Boston - Travel and Day 1

When Rebekah and Matt told us they were moving to Boston, we knew that at some point during their two year stint in the northeast we wanted to go and explore this history laden city.  We filled our days with a mixture of history, good food, and family fun and found Boston to be a city we thoroughly enjoyed.

This little girl loves to fly and travel!  She assured us we didn't need to take the stroller like we did 2 years ago in Chicago, and she carried her bags in the airport like a champ.

Journaling on the plane...

I don't know which of these two ladies were happier to see the other…they both almost skipped down the sidewalk to dinner.

Let me go ahead and recommend the Go Boston Card.  After much studying and reviewing of admission prices we determined that this was our most cost efficient option.  I highly recommend this!

We started our first full day in Boston with a Boston Duck Tour.  This might have been what we were most excited about…and it didn't disappoint.  Riding an amphibious vehicle on a city tour and then literally driving off into the Charles River in that same vehicle.  Awesome attraction and to me is a MUST do in Boston.

Of course I had to include the picture of Cheers…this was our only view and was taken at about 15mph as we passed.

And like any good aunt, BB bought Turner a quacker.

This sign was pretty tempting to me and Mark.  :)  We really discussed our opportunity to drive 4 hours and take Turner to NYC…then we determined that little tease of a visit wouldn't even do it justice.

Boston is a city of walking, and I was so proud of Turner and how well she handled all the walking.  There were moments of complaining (let's be honest…the adults wanted to whine too) but overall she was just as independent and strong as she told us she would be.  Some "follow-the-leader" diversions from Daddy were also helpful.

After the Duck Tour, we started walking toward Boston Common and took in several sites near our hotel.  The Boston Marathon finish line...

Trinity Church in Copley Square

Boston Common was beautiful!

 Apparently the Elsa balloons are the most popular option for little girls these days.

After riding the swan boats in the park, we visited with some real ducklings on the way to see the duckling statues made famous by the book, "Make Way For Ducklings".

The statues were cute but there was an impressive line of people waiting for pictures with these bronze lovelies.

Our afternoon began with a visit and tour of The Old North Church.  Below Turner is standing in one of the box pews, which would have been owned and occupied on Sundays by families in the church.  The walls were high due to cold winters and in effort to keep the heat generated by burning coals inside the box.

We took a behind the scenes tour of the bell tower in the church, which is the location from which Paul Revere's famous "One if by land, two if by sea"signal was sent at the onset of the Revolutionary War.  We learned how the church bells work and also that Paul Revere was familiar with this location since he was a bell ringer as a teenager - in the very room where we were sitting.  History is so neat.

In the back of the church there was a printing shop and a chocolate making shop with re-enactments of old techniques for printing documents and making chocolate from cocoa beans.  To see how the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence were printed - letter by letter laid into this press - I was admittedly overwhelmed at the dedication of our forefathers to the establishment of this great country.

 Some of the aforementioned "follow the leader" to keep Turner's mind off how far we were walking!

This is my favorite picture of BB - looking like a pack mule carrying all our stuff.

The Paul Revere house was tiny and unassuming, but I'm glad we went.  I had been sufficiently prepared that this might be a bit anti-climactic but it was neat to show Turner how people used to live.

We ended our day with dinner at BB and Matt's apartment in Brookline and a walk to a nearby yogurt shop.  This picture always makes me smile…these two are a mess and have a special relationship.  I am certain this conversation was interesting!

Day 1 in the books - all those fun activities and we still have three more days to go!