Boston

Well, less than a month has passed and I'm already getting to this blog post.  I just scream "productivity," don't I?

Let's begin.

We got to Boston after a good flight with a happy baby.  We were super lucky and the flight was only about half full so our middle seat was empty, which was awesome.  Darin got a little work done and Evie got to spread out.

She only slept for 40 minutes, but it was nice.

When we arrived in Boston, Kasi was not far behind.  By the time Darin got our rental car and figured out how to install the car seat (seriously, this apparently required the PhD he didn't go on to receive in college) Kasi, Evie and I were together and ready to roll.

We went out to eat in suburb where we were staying and called it a day early as Evie had had enough traveling and let us know it.  To be honest, I don't think any of us were too sad to spend the rest of the day in the hotel room in our PJs.  

The next day, after bringing Darin to work, I navigated the freeways with my trusty co-pilot, First Officer Johnson (with only one minor detour) to get us to Boston.  However, there was a slight rain delay.  And my "minor" detour cost us about 15 minutes in and of itself.  Apparently Boston is a lot like Houston, and every other major city I've ever been to, no one can drive in the rain.  So, the tour I booked was supposed to start at 10am.  At 9:50, when we're stalled in traffic and can't even see the Boston skyline Kasi called our tour guide as "Hali Johnson.  Oops.  I mean Coble." to explain that we're going to be "ten minutes late".  And forty minutes after our phone call we finally showed up.  Yes.  We were those people.  Thank the LORD we were the only people scheduled to be on the tour that day and we had an awesome tour guide, Nikki.  The tour was by Boston Strolls and was called "Beacon Hills Uncensored".  I'd definitely recommend it.   

After our tour, we decided to just head over to Harvard Square as our itinerary prepared by our tour guide (me) stated a tour of Harvard was next on our list.  We made it back to the parking garage under Boston Common with the help of our GPS to find our way in the park.  (Yes, we really did this.)  When we finally located the car, unfortunately we didn't download a "car finder" app, we realized one thing: we were parked in a handicapped spot.  Oops!  While I changed Evie's diaper, Kasi paid the pay station.  Just as I was packing up the car and the kid, Mr. Parking Cop came 'round.  I apologized profusely, he flashed me a million dollar smile, said, "no problem" and went on his merry little way.  I thanked God that we returned to the car that we did and that he was a nice guy.  So, off to Harvard we went.

We made it to Harvard with absolutely zero problems.  First Officer Johnson was on her navigational game and Captain Coble was a hell of a driver.  But I digress.  We got to Harvard, ate some fantastic subs and got in line for our free Harvard tour.  Again, the tour did not disappoint.  It was informative and fun!  Might have been more fun if we weren't walking in the rain all day, but you can't win 'em all.  I found out that Harvard is within our financial grasp for Evie if she chooses to go there with all the aide they offer.  Yale, Brown, Harvard...St. Cloud State University...Purdue....  Hey, the world is her oyster.

The obligatory Harvard gear.

Proof yet again that Kasi can't take off a onsie...
normally it goes off over the head not the feet.

Day number two started out great.  We were off to see Fenway first and then we were going to hit up Vera Wang and Burberry on Newbury Street...or at least look at them.  Well, look is all we did.  All day.  We saw Fenway alright.  Saw it three times from the seat of the car as we were driving by yet again cursing Boston for being so old and not having any parking garages and repeatedly saying, "Where do people park down here?!?  They just have to take public transportation."  Seriously.  That exact sentence on repeat...with a few swear words thrown in, of course.  We were not at our navigational best and Captain Coble was way off her game.  As Kasi said, "We got cocky" the day before.  "This is what happens when you get cocky."

An image similar to what we saw.  We didn't even take a picture.

After driving for three hours and Kasi feeding a very hungry and crabby Evie one Gerber puff at a time from the front seat to the back, we decided to pull over, feed Evie actual food and regroup.  We continued with our plan to see Newbury Street, but to instead drive back to Boston Common and park there, since we were actually familiar with that area.  We walked through the Public Garden and Evie got to see some cute duckies.

Make Way for Ducklings, Boston Public Garden

We just couldn't find anything we liked....

The cupcakes were fabulous!

Boston Public Garden

On our way back though Boston Public Garden we were on the hunt for some family friendly dining.  We saw two park rangers and decided to just ask them if they knew of anywhere instead of wandering aimlessly around Beacon Hill.  We knew we were in trouble when they looked at us like a deer in headlights and then one of them followed it up with, "Oh, what's that one place?  Are you from around here?"  Um, no, hello!!!  He continued, "Oh, geez, that one place.  You know....  Oh!  P.F. Changs!"  Yeah, buddy.  We're in Boston and we're gonna eat at P.F. Changs.  But, instead of being the sarcastic biotches Kasi and I wanted to be, I did the next best thing, "Oh really?!  Where's that?"  Seriously.  Then we walked quickly away while we made fun of them and looked up a place to eat on my Boston app.  We ended up at Figs, which was fabulous.  I don't know if it's better than P.F. Changs, but it would definitely give it a run for it's money.  Except that it's Italian and not a chain and therefore way better already.  Any place that starts you out with this has my vote.

Seriously, Figs had high chairs, a kids menu, fantastic food and good music.  It was just what we needed after such a long day.  

Sometimes if you lick the menu it helps you
decide what you want.

Unfortunately, our day was not over yet as we had to drive our 25 miles back to the hotel.  In rush hour.  At night.  So, our day ended much like it started but instead of feeding Evie puffs we were feeding her songs.  One after another after another.  It was the only thing that would stop her from crying.  And not kids' songs.  Oh no.  Real songs.  "Stay" by Sugarland (we were exhausted after that one) and "Life Uncommon" by Jewel are the two that stick out, but there were many more. We sang  every Christmas song we could think of and every camp song we could think of.  Thank God for Google and 3G access because it saved us.  Two hours and 15 minutes later we arrived at the hotel.  Of course, not without yet another wrong turn on my part.  

By the time we got there, Kasi and I were near hysterics.  The kind where we looked like we might need to be medicated.  Kasi kept repeating, "We got cocky!  This is what happens when you get cocky!" and I couldn't stop laughing.  It was a long day.

The next day we were kind of dragging.  Darin had the day off so we did the Freedom Trail in downtown Boston.  It's a trail leading to many of the historic sites in Boston.  Very cool.  It would have been cooler if we could have heard more of what our tour guide had to say instead of just guessing because our group was way too big.  But, oh well.  

Our tour guide

Evie absorbing all the info on the Freedom Trail

Why is this funny?
I don't know, but it is.

After our tour was over, we stopped at Faneuil Hall to look around.  We ended up eating at the Salty Dog.  Delish.

After lunch we decided to walk back to Boston Common, get the stroller, which we didn't really use for Evie, but it was nice to have for our bags, and then finish the Freedom Trail.  We eventually made it to the North End.  I really liked that neighborhood.  Totally Italian and proud of it.  It's historical, quaint and I definitely could have wasted an entire day there.  

We all had our first cannoli.  They were fabulous and
VERY rich.  I didn't have a problem finishing
almost the whole thing, but whew!  It was a lot.

A memorial set up to honor those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Those are all dog tags.  Very sad.  Very moving. 

We finally made it to the end of the tour to see the USS Constitution.  It was closed and therefore I have no idea what it is, what it did or why it's important.  I was, and still am, history-ied out.

On the way back we decided that instead of walking "all the way" to Boston Common, we would take the subway.  Well, 5 tickets later and we finally made it.  I am serious, public transportation is hard to figure out.  I don't get it and the ticket info was not very well explained at all.  When we got home and I was going over our online bank statement, I couldn't figure out what cost $2 at Subway and why we ordered five of them, then I remembered this little incident.

Who knows what we were looking at.
It's the subway.

Upon finally returning to Boston Common, we walked around Beacon Hill to show Darin a little of the scenery.

Acorn Street

When we finally had enough walking for the day we headed back to the garage to feed Evie (we were still full from our cannoli), pay our astronomical parking fee and head back to the hotel.  We all put on our PJs, ordered pizza and watched TV for the rest of the night.  Oh, and discussed how it is possible that anyone on the East Coast can watch TV shows that start at 10:00pm and still make it to work in the morning by 8:00am!  We've decided that DVR must've definitely revolutionized TV watching in that part of the US.

Our last day in Boston was spent in New Hampshire and Maine.  Ha!  We drove up to Maine to have some lobsta and it did not disappoint.  Either did the view at the restaurant.

I forgot a bib so we just had to buy one!

After our fabulous lunch, we headed to Applecrest Orchard in New Hampshire.  It was a great time!  We went on a hayride and fed some very greedy goats (Evie was not a fan).  We also ate some cider donuts and drank some fresh apple cider while listening to live bluegrass and people watching.  It was a relaxing and fun and the perfect way to end our vacation.

The next day Kasi headed out early and Evie & I followed.  She did great on the flight, especially considering it was a 4 hour and 15 minute flight to start out and ended up being 20 minutes longer.  I was ready to pull my hair out, I can only imagine what she was feeling like!  

It was a very fun vacation and I'm still sad it's over.  I always have so much fun hanging out with Kasi and watching Evie hang out with Kasi too.  Guess we're just counting the days til Christmas...!