Our last day in Boston.
We were up early, and we didn’t need to leave for the airport until around 11:30 or so. After getting ready and packing everything up, we hit the streets of Boston again.
We had missed the “Make Way for Ducklings” when we visited the Boston Public Garden on our first day in the city, so we headed back there. I had a feeling that Nora would get a kick out of it so we set out to find it.
As expected, Nora was fascinated. We let her out of the stroller and she spent a good 10-15 minutes having a blast with all of the ducks.
She pet them, she pointed out their eyes, and put her fingers in their mouths. She tried to climb on them. It was hysterically cute.
Because of how much Nora enjoyed it, this was easily one of my favorite parts of the trip. It’s amazing how kids can change your perspective on things. :)
We eventually peeled her away and walked toward the pond to see the REAL ducks, which Nora also liked. Only downside? The real ones didn’t let her get as close to them! haha
After our time in the Boston Public Garden, we made our way back to the Freedom Trail to try to make it a bit further on it. We retraced some of our steps from Saturday. It was a nice morning for a walk.
Ever seen The Departed? This golden dome makes a few appearances. :)
Paul Revere’s house!
The Paul Revere House was on a really cool street. Check out the cobblestones. Awesome.
We made it as far as Copp’s Hill Burial Ground (seen above), and had to turn back toward our hotel in order to get to the airport on time. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to finish the Freedom Trail, but we’ll have to put it on our list for when we come back someday.
We snapped a few more photos on our way back…
We stopped back into our hotel to get all of our stuff, and made our way (slowly) down to the T. Nora wanted to be held instead of going in the stroller, so I carried her in the Ergo! At 26ish (I’m guessing) pounds, I would have preferred to wear her on my back, but I had a backpack to carry, too.
It actually wasn’t too bad, but once we were on the train, Nora wanted down… so in the stroller she went. :)
At the airport, we had some time to kill before boarding, so we sat down for some lunch. PB&J for Nora, which she devoured. She even wanted to lick the knife clean!
For the flight home, Nora was pretty good again. A little restless and curious, but mostly good. I need to get her some toddler headphones for our next trip–I tried to show her how to use mine but she wasn’t a fan of putting them in her ears. :)
She experimented with holding them up like I showed her, though. :)
We flew over Niagara Falls with a pretty cool view!
Because of the timing of our flight and all, Nora skipped her nap. Once we got into the car at the airport and started heading home, she was out cold!
All in all, it was a great trip… but it’s always good to be home.
We woke up to rain. A gloomy morning, for sure. We decided to go out to breakfast, opting for a little place called The Paramount near Boston Common.
Established in 1937, it has a very different feel to it than most restaurants. You wait in line to place your order and get your food, and THEN you are seated at a table by the host. It’s small, and there was already a long line when we arrived at 8:05 a.m. (they opened at 8:00). Somehow, we got our food and sure enough, we were seated right away. They swear their system works, and for us, it did.
They had several different kinds of pancakes. I had apple cinnamon, and we got Nora a banana pancake. After Nora slowed up on her eating, we packed up the rest of her pancake for the road. Which she dutifully ate on the walk back to the hotel, ha!
We got poured on as we walked back through Boston Common–we were glad we hadn’t showered yet!–and we were nervous about what the rest of the day would hold in terms of the weather.
We dried off back in the hotel room, got ready for the day, and decided to hit up the Samuel Adams Brewery tour.
At 10:40 a.m.
You’d think we would’ve been the only ones, but nope–we had a full tour group. And there was actually a group or two ahead of us, too. Hey, it’s vacation. I guess it’s OK to indulge at 10:00 a.m.
And no, we weren’t the only ones with a kid here, either. But judge if you must. :)
It was interesting to learn a bit about the beer making process, but if I’m being honest, the majority of my time here was spent trying to occupy a bored toddler. Again, iPhone apps for kids (Duck Duck Moose!) and snacks (goldfish crackers) were the lifesavers here.
After the tour, we were escorted into a sampling room. Here, our guide told us more about the three varieties of beer we were tasting, and we got to… well, taste.
Nora was really good and patient in here, thankfully. But there was one point where I was trying to get her to do something she apparently didn’t want to do. At that very same moment, the guide was talking something about running out of beer, and Nora yelled out “Nooooo!” at the exact right time. She was talking to me, of course, but it sounded like she was reacting to his statement, so the entire room laughed. That’s my girl.
After the tour, we went back to the hotel to try to put Nora down for a nap in an actual crib (well, pack ‘n’ play) since she napped on the go both Thursday and Friday. About half an hour into it, it was clear that it just WAS NOT going to happen. She knew we were in the room with her (despite being around a little corner), and would just not settle down like she does at night.
Instead, we strapped her in the stroller, reclined the seat again, and set out on foot toward Copley Square. Sure enough, she was asleep within minutes. The weather was still overcast, but it wasn’t raining, so we enjoyed the walk while she slept.
After walking around this area a little bit, we decided to hop on the T back down toward Boston Common to start walking the Freedom Trail.
Here are some of the sights we saw along the way…
Once the trail led us back to Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market, we decided to call it quits on the Freedom Trail for the day. We were hungry (hadn’t eaten since breakfast, this was late afternoon now), so we went back to the hotel for a little rest and refresh.
Then we walked to a restaurant recommended by my mom, called Picco’s. It was in a really cute area of town not too far from our hotel (but still a nice walk, and in the opposite direction of everything we had visited thus far). Michael had fish tacos and I had a wood-fired pizza. Both of our meals were delicious, I would highly recommend this place!
By the time we were done, it was time to call it another early night. We’ll have the morning to explore a bit more–hopefully more of the Freedom Trail–before flying home in the afternoon.
We all slept REALLY well, and slept in a bit, too–until nearly 8 a.m. We leisurely got ready for the day, then went out to catch the T to Harvard. Upon exiting to the street, we found ourselves right in the middle of Harvard Square.
We set out to explore the campus, but just a little bit.
There’s something very cool about walking around knowing just how old it is. It’s a nice campus, but we honestly didn’t get very far with it. If we hadn’t had Nora with us, we may have considered taking a tour, but we knew she wouldn’t last that long.
This statue of John Harvard is clearly good luck, don’t ya think? His feet look like they’ve been rubbed many, many times! This was also clearly a major tourist attraction. I’m shocked that I actually managed to get a photo of it without anyone else in it. Don’t let it fool you–there were dozens of people around!
For alums of a small college like we are, it was pretty hard to try to picture going to a school like this. Nevermind the fact that we are nowhere near smart enough anyway. :) There were A LOT of libraries.
One of the things I really wanted to do in Boston was to get Nora a Harvard sweatshirt. I could just picture her sporting one, and figured that a little nudge this early in life could never hurt anything, haha.
It took a few stores to finally find one like I had been picturing. Nora was enthusiastic about it (the girl loves her clothes).
We walked around Harvard Square a little more and then got back on the T to go back downtown.
My phone was a freaking lifesaver, by the way. I downloaded a few kid-friendly apps (mostly by Duck Duck Moose) and Nora was captivated by them. Anytime she got fussy in the stroller, freaked out on the train, or was being otherwise uncooperative, I defused the situation with my phone. Not something I would make a habit of in everyday life, I don’t think, but in these situations, it was priceless.
We headed toward Faneuil Hall, and decided to grab some lunch. Michael’s dad had recommended Union Oyster House to us, and upon researching before our trip, Michael found that it is the oldest restaurant in the U.S. As such, it is also part of the Freedom Trail.
It has a pretty cool atmosphere inside, and they serve you cornbread upon seating you–which is really damn good, I’d say. Nora was definitely a fan.
They only had about two things on the menu that we’re seafood, so my options were limited. And, I must say, I wasn’t thrilled with my meal. But I’ve found that with restaurants like this, that is to be expected. When a restaurant is so good at making seafood, they often suck at everything else. Oh well, Michael liked his meal, so it was worth the stop.
As we left, we decided to try to let Nora walk. That lasted about two minutes, as she still will not walk in a straight line and/or stay by our sides consistently. *sigh* Toddlers.
Up until this point, we had spent most of our time in Boston doing what Michael and I wanted to do, with Nora tagging along. After lunch, we decided to hit up one of the kid-centric destinations–the New England Aquarium.
Despite it being a Friday afternoon, the aquarium was CROWDED. I guess that’s what you get on a hot summer day–loads of people trying to find a good place to cool down.
Right when you walk in, there is a large penguin exhibit. They’re cute little guys!
We ventured back outdoors to check out the seals.
{Don’t judge my ability–or lack thereof–to do a straight part in Nora’s hair. This was the third time I had fixed her hair, and she was on the move. My goal went from making it look good to just getting it up and in the ponytail holders. So sue me!}
Checking out the penguins again. I love the pointer fingers!
These jellyfish had visible rainbow colors moving through them. There are some awesome creatures in the ocean, people.
Nora was into it. But if I’m being completely honest, Michael and I were not that impressed with this aquarium. Once we had walked through it, we looked at each other and asked, “Where’s the rest of it?” After having been to Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, and even the one we went to in Charleston, this one just did not live up to the rest. We also didn’t much care for the spiral-like layout, as it seemed to force everyone to go in one direction and see the exhibits in the same order–which also seemed to contribute to it feeling more crowded.
The giant sea turtle (seen here from the top of the gigantic tank) was pretty cool, too. Not nearly as cool as the ones we saw in the wild in Hawaii, however. :)
After we made our way through the aquarium once, we let Nora make a second lap through everything–running along the way on her own–to help her burn a little more energy. Then we headed back out into the heat to do a little browsing/shopping at Quincy Market.
By the time we were through, it was late afternoon and we decided to go back to the hotel for a little bit. We were both still full from lunch so dinner wasn’t a big priority. We had a few happy hour beers, and Nora watched part of a movie on the iPad–in a super cute position that I’ve never seen her lie in before:
Gah, how cute is that?
We ultimately decided to head out again for a bite to eat. We ended up at Rock Bottom Brewery (pretty close to our hotel), where Michael and I shared an appetizer–nachos, which were incredibly good. You don’t often expect much out of nachos, but these went above and beyond expectations. :) Nora had a grilled cheese, which she seemed to enjoy just as much, and then we called it another day.
But not before stopping to say hello to the bear outside of Tufts. A nice end to another nice day in Beantown.
My 30th Birthday.
It started with an early morning wake-up call in the form of our alarm clock. We got up, showered, put the finishing touches on packing, got everything in the car, and woke Nora. She was in pretty good spirits–I think she knew we were going on an adventure. :)
Nora enjoyed breakfast–dry cereal and a banana–on the way to the airport.
We checked in, got ourselves through security smoothly (despite carrying on EVERYTHING, no checked bags!), and arrived at the gate comfortably, but with fairly minimal time to waste. This was the first time that Nora was old enough to be aware of where we were and what was happening. We talked about the planes out the window, and she mimicked the word, “Pane!”
Soon enough, it was time for us to board and find out that traveling with a toddler is A LOT harder than traveling with a still-pretty-squishy baby. HOLY COW. It wasn’t long before I knew that we had made the right decision to take a SHORT trip for Nora’s last “infant in lap” flight, because girlfriend would not sit still. And needed to touch EVERYTHING. She put the tray table up and down about 45 times before we even took off.
And through trying to distract her with movies on the iPad, we discovered that they didn’t hold her attention nearly as well as they usually do since she couldn’t hear it very well. Awesome. (I’m now on the hunt for some kind of toddler headphones.)
We pretty much let her be a monkey (without disrupting any passengers around us) and play with any and all of our electronics, until we had to prepare for landing. At that point, we did what any parent desperate to keep their child in one place would do. We brought out the SNACKS. The NEW snacks. Kix was not working anymore, so Nora had her first-ever granola bar.
As expected, she thoroughly enjoyed it. So, the lesson here is to bring not only snacks, but TREATS. Things that you never let them eat otherwise. Take note, my fellow toddler parents.
Soon, we were in Boston, collecting our bags from gate check, and making our way through the airport to find the T. Got ourselves multi-day passes, got on the train, transferred trains, and then very easily found our hotel (Doubletree Boston Downtown, right across the street from Tufts Medical Center on Washington Street). Go us. It was about 11-11:30 at this point, so it was a bit early–but we were lucky in that we were able to check in. Got a little settled, then wanted to go find lunch.
By this point, Nora was overdue for a nap, so I reclined her in the stroller–shout-out for the fully-reclining Chicco Liteway–and we walked. Ten minutes in, and she was out like a light.
We walked for a bit longer down Stuart Street to check out some restaurants, but ultimately decided to do something easy and VERY casual. Slices of pizza at a small place called Boston Kitchen Pizza, right by the hospital. Nora slept through the whole thing.
We tried to make a quick pit-stop back at the hotel to change my shoes (my flip-flops were already hurting me), and Nora woke up at that point. Not a long nap, but oh well, it’s vacation. With sexy sneakers now on my feet, we made our way back out with no real destination or purpose in mind. Just good ol’ fashioned exploring.
Nora had already spent a good part of the day restrained in some form or fashion, so we wanted to check out Boston Common and let her run a bit (if she so desired). We were making our way over there and were very close when all of a sudden I noticed this woman–who was walking toward us–start slowing her pace and pointing at me. I looked at her and she said to me, “Wait. I know you.” If I’m being completely honest, I was thinking, “Nope, you don’t. Mistaken identity!” And I almost told her as much. But then she said, “I read your blog!”
Stop the presses. This is the first time that anyone has actually stopped me on the street because of my blog, y’all. Some of you have confessed to spotting me (or us) out and about–close to home, and on our travels–but you’ve always told me after the fact. No one has ever actually said hi!
So, Kelly, thank you. It was a pleasure to meet you. Maybe others will be encouraged to say hi in the future, if you can attest to the fact that I’m nice and very approachable. We appreciate you saying hi and welcoming us to Boston. And, of course, thanks for reading.
After a short stop-and-chat, we were at Boston Common.
We did let Nora run a little.
We even took her to a playground, but it was SUPER crowded and our girl was mostly frozen in place, overwhelmed by everyone there was to look at.
We stopped by Cheers to take a few pics.
Then we went back toward the green space and checked out the Boston Public Garden. :)
It was a beautiful day, and a very pretty spot. What a great time of year to visit Boston.
More snacks. I swear, they are key for traveling with a toddler. KEY. (In this case, goldfish crackers. Another thing we don’t give her at home.)
We walked around more and got our bearings a bit. Found a CVS to stock up on a few things. And then, honestly, by this point, we were just tired. It was mid-afternoon but it had been an early morning for us. We decided to go back to rest up a bit and relax in the hotel room. Michael ran out and bought us some beer.
We had a mini 30th birthday happy hour (complete with sippy cup in the background, woot woot!) while I got to read a million–OK, not a million–Facebook birthday messages and text messages.
Once we were sufficiently hungry again, we left in search of dinner, and ended up at this pub called M.J. O’Connor’s.
I got to eat outside on my birthday–something that I love to do, weather permitting–and we enjoyed some time together as a family. We ordered Nora her own meal for the very first time (homemade mac and cheese, which she DEVOURED), had another beer, and some good sandwiches for ourselves.
Happy 30th Birthday to me.
Today is the last day of my 20s.
I’m not really one to freak out over such things, but I have to admit that it’s kind of surreal. My age has begun with a “twenty” for quite some time now. Twenty-one… Twenty-five… Twenty-nine. And tomorrow, it’ll just be… thirty.
30.
How different.
I think I’ve accomplished everything I always dreamed of accomplishing in the decade of my 20s. I graduated college. I’ve been gainfully employed–in three different jobs–within a career that I really enjoy most of the time. I met and married a good man. I bought and sold a condo. I had a beautiful baby, thus becoming a mother. I bought a house. I’ve taken many vacations and spent many hours laughing with good friends and family.
It’s been a good decade, y’all.
I know that thirty is not old. To an 8-year-old–or even an 18-year-old–yes. But in the grand scheme of life, thirty is still very much young. In my eyes, I have nothing to complain about. Still, it is odd to remember so well things that happened in high school and realize that it was 12-15 years ago. Or reminisce with a friend how our friendship first began in 7th grade social studies class and realize that was 18 years ago. Or how first grade was 24 years ago. I mean, how is that even possible?
I had a coworker tell me today that thirty is when you really figure it all out. “Thirty is when true confidence comes,” she told me. In that way, thirty feels empowering.
I don’t know what the next decade will bring. All I know is that when I think back on the transition from my teens into my twenties, and compare it to now… life has changed. A lot. So I can’t even begin to imagine what “Forty Eve” will look like, ten years from this moment. I have much to look forward to. In that way, my thirties sound exciting.
I’ve tried to bid a fond farewell to 29. I kept trying to think of an excuse to say, “I’m 29” today–for one last time–but it wasn’t easy to work it naturally into conversation. So you know what?
I’m 29.
And tomorrow, I’ll be 30.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
