If there’s one saving grace about living in New England, it would have to be the three weeks of perfect weather that occur right around the end of September-early October. The kind of days where you step outside and the world smells clean and the slight briskness of the day reminds you to bring along a sweater. These are the days that were made for apple picking. So we obliged, and picked apples (adders as Alex calls them) at a quaint, little, family-run, organic farm in Harvard, Mass.

It was a beautiful setting and we were able to find some great red delicious and blushing gold apples. We immediately turned them into one of the best apples pies we’ve ever had via this recipe (Note: Cut back both sugars to 3/4-cup).

So we were going to stroll around Walden Pond today. We brought the backpack carrier and everything.

Since it now takes three and a half hours to get out of the house and we have a window of about three hours between morning and afternoon nap, it didn’t quite happen. Alex was getting tired, not to mention he was a little sick. Instead, we decided not to waste the $17 in gas and at least spend the afternoon strolling around Concord Center. It was kind of cool because that’s where we were married and we haven’t been there since.

Alex got hungry along the way.

Daddy ended up being the pack mule.

Alex ate grass, since the toes he had in the car weren’t enough.

But, it couldn’t have been a better afternoon…

In an effort to brainwash Alex into believing swimming is the coolest, we signed Alex up for swimming lessons at the local YMCA. It’s actually a really nice, brand new YMCA with a kickin’ pool and an awesome play area for little kids.

Asides aside, he had a great time in the pool. They sang songs, played motorboat, and jumped off the side. He seemed to get the hang of the kicking, but not the arm scoops. He is totally enthralled with the drainage reservoir on the side of the pool. The kid could watch water go down a drain for hours. We’re thinking of taking him to Australia just to mess with him.

We found out sort of last minute that the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox World Series trophies were going to be at our city hall today, so we high-tailed it over there to get a glimpse, which got me thinking…

Alex, and really all Bostonians thus forth (is that a real phrase?), will never know the pain and agony of watching the Red Sox continually disappoint him. How will we try to explain to him that the Red Sox weren’t always the hottest ticket in town, and didn’t always have the biggest stars, and you couldn’t always say, “Man, the Yankees haven’t won a World Series since last century.” Alas, the times they are a’changin’.

This weekend, we took advantage of the beautiful weather by heading into Boston and strolling through the Boston Common and Public Gardens. They have a great playground in the Common, and we saw the Swan Boats, the statue of Make Way for Ducklings, and lots of other great things. We’ve been reading Alex a book called Good Night, Boston!, so we thought this would be a great opportunity to show him all the things we read about.