their apple sauce packets.

Okydoky!  Now that we're well fed, let's see what this farm has to offer.

"Yee-hawwww!"

William, collecting eggs in the hen house.

He's so cheeky!  I love how he scrunches up his nose.

Alex, collecting the eggs and weighing them.

Our little farm hand.

"I'm Mr. Alex Driver Man!"  (His words completely)

It was so sweet that Alex willingly made
room for William to sit down and share the seat with him.

William, after about 20 seconds, "All done, all done, all done!"

William saying, "Teet, teet, teet!" (Tweet, tweet, tweet)
to some turkey vultures.

Woo hoo!  I'm bedazzled boot free!  So happy and ready to get back into the swing of things.  Hopefully I'll have enough time to prep for my 10K in June.  We'll see.  Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me, ok?
We had such a wonderful week, getting out and about and enjoying all that the Boston area has to offer.  Love this place!
Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki