Thanksgiving, Christmas, Happy Birthday Aaron!

Lots of holidays came and went-- now it's time for some belated blogging.

We spent Thanksgiving in Virginia. It was wonderful as always, except when every single person got sick. I'm not kidding-- Caleb, Lauren, Aaron, my mom, my dad, and Matt. No one is really sure who started it-- possibly Caleb, who ended up with his first (and second) ear infections.

The whole family!  My dad and I were sick at this point, but we still got dressed up for the post-church photo. 

We had a great time in Idaho for Christmas and Aaron's birthday (the 23rd of December) as well. Even though Aaron had to work a little, it was our longest trip to date as a family at ten days long. I especially enjoyed the luxurious left turn lanes that we don't have in Boston.

Caleb with his hand bell and elf hat that my mother-in-law made for Aaron when he was in first grade.

This was "Caleb's Cupboard" for the duration of our stay in Idaho. He liked to stash things in here for us to find-- like Boo Radley's knothole.

Lisa Came to Visit! (A while ago)

So if you wanted the punctual update on this event, you should have checked Lisa's blog almost two months ago since she is a prompt blogger. One day I hope to be like her.

Lisa and I met in the accounting program six years ago and we lived about a half an hour apart from each other in California. We were sad to say goodbye to her when we moved to Boston. Luckily for us, Lisa is an intrepid traveler. She braved the flight from San Jose to Boston with her 19-month old and we got to spend a week together.

With Lisa and Valerie in Cambridge

At the park

Blake and Caleb-- little buddies!

It was fun being able to say, "the boys."

On Harvard campus. Lisa and I instructed "the boys" to look smart. Mostly they just look tired and blinded by the sun.

At Mount Auburn cemetary

Still at Mount Auburn

On the T with our little buddies. Never take the elevator on the T. Even if you have a stroller. So gross.

Future roommates?

Thanks for coming, Lisa! We had so much fun!

Happy Halloween!

What is this? Multiple blog posts within a three-month period? I'm on a roll!

Last Wednesday, we (like everyone else), celebrated Halloween. It was Caleb's second Halloween, but his first time trick or treating. We took him a couple streets down from our apartment to Beals Street where John F. Kennedy was born. Apparently this is "the place" to go trick or treating. They close off traffic and its packed with kids. I feel bad for all the people who live here who have to buy prodigious amounts of candy.

Caleb was decked out in his (slightly too big) Tigger costume and seemed fairly neutral about the whole experience.

Aaron and Caleb (this picture does not fully capture the chaos that was Beals Street)

Lauren and Caleb

Caleb checking out his haul (not super impressive, since we only went to three houses)

Happy First Birthday!

We had a great time celebrating Caleb's first birthday. It's hard to believe it's already been a year. The past eight and a half months* of it went by so fast! It was extra special because my parents and my brother, Matt, drove all the way up here from Virginia, and Aaron's parents joined us via Skype. Now for picture overload (in no particular order)...

I made the figurines out of clay, so they will make a reappearance for future Purcell babies' first birthdays

Grandpa Inouye bought Caleb this sweet hat!

We had fun on the Freedom Trail!

Grandpa and Baby Caleb

Uncle Matt and Caleb

Happy Birthday to You!

The first of Caleb's Playmobil collection

Woohoo! A corn popper!

Playing with his awesome sit 'n' ride!

Caleb's indignant face

*The first three and a half months felt like they would never end.

Walden Pond

Here's Part II in my "catch-up" series of blog posts. 

Aaron and I have been determined to get a whole lot more sight-seeing done in Boston than we ever did in California. Since we didn't really do any touristy things in San Francisco (mostly because Aaron worked almost every weekend while we were there), our odds of success are pretty high.

We recently* went to Walden Pond, and it was not at all what we expected. The "pond" is huge and has a pretty nice beach, which was packed with swimmers when we went. We wanted to find Thoreau's cabin, so we went on quite the trek with our non-trekking stroller to find it. We soon discovered why everyone else was at the beach.

This rock was all that was left. As I'll later learn during our trip to Plymouth, disappointing rocks seems to be a trend among Massachusetts' historical sights.

*Several months ago

Oregon Coast

I keep thinking that it hasn't been that long since I last blogged. But three months ago is really not all that recent. A lot of things have happened since then, (like parents visiting, Caleb turning one, etc.) so here are a couple catch-up posts before I get to those.

At the end of July Aaron's parents rented a beach house on the Oregon coast and we spent a week there with his family. We went to the aquarium, checked out the tide pools, and watched the Olympics. It was so much fun and the start of a great tradition.

Boston, Here We... Came!

In the spirit of past-tense blogging, it's time to write a post about how we moved to Boston... three months ago.

With Aaron's stint in investment banking almost up, he started interviewing for jobs in private equity. It's a pretty grueling process-- not at all like my accounting interviews where they mostly just feed you dinner and give you swag*. But through a combination of tons of interview preparation, total sleep deprivation, and divine intervention, Aaron got an offer at a private equity firm. And you just don't turn those down. So we accepted immediately, gratefully, and enthusiastically. The only catch? The job was to start in two weeks. In Boston. And we were in California.

Aaron received and accepted the terms of his offer on Friday. On Saturday, we rented an apartment through Craigslist. The next week our car shipped out and the following week the movers took our stuff and we left California. Aaron flew to Boston, and Caleb and I spent a week in Idaho with his parents and then a week in Virginia with my parents while we waited for our furniture to get across the country. Then we paid rent in two high-cost-of-living areas for two and a half months plus realtor's fees, which was, in two words-- "not awesome." Or in seven words-- "I could have gotten Lasik. And Invisalign**." Or in eight words-- "When are we going to move to Texas***?"

But, in spite of the craziness of getting here, we are really loving 97.3 percent of everything about it. I like living in a more urban environment, and Aaron loves his job. Besides having good people to work with and interesting projects to work on, the firm has a fully stocked kitchen with everything from Shark Bites fruit snacks**** to Heath Bar Klondike Bars. So really, what more could we ask for? And I mean that sincerely.

*Granted I did the bulk of my interviews before the economy tanked. They did also ask questions during the interview.
**That's right. I need to get adult orthodontics. Of all the uses for money, this must be the absolutely least exciting. Except for maybe posting bail. I can't imagine that would be very fun.
***Probably never. But crazier things have happened.
****One day he found seven great whites in one pack!! Seven!! Can you believe it?! 

Caleb's first Red Sox game!

Caleb and Dad

Caleb and Mom

Sand sculpture competition at Revere Beach. Caleb did not enjoy this trip.