Boston! (finally)

The evening of James' preschool graduation, we headed to Boston and New Hampshire. We have pretty much been going non-stop since then and have only spent a couple of nights at home, so I am just getting around to going through all the pictures I took. The reason for the trip was for Betsy's wedding, which the boys were ring bearers in. We flew into Boston and drove up to New Hampshire for the wedding. All the kids looked so cute all dressed up for the big day. 

Betsy and Alex are great golfers (Alex is a pro and they both coach the golf teams at Datmouth) so the wedding was at the Dartmouth Country Club and the ceremony was supposed to be on the golf course. Unfortunately, the weather was awful and cold and rainy the whole weekend, so the ceremony had to be moved indoors, but it was still very nice.

 Mac surprised everyone by doing exactly what he was supposed to do. He didn't even scream once during the ceremony!

He stood up there and smiled as big as he could the whole time, just like I told him to! We may or may not have bribed the boys with a new Lego mini figure each if they did a good job at the wedding.

 Here is the Nichols/Conroy clan after the ceremony.

 And a family photo since we were all dressed up.

 We headed to Boston early Monday morning and spent 3 days there. The weather was great Monday and Tuesday and we spent a lot of time walking around the Public Gardens and walking around the city. The best decision we made for the trip was bringing our jogging stroller. We walked miles and miles each day and Mac could sit in the stroller and James could perch on the footrest whenever he got tired of walking, which was pretty much the second we walked out of our hotel.

The boys have both always loved the book Make Way for Ducklings, and they were very excited to see everything from the book and the statues in the park.

 On Memorial Day, there was a display of flags in the park representing every Massachusets soldier that has died in battle.

 Steve, Amberly and the girls drove down to Boston and spent some of the day with us on Monday. We made a stop for drinks at Cheers.

 On Tuesday, we took the boys on a Duck Tour of the city. It is a big bus that looks like a duck that converts to a boat and drives into the Charles River. Tim and I had never been on one before and we figured it was a perfect activity for the boys, especially our little history buff, James. He asked questions constantly about Boston's history the whole time we were there. Once we had tapped out what we remembered, we had to start looking up facts on our phones to satiate his steady stream of questions and requests to, "Tell me another fact about the Revolutionary War." Mac was happy to just be along for the ride and yell, "Quack quack," out the window.

 Both boys also got a chance to drive the bus/boat in the river.

 We drove the boys to Chestnut Hill and walked them around the campus of BC on Tuesday afternoon. Tim was excited to show them around and buy them each a souvenier from the bookstore.

 James chose a little stuffed duck in a BC shirt (most random choice ever) and Mac chose an, "Eagle baseball team hat." Don't call it a BC hat or he will yell at you.

 We spent our 8th anniversary in the North End of Boston, the Italian neighborhood and home to the best Italian restaurants outside of Italy. Having the boys with us made for not the most relaxing or romantic dinner, but we still managed to have a nice time.

A visit to the North End of Boston is not complete without a stop at the famous Mike's Pastry shop for cannolis and black and white cookies. We had already walked at least 10 miles that day, so we opted for a cab ride back to the hotel-a first for Mac.

 Our last day in Boston, it was a little rainy, but it made for the perfect visit to the park. The boys had the duck statues to themselves.

 We also had been saving a ride on the swan boats for our last day and because of the weather, we had a swan boat all to ourselves! They actually had to have a couple of the other boat drivers sit on the back of our boat to weigh it down enough so it could take us around the lake.

It was a busy and very fun trip. Living out of a hotel and eating in restaurants for every meal is a pretty big treat for the boys, but also causes a lot of craziness. Despite the ups and downs that come with travelling with two kiddos, we were so happy to share a city we love so much with our boys.