Our Last Day in Boston

After our busy, busy Monday in New York, Reagan was running a fever and not feeling good at all on Tuesday. We had already planned to take it easier than the days before so we slept in as much as we could and then got up and had a relaxing breakfast. Barbara and I then decided to take Lindsey to the Boston Children's Museum. And I am so glad that we did. We had so much fun and Lindsey absolutely loved the place. Here is a run down of most of what we did while we were at the museum.

The first stop was the science playground. In that area was the "Investigate" section. In this picture, we were trying to get Lindsey to make three triangles with seven pencils. It was fun but took her a little while to figure it out.

Next was the "Bubbles" section. We had a lot of fun here. They had several big water tables with a soapy mixture in them. Along with that were several kinds of instruments to make bubbles with. Then we were able to play in this huge bubble maker. I love Lindsey's face in this picture. She was loving it.

"Raceways" was next. They had lots of golf balls and about seven different tracks that you could experiment with. Lindsey liked to see what would happen to the golf balls going on the different tracks (how fast or how far they would end up going).

I don't remember what this area was called but they had many different activities here. The one in the picture had a ball in the tube we are holding on to. Then we had to bounce on the stool and the ball would go up to the top if we bounced fast enough. I like how you can tell that Lindsey is bouncing so much. Her hair flying up and her bottom off of the seat.

There was also a little basketball goal with three spots you were supposed to shoot the ball from. I tried to show Lindsey the proper form to shoot the ball but it is really hard to shoot on a short goal with the proper form. She loved that I tried though.

Peep's World was next. This is a show that Lindsey has watched just a handful of times but she loved exploring. They had a huge water table with tools you can use and also a huge sand table with tools. It was fun to fill up containers and then watch as it was poured out. We pretty much had to drag Lindsey away from this area to make it to the others before the museum closed.

Here is Lindsey patting down the sand in a tube. We had her estimate how many cupfuls it would take to fill up the tube. She was pretty close the second time around.

Decorating a "cake" in the Arthur exhibit. They were little magnets that you could arrange how ever you wanted.

This is the "Construction Zone". Lindsey really wanted a picture with all three of us in a face cutout place but there wasn't anyone else around to take our picture together. So the two of us took our picture but still made Barbara look through one face too. Forgot to take her picture though.

This was right outside the museum. Yes, that is a huge Arthur on top of the building.

Lindsey had a great day even without Reagan and the guys around. We also decided it was probably best that Robert and Manny didn't go with us because they would have had too much fun and we would have had to drag all of them around the museum. There would have been no way we would have made it through the whole place before 5 when it closed if they had gone too.

This was the last day of our trip to Boston. Wednesday morning, we woke up got ready and were off to the airport. I was really dreading flying this time because of Reagan having a fever, being sick and feeling horrible. It was actually good (is that bad to say?). She was so tired and had no energy to move much. All she wanted to do was lay on me which was fine. So even though she felt bad, the flight home was good. And the trip was good. We are so glad we were able to go and loved seeing Barbara and Manny.

Monday in New York

Monday on our trip took us to New York City. We decided to avoid some traffic and left a little bit later than originally planned but it turned out great. Although, we did run into issues finding parking. Apparently the G20 leaders were meeting in New York at the same time that we were there. With those leaders came several streets being blocked off and we couldn't find any parking areas near where we wanted to be. At one point, driving around we found ourselves driving down one street lined with hundreds of Asian people waiting to hopefully see the leader from their country. Felt kinda weird - kinda like we were in a parade or something.

Finally we found parking and our walk around New York began. Conveniently for Lindsey we parked right down the street from the American Girl Place. Of course she wanted to go in. We hardly spent any time there since we had gone to an American Girl store the day before. But she did have the opportunity to point out some things that she liked.

This is the St. Patrick Cathedral. They were doing some repairs to it but Robert went in and said it was amazing.

Another cathedral. Lucky for Robert it was right across from the girls next stop - The Disney Store!

And the girls loved it (all four of us!). Look how happy Reagan is with this baby Tinker Bell doll.

Another highlight for Robert. The Apple Store. Very cool looking. Even the elevator was a glass box. The girls waited outside while the boys went in and looked around at this store.

After eating some lunch, we walked through Central Park. Robert and Lindsey found a great playground there and Lindsey loved this slide. She must have gone down in about 10 times all in a row. It was made of some kind of stone like granite or something. It was very smooth and quite fun.

Robert enjoying the slide with the girls.

We also found the carousel in Central Park. Lindsey and Barbara rode on it. But after riding the carousel at the fair last week, Lindsey didn't want to ride a horse that went up and down. They picked the sleigh to ride in instead. After the ride was over, Lindsey posed (with a silly face) on this horse.

We think this is the bridge in Central Park in the movie Enchanted. Lindsey loves this movie and was so excited to see some of the places where it was made. This is the bridge that Edward jumps from while looking for and singing to Giselle. Promptly after jumping, he is run over by bicycles. Lindsey thought it was hilarious. And was so happy to find this spot.

Lindsey's first experience with the subway. And what an experience it was.

Trying to figure out if we are in the right place to get the right train to get to the right destination.

On the subway. She thought it was fun.

We made it - this was the destination. The Statue of Liberty. Very cool to see again about about 25 years. And without the scaffolding around it.

While we were at Battery Park, we noticed signs that read "to the set" with arrows. We followed them wondering what kind of set we would see. And this is what it was...the filming of CSI. We stood and watched for a little while but then Reagan starting getting fussy so we had to move so her crying wouldn't be picked up on the recording. As we were walking away, I saw this great chance for a picture. Look, Gary Sinise (left) and Laurence Fishburne (right) were looking at me!

Part of the Twin Towers memorial. The sculpture was once in one of the lobby's, I think. It was damaged but still is mostly intact. There is also an eternal flame in front of the sculpture.

Not sure what building this is - I just noticed all the huge buildings with the church in front. I like how the roofs are staggered.

We made it to Times Square, finally. Mary Poppins was showing on Broadway. It would have been so fun and amazing to go to a show but we didn't have time to do that this time around. Lindsey would have loved it I'm sure.

Reagan was so happy to be out of the stroller for a bit. We went to eat dinner at the ESPN Zone in Times Square and she got to stretch her legs. So happy!

While we were at the Disney Store, Lindsey picked out a storybook. One that has about 20 different stories in it. She read it while we were walking around New York. I'm sure she missed over half of the sights because her nose was in the book. She also chose to read while we were waiting for our food at dinner. She is a reader and loves her books!

Me and Robert in Times Square. It was so fun. Lots of people, lights, and sounds. Another great place to people watch.

A huge indoor Ferris wheel in a huge ToysRUs at Times Square. Each passenger gondola was a different toy. We saw a Mr. Potato Head, Little People, The Mystery Machine, a Barbie car, and several others that I don't remember right now.

Next stop was the M&M store. This is a wall of chocolate. Yummy and the whole place smelled soooo good too. We made the mistake of leaving Lindsey with Manny and they decided to buy some M&M's. Over two pounds of M&M's. And guess what colors Lindsey picked?!?! Pink and purple, of course.

Love this picture of Reagan with the big M&M. She is looking at it trying to figure out where her dad had just put her.

On the way back to the car we passed by Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center. It was really neat to see where the ice skating rink goes but I have no idea how they do it. I tried to get something at the Dean & Deluca but they had already closed. I was kinda sad about that.

While I had gone to take the above picture, the girls were getting their last little bit of energy out before getting back into the car. We had another long car ride ahead of us and we were hoping that they would sleep the entire way.

And Lindsey didn't disappoint. She was asleep by the time we were out of New York City. Reagan, on the other hand, was beginning to not feel good and had a tough time sleeping in the car. That night at the house and the next couple of days were rough on her. More on that later.

I'm tired and this post took much longer than planned. Hope you hung in there with me on this and enjoyed your brief trip around NYC.

Natick, Apples, and Concord

Sunday morning started with attending church in Natick. It is a small and very friendly church. We really liked the service and Robert loved listening to the preacher. He is from Ireland and has the accent to match. Very cool. He kept reminding me of the movie "Far and Away". Makes me want to go and watch it again. Maybe when Barbara is here next month we can squeeze that in sometime.

After church we headed to the Natick mall which has both a Cheesecake Factory and an American Girl store. And for the girls in this family, that is perfect! I thoroughly enjoyed my Sunday brunch of French Toast Napoleon and Lindsey and Reagan loved going next door to the American Girl store.

Lindsey's eyes were huge during the visit to the American Girl store. She loved looking at all the clothes and accessories for the dolls.

Reagan really got into it also. Here she is looking at the little baby dolls. So cute!One reason we went to the American Girl store was Lindsey's dolls hair was horrible. Really bad. And, as ridiculous as it is, there is a hair salon for the dolls. Lindsey's doll sat in a chair and a girl actually wet, combed, and fixed the doll's hair. It turned out really cute. But, really?Look how happy this made Lindsey. She was beaming!

After the mall, we headed to Stowe, MA to pick apples. You always hear about people going apple picking but I never thought that I would actually be able to do it. It was great. There were thousands of trees and we had a blast as you are about to see from the many, many pictures that we took. I'll apologize now and tell you that you don't have to look at them all.

A cute shot of the girls before the fun began.

One of Lindsey's first apples to pick. She was having a blast.

I know, the branches are in the way but this was the best I could do with what I had. I think it is still a very cute picture. And Reagan was reaching for the apple that we were holding to get her to look in our general direction.

Reagan loved holding the apples. And then letting them drop!

Lindsey was a bit nervous about climbing the ladder but daddy and Manny helped her out.

Reagan really was happy during this time. I just think she didn't like stopping to pose for the camera.

Another shot of a not so happy looking little girl. But she's got her apple.

I can't take credit for this picture but isn't it amazing? Great shot, Manny!

We really didn't pose for this one. We were just all together and looking at the apples and Manny took this. It was decided that this should be sent to the apple farm where we were so they can use it in advertising. What do you think?

One of our family shots. We took lots.

Sweet sisters!

Still enjoying looking at the apples with Aunt Barbara. She did start saying "apple" by the time we left. Well, kinda!

Where's Manny?

Where's Robert? Or, should I say, Tarzan? He really wanted to do some swinging in the trees.

Look at all the apples we picked. We had so much fun and it looks like Reagan was really proud of herself.

After leaving the apple trees, we headed to Concord. I saw this wonderful church and had to take a picture of it. It was beautiful.

Concord, MA is home to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Along with being famous because of the legend, it is also home to the graves of several famous authors. Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau all were buried there with their families. We were very interested in those. Mrs. Gilbreth would be so proud!

I was hoping that the trees up in the New England area would be starting to change colors and I wasn't disappointed. For the most part, there was still green everywhere but occasionally we would see this amazing pop of color. So beautiful. Thank you, God, for your amazing creation!

We had planned on going to Lexington also but by the time we were done in Concord, we were so tired again. We decided to head home for dinner and bed. But of course, we didn't sleep until we had some wonderful apple pie that Barbara made from the yummy apples that we had picked.

Up next - New York City (get a rope!)