Boston Trip (Catching Up 5/16/11)

In May, Jackson and I took a trip up to Boston to visit Kate-Kate. Jackson was so excited, not least because he got to skip 2 days of school to do it. He couldn't wait to explore a new city and visit his favorite aunt.

On our first afternoon, we went bowling....but not the ten-pin kind that we're used to. This was candlepin bowling. The balls were smaller with no holes for your fingers, and the pins were straight up-and-down and skinny. It was a lot harder than it looked! But we drowned the sorrows of our bowling disgrace in yummy banana bread, so the evening ended well. :)

The next morning, bright and early, we headed out to the U.S.S. Constitution. It's the oldest ship still in the water, and they take it out a few times a year. It was amazing. Despite its age, everything is polished to a shine, and we were in awe of everything: the ropes, the cannons, the flags, and especially the snazzy pants the tour guides were wearing ("traditional" costumes to look like actual Constitution sailors).

Note old and new side-by-side here...a modern crane parked right next to "Old Ironsides."

Clearly, Jackson and Kate-Kate are equally good at following directions!

Jacks was interested in the tour for awhile, but he enjoyed just wandering around exploring on our own more. During one of the guide's more long-winded speeches, Jackson took the opportunity for a little catnap.

If he'd been a sailor on the ship 200 years ago, he could have gotten more comfortable in one of the hammocks hung belowdecks...but they only have them now in the Constitution museum (where Jacks did try them out). Actually, he doesn't look that comfortable in the hammock.

Outside the Constitution, there were these enormous anchors. I liked the juxtaposition of this anchor with Jacks and the ship, but he clearly wasn't as thrilled.

But I like this one because it looks like he's holding up the anchor himself. Put your back into it, Jacks!

On our way out, we found another cool anchor, and you can see the Constitution one more time there in the background. 

Then we headed over to the WWII battleship right next door, the USS Cassin Young. 

We saw lots of really big guns and even a few bombs. Cool!

Our next destination, after a quick lunch: the New England Aquarium! We'd already had quite a busy day so far and been on our feet a lot, but Jackson was still raring to go, and I was pretty impressed with his stamina. See, still looks happy, right?

The aquarium was really cool! We saw some penguins, a big sea turtle, all different kinds of fish, sharks, frogs, starfish and stingrays.

Our favorite part was the jelly fish. I had no idea there were so many different ones, ranging from barely the size of the tip of your finger to bigger ones the size of melons. We spent a lot of time watching them and (trying) to take pictures of them.

The starfish were pretty neat, too. Jackson even got to touch one. 

Speaking of touching sea creatures...here's Jackson "petting" a stingray and a shark! We had touched stingrays several times before, but this was the first time with a shark. We were a little apprehensive at first, but eventually we worked up the nerve and it was a lot of fun! (And Jackson's souvenir of choice from the aquarium was a shark-tooth necklace...haha)

After a long, full day with lots of walking around, our feet were tired!! When we got back to Kate-Kate's place, she helped Jacks soak his feet in a little pedi-bath. He LOVED it, and it really rejuvenated his piggies for the next day. :)

On Saturday morning, we saw the movie, 'Thor.' Afterwards, we walked through Boston Common and took a ride on the swan boats made famous in one of our favorite children's books, "Make Way for Ducklings." 

We also visited the little ducklings themselves...well, the statues in their honor anyway.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to the Big Apple Circus! We saw jugglers, acrobats, clowns, and animals. We ate cotton candy while we gaped at the lady swinging from a big rope high above us...withOUT a net!! It was so much fun.

Finally, on Sunday morning before we flew home, Kate-Kate took us to the Science Museum. The first thing Jackson spotted was a Naboo Starfighter from Star Wars, and he just had to have his picture taken with it.

We went into a special butterfly habitat where Jackson's red shirt garnered him lots of attention!

We saw a really cool lightning show with giant Tesla coils which was very exciting since we had just watched "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" the night before (in the movie, one of the characters uses Tesla coils to set lightning to music).

And before we left, we tried on a new look....

We had such a fantastic time, seeing Kate-Kate and learning our way around her city. Jackson was so disappointed when it was time to leave and has been asking since when we can go back....which is always the sign of a good trip, right? When you're sad it's over and aren't ready to go home?

Thanks for introducing us to Boston, Kate-Kate! We can't wait to visit you again next year. :)