Boston in the Summer?!

Boston Trip Part I: Flying there.

Calvin LOVED the in-seat screens that allowed him to play bubble shooter and tic tac toe for 5 hours. He kept asking to go back to the airplane so he could play the games.

Becca got her own seat and enjoyed that as well. I'm glad I didn't have to hold her the whole time. She read skymall articles about Justin Trudeau and tried to figure out headphones. Ben sat with the girls, I think they just watched movies the whole time.

 Part II: Playing Around.
We went to the Science Museum the first day, it was full of hands on exhibits, Anna sat in a space capsule, Ben and Calvin watched the Rube Goldberg that has been there since Ben was a child. There was a cool lightning show - Scientists always have the most dangerous fun.

We also visited a cool park a few times during our visit, called Joey's park it has a zipline and castle structures and a field, we brought some stomp rockets one day and got to visit the ice cream truck.

Part III: Aunt Rachel's Wedding

So the impetus of our trip was Aunt Rachel's wedding. It was at an historic farm about an hour north of Boston. The ceremony was in a lovely garden and the kids didn't do anything too embarrassing during it, which was fortuitous. The dinner and evening was in a big barn, with lawns all around so they had games set up to play. It was great to send Calvin out after he ate his "dinner" (5 minutes after we sat down).

Here the kids are attempting to play badminton with their 2nd cousins- Oliver and Harper and a boy named Jack who Anna played tag with all night.

This little baby stole the show, she was jumping and dancing and flirting with everyone all night. Roughly 40% of the kids at the wedding were ours, so as far as adorable toddlers go, she didn't have much competition.

She especially loved Charlie Pierce. And he loved her.

Part IV: Connecticut
We drove down to Connecticut to check out the places we once lived and to see our long lost friends.
Here is the new temple it's in the same town we lived in, because Wilford Woodruff also lived there. (But not at the same time as us.) It's absolutely gorgeous. It was Sunday when we went so it was closed.

 The girls all picked up right where they left off. They played and laughed the same as ever. It was great to see them and their mom again. They kept us sane while we were living there.

 Part V: Gramma's House
We spent a lot of time at Gramma's house when we weren't adventuring. Steve taught us how to play croquet - and schooled us every time. Calvin and Becca played by their own rules. She also had water guns and water balloons to play with.

Becca exploring in the backyard -- gorgeous, right?

The kids, ironically, watched a lot of Phineas and Ferb. 

And played with Gramma's toys and puzzles.

Part VI: The Beaches

We visited the beach in Gloucester twice, I only went the first day but I didn't take pictures of that either. It's a fun beach, it's the one from the Red Lobster commercials. - here's a picture from google.

The second day they went it was super foggy, so they had to wait until it cleared up to play. The girls loved boogie boarding. I kept Calvin and Becca with me because Calvin refuses to get in the water and Becca needs to nap. 

The other beach we went to is in Maine. Ben's friend from high school lives in this resort town year round and only a block from the beach. It was great to hang out with him and his 8 yo daughter. I really liked this beach, and so did Becca. She wandered in and out of the water for hours. Calvin- refused to get in the water.

Part VII: Tom Petty Concert!

For my birthday Ben got me tickets to the Tom Petty 40th Anniversary concert. It was really really really awesome.

 Part VIII: Riding Escalators

We rode escalators at the airports, at the science museum, everywhere we could find them! Totally a highlight.

The flight home was delayed 2 hours, so we boarded at like 10 pm? We met a nice mom and boy at the airport and she offered some chocolate melatonin treats, which I definitely took her up on. Especially for Calvin and Becca, Calvin slept the whole time, Eliza and Becca slept about an hour. Ben and Anna and I stayed awake the whole time. Uncle Jethro picked us up at 2am Utah time, which was 4am Boston time. What a busy summer! Happy to be home for August!