Day 6

Observation #13 Umbrellas are fabulous! It rained all day. Subways are good in the rain too at least it got us out of the rain. It was a great day for us to visit some indoors sites.

Observation #14 -A female goosefish will lay thousands of eggs that gather together to form a kind of mass that was floating in the water. While we were at the New England Aquarium today we saw what looked a lot like white tulle floating in the tank. That's what I thought it was initially, but the worker told us that the goosefish had laid her eggs just the night before and it would last in the tank about 1 week. I don't remember how long this nest was. Bonnie loved all the penguins. I thought the seals were pretty cute! It was a nice little walk around. They had several presentations while we were there. One about the stingrays and sharks and another about the coral reef.Observation #15 The Boston Public Library is huge! We only really walked through the older part which had some amazing murals throughout the building. Really amazing! We didn't have time to walk through the regular library side, but I like the old stuff anyway. The batteries died in the camara we were just walking around with so we didn't get any more pictures there.

Observation #16 Be it ever so humble there's no place like home. Our flight was delayed because of a hydraulic leak on our plane so they had to switch planes. I had some pretty swollen feet after the flight and probably should have at least stood up a couple times in the 4.5 hours on the plane. We made it home about 12:30am on Thursday morning. It is so great to be home after 6 days. Look forward to lying down in my own bed! Because we were so late getting home, we are picking the kids up tomorrow morning.

Day 5

Observation #9 Birds have no personal boundary issues. There are pigeons everywhere There are little tweety birds too, that are really used to the people and tend to get really close hoping for crumbs. We taught Bonnie the sign for bird and she started doing it really quickly. Soon however every kind of animal was a "bird", including all the dogs, which are plentiful also and squirrels, then we saw ducks and seagulls. She wanted them all! This little grassy area with the pigeons cracked me up. This was the only patch of grass in the whole park and they had it fenced all around and wouldn't let anyone on it.

Observation #10 I love the smell of the ocean, I really do! We were able to visit Boston Harbor today. It really isn't very deep at all, I suppose it might just have been low tide. I found that it has a very soothing effect on me. I loved being there. There was also an IMAX theater next to the Aquarium so we saw the Under the Sea 3-D show.

Observation #11 Boston Public Gardens must be gorgeous in the summer! There was a picture hanging in our hotel room that showed these darling swan boats on a pond. It was my goal while we were there to find those boats. They are actually housed at the Public Gardens but we missed the opening day for the swan boats by 1 day - can you believe it! I loved that picture and wanted to get one for myself, but it looks like I'll have to wait on that. It is a very formal garden with beautiful old trees and ponds with lots of water features, statues and paths.

Observation #12 The popular childrens book "Make Way for Ducklings" is set in Boston! We have that book and it's really very cute and we saw it everywhere, but didn't put it together until we were at the Gardens. They had little statues there of the mama duck and her 8 ducklings. Very cute! I even found a Google Earth map of their path on You*Tube, I think it was.

Day 4

During the lunch break we got $5 ice cream cone (sheesh we're gonna break the bank here I just know it) and sat in the park and enjoyed the sun shine.

Observation #8 Boston is architecturally colorful.

Observation #9 Dennis is a culinary tourist.

Went out to the "North End" with a couple other Planners today. We found a little Italian place that was quiet and had a nice dinner together.

Observation#10 Cannolies are yuuuuuummy!

We passed by Mikes Bakery and took home a couple cannolies, chocolate mousse and some crazy brittle type. North Church was up that was and that was one place we really wanted to visit on our trip. That is the famous church where Paul Revere put the lanterns in the window. "One if by land two if by sea."

Day 3

Observation #5 People have no personal boundary issues here. They crowd into restaurants, subways, the streets, everywhere. I just need to contract my personal space circle a bit while I'm out here I guess.

We stepped into the old South Church on our way back from church meetings today. Beautiful building! It says it was built in 1670.

Observation #6 If you're Greek they have a parade for you once a year! The parade routine was the street right out front of our hotel. Mostly it was all the Greek churches holding their colors and kids dressed in costumes that are more historical than like Halloween costumes. There were some local marching bands as well.

Observation #7 Quiditch is a live and well in Boston. We ran into a young group playing at the park. The snitch about ran me over.We walked along the Freedom Trail this afternoon. It is a red brick line that goes all around Boston. Today we saw Boston Commons, Kings Church, The Old State House/Boston Massacre site, and Quincy Market which is going to have to be a re-due because we didn't shop today.

Observation #8: Quincy Market is great. It's a busy busy place with lots of food vendors and entertainers on the weekends. There were these black guys dancing there and part of their routine was jumping over 4 people. They were passing around a donation bucket and the guy said, "Your donations will keep us out of two places, the court house and your house." They were really funny. Another woman was all painted gold and looked exactly like a statue. The food court area had crates and tables to sit on while you ate. The building looks like an old train station. The food was ridiculously high priced, but I guess you pay for the atmosphere there.

Day 2

Sleeping. Today Dennis started his meetings really early so Bonnie and I had a nice little sleep in. We met him for lunch at the mall and then came back and Bonnie took a 2.5 hour nap so I got a little nap myself. My body is trying to make up for the no sleep night Thursday.

Observation #3: There are trees growing in planters on the roof. There is very little open space here and we saw a couple houses with potted trees over their garage. We also saw some really pretty window pots with live bulbs planted in them.There are parks here too but that is about the only dirt you see. Everything else is paved or bricked.

Observation #4: If you are at a cross walk and no cars are coming, red light or not, if you aren't going. . .you're some kind of idiot.

We walked around a bit tonight and saw more than just the busy touristy part. We walked to a bridge crossing a river and walked along the path there. The houses were fun and old. We found an Italian restaurant Papa Razzi's and had yummy food. It was the best pizza I've tasted! It got a little chilly sitting outside but we enjoyed it.

Day 1

Dennis is attending an APA (American Planning Association) Conference here and I get to come along and enjoy. . . well, Boston!
The 4 older children are staying with Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen. Dennis took them to Grandma's last night. We had to wake up at 6am in order to make our flight at 9:45. First of all my brain would not shut down. I literally didn't sleep at all last night, so I was up at 5am repacking and printing our check in papers. Pathetic I know. My stomach does this every time I fly. I get all nervous until we are actually in the air. We breezed through check in and thanks to Bonnie, our little "baby in arms" we got to go to the front of the security check line. That line was so long! So it all went really smoothly for us. Before we got on the plane Dennis called Grandma to check on the kids and she told us that Khora had a rough night last night. She stayed in her bed but apparently she threw-up. I think it was nerves. This is all a little difficult for her I think. I'm sure she'll do much better from now on though.
So the flight was great, as great as sitting for 4.5 hours can be. Bonnie did so well and didn't fuss at all. She slept for 2 hours and was easily entertained for the rest of the time. Mostly with Dennis' ear phones. There were two guys who sat behind us that talked the entire time. I don't think I have talked for 4 hours straight in my life. It was funny! We took the subway from the airport to our hotel. Not too bad, and we didn't even get lost. There was a very helpful subway worker who led us in the right way.
Observation 1: People love Bonnie. They love to talk to her and she makes them feel great. She gives lots of cute smiles. People are drawn to her. Tonight I had a young lady ask if she was mine. She said, She is just adorable! She could be a baby model, just like a Gerber baby. Fun! But the cutest story. We showed up at our hotel. The Lenox, the oldest hotel in Boston. There was this adorable little old man who works here, Jimmy. When he saw Bonnie, he came up and started talking to her, she has that effect on people. He asked us if she got a present yet. We told him no. He said, "stay right here don't leave until I come back.", then he disappears into this employees only room. When he cam back out he had a big soft plush lamb for her. It was so sweet.
Observation 2: There are a lot of people in Boston! Holy Cow!! I was actually feeling a little claustrophobic. Apparently there was a Red Sox game today and they won so everyone was in town celebrating! We went out to dinner at a very unique place called Max Brennor, Chocolate by the Bald Man. Death by chocolate baby! Didn't know that Bean town was referring to the chocolate bean. Our hotel concierge got us right in! (How fabulous is that!) Besides being very loud and dark, the ambiance of it all, it was pretty good food, not just chocolate. Bonnie lost her pacifier on the floor and we never got it back, she was a little over stimulated by it all, plus she only had one nap, on the plane, and was just so done! I took her home and Dennis walked to Wall*greens and picked her up a new one pacifier. While he was there he met a lady peddling for money so she could buy a burrito this|-------------|big. Of course he gave her some change. She asked him that was food he was carrying, and what it was because she wouldn't eat it if she didn't like it. It was our banana split waffle dessert from dinner, she said that she wouldn't it that, thank goodness, because it was really good. Funny! Nice people here though. Bonnie was crying on the walk home and a man walking by, kind of rough looking, told her, "don't be sad little girl."
Well I don't know what will happen tomorrow, Dennis leaves early for his first day of Conference, but I know that I will be sleeping in. Good night all!

Khora's Korner

Me: "What are you doing Khora?"
Khora: "Nothing. But I can fly!"
Me: "Really?"
Khora: "Yea, I have wings, watch." she proceeds to flap her 'wings' as fast as she can while jumping on my bed. "See mom, I almost flied."

A couple minutes have now gone by . . . she's still trying.

Khora: "Mom, watch me, don't move your head."
She jumps off the couch. "See, you almost saw me flied."