Sightseeing in Boston with Family, Memorial Day BBQ

As I have mentioned before, my mom and dad are visiting this week. We knew Boston would be crowded on Memorial Day Weekend, we went anyway. Largely because on the weekends we are capable of getting free parking. The rest of the time it'll cost us around $20 to park and finding places the van fits are tricky! SO, we braved it.

It was a beautiful day, but forecast for thunderstorms later. We parked and decided to head to the USS Constitution first. The USS Constitution is the oldest Naval vessel still in service. The line for the Constitution itself was actually so long we opted not to go on it Sunday. We'll try to make a return trip during the week when hopefully the line isn't so bad! We sat down in a covered area for some drinks and snacks, and the thunder began. We stayed put and enjoyed the show of a small thunderstorm that passed in a matter of 20 minutes. The girls were funny, they wanted to watch the rain, but were afraid of the rain getting their snacks! LOL

After it passed we headed down the pier to the USS Cassin Young. A couple other good links for the Cassin: From the Volunteer Group that maintains the ship and The Historical Naval Ships Visitors Guide. The Cassin is a Destroyer (I guess technically WAS). My dad was on a Destroyer for most of his naval career (when he wasn't on a sub) so being able to walk onto that ship and look around the main deck, offered me a glimpse into how my dad spent that time of his life. It was really great to watch BFF's DH showing his son's around the ship. As a sailor himself, it was a way to show them another facet of the Navy.

When we finished on the Cassin we headed over to the USS Constitution Museum. The museum was well maintained and VERY interactive, which was GREAT for the kids. Even the girls enjoyed it, playing with the various signs that you opened and closed. I am pretty sure that all the kids enjoyed it.

From the museum, we followed the Freedom Trail to the Bunker Hill Monument. One day, when I'm brave, I'm going to walk the entire Freedom Trail, start to finish!

But, back to Bunker Hill... I could get into all the history of it, but how about we talk about my legs instead. Did you know the Bunker Hill Monument, which looks like a smaller version of the Washington Monument, has 294 twirling steps from the bottom to the top? Do you know how much your heart is pounding and your quads are burning when you aren't exactly in stellar shape??? Do you know my calves are STILL hurting 2 days later??? LOL Yes, I wasn't necessarily quite so brilliant to choose to go up the monument, but I DO NOT regret it! The view from the top was beautiful.

At that point we headed back down the hill and over the bridge to go towards Quincy Market, etc. But after consulting out watches, we decided to go another day! We headed down Hanover St. toward the van, but made the choice to stop at Mike's Pastry to see what all the fuss was about. Every time we've passed there, there is a line/crowd waiting to get in. And we frequently see people carrying boxes from there. Besides, there is something TOTALLY quaint about a place that ties the boxes shut with string!!!! :) Once we pushed our way to the front we got some cookies for the kids, a couple of cream puffs for the boys, and cannoli's for the adults. OMW! SO delicious!!!

We continued our hike down to the van and headed home, as my parents and I were climbing in, the rain started to come down, and I'm not talking some lightweight little storm here. But I have to say, Thank You God for holding that rain back for us!!!! :) What a great Sunday it was!

Yesterday we didn't really do much. Hung out at home, BFF, Mom, and I headed out to pick up a few last minute things for our BBQ. The girls played on the trampoline for a while. And later in the evening we enjoyed DELICIOUS BBQ'd chicken, corn on the cob, salad, and baked beans. For desert we had Strawberry/Mango shortcake. YUM

Today we are probably headed down to Plymouth Rock since we are expecting rain for the rest of the week. :(