Boston Pops on Independence Day

I'm pretty crazy about Boston. I like New York; it's exciting and there are so many things to do and see. But Boston is . . . quaint. Charming. I could live there quite happily for a very long time. So let me tell you about the adventures of Bostonia:

First of all, getting to Boston was a bit of an episode alone. Pete and I looked into flying (not a great idea over a holiday weekend in case you were wondering) taking a train (almost as outrageously expensive, and a lot longer) and renting a car and driving to Boston.

It wasn't until two days before we were to leave for Boston that someone told us about the bus services connecting Boston and New York, which are unbelievably affordable ($15 one way) when compared to any of the above listed options. So we decided to take a bus. I think this is a good place mention that all these bus services are Chinese owned business ventures and are based in Chinatown. Chinese people are wonderful; I love their food and their low prices on consumer goods, but they sure don't believe in adding a lot of frills and unnecessary comforts. The four hour bus ride (that ended up being closer to five hours due to traffic) were not the comftiest hours of my life.

But Amelia was so happy to have Daddy, Mama, Grandma and Bampa to climb all over the whole time, and stayed relatively entertained for the duration of the drive. Once in Boston we met up with my sister and her chubby little Bunchkin. My parents both had permasmiles. Dad went to school in Boston back in his day and Mom served her mission in Boston. And they like Sharona and Caroline. So it was kind of cute to see how happy they were to finally be back after all those years.

Here's Sharonica and the Bunchkin.



That evening we went to a quirky little pizza place that Dan discovered through his food delivery job. I'd never had potato pizza before, but I must say it was rather enjoyable. Amelia was delighted to dismantle all the menus. Grandma was so proud, you can see it on her face.



The next day was Saturday, the 3rd of July and we visited the Boston Temple. Much more visually impressive than the Manhattan Temple. The Boston Temple actually has temple grounds. The light was nice and I took several billion photos of the girlies and my fam.















That evening we hit up the Esplanade for the traditional Boston Pops concert. I think this is a brilliant idea; the Boston Pops put on a free concert playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and then they light fireworks over the Charles River. SO you get the cannons blasting off in the crowd,a performance by a top quality orchestra playing and a massive fireworks show. Free.

Granted, it is a bit crowded, and you have to show up hours early to fight for your patch of grass (or asphalt, as was our case) but still brilliant. Sadly, Toby Kieth was the guest artist they brought in this year to perform with the Pops(I'm not a huge fan, and I was ironically looking forward to a 4th of July show that didn't include a country singer. Last year it was Niel Diamond. Surely Boston would choose someone other than country star. Wrong.)

Saturday night was actually the dress rehearsal for the big show on Sunday. We caught the show on Saturday (sidenote: all of Boston worships the Kennedy's. There was an emotionally wrought, tear-jerker tribute to their legacy that took up half the show, and not one mention of Jackie, the most accomplished Kennedy. Odd? A bit, yes.) But we left before the fireworks started. Tired babies. And Mommas. We saved that for the actual 4th.

Here we are enjoying the show, despite Toby Kieth and the Kennedy worshiping hour.





On Sunday, the 4th of July, we went to church. I felt this was appropriate for both religious and patriotic reasons.

Except it was testimony meeting, so no patriotic program. So I guess it was just religious of us. Entertaining as anything though. I love testimony meeting when a good portion of the congregation is made up of converts, it always gets a little unorthodox and cliche Mormonisms fly out the window.

Back on the Esplanade that evening, we found a spot on the Charles River. Both babies were dressed in red white and blue and pretty blasted cute, as you see.







We had a great time. that is, until Dad got lost. The crowd became so dense on the bridge over the river that Dad went off to find a restroom two hours before the fireworks were scheduled to start, and didn't find his way back to us until the show was over. This put a bit of a damper on the tone of our celebrating. The fireworks were incredible, one of the best displays I've ever seen. But we were all watching with one eye on the sky and one eye searching the crowd trying to spot Dad. Luckily he did find us (after Pete had put in a full description with the Boston Police) after the the show was completely over. The only upside to this was that by the time we met back up we had missed most of the traffic. Sad.

Monday was our last day in Boston and we spent it revisiting Dad's old haunts. Harvard and Boston University. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to miss taking photos of him at these places, and only got these two pics.




Then Pete, Amelia and I took the bus home. Home to New York. Vacation over, and back to my daily life of parks, shopping and playing with the wee girlins.

And after several days of pure junk food, I am eschewing high calorie foods with a firm hand.

Today.