Gatherings: Boston's Freedom Trail

FIELD TRIP!!! Robin is on a *one week* vacation this week so we moved our school spring break up from April to March. We had thought about a historical trip to Boston. But, Rachel was sick with a cold and I have been battling a mild flu so I just wasn't sure. I hadn't really made much of a plan but when Rachel perked up at about 10 a.m. and I felt like I could do it too we jumped in the car and headed to Boston. I thought, "Let's just head to Boston and I am sure there will be signs to tell us where to go." You know, I do like to be spontaneous! So about 2 hours later we are heading into Boston...no signs do we see as we head through Boston into South Boston. With our tiny map in hand, we head up and down the streets of S. Boston. After about an hour, it becomes clear that we have NO IDEA what we are doing!! So we stopped and asked for directions (dawn breaks.... ;) ).

Lo and behold we find the USS Constitution and we are back in action! Now I would love to tell you that we had this beautiful early spring walk through Boston enjoying the Historical sites and basking in the culmination of our 2 year study of America History. And I could probably convince you of such because we do actually have nice pictures. But to tell you the truth...it was FREEZING cold in Boston with the winds, Rachel really did not feel good, the walk felt very long in the cold, we walked right by Paul Revere's house only to walk back and find it close 30 min. before, and when asked in the car, "Did you like that trip?", the kids cheerfully yelled in unison, "NO!"

Fortunately our humor was still intact and we had a blast cracking jokes about mom's spontaneous field trip alllll the way home!! LOL! Add to that a really nice supper at Appleby's and it wasn't a total loss...well until we got home and found the basement had flooded because somehow our outdoor water spicket spontaneously came on and the water backed into the basement and pumped about 50 gallons into the basement!! Well, on the bright side, now it will be easier to declutter since most things are ruined! :)

Nevertheless, here are our photos! If you forget everything I just said, you can look at the photos and think what a nice trip this would be...just don't do it in March and have a plan before you go...oh yeah, and directions too!! HAHA!! At the very least, I learned again that my kids are good sports and really love me in spite of myself!!

Here are the kids in front of the USS Constitution right before we got in trouble for letting them sit on that stuff!!

FIRE!!!

The Old North Church..."one if by land, two if by sea..." BTW, this is still a functioning church. (Robin says, "One if by land, two if by sea, I'm lost in Boston, can someone find me?" LOL!)