Boston: Day 2

Have I mentioned that I love our GPS?! Well, it pretty much got us around Boston with no problem. That was a concern since Boston has so many one-way streets and such. True, sometimes the GPS gives odd directions, but it pretty much always gets you to where you want to be. So, yes, I heart our GPS :)

On Saturday, we went to the Boston temple. It was fabulous! It's a beautiful temple and has really nice grounds. I am so used to seeing the D.C. temple, that this one looked small, but it was normal size. I forgot the camera, so hopefully I will get pictures from Tyson's dad (I still need to ask for them) that he took on his cell phone. Random note: Whenever I am pregnant and go to the temple, the baby starts kicking and moving a ton! I love it! It just reminds me where our babies truly come from - I know our little girl was with us when we were in the temple that day. :)

After the temple we went to Harvard Square for lunch and were going to go on a little tour of Harvard, but it started raining. Welcome to Boston, right?! So, we drove around Harvard campus and then on to the MIT Science Museum. It was really interesting seeing the different inventions and crazy stuff that these geniuses come up with! I just don't think I am wired that way, but it is still super interesting. Tyson was in heaven - he really should be a science teacher or something :)

After the museum, we went to Bunker Hill (which we missed on Day 1 since we were all exhausted) and looked around. The monument reminded me of the Washington monument to a smaller scale. Then, we headed off to dinner at the Oyster House - the oldest restaurant in Boston that is still operating. We even got to sit in the The Kennedy Booth (where President Kennedy liked to sit when he came to eat). After dinner we walked through the Holocaust memorial (6 glass pillars). That was one of the things I remembered from visiting Boston as a teenager and I really wanted to see them again. I was so happy that we found them and got to see them.

We headed over to Harvard Square again so that I could get a book for Reed and Eve (about Paul Revere - pretty sweet) and had to stop for sme J.P. Lick's ice cream, of course. It was FABULOUS! If you are in Boston, you need to go there - the black raspberry was the favorite flavor! Delicious!

It was another great (allbeit chilly) day in Boston!

View coming into the city

Walking up to Bunker Hill

The Bunker Hill Monument

Don't you just love our crazy faces? Jared looks insane, and Tyson and I look like we are on drugs or something. Oh, this is the Oyster House

Staring contest between Jared and JFK - it was a close match.

Holocaust Memorial

Boston: Day 1

From the evening of May 5th to May 8th Tyson and I were able to go to Boston, MA! My parents watched the kids (thanks, again) and we met up with Jared, and Tyson's parents. Jared is doing an internship there this Summer, so it was a perfect opportunity to check out Boston. It was a first for Tyson and a first in about 7 years for me. It was pretty exciting.

We arrived late on Thursday night and immediately noticed that Boston is significantly chillier than Northern VA. I guess I should have brought pants, but ah well. I did love that the flight was super short! I think it was about an hour and a half. That is a time I can live with, for sure. On to day 1.....

Friday (May 6th) is what I consider day 1. We walked and walked and walked that day - thanks, mostly to me. We walked the Freedom Trail. It ended up being pretty long, but I still enjoyed that we did it. We saw so many things:

The Boston Common

The State House
Park Street Church
Granary Burying Ground
King’s Chapel
King’s Chapel Burying Ground
Benjamin Franklin Statue/Boston Latin School
Old Corner Book Store
Old South Meeting House
Old State House
Site of the Boston Massacre
Faneuil Hall
Paul Revere House
The Old North Church
Copp's Hill Burying Ground
Bunker Hill Monument (We saw that on Saturday)
USS Constitution

We also did a segway tour and saw Boston Harbor. I really want one of those someday...so much fun! After dinner we went to Fenway Park to see a Red Sox game! Sadly, the Sox did not do so well that night, but at least we have been to a game at Fenway and I sang "Sweet Caroline" (as is a tradition) when it was played! After the game, we finally got back in the car and headed to our hotel room. We all slept fabulous!

Oh, big thanks to my sister-in-law Barbara who gave us lots of restaurant/dessert tips! We loved everything that she recommended! Thank you, Barb!

Burying Ground

Checking out all the head stones.

Park Street Church

The State House

Old South Meeting House

Where the Declaration of Independence was first read.

Dowtown Boston

Faneuil Hall (I still can't say it right)

Good 'ol Paul Revere

The Old North Church

Segways!!!

Boston Harbor

Walking to the U.S.S. Constitution, we passed by the Garden.

Forgot the name of the bridge, but it looked awesome!

U.S.S. Constitution

Oldest commissioned warship still afloat

Walking to the game

FENWAY!

The Green Monster

Chilly and tired, but happy :)

Recent Fun :)

Just some cute pictures demonstrating some of the random fun we have in our little apartment! Enjoy!

Happiness is Free

Every other week (and sometimes every week) we get a box of fruits and veggies delivered to our door - some locally grown and some not, depending on the week. But, they are always super delicious and so fresh! I love it! We eat a lot of those things in our house, so it is worth for us :) Well, Reed and Eve both love to help me put the food away and sometimes just start eating whatever they have in hand. It serioiusly makes me laugh when I pull out an apple from the fridge and it has little Eve bites taken out of it. She has to taste almost everything before putting it away. Anyways, at the end of April, Reed started to get creative with the box that our produce comes in. I was putting stuff away and then I heard start giggling and talking, but couldn't see him. Turns out, he thought it would be fun to get in the box and try and shut the lid. Love the creativity! It just goes to show you that you can have fun doing anything!

Reed kept saying, "Close the lid mommy. Close the lid." Then I would close it and he would laugh and laugh!

 Preschool: Colors! (End of April)

Reed learned all about primary and secondary colors. He even got to choose two primary colors and mix them together in a bag to make a secondary color. He said that he wanted to make green - so he mixed together blue and yellow. He was overjoyed when it made green and kept talking about it and talking about it! He also got to do his hand prints in yellow, blue, and green. It was the best day ever :) Green rocks, apparently :)

Reed was so proud of his green hand prints.

Mommy's Little Helper (May 5, 2011)

Reed loves to help me around the house. Sometimes it takes twice as long to do something, but he just has to help me. Eve is becoming more and more like that as well. Eve's favorite is to help with the silverware - putting in and taking out of the dishwasher, but also enjoys sweeping, throwing things away, and putting things away. Reed loves to help vacuum, sweep, mop, dust, put things away (usually), scrub the toilet (awesome!), and clean windows/mirrors. Here is just how happy he is to help me dust:

Yeah, I hope this lasts for at least a few more years!

 Sunglasses (May 15, 2011)

I went to a consignemnt sale in April and found some kid sunglasses for super cheap. There were two pair in the bag, one with Lightning McQueen on themn (a Reed favorite). I was excited to have something to protect those little blue eyes of my children. Well, the Lightning McQueun glasses got broken after about a day (I think Reed was trying to make it bend a weird way), but we still had the green pair. Our neighbor, Donna, rasndomly brought over some other sunglasses a few days later. They were black and specifically for Reed. Well, here is our sunglasses fun!

I thought Eve would take them off as soon as we got them on, but she didn't. She actually really enjoys wearing the sunglasses around, even if they are a little big.

I think I have a new favorite picture!

Reed showing off his sunglasses from Donna.

EASTER!

Yes, Easter was over a month ago and yes, I am writing about it now. Just a quick update. Easter is always a fun time for us. We dyed our eggs Saturday and that was a blast. Sunday morning the kids woke up to a little Easter egg hunt around the apartment. We all thought Eve would need lots of help finding the eggs, but we were wrong! Once she realized what was in them (candy), she quickly found and opened eggs before I even realized what she was doing! Smart little girl :) Reed did a great job finding eggs and was especially excited when he found green ones with jelly beans in them - he really is like his daddy!

Before church I was able to have a nice talk with Reed about what Easter really means. We talked about Jesus and how he died for us, but came back again (was resurrected) so that we can live again and have a chance to live with our Heavenly Father. He is such a smart kid! He seriously just gets things and remembers them. He still talks about it. So here are some of our morning adventures:

Showing Eve an egg.

Reed took off very speedily to find other eggs.

Eve stopped for a moment when she realized a picture was being taken (don't mind my mismatched pajamas)

After all the eggs were found! Also, showing off their new books!

Easter clothes! Eve's dress and Reed's tie were made thanks to Grandma Walker! I found his suit at a consignment sale for $7! He even said, as we were putting on the suit, "Mommy, daddy looks just like me!" since they were both wearing suits. Adorable!

How perfect is this picture! Pure Reed!

Pure Eve :)

I love Eve's eyes in this picture.

I actually taught the Young Women's lesson on Easter as well. I ended up having about 45 minutes to teach, which is awesome for me (I tend to be long-winded and had a lot prepared). The lesson went very well and I felt the Spirit super strong as we were discussing Jesus Christ. It was a wonderful day!