After the Monday's crazy events, we decided to head away from Boston for our adventures. Many things were closed or cancelled in the aftermath of the bombing and heading away from town made the most sense.
Tuesday we drove to Newport, Rhode Island, to check out the mansions and see the ocean. We toured The Breakers, the amazing Guilded Age vacation estate of the Vanderbuilt family.
Lauren and Weston weren't too impressed with the interior. They much preferred roaming the grounds.
Group shot on the back lawn.
The kids were as good as can be expected while we toured the mansion, especially considering it was an audio tour. Papa and Anthony finished before the ladies, so they took the kids out to the back lawn to run around. The "Guilded Age" is an era I don't know a lot about and I would have loved to stop and listen to every vignette.
After exploring the estate we walked along the Cliff Walk. Portions of it were closed because of damaged received during Hurricane Sandy.
Wednesday Tina took me to a local bakery (Glutenous Minimus) she wanted to try while Lauren was in town. We sampled a few things and bought a loaf of pumpkin bread, a dozen gluten-free cookies to share and a few vegan cookies for Lauren. The gluten-free vegan cookies just weren't as good to those of us used to butter and eggs. Lauren loved her cookies. Tina also bought us a few mixes to take home and I am planning on making the gluten-free coffee cake this weekend.
Anthony's high school friend Sam and his family stopped by to say hello. Then we said goodbye to Meredith and Weston. They had come down for a few days, but had to return to normal life in NH. I snapped some cute pictures of Lauren and Weston while Meredith was packing up to leave.
Lauren is lucky to have two cousins born the same year she was. Weston is just a month younger than her. She enjoyed taking his blanket, following Will around, and hanging out at the bottom of the stairs with him.
Wednesday afternoon we drove to Walden Pond. It was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon. The sun was shining, sky was blue and it wasn't very crowded.
Lauren didn't want to get too close to the water, but she did enjoy having the freedom to roam as she pleased.
She was happy to lead Nana around the beach.
Will loved the water. When we got there he was fully dressed. By the time we left he was just in his underpants.
Papa played in the sand with the kids and was extremely patient when they dumped sand and water around him.
Will also caught a fish. Literally. There was a dead fish floating in the water and he picked it up. He was very proud. The rest of us were a little grossed out. He could have stayed and played in the water for another hour.
After the pond we tried out the new Shake Shack. We all agreed they were some of the best burgers or hotdogs we had ever eaten.
Alicia deserves some sort of MVP award for what a great aunt she was to Will during our trip. She was awesome with Will--read him lots of books, danced with him, helped him hunt for "ghosts," and paid attention to him when the rest of us were feeling tired. When he saw this picture on the computer he smiled and said "That's me and Lee-sha. She's my friend."
While we were waiting to board our flight home the airport got really quiet. No arrivals or departures were announced and then we noticed a crowd of people at the window. Turns out that Air Force One had just landed. President Obama came to Boston to attend an interfaith prayer service for the bombing victims. I've never seen Air Force One before, so that was kind of neat. Other than that our trip home was pretty uneventful.
We had a great trip! It wasn't quite what we expected, what with the bombings and all, but it was great spending time with family and being together during this strange time.
2 comments:
How fun to have family in such a cool city! Lincoln, Nebraska just doesn't do it for me. :) Looks like a really great trip. I'm glad it went well and you guys were safe and sound!
I miss my friend Will! I can't wait for him to teach me more of his dance moves.
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