Nicole turned 9 this Fall. As part of our established tradition, we took her on a surprise trip. She loves American Girl dolls, and I wasn't sure how to fit that into my life, when Nathan and I had to travel to Boston for his ICMA conference. Then, I suddenly had a spark of inspiration and googled to see if there was an American Girl Doll store in Boston!
Success! The morning after her birthday we woke up before the crack of dawn to take a plane to San Francisco and then on to Boston. We got settled in that night and then the next morning acted as proper tourists. We took a trolley tour through all the main sights in Boston. I have to say that Boston is my new favorite!
Though we aren't huge baseball fans, we still couldn't miss historic Fenway Park. We also loved seeing all the boats against the backdrop of the city.
We got to go on a tour of Paul Revere's house. I always find history so much more interesting when it is placed in context of a particular location.
The North Church was much closer to where he lives then I had before thought, and I can see how it was a perfect signal.
We got to make requests from a woman playing Benjamin Franklin's Glass Harmonica. It was actually quite lovely.
We had a lot of delicious meals including in the Italian district where we had some amazing, authentic pizza!
It is one thing to read about the USS Constitution and another to climb aboard.
The trolley itself was a lot of fun, hearing the colorful stories in a B"ah"ston accent.
One of my favorite spots was the actual garden depicted in the famous book, "Make Way for Ducklings." We absolutely loved it!
We were also blessed to be there during some fabulous weather, which we heard from many sources is not the norm.
There are even statues to memorialize McCloskey's famed book.
What came as a big surprise was that this was literally across the street from the famed park:
The next day was reserved for going to Natick mall and scrutinizing every detail of the American Girl Doll store. It was a treat!
Nicole saw everything in person that before had only been perused in catalogs. She had a little birthday money that she spent on a couple outfits.
The day was a success!
Including sushi for lunch. Our favorite!
Our hotel room was really comfortable, and we hung out there most of the next day and had time to chill and relax while I did a little schoolwork, and she played and watch T.V. The best meal of the trip was our last night at Atlantic Fish (http://www.atlanticfishco.com). I wanted an authentic bowl of Boston Clam Chowder, and I wasn't disappointed! What a great trip! One of the highlights of the trip was watching as Nicole read Harry Potter #6. She had to wait till she was 9 to read it, and she loved it as much as I did. She is a special and wonderful girl!
