Max and Mom's Special Day Out

Today, we did something that I have wanted to do for a very long time. Max and I took the train into Boston. He has been asking to ride the train for quite a while, especially whenever I have gone off to ride it without him. For the longest time, we just were not going to risk having him on the train. The last couple of months, I felt comfortable having him ride it, but I don't think I could handle being alone on the train with him and Lauren (or, for that matter, with just Lauren), so we haven't done it. However, our favorite sitter is home for vacation, so she watched Lauren for us. Grandma was coming into the city (Grampa Rich stayed home sick :( ) so we took the train in and met her. Then we walked through frigid Boston (it was in the single digits and the wind had it well below zero) to the North End and went out for lunch. Max had pizza, I had pasta, and Grandma had a lovely sandwich. After lunch, we made our way to Maria's for dessert. We love Marias. Max got to pick out a couple of cookies, just like I remember doing as a child. I used to love the green and pink and yellow cookies in the Italian shops. Max enjoyed them as much as I did. He also insisted that he bring some home for Lauren. Grandma and I had espresso and canolli. We walked rapidly back to the train station (into the wind this time. Even Grandma stopped trying to tell us it wasn't really all that cold.), and rode the train home. Max had a lovely time and said he would like to go again, next time with Grampa Richard. He also said he missed Lauren, but was "glad we didn't bring her because she would have gotten into a lot of trouble on this train." Smart boy, our Max.