"Grandma Robyn" and Baby Dylan

Here is "Grandma Robyn"--she doesn't look old enough to be a grandma, does she?

Robyn says that holding Dylan was like "falling in love" all over again.
These pictures were taken on Dylan's birthday, April 18, 2008.

The posts below are from our "Great Boston Peanut Party" after the Famous Boston Tea Party--where we spent a wonderful week with Christian, Katie, Jane and Erik waiting excitedly for Dylan's arrival. It was a "Peanut" party because that's what we called Dylan before he was born and he received his official name!

If there aren't a lot of pix of Katie and Jane, its because they were working so hard on getting the baby here! Make sure you look at all the posts I made today--they may not all fit on your screen.

Grandparents Are Great

Here's everyone from the Great Boston Peanut Party, celebrating Dylan Ashworth Robinson's new arrival--
Rookie Grandparents Jeff & Robyn; Masterful Mom Katie holding Dylan; Fine Father Christian, and 2nd-Time Gransparents Erik and Jane!
What fun to be together for this sweet event.

Beaming New Boston Dad Bonds With Baby Dylan

Christian was all smiles and calmness as he held new Dylan and helped Katie.

Only an hour after Dylan was born, the morning sun streamed across the beautiful Charles River, past the daffodills, crocuses and hyacinth flowers blooming along its spring banks, and into the blessed new family's room.

Baby Dylan arrives!

Newly commissioned Grandpa Jeff gets to hold Dylan Ashworth (who was actually still waiting for his name when these pictures were taken!)

It's wonderful to snuggle Dylan right up to you chest and feel his warm little body relax against you.
This reminds me of a February day, in a hospital 26 years ago and miles away, when another young 2nd year law student became a new dad. And this new baby looks a lot like baby Christian did then, too, except he is even more handsome if that is possible.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

Jeff and Robyn took a day to visit the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, with its spectacular atrium overlooking Boston Bay.

Christian, Jeff & Robyn at Austin Hall, Harvard Law School

Christian has many classes in Austin Hall. It was built in the 1880's but its facilities are so modern on the inside, you'd think it was built after the 1990's!




Outside the Austin Hall

The carved and worn faces on these pillars probably represent the collective worries of generations of stressed law students. Fortuntately, this expectant dad looks untroubled and ready for Peanut to be born.
Only three more days to go!

Christian & Katie's House

Here is Shaler Lane, Cambridge, Massachussetts where Christian and Katie--and now their son Dylan Ashworth Robinson--live!

Old Ironsides--The USS Constitution

The oldest commissioned warship still floats in Boston Harbor, crewed by US Navy Sailors dressed in their period uniforms--canvas white bell-bottom pants; short navy blue pea coats with double breasted gold buttons, and rats-tail hats bearing the name "USS Constitution."

Dating from the 1790's, the USS Constitution never lost a battle and took over 40 enemy ships.
She gained the nickname "Old Ironsides" after British cannonballs bounced off her solid oak sides during the war of 1812.

In the 1800's, the ship was a worn out hulk, and it was decided that she should be broken apart for scrap. The oft-wounded Civil War officer--and later Supreme Court Justice---Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote this poem that embarassed the U S into saving her. Holmes' poem argued that she should be sunk at sea as a memorial, rather than picked apart as scrap. It was decided that such a historic symbol should not be desecrated. Now she still stands guard over Boston Harbor, birthplace of our nation's liberty, with modern warships from the US and other nations docked beside her.

OLD IRONSIDES
[Written with reference to the proposed breaking up of the famous US frigate Constitution]

Ay, tear her battered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle-shout,
And burst the cannon's roar:
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more!

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee:
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!

O better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave!
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave:
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the god of storms,

The lightning and the gale!

[From Best Loved Poems of the American People]

Paul Revere's Ride

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.

He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town tonight,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--

One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."

These are the opening stanzas of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's immortal poem.

Above is the tower of the Old North Church, where the lanterns were hung.

And Dylan Ashworth Robinson was born on April 18th, on the very anniversary of Paul Revere's ride!

Patriots' Gravestones and Monuments

Even before the "Patriots" went to the superbowl, Boston was the home to many heroes of our nation's birth. Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and more.




Paul Revere's grave site.




At the feet of Samuel Adams

Paul Revere's Statute

Hanginaround in Boston--The Freedom Trail

Here's some of the fun things we did in Boston during our Great Boston Peanut Party--waiting for baby Peanut to be born.




Walking along the Freedom Trail, from Boston Commons to the US Constitution, Jane, Christian, Robyn and Jeff





Even the cold and rain couldn't dampen our spirits.

The Famous Boston Peanut Party--or how Robyn and Jeff had a famous time in Boston waiting for Christian and Katie's Peanut to be born!

Coming soon: a full description. In the meantime, here are some photos:

Tomato Planting Season Begins

Robyn visited the "Tomatomania Festival" in Escondido last week. She came back with 8 different varieties of tomato seedlings ideal for growing in Southern California. Yesterday I helped her plant these on the back patio, with 2 different types of potting soil and 2 different types of fertilizer. If we can keep Princess from digging up the plants, we should have a nice harvest in a few months.