Beer, Baseball, and Nanny

Mom and Raine recently came up here for their annual Beer and Baseball Bash. Mom, of course, would never stoop to calling the trip this, but it is what it is, right? After all, what's in a name -- that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. I believe our buddy Willy Shakes said that. I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours. I said that. Actually, Bob Dylan did. ANYWAY, on Friday afternoon we started off the weekend by heading down to Fenway to wait in line for day-of-game tickets. Or rather, two of us waited. Raine and Bev wandered over to Boston Beer Works and enjoyed a cool Watermelon Ale while Mom and I withstood the the sweltering sun and sausage smoke. I guess some of us were just born to be martyrs. Apparently, even though we had waited nearly 4 hours, we didn't get the memo that each person in line absolutely had to have a numbered slip in order to buy a gameday ticket. We almost didn't get in, but alas, after heatedly arguing with a disgruntled Red Sox employee, "spitting in his face", and making him "infurious", they graciously let us fork over our $180. Once inside the park, we found beer quickly and began to have some fun.

The game itself was a stinker. Tavarez (why do we always get stuck seeing him pitch?) threw over 100 pitches in just 4 innings, Manny played too shallow in left and let in the the go-ahead runs, and our rally in the ninth fell just short when Ortiz whiffed and Manny popped up. Blue Jays 6-Red Sox 5. But as they say, a bad day at the ball park is better than a good day just about anywhere else. Just ask Bev.

On Saturday morning, we postponed (indefinitely) a morning run on the Harbor, and instead headed over to the Harpoon Brewery for their noon tasting. We've really started to enjoy going to the Harpoon Brewery instead of the Sam Adams Brewery in JP. For one, it's just a tasting, so you don't have to endure an hour of Sam Adams propaganda. You get right to the good part. For two, we like supporting the little guy. And for three -- dare I say it -- the beer is actually better. The Harpoon UFO and Harpoon Ale were unanimous favorites, but only Raine and I enjoyed the Peche style beer. Earthy undertones, peachy aftertaste. Delicious.

After the tasting, Mom and Raine tried sushi for the first time at our favorite sushi restaurant, Fugakyu. Raine's now a sushi fan for life and is probably dreaming of Amai Ocean Maki as we speak, but Mom gave it the proverbial Nanny face.

We enjoyed a night in on Saturday, and on Sunday, while Bev kept house,

I gave Mom and Raine the tour of Charlestown. We went to the new Bunker Hill Monument Museum, manned the deck on the USS Constitution,

then made it back in time to catch the 93 and head to the North End for some yummy Pizzeria Regina. How fitting that on the way we even saw Big Pussy filming a movie on the Charlestown Bridge! Pizzeria Regina was good as always, but the real highlight of the night might have been the cappucino, caffe mochas, and cannolis at Cafe Vittoria. MMMmm. Unfortunately, Raine had to leave on Monday, but not before she fulfilled her life-long dream of seeing Mandy Moore in concert. Mandy didn't sing "I Miss You Like Candy, Love Mandy", but the concert was free, you can't have it all.

The rest of the week, Mom spent a lot of quality time with her mother, something I know Nanny appreciated. We enjoyed more good times and good meals with Mom, even a dinner and dessert with Uncle Tuck at Warren Tavern, and Mom even helped us in our quest to find a patio furniture set. You never know what you're going to find at the Christmas Tree Shop. We saw Mom off on Thursday evening, albeit 5 hours after her scheduled departure time (gotta love the delays at Logan), and now Bev and I have decided to immediately enter a detox facility with Lindsey Lohan. All in a week's work for the Blairs. Over all, it was another fabulous visit with the family and we can't wait for our next visitors. Blake and Lauren are coming in 2 weeks, and we're hoping Banks and Jenne can join us soon. We'll keep you posted. Until then, drink up me mateys yo-ho!