July 19th, 2008 - Boston

We were blessed to finally take our long-awaited trip to Boston. Yup, with all our kids. Melissa's sister lives there with her husband and their little girls. We've wanted to visit them for so long, but we finally were able to do so this summer. And what an eventful trip it was! My next few posts will be about various events that took place during that 10-day trip.

First, on Saturday 7/20/08, we rode the city bus into town and rode the subway around to a few places in downtown Boston. Of course, we went to Boston Common, the large historical city park in the heart of downtown. That day, there happened to be a free concert for kids featuring "Steve Songs" - a celebrated children's performer. It was cool for our kids because they've been listening to his music lately. That day was exceptionally hot, so we also swam in the frog pond (wading pool) in the Boston Common. Considering we were roasting hot by then, and we had a brave pregnant woman with us, we ate lunch and decided it was wise to cool down and see a movie in the theater. We saw "Wall-E", the new Disney Pixar film. What a disappointment. But it was still nice to sit in the air-conditioned (and less-humid) movie theater for a couple hours. We then were able to go over to Faneuil Hall Marketplace, a historic marketplace. Cool spot.

Boston is a really cool city. Due to my NBA fan-dom, I thought I'd see more Celtics "we're the champs" indicators, but I saw nothing. I imagine that comes with the fact that the city has become such a sports Mecca lately - with winning programs in almost every major sport. So, I wasn't surprised, per-se. It was just a further indicator of what a one-horse town Portland is, with our one major professional team and clamor for everything they do. But that also makes Portland all that more charming, I think. We have something to really enjoy. Well, that's how I can rationalize it, anyway. Reality is: I still like it the "Portland way", regardless.

While in Boston, I also had hoped to see more historical sites, but considering we were traveling with 6 kids and a pregnant woman, I'm amazed at how much walking we did with very little complaint. It was a great day to check out Boston. And the group had fun - exhausted, but fun.

When we left town the next day, on our way to western Massachusetts, we experienced one of the worst rain storms I've ever seen. Loud lightning and giant drops…no, more like balls… of rain coming down. The streets were overflowing with water, with near river-like force. It was amazing. Once we got out on the highway, the rain had cleared and it was a beautiful drive.