Boston - Take Two

So our second day in Boston was a little bit more relaxed. We still did a lot of walking around. But we went off to do a little bit less touristy things. We ate lunch at Bartley's Gourmet Burgers on Harvard Square. It was SO good. I'm not a huge burger fan, but this was the best burger I've ever had. Blaine ordered onion rings with his burger and those were also the best I've ever tasted. And once again, I'm not crazy about onion rings. 

I had the iPhone burger & Blaine had the Mitt Romney.
I don't know what really went behind the naming,
but the descriptions were funny. 

We walked around Harvard and headed over the the Harvard Business School. HBS has like its' own little campus. You have to go over a bridge across from the main campus area to get there. It was gorgeous. Of course, Blaine going here for his MBA would be a dream come true (for both of us). I think this revamped Blaine's motivation to do even better in school this year. 

The HBS library. It was so nice on the inside.

My little finance-face!

After touring Harvard, we got lost. For a while. We had a pass to the T and the buses and that threw us off. We walked a ton till we found the right bus stop for us. It didn't help that both our phones were running low on battery and we didn't want to drain them by using the navigation on them constantly. Once we were oriented, we went to Newbury Street. This is the shopping district in Boston. There weren't a ton of high-end brand name stores, but there were a lot of boutiques. It was nice. After walking there for a while, we went to the Public Garden to relax for a little bit.

We went back to Quincy Market for dinner (we had Regina's pizza) and to watch the street performers. Then we headed over to the theater district to buy our tickets for Blue Man Group. It was my first time seeing them and Blaine's second. I had such a good time. It was such a funny show, even though they didn't saw a word the entire time. It was so creative and interactive. My favorite part had to be when they created a dance party out of drumming-beats, rolling toilet paper, and 4 huge beach-like balls. Random but oh so cool and fun. I would definitely go back and watch it again. I haven't laughed like that in a while.

My Blueman friend :)

By the time this picture was taken, it was 10:00 pm at night and my phone had 3% battery life left. I was bummed that I hadn't charged our phones better and that I left my actual camera at home :/ We took this picture and the phone immediately died. Blaine's went out on us earlier in the day. We had to find our way from the theater district back on the T to our station where we parked. I don't know how people did it back in the day without smart phones! But we made it back safely without them. Take that smart phones!

Boston with the Dawsons

Our Friday there, we went to Boston. We had so much fun. I felt like we hit all of the main spots pretty fast for being there one day! It was impressive that we did so much with 3 kids and 3 strollers! 

Riding the T!

So we wanted to start the day off by touring Fenway Park. To our dismay, all the tickets for the day were sold out! We headed to Faneuil Hall and had lunch at the Quincy Market. They had tons of restaurants to choose from.

I had a delicious lobster bisque. Even though it was a hot day, I'm a sucker for soups. And it was so worth it.

After lunch, we began The Freedom Trail. So, you follow this red line around the whole city to see some pretty sweet historical spots. 

My favorite was the site of The Boston Massacre. I loved learning about it in AP U.S. History. 

We visited several old cemeteries and even saw the tombstone of Paul Revere. 

Blaine at Park Street Church

The kids at the burial site of Benjamin Franklin's parents.

Blaine and I at the Boston Commons

To cool off (it was hot), the kids played in the fountains at the Boston Commons. It was such a nice area and huge park. I loved it. And the kids did, too!

We then went through the Public Garden and watched the Swan Boats. They are a huge part of Boston's history. Next time, I definitely want to get a ride! The garden was beautiful. This was probably one of my favorite parts of Boston. 

In front of a statue of George Washington with the city skyline 

We quickly went through Chinatown and saw the Friendship Tower.

We went to the Boston Tea Party Museum, hoping to get on the replica of the boat. But it was $25 for each person, even the kids! 

For dinner, we went to The North End (Little Italy). The Italian food was really authentic. Even though there are Italian restaurants everywhere that are very good, you can tell that this was the real deal. It was delicious. 

For dessert, we went to Mike's Pastry. As soon as you walk into The North End, everybody has a box of Mike's Pastry in their hand. EVERYBODY. No joke. Inside, it was crazy packed. There was no line - just a bunch of people trying to make their way to the front. It was so worth it. We had 2 canolis - one peanut butter and the other cookies n' cream. But those were to take home. We had a Boston creme pie and it was oh so good. I'd go back just to get another slice. 

Riding the T after a long day!

We had a great time in Boston. I liked how there were so many universities and colleges. The environment is one of learning and I just felt smarter by being there (ok I'm kinda joking but not really :]). I just love cities. We liked it so much, that we decided to go on our own another day! 

First-timer in Massachusetts

My in-laws took a 2-week trip - Blaine's dad has these annual conventions and makes trips out of them. Since we were going to be alone, we decided to visit Brian, Kim and the kids in Barre Massachusetts. Tucker had been staying with Aunt Kerri so we had one special delivery for Brian and Kim. 

We stopped at Palisades Mall in New York for lunch and to give Tucker a break. We walked around and had Mrs. Fields cookies for dessert. I think we're just trying to win all our nephews over.

So now that I've visited Massachusetts, I can say that I've officially visited every family member in Blaine's family :) This was also my first time in New England.

While we were there, Blaine and Brian played lots of video games - being the brothers that they are. We also played the Kinect a lot with the kids. Both Tucker and Aston are awesome at Dance Central.

For 4th of July, we went to the movie theater and had dinner at Red Robin. I went to see Brave with Kim and the twins. It was their first time. Blaine went with Tucker and Brian to see The Amazing Spiderman. I loved Brave! And Blaine really enjoyed Spiderman. On the way over there and back, these 2 passed out. 

The majority of our time there was just hanging out with the kids, which was great. I loved seeing them in their natural environment and routine. It was great to see their personalities a little better, especially the twins. They have both grown so much and are so much fun.

Lunch on the back porch

One day, we went to the pool. It was freezing for me! But after a while, I got used to it. We had a great time.

On Saturday, Brian and Kim had a BBQ at their place and invited friends over. The food was great and so was the company. At night, Brian and some neighbors had a firework show. It was legit. My cameras don't do them any justice. 

At church, some people thought she was ours -
but then they realized it was Chase. T
hey look so much alike!

After church on Sunday, we had a relaxing day. Chase wanted me to paint her toenails. She selected the colors and wanted a pattern. She is so girly. I love it.

We spent the rest of our time jumping on the trampoline and playing football outside. 

On our last night there, we went on a double date with Brian and Kim. We went out to a Mexican restaurant called Mexicali. It was really good. We then went bowling - New England style. So this kind of bowling is called candlepin bowling. The pins are much skinnier and ball is tiny! You also have more pins and you can bowl 3 times each turn. Kim won the first time and Blaine won the second time. I did horrible both times. Seriously, I need to work on my bowling game.

I thought several aspects of candlepin bowling were easier than regular bowling. But then again, nobody had a strike. Not once. So, Blaine and I concluded that it is a little bit harder than normal bowling. After, we had some ice cream. It was a great date night. I love Brian and Kim. They are really nice and fun to be with. We are so glad that we got to spend some time with them. And, now we are addicted to America's Got Talent thanks to them. Yup. As soon as the kids went to bed, that's what we did. Hopefully we'll be back again sooner than later! 

We went to Boston one day with the Mass.-Dawson clan, but that deserves a post of its' own! 

****Sidenote: This is my 100th post! Yay!****