Boston Trip - Last Day

On our last morning in Boston we finished up the section of the Freedom Trail that we had left off on Friday.

Here is a statue of Mr. Benjamin Franklin, himself:


And Josiah Quincy, former mayor of Boston, and the guy who predicted that Joseph Smith would someday be written about in textbooks as having "the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen" of anyone in the 19th century.

We also went to the Granary Burial Ground, where John Hancock, Paul Revere, and Samuel Adams were buried.

Here's the capitol building:

After that we said goodbye to Boston, and headed south (we were flying out of Providence, RI later that evening). It was sad to leave. I definitely want to go back someday.

On our drive down, we stopped in Plymouth, MA, so see a little bit of pilgrim history.

Here I am in front of a replica of the Mayflower:


We also got to see Plymouth Rock:

After we had walked around Plymouth for awhile, we continued on our drive toward Providence.

It was fun driving in Rhode Island, and getting to see what it looks like there. I've never been able to picture what our smallest state is like, and now I have a clear image in my mind. We stopped once more in Newport, RI, and it looked like a really fun place to spend a day, but we were running out of time, so we kept going.

We got into Austin really late, so a friend of mine came over to the house to stay with all the sleeping kids while Audra came to pick us up. I figured we had planned our vacation to be just the right amount of time, because as much fun as I had in Boston, I was ready to see the kids again.

As soon as we got home, I woke Henry up so I could nurse him (Daniel had been hinting that maybe I should, but I know it was not out of concern for Henry, but more because he was dying to talk to him and play with him, and couldn't wait until morning). I had pumped pretty much every day for a month before we left so Audra would have enough milk to feed Henry while we were gone, and I had also pumped throughout our trip to keep my milk supply up, but I was so nervous he wouldn't, or I wouldn't be able to, etc. He was thrilled to see us, though, and had no problem starting right up again. He was so cute, and kept patting me the whole time he nursed, like he was making sure I was still there.

Here's Audra with all the kids before we took her and London back to the airport the next day. This girl is amazing - she cheerfully took care of our five kids, plus her own almost-two year old, and she also happens to be six-months pregnant. Thank you, Audra, for making our trip possible!

We've been trying to figure out where we're going to go next year. We're thinking about Philadelphia. Who wants to come babysit?

Boston Trip - Part Three

On Saturday we finally made use of the car we had rented, as we had decided to do some exploring outside of Boston.

We got up early in the morning and first drove out to Concord again, this time to see Walden Pond. Daniel just recently finished reading all of "Walden", the book Thoreau wrote while living in his little cabin in the woods there, so it was really neat to be able to see it in person.

There is a little trail that goes all the way around the pond, so we spent about an hour there and walked around the whole thing. It was really pretty, and it was nice to be out in nature after all our city walking the day before.



Daniel said that Thoreau talks a lot in the book about how clear the water is. It was good to see that this was still true, even though it's been over 150 years. We could see right to the bottom.


Daniel pondering at the edge of the lake:

And me kind of pondering:

But mostly I was just wishing I had brought my swimsuit, so I could join all the early morning lake swimmers we saw. I can't imagine a much better start to a day than an early swim across Walden Pond.

About halfway across the pond we came to the site of Thoreau's original cabin.

Daniel said that if I posed by this sign then I would have to read the book, and I think he's probably right, so I guess I better start reading. I'm actually a lot more interested in it now that I've seen the pond and have a picture in my mind.

After we left Walden Pond, we drove over to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. This is where Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott were buried. I never knew that they were all part of the same community.

On our way out of Concord, we stopped by Emerson's house.

And after that we went for a little drive. . . .up to Maine! Daniel has a goal to someday go to all 50 states, so we decided that while we were in the area we may as well check off a few.

So here we are in Portland, Maine:

And when you're in Maine around lunchtime, the only fitting thing to do is have lobster for lunch (well, if you're Daniel. If you're me, you have something else because you're not that brave. And we were lucky enough to find probably the one restaurant in Portland that happens to serve both excellent lobster and excellent red bean and rice burritos.)

So here was Daniel's lunch. I did take a really cute picture of Daniel wearing the little bib that they bring out with the lobster, but I don't think I have persmission to post that one. The only reason I had permission to even take that one was because I knew it would be the highlight of our return when I showed it to Tristan and Oliver (and it was).

After our delicious lunch we took the scenic route back to Boston.

Meaning, we drove through New Hampshire and over to Vermont in order to check two more states off the list.

Here's what our route looked like:


Obviously the map doesn't show what a scenic drive it was, though. I loved New Hampshire and Vermont! I couldn't believe how pretty it was.

Once we got to Vermont we went to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial outside of Sharon. The memorial is made from a single block of granite, and is 38 1/2 feet tall (one foot for every year of Joseph's life).

Here we are in front of the memorial:

And sitting on the bench located where Joseph was born:

After that we headed back to Boston. We knew we wanted to eat at one of the Italian restaurants in the North End when we got back, but we weren't sure where, and we didn't want to have to wait a long time for a table, so while we were driving I used Daniel's Blackberry to google "best places to eat in Boston." In only a few minutes, we had found one with a lot of good reviews, gotten the phone number, and called and made a reservation. I've decided that traveling with some technology can be helpful.

We drove back to our hotel and parked the car, and then walked back up to the North End. The restaurant we ate at was called "Artu", and I thought it was really good. After dinner we just walked around for awhile. We stopped by Mike's Pastry shop (one of the famous bakeries in the North End) and I had one of their cannolis. Daniel wasn't feeling that hungry, so he ordered an eclair, thinking it would just be one of those little ones. It wasn't. I'm not kidding, that thing was as big as a loaf of bread and weighed about six pounds. We couldn't even finish half of it.

And that was it for day three in Boston. At the end of the night I couldn't believe how much we had done that day- a walk around Walden Pond, lobster in Maine, driving across the whole state of New Hampshire, and then Vermont, the Joseph Smith memorial, and dinner and dessert back in Boston. It was an awesome day.

Boston Trip - Part Two

Friday morning we went on a guided tour that included parts of Boston, but also the Cambridge, Lexington, and Concord areas - we basically followed the route that Paul Revere took on his famous ride.

Looking back at Boston from our tour bus:



Our first stop was Harvard Yard in Cambridge. We were so glad we had spent a lot of time on our own there the night before, because the tour stop was only a few minutes - just long enough for me to get a picture at the Harvard Library:



After that we headed out toward Lexington. On our way we drove through some of the super wealthy areas around Boston. We drove past one high school where the tuition is $47,000 per year. I couldn't believe that. That is more expensive than Harvard.

Anyway, here is the Minuteman statue at Lexington (where the British troops first met up with the minute-men who had gathered after Paul Revere's warning):



Lexington Green. We stopped and walked around for a little bit (and got ice-cream at a little candy shop). It was weird to think about all that had happened there - I remember learning about "Lexington and Concord" and the start of the Revolutionary War, but I never really thought about where that was.



After that we were on our way to Concord. I didn't realize how many famous people are from the Concord area (Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Louisa May Alcott). We drove past the Alcott's home. It made me want to read "Little Women" again:



Our next stop was the Minute Man National Park in Concord. This is where the North Bridge is, and the where the "shot heard round the world" was.





At the end of our tour we were dropped off at the Boston Harbor. We walked around for awhile enjoying the sun, water, boats, etc. I think I want to live by the sea someday. Or maybe I just want to live in Boston someday.



Harbor pics:

As we were heading back toward downtown, we stopped and watched some kids playing in a little splash park, because we knew our kids would have had so much fun doing the same thing. Not that we were missing our kids or thinking about them at all.



We then walked over to Faneuil Hall, which is pretty much the place to hang out if you are a tourist in Boston. It is kind of a huge marketplace/outdoor mall/food court/street performer hangout.

We watched these guys for a little while:



And then we began the next portion of our day: The Freedom Trail.

The Freedom Trail is a 2 1/2 mile path that goes through downtown Boston, leading to different significant historic sites along the way (site of the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, etc.) It starts in the Boston Common and ends up at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charleston (across the Charles River from Boston).

Faneuil Hall is one of the stops along the trail, so we just started up from there (we did the other section later). I thought we would have to refer to some sort of map or guidebook to find all the stops, but they actually have a red line painted on the ground to follow, which was kind of fun. There were lots of other people following it at the same time, but because it was a self-guided tour, we were able to just go at our own pace, and spend time at whatever stops we wanted to.

One of my favorite stops was the Old North Church - that's where the two lanterns were hung to alert Paul Revere that the British were coming across the water ("one if by land, two if by sea").

The Freedom Trail continued on a bridge across the Charles River and into Charlestown. We walked all the way to the Bunker Hill Monument, and then climbed the 294 steps up to the top. This was a lot harder than I thought it would be. My legs were sore the rest of the trip. The view was really neat at the top, though.

Freedom Trail pics:


After we walked back across the bridge into Boston, we headed back to Faneuil Hall to meet some friends of ours who used to live in our ward here in Texas, but now live in Connecticut. They had driven up to Boston for the day. We ate dinner and talked for awhile and it made me wish we still lived close.



After our friends left we just walked around Boston for awhile. I love what it looks like at night. Kind of like this, only not as blurry:



We walked up to the North End where all the famous Italian restaurants and bakeries are. The streets were filled with little food booths and lights and live music and tons of people walking around.



After hanging out there for awhile we walked back to our hotel and had some Boston Cream Pie (our hotel, the Omni Parker House, was where Boston Cream pie was created).

End of day two.

Boston Trip - Part One

Last year Daniel and I decided to start a tradition of going on one trip every year with just the two of us. We started by going to New Orleans last March (I was pregnant with Henry, and my mom came and stayed with the other four), and we loved it.

Pretty soon after we got home we started planning for this year's trip. We picked Boston because neither of us had ever been, and it seemed like it would be a neat city to visit and explore. Daniel's sister Audra flew into town (along with her little girl, London) a few days before we left and watched all six of the kids while we were gone (thank you, Audra!!!). I was a little nervous (okay, a lot nervous) about leaving Henry behind, but he did really well under Audra's expert care, and he seems to have forgiven me for abandoning him.

We flew into Providence, Rhode Island late Wednesday night, and then rented a car and drove to our hotel in Boston. I could tell it was going to take a little while to adjust to not having any kids with us when I kept checking the backseat to see if our loud music was waking up all the non-existent children sitting back there.

The next morning we grabbed some breakfast and then walked across the street from our hotel to the Boston Common (a big park area in the middle of downtown). It was a cool and cloudy day, which felt so nice after enduring the scorching Austin weather all summer. I couldn't believe we could wear pants and jackets in August (the next few days did end up being hot and sunny, but it was still nice to have just one day of almost chilly weather - I had forgotten what that was like). We walked around for awhile and just enjoyed the feeling of being in a new place.


Here's me in the Boston Common:


And Daniel in front of some of the Beacon Hill houses:

After we walked around for awhile we got on the subway and headed down to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game. It was pretty cool to see such a famous ballpark in person for the first time. It was also fun to see how crazy the people in Boston are about their Red Sox. All of the die-hard fans definitely created an exciting game atmosphere.

After the game we decided to just walk back up towards our hotel instead of taking the subway. I never knew there were so many churches in Boston - there are old churches all over the place, and the architecture is so pretty. On our way back we walked through Boston Public Park. I was excited to see the swan boat pond from the children's book "Make Way for Ducklings", and even more excited when I saw the little duck statues they have to honor the story. I had to get a picture to show my family, because that was one of our favorite books growing up. We also stopped in the Boston Common again and played catch for about a half hour - I had taken our mitts and a ball to the game in my purse. We rarely get the chance to do that with just the two of us at home, so that was a lot of fun.

That evening we took the subway over to Cambridge (the city right by Boston where Harvard University and MIT are). We walked all around Harvard Square and loved it. The campus was so beautiful and green with big trees everywhere, and it actually was pretty peaceful and quiet (students haven't moved in yet for fall semester). Both Daniel and I had thoughts that it would be so much fun to be in college again. But that only lasted about 2 seconds, and we decided that maybe we just really like walking around on college campuses.

Here's Daniel on the steps of the Harvard Library and in front of the John Harvard statue:


We stopped for dinner at a little place in Harvard Square called "Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage." They have gotten all sorts of awards for having the best burgers around, and while I can't really confirm that, I will say their veggie burgers are awesome.

After that we headed back to our hotel and that was pretty much it for day one. We could already tell that Boston was going to be on our list of favorite cities.

Oliver's 7th Birthday

Oliver turned seven on Monday (August 17th). I can't believe he's seven already!

I remember the day he was born so well - he was the only one of my five children that I knew when he was going to be born. My doctors induced labor because they thought he was going to be too small.

He wasn't:


Anyway, the day I got induced and he was born also happened to be my mom's birthday, and she spent pretty much her whole birthday in the hospital with me and Daniel, helping out (thanks, Mom!). It's always been fun for Oliver to share her birthday.

His birthday this year was a little crazy, because Daniel and I had just gotten back into town after being in Boston for five days (posts to come). Daniel's sister had been staying with all the kids. Anyway, we got home super late Sunday night, and then Daniel had to go into work really early on Monday, so we woke Oliver up to open up his presents before Daniel left. He didn't mind at all.

Here he is getting ready to open his presents:


Checking out his new transformer toy with Dad:

Investigating the new erupting volcano set:

Happy about his new pirate legos:

Everybody crowding around to discuss how cool the new pirate legos are:

Experimenting with space sand:

Decorating his cake all by himself. I think I'll convince all my kids that this is the way to go - no more cake decorating for me!:

The finished product. If you look closely you can tell that the skittles spell out "Oliver" and also "7". Or maybe you can't tell, but trust me, they do:

Posing with the cake:

Rachel and Ollie both being very pleased with the thought of eating it:

Happy birthday, Oliver!

Here's a little video clip of the kids eating their cake. I shot it with my camera, and then loaded it straight onto the computer without editing it, so that's why it goes on for a little bit, and includes things like Lizza shouting out all the time and me trying to get Henry to say "more" over and over again, and him not listening to me (normally I like to edit those kinds of things out). So you may want to just stop watching at about 23 seconds, because that's about all I wanted to post.

Oliver is such a good kid, and he's always a fun guy to have around. Since he was really young, he has been able to make people happy with his great smile and personality.

His Great-grandma and Grandpa Mott send Oliver a birthday card that they said reminded them of him, and I thought it fit perfectly. It said "To know you is to love you!", and I think that's pretty much how we all feel about Oliver around here.