Tot Stop
Tot Stop turned out to be a big success as a fun place to visit for our three year old Anthony. Anthony visited there once on the recommendation of Steve and Eva Tsai... their recommendations are alway sooo good.What is Tot Stop? It's a play area for toddlers. It has a large sand box play area, a large barn of two stories high with a slide, play cars that they can peddle around in, and lots of other play areas. Anthony loved it.
Where is it? The Tot Stop is on Foster Street, about 1/2 block north of Mass Avenue in Arlington, Ma. Free parking is available off Tufts Street in the back. How much is it? Tot Stop charges $5.95 per toddler. Adults who supervise are no charge... we brought 4 adults to supervise Anthony on one visit and 3 adults on another trip. Arlington residents pay a bit less.
So for a fun afternoon with your toddler, we recommend the Tot Stop
Dinner at Bev Pickering's
Over the Christmas holidays, Bev Pickering invited the Baus to her home for dinner and music. Bev used to be the piano teacher for both David and Kevin when they were young and in junior high school.The evening started off with Bev sharing some of the music she was scheduled to play at the 10 am church service the next morning. Then Grace Lee picked up her violin and Bev and Grace performed several duets. Huray!
Dinner was served and boy were we treated. Ham, salad, potatos, asparagus with mushrooms, flan with rocofort cheese pie, sour dough bread, apple pie with ice cream... and lots more. Yummy.
After dinner we were treated to more duets and good conversation. With Anthony and Piper along and a long day behind us, we called it an evening at 9 pm and returned to get to bed. What a nice treat. There's always good music at Bev's home.... and good food too.
There is one piece of bad news. Rumor has it that Tot Stop, after many years of successful operation will be closing within six months. So if you have a toddler and want to experience it, better hop on over.
Pio Pio
Pio Pio in Spanish is the sound that a chicken makes... in English it would be Cluck Cluck. It is also the name of the Peruvian restaurant that Paul and Kevin had dinner at in early January. There are three Pio Pio restaurants in the NYC area. The one we tried is in the same block on the Upper Eastside where Kevin lives..it's address is 1746 First Avenue. Tel:(212)426-5800.If one uses their "take out" menu, the cost of the meal is about 10% cheaper than eating in. It's a really, really small restaurant, and we thought that we could have dinner for 2 for under $20.00. We knew that the chicken would be good(as the Peruvians are excellent at preparing chicken) and expected to have chicken and a couple of side dishes. When we got our table, after a 30 minute wait, we ordered a Matador Combo(for two people) which was $28.00. It included, a whole chicken, a beautiful salad, a plate of rice and beans, Salchipapas, and Tostones. This was way too mch food for the two of us, so we took home 1/2 a chicken and some tostones. But most important, each and every dish was very tasty and well prepared and presented.
To make the meal even more like the ones we enjoyed in Lima, we ordered Inca Cola and ice water to drink. The cost with tax and tip was a bit over $40.00 for the two eaters. Well worth the money, and remember, you can get by with half this price if you order more carefully. Try it and enjoy yourself.
Grandpa. I'm Thirsty.
It's Saturday morning and time for Paul to go to the airport to pick up David who is returning from his monthly trip to the West Coast. Anthony has already had his big breakfast and wants to go for a ride and to greet his Daddy. Now Grandpa is pretty up on Anthony's needs(and he should be after all these months of training}, so he take him to the toilet before the trip and then brings him to the kitchen for a drink."Anthony, take a big drink of your orange juice. I don't want you to be thirsty on the trip. I don't want you telling Grandpa, that you are thirsty.", admonishes Grandpa.
Anthony gives Grandpa his innocent look(like what are you talking about. Me?). He takes several long sips and a couple of gulps from his straw. He looks content and ready to go.
They arrives at Philadelphia International Airport a few minutes early and hunt for the arrivals terminal for ATA airlines. There sitting and reading something is David... his plane must have come in a couple of minutes early. David throws his luggage in the back of the station wagon and climbs into the back seat to sit and chat with Anthony.
About half way home... a little voice comes from back in the wagon.
"Grandpa, I'm thirsty. I need a drink.", says Little Boy
"But Anthony, Grandpa just gave you a drink at home and told you not to say that you are thirsty anymore." answers Grandpa Paul.
"Grandpa, I'm thirsty. Why are you drivig so slow. Drive faster please."
Paul smiles and continues to drive homeward. Five minutes later, a little voice comes from the back seat...
"Grandpa, I'm thirsty. Can you drive faster. I'm really thirsty now."
Yup! That's our Anthony.
Kevin Accepts Banking Position
Out of work since late October, Kevin has been working hard to find a suitable job. Well, in January, he decided to accept a position with the investment bank J.P. Morgan Chase Bank... a firm is he quite familiar with. Remember, Kevin worked a couple of years for J.P.Morgan just before he quit to go to Columbia School of Business for his MBA.His new job is located at 47th and Park Avenue in Manhattan, so now Kevin is looking for an apartment that will be convenient for him to get to work. Ooh! The rents in the Big Apple are so, so expensive.
"How about an inexpensive studio in Brooklyn Heights like you used to have for under $1000.00/month?", asks Dad
"I am tired of living in a sardine can!", responds Kevin,"It's time for me to have a one bedroom apartment with a bit more space."
At the writing of this article, it looks like Kevin found a nice place on 48thth Street between 3rd Avenue and Lexington.
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KeySpan Heating Service
There's no heat on the bedroom side of the Weston house. This has been an random problem for years, and we have had a service contract with Boston Gas, who bacame Servie Edge, who became KeySpan. There certainly has been a lot of reorganizations, mergers and name changes over the last few years. As of mid December, we've had two service teams working on restoring heat to the 2nd zone of the house. Paul is determined to have them fix it this time. Why pay for a service contract and then have to go to a private 2nd company to make the repairs?! Rachel is tired of sleeping in a cold bedroom. Who can blame her for that?As of this writing, just before Christmas, the 2nd zone heating has not yet been restored. The Customer Service Department has tried to delay a service call until a couple of days after Christmas, but Paul wants service now... his contract is about to expire at the end of the year and the system has not been properly repaired.
Maybe it's time to consider a new heating system?! Well, on Christmas Eve, Steve from KeySpan shows up. Paul has been at home waiting from 8 am to 2 pm so as not to miss the serviceman. Keystone, like many services give the customer a "time window" rather than a specific time... so it ties the customer's whole day down. By 5 pm, the serviceman had still not appeared, but the Customer Service department on the phone, promised..."He's on his way. Just be patient and he'll be there."
Steve, the 5th service technician to make a call in the past 10 days, seems to be know much more than the others as he pulls the thermostat apart and starts to test relays and wires in the basement. After about 1 1/2 hours he concludes, "The problem is the zone head. It should put out a signal and nothing is coming out. The zone head should be replaced. I don't have one in the truck and we'll have to order you one. Either I or someone else will replace it next week."
The saga continues.
