One aspect of living in New Jersey that appealed to me from the start was the close proximity to so much cool stuff. High on my to-do list was a visit to Boston, a place that I have always wanted to visit. Cobblestone streets are highly romanticized in my imagination. So when I realized that spring break coincided with General Conference weekend (and a Sunday sans Primary duties), I started planning. Bonus: Bryan had a few days off that would disappear if he didn't use them this month.
We started by driving up through New Jersey, then New York state. We ate lunch in Connecticut and drove through a sketchy Providence, Rhode Island neighborhood in search of a 120-year-old carousel. Much to my annoyance (and Phoebe's heartbreak) the attraction was not open on that rainy Friday. All of my planning had come to naught; we had just been stuck in the car for hours. Include the fact that we left the house four hours late and had to totally skip one destination (Mystic, CT, so sorry we missed you) and you'll understand why I was feeling less than chipper.
Bryan kept a good attitude. He suggested that the day could be salvaged by finding a fun place for dinner. And he was right. We found a local seafood place and the kids tried calamari for the first time. After we told them it was squid Phoebe was appropriately grossed out, but Cooper kept eating. Peter refused it even before he knew what it was. The dinner was delicious and the kids were well-behaved, a delightful combination.
We started over the next day with a trip to Plymouth Rock!
It was kind of windy.
Yes, there is an actual rock at Plymouth. You can't touch it, but you can take pictures of it.
Sadly, the Mayflower II was out for repairs, so we didn't see that. But we did take time to admire statues and read plaques dedicated to those passengers that died during the voyage and soon after landing.
After Plymouth, we piled back in the van, turned on General Conference, and drove to Boston. There were lots of things I wanted to see in Beantown, but I knew my audience and picked just a few. The first (and main) item of interest was USS Constitution, otherwise known as Old Ironsides. We toured a cool little museum and Bryan got to have several teaching moments with the kids. He has a ridiculous amount of knowledge in his head, did you know?
We started with a nautical flag code. Even Phoebe deciphered it (with a little help) to earn the sought-after Ironsides stamp on her paper.
The boys built a boat.
Sophie entertained herself by removing her socks and shoes.
Oh look, here's one of those teaching moments.
And here's another one.
At this point Phoebe had seen enough and was just waiting for us to finish.
The tour of the boat itself took an hour and by then we were all tired and cold and hungry, so we contented ourselves with taking pictures of it from the mainland.
Next we drove to Old North Church.
Then we saw Bunker Hill.
And we finished our Boston excursion by driving though Harvard. I have no idea which building this is or what it houses, but it's on Harvard's campus.
I was ready to keep sightseeing, but no one else was. We called it a day and concluded with pizza and more General Conference.
The next morning we drove north to New Hampshire to see some friends from our first stint at BYU. We hadn't seen much of them for ten years, which was before either of us had kids. Now we each have four, which made for a chaotic and fun crowd on Easter Sunday. We talked and laughed and watched Conference and got to know each other's kids. Then, between the Sunday sessions, they took us to a lighthouse in Maine.
Look! It's the Atlantic Ocean! And yes, it was really that blue.
The lighthouse was on an island, so we couldn't actually get up close to it, but we could climb on lots of huge, terrifying rocks that dropped right off into the ocean. The kids loved this part; the boys have both told me it was the best thing we did all weekend. I spent the time worried that one of my children would end up in the Atlantic. But I did love looking at that beautiful blue water.
Here's my friend that let us crash her Easter!
This is about as close as we could get to the lighthouse. I don't know what soundtrack was playing in everyone else's head (because I'm sure I'm not the only one that puts their life to music), but I heard lots of Pete's Dragon on this excursion.
My friend's kids are each just a little older than mine. They all got along well, but none bonded as fast or as firmly as these two. Phoebe gave her several hugs when it was time to leave later that night.
It was windy here too.
After the final session of Conference, we enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner that fueled us enough to make it to our hotel that night. It was so fun seeing our friends. It felt like old times, just with way more children.
The next day we detoured to Vermont on our way home because, really, when would we have another chance to go to Vermont?
Have you been keeping track of the all states we visited? Over the course of four days we were in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. That's a lot of states in a short period of time.
Hooray for making the most of our time on the East Coast!
