Rusty Arrives

Finally!  After two weeks apart, Rusty is finally here.  He did not have an easy time getting to Boston either.  His flight was delayed, and then the airline didn’t have his bag.  Apparently only about 50% of the bags were loaded onto the airplane in Denver.  Frustrating.  He called to tell me it would be awhile until everything was sorted out and that I could go to sleep and he’d call me when he got to the apartment.  So I fell asleep, but didn’t realize my phone was on silent. When he got to the apartment about 1:15am he called, texted, and called some more with no luck.  But, being the resourceful guy that he is, he dug through my email and found the code to the apartment building.  He let himself into the building, but still couldn’t get into our apartment.  The door wasn’t all the way locked , but the safety lock was on, so he could open the door a crack.  Luckily, Blake sleeps in the living room, and so Rusty said, “Blake! Blake!”  A sleeply, startled Blake answered, “What?”  “It’s me, Dad.  Can you come let me in?”  “Oh!  Hi Dad! Sure!”  Blake let Rusty in and then promptly fell right back asleep.  Rusty came into our bedroom and scared me half to death!  Poor Guy.  That wasn’t the best Welcome to Boston. 

The kids are overjoyed to have Dad here, and loved showing him their city skills.  First up today was the Harvard Museum of Natural History. This museum smelled really weird, and was kinda old school, but it was worth a little visit.  The coolest parts were the glass flower room and the room full of different minerals. Halle liked the Hall of Mammals best. 

We ate lunch at Cambridge 1, a cute little pizza joint in Harvard Square.  The pizza was delicious—fresh cheeses and a thin, crispy crust.
We had hoped to head to Providence in the evening to go to the Water Fires, but due to a longer than expected nap, and reading the train schedule wrong, we missed the train, and the next one was too late to make it worth our time.  So, we headed down to Quincy Market for some quick dinner, and then over to the Harbor and the Greenway to spend the evening. 

Josh loved showing Rusty how he can navigate the subway, and there was also discussion of the merits and downfalls of each of the different subway lines. 

Sitting at a fountain on the Greenway watching the kids splash and play with the city in the background was so fun. 

We ended the day back up in Harvard Square at JP Licks.  We enjoyed our ice cream as we strolled back to Banks street. 

Journals

Josh—yesterday I went bowling.  We had lots of fun.  15-82-85. (The score) I can’t wait to go bowling again.  (I can’t believe he left out the part that he won!)

Esplanade Playground

One thing I really love about Boston is all the access to green space.  There are gorgeous splashes of green amid all the high rises.  The Emerald Necklace, The Fens, and the Esplanade.  Today, armed with our scooters, we set off to explore the Esplanade.  But first up, Flour Bakery to try their famous sticky buns.  They did not disappoint. Delicious!  We also got a few sandwiches to go and then we hit the street.  We decided to scooter from Cambridge into Boston via the Harvard Bridge.  The Harvard Bridge is measured in “Smoots.”  Smoot was a college student pledging for a fraternity.  The bridge is 364.4 Smoots +1 ear.  Josh thought this was totally hilarious and loved to watch the Smoots rush by under his feet.

We took our time exploring the Esplanade, stopping to chase geese, pick up feathers, and dip our toes in the Charles.

After meandering along, we finally came to the Esplanade playground. And it’s definitely one of our favorites!  Zipline, huge slide, spinning apparatus—there was enough to keep the kids occupied for hours.  We picnicked by the river, and played until we were exhausted. Then we took a little siesta under the trees.

Next up was the Museum of Fine Arts.  We spent an hour or two browsing through the Hall of the Americas looking at Revolutionary era art.  We also paid a visit to the Contemporary Art wing and got to try out different artist styles on a giant, electronic drawing board. We kept busy all day to ward off the anticipation of Daddy getting here tonight! We are counting down the hours.  Only 4 to go!!

Most steps ever!

Mapparium

Today was a good day in Boston. It started with lunch at Darwins with Kristin, who I have known since our days at Forbes Elementary.  It was so fun to catch up, talk about life, and relish in the joy of being with someone who has know you since you were 6.  I hope I get to see her again while I’ here! 

Later in the afternoon the kids and I hopped on our first Boston Bus and headed to the Christian Science Center.  Three kids on one bus seat doth not happy bus riders make.  But, it was soooo much more convenient than taking the T.  The bus stop is about 2 min from our apartment and then we only had to walk about .1 mile to get to our destination.

Our target was the Mapparium at the Mary Baker Eddy Library.  And I have to say, this was just plain cool.  Learning about MBE was really fascinating—you know me, I always love learning about influential women.  And the Mapparium was stunning.  It’s a 3-story stained glass globe inside the library.  It was completed in 1935 and hasn’t been updated since, so you can see how the world has changed since then.  The acoustics are fun to play around with—whisper on one end and it can be heard on the other.  Or stand under the North Pole and hear your voice in surround sound.  The tour only lasts about 20 minutes but it was totally worth a stop.  Pictures are not allowed, so I pulled these off of Google Images.

 

But my very favorite thing was Howard Ben Tré’s fountain in the Hall of Ideas. It “ is a cast glass and bronze sculpture that provides the source from which a state-of-the-art computer program and light projection system displays quotes and ideas from the world’s greatest thinkers,” the website says. 

Letters swirl around in the middle of the fountain and then phrases emerge into the water after which they spill onto the floor in a jumbled mess and make their way over to one of the two projection screens where they are again displayed with their author and date.  I could have stayed here all day.

Once again, thank you google images

The entire Christian Science Plaza is stunning.  The buildings are beautiful neoclassial structures, and the fountain and the reflecting pool are serene and beautiful.  Unless you are with kids. Then it is crazy, wet, and wild.

We rounded out the evening with dinner at Summer Shack, (which did not live up to the hype) and bowling at Kings. 

Steps we took today:

Thank you, Bus, for giving our legs a break. 

Museum of Science

We were in need of a little down time, so we decided to take the day off on Tuesday. The kids enjoyed sleeping in, playing on their ipods and lounging around.  We hit the park, and then had dinner at Shake Shack.  It was a great way to reset and give our bodies a little break. 

That meant we were ready to hit it hard at the Museum of Science the next day.  It was such a fun place, and even after 4 hours, we weren’t ready to go when the museum closed.  We loved creating our own fish in the virtual fish tank, learning about modeling, doing mathematics at the park, and seeing a cute little meerkat up close and personal.  But or favorite exhibit was the Hall of Human Life.  We all wore a wristband that scanned in at different stations where we tested our balance, learned about pupil response to fear, measured the size of our ears, and tested to see how easily distracted we were. 

After the Museum closed it was off to the North End to meet Tricia and Ann Marie for dinner.  We were headed to Giacomos and I knew there was going to be a wait.  The kids were already starving, so we made a quick pit stop to Dunkin Donuts. In an incredulous voice Josh said, “We get Sugar before dinner???  I LOOOOVE BOSTON!”

At Giacomos I had a delicious fettuccini with clams, mussels and lobster.  mmmmm. After dinner we stopped at Modern for a pasty that we ate on the Greenway nearby.  What fun to see Tricia and catch up.  That girl definitely has a special place in my heart.  I’ve said it before, but we lived a pretty idyllic childhood in the AF 19th ward.  It was fun to tell Halle some of our growing up memories from when I was her age.  The evening rushed by way too quickly. 

We didn’t wear our watches for most of the day, so these are the steps we took at the museum and walking to dinner:

Journals

I was instructed by Blake to make every sentence a different color.

Josh: I went to the food trucks and got pizza and the market.  (I assume he meant we also went to the market.  He didn’t actually eat the market) We were a big mess.

New England Aquarium

The Penguins and the Giant Sea Turtle were the runaway favorites at the Aquarium today.  The seals and the octopus contended for second place.  Everybody also really liked touching the stingrays. 

After the aquarium, we weren’t quite ready to call it a day.  It was about 72 degrees and perfectly sunny, so we decided to go exploring around the Harbor.  We found Christopher Columbus Park right by the water and enjoyed spotting jellyfish in the water as well as playing at the playground.  On our way to get cupcakes at Lulu’s we ran into an unexpected surprise—the Greenway Carousel.  As we have a family pact to always ride new carousels wherever, whenever we see them, we immediately jumped in line to grab tickets.  These animals were so unique.  Lobsters, butterfllies, grasshoppers, sea turtles—the kids had a hard time choosing what animal to be!

Love my adventurous little family!

shhhh….

The sweet little darlings are tucked into bed after a long day and the door buzzer sounds.  The kids stir.  Shhh….nothing to worry about, go back to sleep.  Mom buzzes the delivery person up, cracks open the door and quietly accepts her reward for a day well spent. 

The giant peanut butter cup cookies taste heavenly.  Evidence of Mom’s midnight escapades are quickly and quietly swept away.  The kids will never know.

grocery shopping

Let’s talk about grocery shopping.  #1—I am eternally grateful for shopping delivery services.  Peapod is the one I’ve been using in Boston.  If you are prepared, everything can be delivered straight to your door.  #2—I am never that prepared.  #3—THEN you have to make multiple stops at CVS, paying exorbitant prices for much needed items such as toilet paper. #4—Or you just have to suck it up, drag 3 kids on their scooters 1 mile to the nearest grocery store, chain up said scooters, drag your fighting, tired kids through the incredibly cramped and tiny aisles of city grocery stores, and then take a taxi home.  On Saturday night, we sucked it up. 

On the bright side, this little grocery store adventure raised our daily step count considerably:

SoWa Open Market

Photo courtesy of http://www.benedictelassalle.com/?p=4015

FOOD TRUCK HEAVEN.  25 trucks, one giant parking lot.  We were all pretty disappointed in the Farmer’s Market portion of this Open Market, Boulder’s is about 1000 times better.  But, the food trucks more than made up for it.  What fun!  It was so hard to decide what to get.  And my indecision cost me.  The kids spent all my $$, so I mostly just munched on their leftovers.  I did get my very own Crispy Cauliflower from the Dining Car.  It was cauliflower lightly coated in corn flour, fried and dressed with a curry aioli.  Surprisingly, no one wanted to share with me!

Josh had pizza, Halle a very messy nutella strawberry crepe, and Blake picked Roxy’s grilled cheese. 

We had to get dessert from the Frozen Hoagie, just because the name made me laugh.  The ice cream sandwiches were fantastic.  Halle declined the treat.  She said she “lost her sweet tooth” at the Chocolate Bar. And now, I promise I won’t blog about food for at least a couple of days.  Unless I eat something great.  Then I’ going to have to tell you about it.

We then scootered back to the subway and headed to church.  Gospel Doctrine was fascinating today.  The teacher was an Old Testament Academic, and knew everything about everything. 

Langham Hotel Chocolate Bar

Is it possible that there could ever be to much chocolate?  We set out to test that question and the Langham Hotel Chocolate Bar.  Offered as brunch on Saturday mornings, Café Fleuri transforms into a chocolate lovers dream.  Crepe station, ice cream station, fondue, Cotton Candy, cookies and milk, and 4 tables filled with every kind of chocolate cake, mousse, cheescake, beignets, cupcake, éclair, boston crème, truffle, brownie, smore, tartes, tortes, canoli, crème Brule, whoopie pies. And to wash it all down?  Decadent milk or dark hot chocolate, of course!

We indulged to our hearts content, then while everything settled in our stomachs we sat back, looked at pictures of our first week in Boston and recounted all our favorite moments.  I felt so content sitting there enjoying that moment with my kiddos.

Carnage after round 1

 

 

 

 

 

Blake was absolutely in love with the cotton candy.  I don’t even want to tell you how much he had. Halle loved the giant chocolate fountain and the swan crème puff.

Although this brunch was exclusively sweets, there was a station filled with popcorn, potato chips, and nuts to help reset your palate in between all the chocolate.  There were cute little popcorn boxes, and the kids got to fill them with popcorn, and also candy from the candy jars to take home with them.  This was Josh’s favorite part.  He said, “If there was a fire in here I’d throw my hat on my head, grab my popcorn box, and RUN.”

So, in answer to our original question: is it possible to have too much chocolate?  The answer is, yes.  We absolutely did not want any more chocolate, and were even craving something savory like eggs or hash browns.  Josh even declined the ice cream at the end. 

We are having so much fun, but I do wish we were staying in Boston, and not Cambridge.  It takes us FOREVER to get anywhere.  We  scooter the 1/2 mile from our apartment to the Harvard Square subway station, chain up the scooters and head into Boston on the T.  Then it’s usually at least 1/2 mile from the subway stop to where we want to be.  The kids are holding up great, and I’m so proud of them.  But it does make for some long days.