We had planned on going to tour Fenway and see the city from the top of the Prudential building, but the children said they didn't want to. Plan B for the morning: going to the JFK Presidential Library & Museum. In preparation for our trip to Boston, I listened to the book "These Few Precious Days: The Final Year of Jack with Jackie" by Christopher Andersen. I'm so glad I did because even an entire museum can't tell you all the neat little facts that make their story so interesting and I was able to tell my family things I thought were interesting. When we exited the theater with an introductory video that led up to the 1960 Democratic Convention, you felt like you walked into the 1960s. I adore this decade -- one of my favorites to learn about. I loved all the video of JFK's speeches & Jackie giving the White House tour, etc. and the replica of JFK's Oval Office desk along with so many other things, some of which I had seen in photos before and some of which I hadn't. I just soaked it up -- the Peace Corps, Civil Rights (including disabled children), the Cuban Missile Crisis, Bobby Kennedy's fight against organized crime, how brilliant Jackie was, and the space race. Wowzers! Maybe I should have made the kids watch "The Right Stuff" and the "From the Earth to the Moon" mini series first so they would understand how important the Freedom 7 and the video of JFK's speech calling for going to the moon was. I promised myself I'll force them to watch all that before we go to Kennedy Space Center in Florida but they are kind of hard to convince. They've had enough of "old stuff" for a while after this trip.
After a wonderful lunch by the water and under the shade of trees, Hubby took the children to Boston Common to meet up with our friends and play in the Frog Pond. I backtracked after realizing my wallet was missing as we were about to get on the Red Line. Looong story short, my entire wallet disappeared, never to be seen again. Luckily my father was able to overnight my passport from home so I didn't have any trouble getting on our return flight (after he accidentally 3 day mailed me my expired license). Oh, and did I mention that while we were gone my mother spent 9 days in the hospital fighting an infection steaming from a tooth extraction? Vacations aren't always sunshine and roses, but, like I said to the many people who tried to help or sympathized with me and apologized on behalf of Boston: a person can loose a wallet no matter where they are in the world. So, after joining my family and friends at Boston Common, I was the woman calling our credit card companies and my dad to ask for card replacements and trips to the FedEx store for me. Life goes on and we loved exploring more of the Common while waiting for a table for 11 to open up at the Back Door. I know Hubby mentioned it before but mercy, Boston has incredible food! I tried a watermelon and spicy shrimp salad and it was terrific. After dinner we headed back to our condo, happy that we would see our friends again soon.
Friday
One thing I've got to say about staying in the North End -- it's so easy to get to where you want to go. Friday morning we walked to USS Constitution and Museum. As it turns out, the ship was going to leave dry dock in just a few days. It was a sight to see but let me tell you, that museum was amazingly done, especially considering it was a suggested donation of $20 for the 6 of us to hang out there all morning. The children were having such a great time they didn't want to leave! Games took you through why the United States felt the need to build a navy, decisions in making a ship, and hands on displays about why the construction led to such an amazing vessel. Upstairs you could be recruited to be a sailor or marine, see the clothes they wore, swab the deck, lay in a hammock, learn about what they ate, tie rigging, and spin a wheel to see what was your fate before exiting the exhibit. D said this place was one of his favorite things we did on the entire trip!
Eventually we convinced them to let us feed them lunch and we headed to R Pizzaria back in the North End. I had read it was the most family friendly Italian place in the North End -- most of those placed looked a little too fancy for the likes of us! Lol. It also happened to be the one place I couldn't eat because there was nothing but wheat and cheese pizza. Smelled delicious and I didn't have much of an appetite anyway. Between realizing my wallet was gone for good and worrying about my mother being in the hospital and not getting better, and the fact that our in-laws dog, Nemy, died that morning at the age of 13 (same age as our dog), it quite a bit of effort to keep myself calm and not be downer!
Where is the best place to take a family that's stressed out in Boston? The Public Garden! We loved the swan boats, finding the Make Way for Ducklings statues, and feeding the duck and swan. Afterwards, we ate at 5 Napkin Burger after the kids decided they didn't want to go to the top of Prudential after all. Hubby claims it was the best hamburger of his entire life! We loved it there and teased we could eat there everyday. After our delicious dinner we headed back to the condo and watched the TV premiere of Descendants2 on Disney Channel. The kids, especially K, loved it!
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