I always knew I’d be a suburban kind of girl. For as much as I sigh when I look at the pretty brick buildings on Beacon Hill, and imagine the fabulously urban lifestyle my alter ego would live, it’s just not me. I don’t actually like how crowded things are, I don’t like hearing my neighbors through the walls, and I like to be able to park my car within a mile of my residence. But there are downsides to having moved further from the city. Not being so close to culture, my fellow “liberal elites,” and good ethnic restaurants is a bummer.
But I can drive downtown and get good sushi, Ethiopian, or Greek food. And living out here means I have a four-bedroom house, and I only share walls with my husband, dog, and kids. Even better, said four-bedroom house sits (strangely positioned) on a quarter-acre lot, which is definitely larger than the average suburban Boston lot. When we were house-hunting, three years ago, much of what we saw listed lot size as “.05 acres.” Bummer. But not us, we lucked out with our whopping “.25 acres.” And you know what’s cool about that?
Our new swingset arrived.
It was a gift/hand-me-down from my aunt, as my cousins have gotten too old for it. I actually found a company that specializes in assembling, moving, and inspecting swingsets. They drove to my aunt’s house, took it apart and packed it in a pickup truck, drove to my house, and set it up in less than an hour.
I was so psyched to try it out (and wanted to do so before the promised late-afternoon rain showers) that I carried both kids outside without bothering to put pants on them. Ah, whatever, it was nice out.
I think they had a good time. Oh, the fun we’ll have this summer
Try putting that in Beacon Hill…
Anyways, it’s all of 11AM and we’ve got our wristbands (which ran out shortly thereafter, so it was a good thing we arrived when we did), and several hours to kill. I got a coffee, the kids had their bottles. We made our way to the kids’ section to hang out. They were great, happy enough to hang out, and made friends with all of the staff people in the area. They were a hit with everyone, as always. 
I had brought all manner of things to keep them occupied, from bottles and solid food to toys and pacifiers. My backpack was a little heavy, but it worked out OK.
So, at 2pm, they let us in to the seating area they’d set up near the magazines. Unfortunately, I had to ditch the stroller. With Daniel in the Ergo, Rebecca in my arms, and a backpack on my back… I was quite the mommy pack mule. And still, there was an hour and a half to kill.
And finally, the band came on a bit after 3:30. Hooray! It was fun to be so close, fun to have all of the kids in the audience (the store did make sure to keep most of the actual seats for people with kids and babies, and let those unencumbered folks take standing room). It wasn’t excessively loud, fun to hear the new songs, and a touch of the usual BNL banter (regarding “whale” milk and set lists written on tortilla chips). The songs, as I recall them, were:
