Boston - Day Three

Saturday, October 13th.  Sunshine.  We had a little extra time for breakfast this morning as the service lasted until 10 am.  Still we didn't want to hang around the hotel all morning.  Our first stop of the day was the Boston Temple grounds.  The girls were excited to see a wedding party having pictures taken in front of the temple.

From the temple, we drove to Harvard and parked so that we could explore a little.  Kristen was excited to visit the World's Only Curious George shop.  We also walked through the the Harvard Coop (bookstore and spirit wear). 

Misha and her headwear...

Kristen was a willing poser everywhere we went.  In fact, she would ask me to take pictures of her as she posed herself.

We walked around Harvard a bit.  It was Saturday morning and pretty quiet.

Something in her shoe.

We relied on Everlost, I mean Neverlost, again to get us to the part of the Freedom Trail we hadn't yet seen, starting with the USS Constitution and then Bunker Hill.  We found parking finally after a wrong turn here and there, and headed off in search of a cafe for lunch.  Following lunch (and a little chocolate), we followed the red brick trail to the USS Constitution.  I hadn't brought my ID with me and was told that I wouldn't be able to tour the ship.  Then they let me pass.  No one stopped me from boarding with my family, so I just continued on.  We looked around a little and then joined a group that was touring below the main deck.

Let's just say that it would be more advantageous to be a Lieutenant or Captain rather than a regular enlisted man.  Sleeping conditions differed dramatically from hammocks, to small rooms, to the spacious Captain's quarters complete with his own cook.  More advantageous indeed.

After disembarking, we toured the museum which had a lot of areas specifically designed for kids.  The hammocks here were a big hit with even our biggest kid.

Have you ever climbed the stairs at Bunker Hill?  There are 294 steps.  After 50 steps, you're legs begin to tire.  We all made it to the top though!  A couple from South Jordan stopped and offered to take our picture before our climb.  They noticed Chris' BYU hat.

After 294 steps.

We left Bunker Hill so that we could finish the second half of our Freedom Trail tour.  We walked over the Charles River and headed to Paul Revere's house and then back up to the Old North Church.  Amy tried to hurry Kristen along as she was lagging a bit.  Kristen responded, "Hey, my legs are sore.  Don't judge me."

As we were walking through Boston's Little Italy we happened upon Mike's Pastry.  Chris had mentioned that there was a place where people lined up onto the street but couldn't remembered the name.  We found it.  We got in line.  Cannoli.  I was trying to take a picture while my family stood in line, and they just weren't paying attention.  An older gentleman behind the girls, started waving his hand to get my attention.  He laughed when I looked at him.  I tried to get my family's attention again, he waved again, so I turned the camera on him and took a picture.  It wasn't composed very well, so I shan't include it.  His family group laughed, and my family finally started paying attention.

The smells were tempting, but it was still too early for dinner.  We saved the pastries for dessert.  There was a wedding at the Old North Church so we weren't able to tour inside it, but it was cool to see people dressed up so nicely.

We had a bit of a drive as we were switching to a hotel in Brockton, MA for the next two nights.  It was a Residence Inn with TWO bedrooms.  Woohoo.  Amy and Misha were thrilled to not have to sleep on the pull-out couch.  We ended up having dinner at a restaurant called Tutto Bene.  It was so so.  We stopped at Shaw's grocery store for Sunday's lunch and headed back to the hotel.   What was most wonderful was the hotel swimming pool and hot tub.  We all relaxed a bit before heading off to bed.

Boston - Day Two

Friday morning dawned fairly early.  We had to be down to breakfast by 9 am.  Not so early by Boston time, but we got the girls up around 8ish which was earlier than their normal school-day wake up time.  Amy is my sleep in kid, and with makeup, she needed to be up sooner if she wanted to be ready on time.  She was a teensy bit crabby.

Misha tweaked her back while jumping on the trampoline earlier in the month, and combine that with the heavy backpack she carries to school, she was in pain for most of the weekend.  She and I walked over to the CVS store next to Homewood Suites; I bought her ThermaCare patches which not only helped her back but also kept her warm.

We packed our bags with snacks and cameras for the day and hopped on a bus then the subway to reach downtown Boston.  Sadly, it started to rain as we exited the subway station.  We had two umbrellas but quickly realized that wasn't enough.  Our first stop at Faneuil Hall gave us the opportunity to purchase two more umbrellas, get maps, and start off on the Freedom Trail.  We saw the site of the Boston Massacre, plenty of graveyards, churches, Boston Commons, etc.  My girls had fun following the red line through the city.

 
Boston Commons

Before leaving, I had the prompting to pack my gloves.  I also put in a pair for Kristen, but didn't heed the prompting to put in gloves for Amy and Misha.  Along with umbrellas, we also purchased gloves for the day.  It was raining and pretty chilly, though not unbearable.  Chris forgot his sweater on our bed at home, so he bought a jacket at TJ Maxx.  We were happy to stop for lunch at Qdoba and warm up.  Also before leaving, months before leaving, we told our girls that they should start exercising and prepare for a trip where we would be walking a lot.  We warned them.

The rain stopped after lunch and the clouds finally dissipated.  Still chilly but nicer with a little sunshine.  We walked all over Beacon Hill, up and down cool streets, and lovely architecture.  I happened to overhear my husband telling the girls as I caught up after taking pictures, "If your mom wants to take pictures, we will wait for her."  Love him.

Cabbages and peppers were planted in planter boxes and flower beds all over Beacon Hill.

Yep, we wore them out.

Acorn Street.  Chris researched cool streets to see just for the picture-taking opportunities for me.

We spent a little time along the Charles River, enjoying the scenery, resting, and then playing on playground equipment.

 
Misha looked for acorns everywhere.  I found one for her that was still intact.

Chris even stopped at Dunkin' Donuts, which happened to have a store on almost every street.  Amy chose not to get a donut in hopes of finding a place that sold caramel apples.  No such luck for her. 

We stopped at the Public Garden and enjoyed this statue of George Washington surrounded by a lovely park.

Our path took us to the Old State House before choosing to stop for dinner at Legal Sea Food next to Long Wharf.  It was a little early for us, but we had acclimated pretty well to our new eating schedule. 

We took the train then bus back to the hotel.  The girls were disappointed to find out that the hotel had no swimming pool.  I'll admit, I was even looking forward to soaking in a hot tub.  We watched tv for a while, and Chris decided he didn't want to just hang out at the hotel all night long.  He scavenged the internet to find a frozen yogurt place nearby, and off we went.   There is a danger in letting your kids fill their own yogurt cups and add toppings.  Our yogurt cost $27.00!  Crazy.

Boston - Day One

1000th post.  Yay me.

I've done a lot of traveling lately.  I hadn't really planned it that way, London pretty much came out of nowhere; but it has been fun.  After touring London and hearing some of its history, then watching the program about the bringing forth of the King James version of the Bible, and then adding in US History, the pieces solidified.

We planned to leave for the airport shortly after Amy and Misha arrived home from school on Thursday afternoon.  Kristen would need to be signed out at 3 pm.  While Chris finished up working for the afternoon and then readying all of the iPods and iPads, I loaded the Pilot and then headed off to drop movies off at the library and then to pick up Kristen.  She was pretty excited.

Not long after Amy and Misha dropped their backpacks in the office, we were off and hoping for a temperate weekend.  As per our usual routine, we parked in Pikes Peak and caught a bus to the terminal to check in.  Amy is a pro at checking us in at the Southwest counter.  I think it is probably time to give Misha an opportunity to learn.  We opted to leave the car seat home this time.  One less thing to heft. Yay us!

Chris and I both have CLEAR Security Fast Pass at the airport allowing us to get through security in an expedited fashion.  Pretty swift.  We had time to grab dinner before our 4-hour flight.

I think Amy was still upset about being B52 for boarding.  Luckily, Christopher was able to save us seats together though closer to the back of the plane.  FYI, family boarding is only for families with children under 5.

I purchased a new app before leaving upon Erica S.'s recommendation--Noteshelf.  Perfect for note-taking on my trip.  However, once Kristen saw it, she kept bugging me to play with it.  I had to fight her for my iPad.  She loved it for drawing pictures and doodling.

We arrived in Boston early, which was good.  It was 11:15 local and we would be rousing our girls early Friday morning.  We picked up our rental car and tried to follow NeverLost instructions with the GPS, but were not too successful.  So many roads shooting off here and there.  Finally Chris pulled out his iPad and we used the map program to finally reach the Homewood Suites in Arlington-Cambridge.

Checking In Woes

We forgot.  Chris had a reminder on his calendar, but there was nothing on mine.  Amy remembered around 8:30 on Wednesday evening that we needed to check in--three hours ago.  Boo.  Our boarding position on Southwest was B52 through B55.  Luckily, Chris still got A16.  Hopefully he'll be able to save us seats together.

The Cat's Out of the Bag

Chris couldn't take it anymore.  AAAGHGGG!  "I just have to tell them."  Just kidding, it didn't quite go down that way.  We have been planning our Fall getaway for months now.  And for months now, our children have not known where we were going.  The top two contenders for them were New York City and Washington, DC.  Nope.  Boston, MA.  The weekend before we were to leave, Chris and I decided to tell the girls the date we would be leaving so they could get any homework necessary.  And really, the big reason to tell them was because Amy has makeup.  Yep.  I didn't want to be responsible for packing her stuff and forgetting something important.  We were leaving October 11 after school, in fact, we were planning to sign Kristen out early.  Friday the 12th was their Fall break and a day off from school.

So, the excitement began to build.  Chris and I began to think, there's really no reason at this point not to tell them.  On Sunday between the conferences, we saw glimpses of Harvard and Plimouth Plantation on a show being aired.  We called down to the girls, "That's a clue!"  By the time they had figured out what we were talking about, the Boston segment was over.  Even the second time it aired, they missed it.  Kristen must have seen stuff that Chris and I were looking at on Chris' iPad because she blurted out Boston and one point, but her sisters didn't pay her any heed.  Finally, on Sunday evening, Chris told them we were going to Boston.

Boston?  Hmmmm.  Really?  What's so great about Boston?  Hmmmmm.  That was pretty much their response.  Then we began to talk about the history and maybe there was a glimmer of excitement.  Maybe.

They're All at Fault

Kristen has been pretty whiny lately.  Her parents have little patience for it.  Chris told her that if she had one more whining outbreak she would sit on the back porch step.  I was no longer in the kitchen, but I could hear a lot of commotion from all three of my girls.  Chris was on the phone.

Kristen hates frogs.  She will run screaming at the mere sight of one.  Her sisters know that and even talking about frogs and teasing Kristen about frogs will get Kristen going.

It was Chris' last straw as he was trying to talk on the phone over all the girl chatter and whining.  With little said, Chris stood by the back door and motioned Kristen outside; she sadly took her punishment.  I walked back in to the kitchen, looked at Amy and Misha and said, "It is not entirely her fault that she is having to sit out there."

I left the kitchen again and returned to find that Amy and Misha had joined Kristen outside:

(Ignore the bird poop splat and dirty windows.)

Teeth

Nanny McPhee has left the building.  We've been watching Kristen's front tooth, affectionately dubbed "Nanny McPhee", get more and more crooked with each passing week, but it wasn't very loose.  I peeked on Saturday and noticed that Kristen's permanent tooth had already starting coming in behind.  She got pretty freaked out with the thought of me pulling a tooth though.  Her last tooth to come out she actually pulled out herself! 

She finally came to me on Sunday before church, handed me a kleenex, and wanted me to pull her tooth.  It wasn't quite ready.  After a couple pulls, I felt one root break.  A few more tugs, and another root. I had to up the ante on the tooth fairy bribe.  And finally, the tooth reluctantly came out.

Before

After