4/16/2023

By Mom, Max, Brooke, Hailey, & Alisa

We took dive into US history and the start of the American Revolution during our trip to Boston, Massachusetts.  We learned so much about the courageous leaders significant to the rebellion, including Sam Adams, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Paul Revere, and many others.  The roots of our country are incredible to learn about!

We first landed in Boston and drove our rental vehicle to our hotel the Marriott Long Wharf.  Yep, you guessed it!  It was right on Long Wharf in the middle of the city of Boston.  After we checked in, our first mission was to find some great seafood.  We had lobster in mind!  Our mission brought us right next door to the Chart House.  Goodness, what an incredible history gold mine!  The Chart House was converted from an old factory that was first built around 1763 and was an office to John Hancock.  Inside we found John Hancock’s actual safe, and some other very cool pieces of history.  We enjoyed our meal, our history lesson, then headed back to the hotel to rest up for a weekend of history!

On our first full day, we Uber’d to the start of the Freedom Trail.  The Freedom Trail is an actual trail through downtown Boston, lined out with a red brick path, that you can follow to experience museums, churches, monuments, burial grounds, parks, and a ship that are all significant to the American Revolution.  The trail was created and dedicated by the citizens of Boston in 1951 for everyone to enjoy.  We met our tour guide “Mother Goose”, all dressed in colonial period attire, in the Boston Commons. Boston Commons is a huge green space and gathering place years ago for people to meet and graze their animals.  We continued our guided tour on foot through the city, learning about Sam Adams, John Hancock, and the Sons of Liberty.  We saw the place where many of those patriots were buried, as well as the location of the Boston Massacre. We concluded our tour in Faneuil Hall Marketplace, a downtown shopping/restaurant/entertainment area.  What a fun first tour!

We proceeded to the Union Oyster House, America’s oldest restaurant establishment and a regular favorite of the late President John F. Kennedy.  We sat in JFK’s favorite booth (just for a picture) that was turned into a mini memorial.  We tried the lobster, the corn bread, the salads, and of course, the New England clam chowder.  YUM!!  Max even experienced his first oyster in front of cheering fans with that authentic Boston accent up at the bar.  He’s still not sure if he likes oysters but we’re grateful for his bravery! The kids all got to “meet” and hold some of the live lobsters from the live well.  YIKES!  The restaurant is adorned with history and artifacts.  What a great spot for a history class lunch!

After our meal and restaurant tour, we hopped back on the Freedom Trail to finish the 2 ½ mile trek to the finish at Bunker Hill Monument Park.  After crossing the bridge into Charleston, we stopped for a quick ice cream at Emack & Bolios to cool off from the 89 degrees and sunny spring day.   From here, we had the monument in our sites, and we zigzagged through the charming Charlestown until we made it to the park.  We had a moment of reflection about the Battle of Bunker Hill, thinking of those who fell during the battle, such as William Prescott, John Stark, Israel Putman and Dr. Joseph Warren.  We proceeded to climb the 294 steps inside the monument and enjoyed the Boston views from the top.  It was a strong finish for the Freedom Trail, but not the end of our tour!

After Bunker Hill, we Uber’d to our next stop at the site of the Boston Tea Party.  We relived the experience with a reenactment of the event in a meeting room and a ship modelled after the one in history, and all participated in throwing “tea” into Boston Harbor.  “No taxation without representation!”

Abigail’s Tea Room was the next appropriate stop after the reenactment.  We sampled different teas that would have been thrown into the harbor, and all choose our favorite.  Hailey and mom loved the green tea! Yum!

After a quick stop at the room for a rest, we ventured out for our evening fun: local Boston eats!  We walked to Regina’s Pizzeria for dinner, and hit up Mike’s Pastry for cannoli’s on the way home.  We love how walkable, safe, and clean the city is, but we might love the friendly and lively Boston people even more!

What an adventure and history packed first full day in the city of Boston.  By now, we are all feeling much more familiar with our nation’s conception and the courageous men and women that took a stand for liberty and a higher ideal.

Day 3

We woke up ready to retrace the path of Paul Revere and companions and travel from Boston to Lexington. In Lexington, we visited the location where the war first began. We learned about the Battle of Lexington, and the men who bravely fought. We toured the Buckman Tavern, where militiamen awaited to “Regulars” before the battle. We dined at a quaint sandwich shop, and watched the town setting up for a re-enactment of the battle. We were a day early for the festivities but it was fun to catch some of the energy! When we exited the lunch spot, we saw that hundred of flags had been set up around the memorial park. Very cool!

After Lexington, we drove through the historic Harvard and MIT campuses, and headed back to catch a Boston Ducks tour through the waterways to learn more about the city. The big kids got to take turns driving the Duck on the river, and Alisa found it was a perfect time for an afternoon nap!

Next we headed right over to Fenway Park to experience our first Red Sox game :).

Day 4

On our last morning, Mom and Dad jogged around the city and saw the excitement of the Boston Marathon setup. We were two of thousands of joggers in the city that morning! We jogged back, woke up the kids, packed to leave the city. We stopped at the Omni Parker on the way out to try the first Boston Cream Pie, then continued on our adventure to New York City!! Thank you Boston for the memories!

2-5-23

By Hailey

We went from Maui to Arizona the day before my birthday. The next day I woke up and I was 9! First, I got out of bed and brushed my teeth. Next I went out of my room, and I woke up parents. Then I made crepes with Mom for my birthday because I love to. We made 9 crepes for me… we wrapped 3 crepes together and then cut them into 3’s to make 9! Then I opened presents and we went for a ride. We rode in the car for a little bit, then we got to church because my birthday was on Sunday. There was a kid’s church and a playground for after we finish church. It was fun! After that we went to go get brunch. Surprisingly there were doggy dishes, but Captain wasn’t coming to Arizona until the next day. I got the best acai bowl ever and the fanciest side dish it had was coconut shavings on a banana with honey and acai. Then we toured a house for sale for fun! it had a pool with a diving board and a fitness room in the casita! A casita is a little house that is next to the big house. Then I had to make a hard decision: we either swim at home (like we always do) or go to the boardwalk, but it wasn’t such a hard decision when parents said we wouldn’t go to the boardwalk besides today. So, I said we should go to the board walk. When we got to the boardwalk I said I wanted to do a mirror maze and a laser challenge. The mirror maze was really fun but we ended up asking for help and it was hard to get out, so then we moved on to the lasers. There were two choices… you either run and tried to touch all the lasers or you can stay away from the lasers and hit a yellow checkpoint. I chose to run around with Alisa and touch all the lasers. When we were out my mom gave me her turn so I chose to stay away from the lasers and touch the yellow checkpoint. It was like a ninja course. My time was really good too, 18.5 seconds. It was fun too. Then we went and got ice cream. I got strawberry cheesecake in a waffle bowl. Brooke and Alisa got cotton candy in a waffle bowl then Max got cotton candy in an ice cream cone (it’s all ice cream). Then we went and broke geodes with a sledgehammer. We wore safety goggles! After that we went back home and swam. it was fun too after swimming, I read for a little bit then we had steak for dinner. After dinner we had dessert, and it was key lime pie and it was a sub for cake. And that was my birthday!!

By Max

Oahu was a short and fun trip. We took a short flight from Kauai to Oahu and got there at night. We checked into the Ritz, then walked around downtown Waikiki and found a great restaurant. On the way, Mom was freaked out by a person dressed like a bush that jumped out at us.

The next day, when I got up, I got vertigo because we were on the 35^th floor. It had great views though. That day, we went to Pearl Harbor. It was cool to see, but also kind of sad. We went on ships, and took a ferry to the USS Arizona memorial building. It was cool to see the parts of the ship above the water. We also went through a museum there that had an audio tour. There was a wall with all of the names of soldiers that gave their lives for their country at Pearl Harbor. The next day, we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. If the pineapple says Royal Hawaiian Pineapple on it, then it is from the Hawaiian islands. We went on a train through the fields to see the pineapples. Most were unripe, but there were a couple ripe ones. We also got pineapple ice cream. After the plantation, we went back and hiked to the top of Diamondhead Crater. There is an old military bunker up there. We went back to the hotel, packed for Big Island, then went out to dinner. Dad and I jogged up Diamondhead again the next morning but the girls slept in. Then we went to the airport and flew to Big Island. (We got the BEST vegan doughnuts on the way to the airport).

By Brooke

Our Florida adventure was cut short because there was a hurricane, but it was nice to be home a few extra days! I got to have my best friend over when we were home! When we were on the plane, I got some pretty good food. When we landed it was really warm outside and it was sunny! When we got to the house, we saw party lights through the window. Then we went inside we found out that it was an arcade with the lights! When we went upstairs there was a Star Wars room that I got to sleep in! And a frozen room that Alisa got to sleep in. There was an amazing pool where you could see through a clear wall at the end of it.  We had a great view of the golf course, but balls flew into the pool.  Probably two a day!  We would dive in and get them and make a collection.  I brought two home!

THE NEXT DAY… Grandpa Tim and Grandma Debbie came to stay with us! Then we got to go to the grocery store.  Then we went to a place called the Disney Springs where there is shopping, and a restaurant called Boathouse.  We ate at Boathouse in a floating pier!  After that we went to a place called Sprinkles where you order cupcakes from an ATM, that’s a machine in the wall that delivers your cupcakes! I got the birthday cake flavor. Then we went to the Nike store, and I got blossom pink sweatpants! Then we went home and played Scrabble.

One of the coolest parts was Kennedy Space Center.  We got to meet a real astronaut that went to space!  We got his signature and a photo with him.  We went to a model of a huge rocket and saw the real Atlantis space craft!  I got to see what the real controls look like, and I remember going there when I was younger, the glass clear tunnel we crawl through.  We did that again but this time with Alisa. There was this animated astronaut simulator, and it was like I was in space.  There was a huge sonic boom slide and also a blastoff ride.  We got to see a copy of the Mars Rover.  The kid zone was super cool with climbing to all of the planets.  When we got home, Mom and Dad went to a conference and grandparents gave us popcorn and a movie night.   Best of all, ice-cream! 

The next cool part was going to Harry Potter at Universal Studios at nighttime!  We ate a Margaritaville with our friends from Nashville, and we got balloon animals and pina coladas.  Mom and Dads group rented the Harry Potter section, so it wasn’t crowded at all!  The first ride I went on was by far the craziest and I got to ride with a nice lady from D.C. I got the higher and crazier seat that was in shape of a motorcycle. We almost went upside down. At one point the lights turned off, and then we dropped ten feet and went backwards really fast! When the ride was done, we headed to the next ride.  Next was simulator ride called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.  It was crazy and realistic!  The Dragon was actually hot!  I really felt like I was inside the movie.  Most of it was 3-D.  After the rides we did the wand experience and guess what? I was the chosen one out of like 30 people!  I tried different wands, first I blew up the flowers, then I made a lightning storm in the room.  Next wind blew when I touched the right wand and that meant it chose me!  Last we tried butterbeer and then went and got candy from the special Harry Potter shop.  Mom and Alisa didn’t like the butterbeer.  Harry Potter was one of my favorite memories!  The next morning went home to Wisconsin to see Captain!