whirlwinds

okay heres the biggy update ive been meaning to post.

the trip
lucas traveled well, and at the advice of his athens doctor, we drugged him to sleep as much as possible on the long plane ride... i felt a twinge of guilt - i dont know why, it's just a mild anti-histamine - but i told myself it made the trip easier for him too, even if napping so much is not his usual nature. and he was kindof a screamy-baby for part of it too, because he just HAPPENED to be getting his bottom molars in the day we were traveling!! it was the only sane thing to do. so, in between his huge naps, he managed to run up and down the aisle and share some cookies with the other little kids on the flight, and we did have fun.. but most notable was the zurich airport.,.. a traveling parents dream come true! they had two huge well-stocked playrooms (but we only went to one), with changing areas, a baby sleeping corner, tables, toys of all descriptions (all good quality i may add) and a nice little lady running around keeping it up. it made the very long layover at the beginning of our trip VERY tolerable.

we arrived tired and loaded with luggage, and our hero, harrison, picked us up at the airport, and we had a great 2-3 days getting to know him before he ran off to houston for a few days. and we even met some of his very nice friends, too.

so, one very interesting thing about our very interesting host is that he lives in the childhoood home of the disco-queen donna summer! it makes me want to read her biography. i read the first chapter online, and it even has a paragraph about the house we;re staying in! (about halfway down the page in the provided link, where they moved in when she was 6 years old.. we're staying on the 3rd floor) click here.

the next day we went out to pick up our renta-car (thanks alot, mom & jim!!!.. it has made getting to know boston very easy even though we dont plan on having a car in the long term) and we started looking for places to live...

then on the 4th day, the sweeneys arrived for a day and a half.!!! i love the sweeneys. they are just about the best people i know. even though we were kinda busy finding an apartment & signing a lease while they were here, they understood we couldnt be total vacationers, and offered to watch lucas for us a few times. did i mention they are also the ones who hooked us up with harrison here in the first place?.. we owe a great deal to them in my estimation.

we did manage to go out to the duck park on a blistering hot afternoon, and eat a fabulous lunch together in a nicely air-conditioned resto.

okay , so now we have leased an apartment (that we are moving into on the 15th) we have purchased a desk, a sofa bed, a dining room table and chairs, all through craigslist, and to be picked up after the 15th.. and some other sundry necessary items that we will need as soon as we move in at garage sales, and resale stores. i love recycling, and i would rather have a good-quality used item than a second-rate new one anyday. anyway, the price we're having to pay to ship our stuff overseas, plus all the requisite deposits and such that come with renting a new apartment and moving to a new town anyway.. it just makes sense.

now i gotta get some moving quotes for when our stuff arrives in new york port.. and arrange to get the electric and gas turned on in the new place, open a local bank account, and i suppose some other boring but necessary things to get set-up here.

everythings going very well.