Boston

We have been wanting to visit Chris and Jessie in Boston,

so we took the plunge at the end of October. We decided to take the kids and make a good old fashioned family vacation out of it. I knew the cross country flight and nights in a hotel might be a little dicey with all the kids but thought we would be ok. I totally underestimated how hard it is to sight-see with toddlers and over-estimated the challenges of the flight and hotel. Let's just say by the end of the trip Ryan and I were ready to NEVER travel with the kids again and we all needed quiet padded rooms before we could function normally together again. I am exaggerating but for honesty's sake I had to get that out there. I will do my best to paint it in a positive light for posterity's sake.

We decided to hit the freedom trail first thing Monday morning. Here is our tour guide having Luke demonstrate what it would be like to be in the stocks on the Boston Commons.

Next stop was the cemetery. Noah just wanted to run around and climb on the big rocks.

I have done the freedom trail a couple of times and so I tried to keep the Noah & Charlie under wraps while Ryan & Luke got the full tour experience.

I may have put Noah to work to keep him occupied.

This is how Charlie and I spent most of our time. All wrapped up and strapped to each other. ;)

It was neat as always to see how old these cemeteries and other stops on the trail are and all the history behind them. After lunch we put the kiddies down for a nap and then we did the whole Halloween thing. (See previous post)

The next day we hit Walden Pond. This was probably my favorite site we visited because the kids could run and play and yell with no one around.

We did have a lady stop her car and warn us that we were being irresponsible letting our kids into the woods because the branches might fall and hit them..... Needless to say we did not heed her advice.

The boys are really into running and running "super duper fast". We let them show us their stuff.

Luke and Thoreau got to be buddies.

Not as close as these buddies though!

We had lunch and then did the Duck boat tour of Boston. This was the boys' favorite thing. Luke got to drive the boat/car.

He was thrilled and talked about it for weeks.

Wednesday we had breakfast at a cute cafe with Jessie then went to Harvard to do a tour.

That was a disaster. For some reason the kids didn't want to stand quietly and listen to the history of Harvard. Jessie and I took the kids to a playground while Ryan took the tour.

After lunch and a bookstore adventure we were ready to throw in the towel for the day. We did just that. Ryan took Haddie home and I took our kids to the hotel. We chilled and took advantage of room service.

The next day we had lunch in the park where the book "Make way for ducklings" is set. During lunch something didn't go Luke's way. He went off to pout.

Look at that boy's grumpy face....

Make way for Luke and Noah!

We drove out and visited Salem. Made a stop the witch museum... kind of creepy. I don't know if I would recommend it but it was interesting.

We then boarded the plane for Home Sweet Home! The kids were really good on the flights there and back. It was a fun trip and I am glad that we went, but the next time we want to go to a city on vacation the kids are staying with Grandma!