Happy Father's Day!!!
We've had a good day, and I'm feeling in much better spirits for having spent the day not cooped up at home with the kids all by myself! We played hookey from church this morning to spend time with Tim. We had a yummy breakfast from the bakery and opened presents. Daddy got coffee mugs from David, a very nice leather bound copy of works by Thoreau from Rachel, a Boston Red Sox t-shirt from Jamie, and a slingshot yard game from all of us. He said that we had covered all of the bases for Father's Day gifts. . . a necessity (coffee cups), his love (book), fitting in to our new locale (t-shirt), and something to do outside with the whole family (game).
Then we set off for our Father's Day adventure. We let Tim set our path since it is Father's Day.
We caught the bus to Harvard Square and then went on to Boston (Haymarket Street) by train. We walked through Quincy Market and looked around a little. And then on toward our destination. On the way, we stopped to look at the Holocaust memorial. 
It was really moving. It is in a smallish greenspace between 4 lanes of downtown Boston traffic. It consists of a sidewalk that moves through several tall glass towers. There is one tower for each of the concentration camps from WWII. Etched on the glass of each tower are the numbers of each person who died in that camp. There are also facts about the war and the holocaust carved in the sidewalk. Inside each tower, the floor is a grate from which steam rises (bringing to mind the gas chambers). Rachel asked a lot of questions. I guess we had never talked about it before. She was amazed that someone could do so many horrible things. At the end of the path there was a stone marker with a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower about his experience seeing the camps and that he wanted to see them with his own eyes so that if in the future someone tried to minimize or deny the atrocities committed, he would know the truth. 
Jamie and I had a good discussion about that. He was amazed that there are people who want to deny that the Holocaust never really happened.
It was really moving. It is in a smallish greenspace between 4 lanes of downtown Boston traffic. It consists of a sidewalk that moves through several tall glass towers. There is one tower for each of the concentration camps from WWII. Etched on the glass of each tower are the numbers of each person who died in that camp. There are also facts about the war and the holocaust carved in the sidewalk. Inside each tower, the floor is a grate from which steam rises (bringing to mind the gas chambers). Rachel asked a lot of questions. I guess we had never talked about it before. She was amazed that someone could do so many horrible things. At the end of the path there was a stone marker with a quote from Dwight D. Eisenhower about his experience seeing the camps and that he wanted to see them with his own eyes so that if in the future someone tried to minimize or deny the atrocities committed, he would know the truth. 
Jamie and I had a good discussion about that. He was amazed that there are people who want to deny that the Holocaust never really happened.For lunch, we stopped in at a little pub called The Purple Shamrock. It was a great little place with "authentic" Irish foods. We all enjoyed our lunch. David especially liked the french fries and katsup. He had discovered that katsup is the best thing around. He even eats it by itself!!!
After our lunch break, we set off on the last half of the freedom trail. It took us down to Boston Harbor, where we caught the ferry over to see the USS Constitution (old ironsides). 
We unfortunately missed the last guided tour of the day, so we only got to walk around on the upper deck. The kids enjoyed wandering around looking at the rigging, cannon, and captain's wheel. We'll definitely have to go back so we can get to see below deck!
We unfortunately missed the last guided tour of the day, so we only got to walk around on the upper deck. The kids enjoyed wandering around looking at the rigging, cannon, and captain's wheel. We'll definitely have to go back so we can get to see below deck! From there we walked to the visitor's center. We watched a movie about the Battle at Bunker Hill. It was a multimedia presentation that combined a movie with figures that reminded Jamie and me of the Cyclorama in Atlanta. David said that the "fire" was scary (when they called for the troops to fire during the battle, lights and gunshot sounds would go off).
We walked up to the Bunker Hill monument. On the way, we saw an ice cream truck. So, of course, we had to stop. The kids got goodies and Tim & I had some much needed cold bottles of water. 
We sat on the steps to eat and visited a little with the man who owned the truck. He had grown up in that neighborhood, and now works there in the warm months. During the winter, he lives in FL. Of course, it was our accent that was the conversation starter. It was kind of neat to be at Bunker Hill on the actual anniversary of the battle. Unfortunately, the museum was closed as was the stairway up to the top.
We sat on the steps to eat and visited a little with the man who owned the truck. He had grown up in that neighborhood, and now works there in the warm months. During the winter, he lives in FL. Of course, it was our accent that was the conversation starter. It was kind of neat to be at Bunker Hill on the actual anniversary of the battle. Unfortunately, the museum was closed as was the stairway up to the top. From there, we began our long journey back home. We walked about 10 min to the T station (near Bunker Hill Community College - where parts of Good Will Hunting were filmed). Then we got on the orange line, changed to the green line, and then to the red line. The red line was undergoing repairs going over the Charles River today, so we took the red line to Park station, got off and on a bus to Kendall station (the MIT stop), then back on the red line train to Harvard Square. David fell fast asleep in the bus from Park to Kendall.
The poor baby was tuckered out from all the walking he did today. He really did pretty well, but Tim and I carried him a lot (the stroller is in the back of the van . . . in the shop). He absolutely does NOT like to be on Tim's sholulders. He's the first child we've had that cries when he gets up there. He'd rather walk than go on DaDa's shoulders! When we force the issue because he's too slow, and mommy is worn out from hauling him around, he hangs on to Tim's hair or ears for dear life. Bless his little heart!! Anyway, we made it home after about 1 1/2 hours of transit. Whew! We probably would have done it that way even if we had the van, though, because there is no place to park in Boston!!
The poor baby was tuckered out from all the walking he did today. He really did pretty well, but Tim and I carried him a lot (the stroller is in the back of the van . . . in the shop). He absolutely does NOT like to be on Tim's sholulders. He's the first child we've had that cries when he gets up there. He'd rather walk than go on DaDa's shoulders! When we force the issue because he's too slow, and mommy is worn out from hauling him around, he hangs on to Tim's hair or ears for dear life. Bless his little heart!! Anyway, we made it home after about 1 1/2 hours of transit. Whew! We probably would have done it that way even if we had the van, though, because there is no place to park in Boston!!
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