Boston, Here We Come!

We've been trying to find a good weekend to go to Boston for what seems like forever--we finally got our schedules in sync for a Memorial Day weekend trip.  We left on Friday afternoon, and Em had been talking about the trip all week--she was super excited when we picked her up from school to head to the airport, and told everyone she was going to see Aunt Julie.

 

She was such a big girl going through the airport with her suitcase--she pulled it the whole way, and handed her boarding pass across when it was her turn.



She made friends with everyone in the airport and asked them if they liked her suitcase, her shirt, her shoes...you name it!

Everyone was really nice to her, and she did a great job handling herself like a grown up!

She was so excited about taking off "so fast," so I was glad that we weren't delayed.

Still, she got tired of waiting pretty quickly, and said "I'm tired of being on the airplane.  I want to be in the air watching a move! (she abbreviates things sometimes and only says the first syllable--so move is movie)"  We waited for the two "dings" once we got in the air, and got out the laptop and headphones so she could watch "Beauty & the Beast," one of her favorites.

Aunt Julie met us at the airport and we took a cab to the hotel so we could drop our stuff off and change clothes (our shorts and flip flops weren't quite warm enough for the 49-degree rainy weather).  We walked across to meet up with Julie's boyfriend Erik (who Em quickly dubbed "Prince Erik") and had dinner at The Barking Crab.  By the time we got back to the hotel, we decided it was time for Em to turn in for the night, so we parted ways.

The next morning, our alarm clock (Emily) woke us up a little earlier than Julie and Erik, so we went walking downtown to Faneuil Hall where we could be out of the rain and grab some breakfast.  Em enjoyed looking at all the tasty treats!

We walked from there toward the Boston Children's Museum.  Julie had a connection to get us free tickets, and we spent most of the day there.

I'm sure it's crowded every weekend, but the weather seemed to push everyone inside.  Em tried out every exhibit, and we all had to jump in and try too :).

She liked this one where she got to crawl up under the turtles and see them up close.

Prince Erik liked helping her out with some too.

The water exhibits are always some of her favorite--she will play with water for half a day and be totally content.

This lighted drawing table was neat--she loves puzzles, and this was a little like a puzzle since she got to match shapes on the drawing.

We all took advantage of the kitchen area to stop and rest while Em busily prepared food for us.

There were lots of things to climb on and through.

Erik found her a construction worker vest and hard hat,

so she tried out the heavy equipment.

When we left there, we knew Em needed a nap, so we headed back to the hotel.  Mick and Em went upstairs to rest while the three of us stayed in the hotel restaurant and had drinks and snacks.  It was really the only way to spend a cold, rainy afternoon!

When Em woke up, she and Mick joined us downstairs.

She was much more cheerful after some sleep.

She made the rounds with everyone!

Mick and Erik decided to have some oysters.

And then we headed to Chinatown for dinner!

We went to a place called The Best Little Restaurant, and the food was great!  We ordered a bunch of appetizers, thinking we weren't that hungry, and it was way too much food. 

We headed back to the hotel and realized that Em wasn't feeling great.  She took a bath and wrapped up in a hotel bathrobe.  She woke up in the middle of the night with a fever, and threw up around 1:00 AM.  Mick had to get a cab to a 7-Eleven for some Motrin since I didn't have ours.  We gave her some of that with crackers, and she finally got back to sleep around 2:30

The next morning, she woke up and seemed fine.  We met for breakfast and she ate some pancakes and bacon.  The weather was still chilly, but it wasn't raining, so we were determined to take advantage of our last day there.  We walked through Boston Common by the frog pond,

and straight to the carousel!

There were thousands of flags displayed for Memorial Day--

it was really beautiful.

Em was fascinated by the street performers we saw--you can tell a child isn't from the city when she wants to watch street performers and pigeons all day!

We took a ride on the Swan Boats,

and then continued our walk.  We really regretted forgetting Em's stroller, because when she got tired of walking, we took turns carrying her.  There was nowhere to be found that we could pick up a little umbrella stroller.

Some of the more sobering things we saw were the multiple memorials to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

The sites of the actual bombings were really close to Julie's office.

There was everything from origami to tennis shoes to baseball caps and stuffed animals that people left in memorial

The finish line for the marathon--on Saturday morning when we woke up, we saw runners outside of our hotel finishing the last mile.

Em got to feeling worse during the day on Sunday.  We spent some time in the bookstore and then ate a late lunch before we headed back to the hotel and then to the airport.  You can tell in this picture how bad she was feeling :(.

But after a little more Motrin and some food, she was making friends in the airport!

We knew she was okay when she started doing tricks for us.

Luckily, she wasn't still feeling bad when we got on the plane.

We got home late on Sunday night with one very tired little girl!

We were off on Monday for Memorial Day, and Em kept a 102 fever and wasn't feeling well all day.  I stayed home with her on Tuesday and we took her to the doctor--she had a double ear infection!  One week after the all clear from the ENT specialist!  She's been a little congested, and her pediatrician said the pressure on the plane could have just forced the congestion into her ears.  Even though she had made it since before Christmas without antibiotics for anything, the doctor recommended treating this one since the fever had been so stubborn.  Mick stayed home with her on Wednesday, and she was back to normal on Thursday and ready to go to school!

 

All Clear

Em headed back to Dr. Hoover at Charlotte Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat on Monday, and thankfully got the all clear from him!  He never really thought she needed tubes, but it seems like she's made improvement with every visit, and today, he said there was no fluid in either ear, and no sign of infection.  He'll still see her back in about three months to make sure we're okay, but it was great to hear that this morning.

Camping Trip

Wow, it's been a long time since we camped!  Jason and Jenn asked us several months ago if we wanted to camp with them on Cody's 5th birthday weekend, which was also our 11th anniversary, and Mother's Day.  We could think of no better way to spend the weekend, so we'd all been looking forward to it for weeks.

We used to camp at least once a year with them, and the last time we all went was when Jenn was pregnant with Cody!  They got here Wednesday night (Charlotte is a good halfway point for them to break up their trip) and Em was too excited about Cody's birthday present to wait to give it to him.  Part of it was this Superhero book, which they sat down to read together :).

We got to Brevard around lunch time on Thursday, and our first stop was my parents' house.  Em, Cody and Chase wanted to see Grandma and Papa, so we went there for lunch before heading to the campground to set up our tents.  Em and Cody had a great time playing in the tents as we put them up.

Then they broke out their bikes (Cody's was a birthday present!) and rode around the campground.  It's really the perfect place for them to ride, because it wasn't really crowded.

We were so thrilled for Em to be excited about riding again, because she fell right after Christmas and it took her forever to want to get back on.

Em had some snuggle time with Uncle Jason on Friday morning when we woke up.

And then enjoyed her first campfire breakfast--yummy!

Jenn and I took Cody and Em for a walk down by the river, where they found everything not attached to the ground to throw in the water.

Including this enormous tree branch--Cody found it, and Em thought it was necessary to help him carry it.

They thought they'd be able to throw it in the river, but Jenn ended up helping out.

We had a hard time keeping Em out of the tent--she just thought it was so much fun to play in, and she enjoyed playing on her air mattress.

I think this one looks like they're having a very in depth conversation,

and this one looks like an important meeting :).

Confused looks as we ask them what they're doing.

On Friday, we took them to a trout farm so Cody and Em could fish--they had a great time, and it was fun to watch them.  We paid for the two of them to fish, and Jason and Mick helped.

Em didn't catch anything, but Uncle Jason did let her help reel one in, which was very exciting!

Cody caught two rainbow trout!  He was thrilled, and Em was equally as thrilled for him.

This is the one she "caught."  She couldn't decide if she wanted to touch it or not--she kept calling the fish "whoppers" and would tell them "slow down whopper!" and tell Mick and Jason "don't hurt the whopper!"  It was hilarious.

On Saturday, it was supposed to rain some, so we went over to Grandma and Papa's for Cody's birthday celebration.  Jason and Jenn got pizza for lunch, and Jenn had ordered a birthday cake for Cody.  They had a great time playing, and I think Em decided she needs a transformer.

Here's the birthday boy and his beautiful family!

And Em enjoying some birthday cake and chocolate ice cream.

Saturday afternoon, we headed back to the campground and got some of our stuff packed up since it was supposed to rain again.  We ate a nice dinner out at Taco Bell :) so we didn't have to clean dishes at the camp site, and Cody and Chase spent the night at Grandma & Papa's.  Once Em went to bed, the rest of us enjoyed some wine by the campfire for the last time before heading home. 

We left Sunday morning, but Jason and Jenn stayed an extra day, so they headed back over to our parents' house when we left.  It's always nice to get home with a little bit of time before heading to work the next day!