Dinner with Cynthia!

Cynthia took me to this fabulous Vietnamese restaurant, and we are every bite on our plates. Yum yum super yummy yum! Then she took me to a sweet shop where we had delicious coffee and green tea ice cream. And wonderful conversation. Great to see an old friend and catch up in everything. :)





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:China Town

White Christmas final bows

White Christmas was wonderful, so much fun. Lots of tap dancing, group numbers, big big fun.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Walnut Street Theatre

Irving Berlin's White Christmas

Abby and I are taking in a show tonight, a pleasant break from all this cell bio we're taking in (and loving). Yay, Broadway!!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Walnut Street Theatre

Bill will be jealous

I'm being adventuresome today, thinking of my sweet hubby, wishing he were here to enjoy this with me.












- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Reading Terminal Market for lunch

City Hall

You can almost see the statue of William Penn at the top of City Hall - but not quite, I think I cut him off at the ankles. Need to re-take this shot with a real camera and not my phone. Also, it may not be obvious from the picture, but the architectural detail on this building is very ornate and complex.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Philadelphia, PA

Reading Terminal Market

This market is amazing - many different kinds of food - I had some fabulous barbecue. It had Greek, Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Thai, and a bunch of other vendors I didn't even see. There were raw meat, raw fish, seafood, fruit, vegetable, multiple bakeries, and candy counters. Tons of people shoulder to shoulder. They also had a holiday display with an elaborate toy train system set up and running.






I had never seen brussel sprouts on the vine. The guy selling them said the flavor is so much better when they are steamed on the vine. I don't know about that, but it sure was interesting to look at.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Views of the city as we were driving in Saturday morning.






This is City Hall right in the middle of downtown. Our hotel is next to City Hall.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

An actual pay phone

I thought there weren't any left, but there this one was outside the Burger King.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Staunton, Virginia

VA got some snow!

As we got further north, snow was on the side of the road, and on the sides if the north-facing slopes. Very, very pretty. We wondered if we'd see snow all the way to Philly, but we didn't, as it turned out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Somewhere in Virginia along I-81

Oliver is glad we're home

Check that, Oliver is glad that Bill is home. :)



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Home

Well, we got home with no problems. Samantha felt better after the zofran, was tired of course, but did great. [And, surprisingly, no one else got sick!] Everyone was elated to be in their own bed again. Everyone agreed that our trip to Boston was great.

I asked the kids what they enjoyed most about the trip, what they learned, or what they wanted to remember for a long time. Here were their responses:

Josie: the Museum of Science, the Museum of Fine Arts, Finagle a Bagel, and the history of Paul Revere and his sidekick William Dawes.

Mitch: the Dinosaurs! 3-D movie at the Museum of Science, the subway, the Museum of Fine Arts (all of it), and the plane rides.

Samantha: the little tamarin monkeys (at the Museum of Science), the swimming pool at the hotel, the train (subway), the plane, the connections, the reptile section (of the Museum of Science), the 3D Dinosaurs! movie (also at the science museum), Biscoffs (cookies on the plane), Finagle a Bagel, seeing Alphonso (a friend of Bill's from grad school at Ole Miss who was also at the conference), eating lunch and dinner, sleeping, all the food we had, meeting Matthew (the person in the seat next to me on the Cincinnati-Boston flight coming in), the fat squirrels (in the Public Garden), the park (the Public Garden), the "Make Way For Ducklings" monument in the Public Garden, and coming home.

How awesome is that?! I am biased, of course, but I think my kids are pretty great. I hope we can go somewhere new every year - they learn so much that we can't teach them at home. And the memories will last a lifetime.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Walland, TN

On our way home

We FINALLY got some zofran. Thanks to Bill for going on the medicine-chasing adventure. No thanks to cvs for being unnecessarily tedious and complicated.

We checked out of the hotel and took two trains and a shuttle to the airport, got our tickets, made our way through security, found our gate and got settled in under 1 hour 15 minutes. THAT'S impressive, I think, and we were taking our time! Boston's transportation system is friendly to visitors. It's pretty easy to figure it all out.

So, today we are having an airport adventure! We are ready for flight, with 5 hours to spare. :) Samantha is sleeping already, bless her heart for being such a champ through all this. Bless Josie and Mitch for being so cooperative all day. Everyone has buckled down and done whatever needed to be done. What an awesome family I have. I'd travel with them anywhere (and plan to). ;)



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Boston Logan

No family travel trip is complete without it...

Samantha complained of an ear ache last night as we were leaving the Museum of Science. She cried from the pain on the subway. There was nothing I could do for her. Once we finally got back to the hotel, I gave her Tylenol and Benadryl, and she went to sleep.

Until 4:20am, when she started vomiting. It is now 7:45am and she is still dry heaving. Agony. She is tolerating her misery so well, she's such a trooper. I've called a local doctor's urgent care clinic (front desk gave us the number) - they won't see us because she is not a patient. I called the local childrens hospital and the barely coherent woman to whom I spoke was of no help. I have spoken to our pediatric office in Maryville and the nurse is supposed to call us back. I'm hoping we can get some kind of anti-nausea med called in to the cvs near the hotel. The plane leaves in less than 10 hours.

I am hoping the Josie and Mitch (or Bill or I) either won't get this, or maybe by some miracle if they (we) do, it won't kick in until we get home. Realistically, I imagine the odds of either situation are pretty low.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Boston

Glorious end to great day

Sunset shots from the Museum of Science, which is situated over the Charles River.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Museum of Science

Museum of Science

Bill had to get back to his NASM meetings, so the kids and I went to the Museum of Science for the balance of the day.


Snake-necked turtle, above


Alligator tortoise?, I should have written it down.


Burmese python, above


Dinosaurs! 3-D film: good, brief film narrated by Donald Sutherland.

Below, ferris wheel made out of K'Nex toys. We also spent time in areas about eastern US birds and mammals, human body, human development (including film of human birth in water tub, kids were glued to it), mechanical gears, and models. Got to watch a chick working on hatching out of its egg. All very cool. Amazing day in Boston today.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Boston

Relief in the form of hot chocolate and cinnamon sticks

A welcome rest and refueling for our young troopers. We did a cinnamon toast for the birthday girl, Josie, who turned 8 today. Happy Birthday, Josie!





Above, Birthday Girl, chillaxin'.


Mitch (above) and Samantha (below) each enjoying a cinnamon stick.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tired puppies

We'd walked I don't know how many miles at this point. They'd hung in there as long as they could. Bill is trying to locate a place to empty our bladders, as we were in need.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Copp's Hill Burying Ground

The Freedom Trail bricks and markers

The red brick line shows the Freedom Trail path through the city. The markers identify particular points of interest.



In the distance, across the water, behind the center tree, is the USS Constitution. It has a black hull with a white stripe. It was bitter cold, the kids were laying on the ground from exhaustion, and it was easily a couple of miles' walk around to the ship, so this is the shot we got of it from the top if Copp's Hill Burying Ground. If you are able to zoom in on the image, you might be able to make out its outline.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Old North Church

Old North Church is an Episcopal Church. The bells are the oldest in America (1745), there is still the Revere family pew inside, and there is a bust of George Washington believed to be the first memorial of our first president. On April 18, 1775, Robert Newman (the sexton of the church), upon instruction by Paul Revere, hung two lanterns in the steeple, some locals say as a backup plan for signaling the rebels in case he (Revere) was captured on his way to Lexington and Concord.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:North End, Boston

Old North Church

Statue of Paul Revere with white steeple of Old North Church in the background.








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:North End, Boston

Paul Revere's home

Paul Revere's humble home, nestled in beautiful North End neighborhood. He had 16 children - 8 each by two wives. Tour guide on Duck Tour told us Revere made numerous rides to Lexington and Concord prior to the Revolution. With 16 kids at home, Bill concluded that he probably didn't mind making those rides at all. :) Speaking of Duck Tour guide, he also said that Revere had the sexton of the North End Church place the two lanterns atop the steeple as a backup plan to notify folks in case he was captured. He said the Longfellow poem ("one if by land, two if by sea"), alluding to this as a signal makes a nice poem, but doesn't exactly reflect the reality. Guide said everybody in town saw the British ships head out, it was no secret. Revere and Dawes rode to Lexington and Concord to let our soldiers know that it was time. I'll defer to my historian friends/revolutionary war experts for the real story here.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:North End, Boston

Above, kids in front of statue of Samuel Adams, great orator who inspired revolutionary ideas (literally!) in the minds of citizens. The statue stands in front of Faneuil Hall (image below), where many of his speeches, and others', were delivered.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Old State House plaque

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Boston

Boston Massacre

The five men killed in the Boston Massacre by British soldiers in 1770 are buried in the Granary Burying Ground. If you zoom in, you might be able to see their names.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Granary Burying Ground

Old State House

The Old State House has been here since 1713. This is the balcony where the Declaration of Independence was read to the public. The Boston Massacre happened within sight of the balcony in 1770. George Washington viewed a parade from the balcony in 1789. And more recently, Queen Elizabeth addressed America from the balcony on the occasion of our Bicentennial. In the 1630's, this was a site where Puritans whipped sinners. A lot of history in one spot. Same can be said for all of Boston and New England, in general.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Boston

Start of the Boston Tea Party

We went into the Old South Meeting House (I forgot to take a picture) - they were having a Thanksgiving service, so we didn't stay. In 1773, this is where this particular political demonstration started.

Fun fact: Benjamin Franklin was born across the street in 1706 (then, 17 Milk Street).


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Old South Meeting House

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone


Old City Hall, in front is the site of the first public school in the US.

Graves of Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Mother Goose, and Ben Franklin's parents

Lots of non-famous people are buried here, too.





The older (directly above) and newer (top image) tombstones for Paul Revere.


Peter Faneuil donated the land for Faneuil Hall.


John Hancock's obelisk has a hand and 3 birds (cocks) at the top - get it?, hand cocks, Hancock, ha ha. Below, Samuel Adams.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone