Our BIG Trip!

We went on our biggest, longest trip as a family of four, and it rocked.  Let's talk about that.

Back in January (I think) Erik's side of the family began talking about having a family reunion this summer in Minneapolis.  Looking at a map of the United States, I thought to myself, "Heck, that's halfway to my sister's place in New York.  We should totally go there, too."  Right?  And then I googled how long it takes to drive from my sister's place to Boston, the birthplace of the American Revolution, which we spent the bulk of our school year studying.  Three hours, people.  Clearly we needed to go there as well.  So, we did.  We did it all.  Eleven days, three states, five flights, and two rental cars later I can say with all confidence, we are raising some awesome travelers.  These boys absolutely rocked.  Yes, we all had moments that were less than lovely, but they were short-lived and they did not flavor the trip.  We made awesome memories with family and saw the places we had read about in books.  Epic.  Wanna see the pictures?  Of course you do.

Warning:  Many pictures are just my adorable nephews.  Many other pictures reveal my new crush on the city of Boston.  You've been warned.

We start in Minneapolis.  This was our adorable, sweet, awesome airbnb find.  I don't have any pictures of the interior, but it was sweet.  And the boys didn't break anything.  A triumph!

We had bunnies in our yard.  I'm sure they are a hassle for the gardeners in this neighborhood, but I found them delightful.

We spent lots of time with family, including the morning when I took this picture of Paul being himself on the couch with Michael and Dave.  Good times.

Erik's new hobby is the rubix cube.  He got Dave one for his birthday and then taught him how to solve it...sort of.  ;-)

Here is our entire group, minus Uncle Jim, who was taking the picture.  

Here is my ten-year old being terribly proud of how close he is to being Grandma's height.

And then it was time for two more flights!  We said goodbye to family in Minnesota and headed toward more family in Upstate New York.

I took this picture of Luke and he took the picture of me and Daddy and Paul.  

Our flights went really well.  The boys read, played their handheld video games, and listened to audio books.  Happy!

And then, we arrived at my sister's place.  It was a moment of awesomeness watching these cousins meet for the first time.  My nephews, Joe and Rory, met us at the gate and all four boys immediately raced around the side of the house into the backyard.  It was beautiful.  All the pictures are blurry because they just never held still.

 All four boys headed back toward the house.

 Rory on the deck

 Joe with his light saber

The following four days were filled with running, swimming, jumping, and shouting.  It was magical and crazy.  Yes, there were moments, especially toward the end, when they began to treat each other like brothers...bossing and bickering from my guys mostly.  So, we had some time-outs.  But overall it was pretty sweet time for these four to get to know each other.

 Joe and Luke

 Paul and Rory being robots

 Making faces

 Chilling together on the deck

 Selfie with Aunt Amy!

 Rory loves his old Oregon Ducks shirt, so I got him a new one.  :-)

 The pool!

On Tuesday, our third day there, we took a trip to Saratoga to visit the battlefield.  It was so cool!  The National Historic Park there is well worth the visit.  We spent the better part of four hours there and could have spent more if we'd had the time.  We started in the Visitor's Center and then drove the battlefield sites, getting out to walk around at seven of the ten stops.  Here are the pics.

 Probably the boys' favorite thing: a map with embedded LEDs that light up to show troop movements as an audio recording tells the story of the battle.  We watched it twice.

 Completely enthralled

 Farmhouse from which General Horatio Gates commanded the American troops.

 Cannon on Bemis Heights, placed here to prevent the British forces from reaching Albany by water.

 These three doing history and science together...lots of cool insects in this battlefield.

 Luke points to where the American forces attacked from, forcing the British to retreat to a nearby wheat field on September 19, 1777.  One thing that I noticed - these battlefields are huge.  When you read it in a book, you forget that thousands of men were involved.  The spaces had to be large.

And now the most thought-provoking monument I've ever seen.

 "In memory of the most brilliant solder of the Continental Army who was desperately wounded on this spot...7th October 1777, winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the American Revolution and for himself the rank of Major General."

Why just a boot?  Why not this man's face?  Why isn't he named?  It was Benedict Arnold.  He truly was the hero of Saratoga.  Without his bold actions to ride across the line of fire and take the Breymann Redoubt, the Americans would not have won the battle and might not have won the war.  When we arrived at this monument, the boys already knew the story.  And they knew Arnold's eventual choice to betray his country, brought on by bitterness regarding an overlooked promotion.  Pride.  We all stopped and read Genesis 4:7, God's words to Cain after his offering wasn't accepted.  "You will be accepted if you do what is right.  But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out!  Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.  But you must subdue it and be its master."

Arnold's heroism and downfall was a clear example to us all about how sin can completely ruin an otherwise admirable human being.  He allowed the sin of pride to be his master.  And so, despite being the man who won the Battle of Saratoga, his name is forever synonymous with betrayal.  Okay.  End sermon.

And now, back to the pool!

 One of the last pictures I took of the cousins.  It pretty accurately portrays them!

Thursday morning, the Bangsund crew headed for Boston, via the Massachusetts turnpike.  It was a lovely drive and we arrived at Minuteman Park in the early afternoon.  We enjoyed the visitor center and then headed out to see a few sites.

 The exact spot where Paul Revere was taken captive on the road between Lexington and Concord.  He never finished the ride!  Did you know that?  Luke did.  He read that book in his hand, Mr. Revere and I, a fictionalized account of these events as told by Paul Revere's horse.  We highly recommend it for folks of all ages!

Our next stop was Concord.  At this point we were running out of time because the rental car needed to be returned.  Luke picked Concord over the Lexington Green.  I was cool with that.

 The boys in a tree at Concord that was probably standing the day of the skirmish.

 Standing on the bridge that was the site of the first shots.

 Looking out toward the bridge.

From there, we headed into town.  Erik did an amazing job getting us into town in the midst of rush hour traffic.  By the way, lest you imagine that the traffic is all headed out of town on a Thursday at 5pm, it wasn't.  I think that in cities of this size, it just gets crazy and maybe stays crazy all the time.  I don't know for sure because we returned the car and spent the next two and a half days walking!

So, I need to go back a bit.  When we were considering this trip and I was looking at lodging in Boston, I needed to make a choice.  Pay less and stay farther from the things we wanted to see or pay more and be able to return the car and walk everywhere.  I am SO, SO, happy that I decided to fork over the extra money to stay where we did.  We rented a two-bedroom apartment through airbnb that was across the street from Boston Common and a two minute walk from the start of the Freedom Trail.  Perfect location!  Money well spent, people.  We will do it that way every time.

Our first evening in Boston, we headed over to the park.  I have a confession to make.  I now have a complete crush on the city of Boston.  Our time there was nothing short of magical.  So, excuse me while I gush and rave.

Boston Common is my new favorite spot on earth.  Yes, it's a public park, but it is so gorgeous.  Let me prove it:

And it abounds with awesome historical business like this monument commemorating the year Boston was founded, 1630, by Puritans.

And then there are the literary references:

 When Luke was two years old, we read Make Way for Ducklings to him so many times that he had the entire first three pages memorized.  I can still hear his little voice saying "Mistuh and Missus Mawurd wuhr wooking for a puh-wace to wihve."  Now look at him.  (deep mommy sigh)

Okay!  Beacon street is beautiful.  Like this:

The next day was my birthday!  And it was our only full day in town, so we filled it!

 Outside the Granary Burying Ground, this man was nice enough to pose with the boys.

We saw the grave of James Otis, a man the boys became familiar with through the reading of Johnny Tremain and the viewing of the Liberty's Kids series.  He was really one of the first men to speak out against the Writs of Assistance, early British legislation that infringed on the rights of colonial merchants.  We also saw the graves of Paul Revere, Samual Adams, the victims of the Boston Massacre, and the parents of Benjamin Franklin.

Next came the Old South Meeting House.  I didn't take any pictures outside!  But you can google it.  This was the place where Sam Adams spoke to a gathering of at least 5,000 folks on the evening of December 16, 1773 while they waited to see if the colonial governor would allow the Dartmouth, a tea ship waiting in the harbor, to return to Britain with its cargo, rather than unload it, forcing the colonists to pay the taxes due.  When the messenger announced that the governor would not relent, Sam Adams reportedly said, "This meeting can do nothing more to save the country," a pre-arranged signal for the Sons of Liberty to proceed to the wharf and dump the tea.  It started in this building!  And we were there!  EEK!!  I LOVE living history!!  Here are the pics from inside Old South.

 An interactive map!

 These two men presented a dialogue between a patriot merchant and a British regular, highlighting what each might have been experiencing in the days that led up to the Boston Tea Party.

And then, because it was my birthday, we stopped at Starbucks and got cake pops!

We continued on our way, headed for Paul Revere's house, but I stopped to take this picture of the Old State House.  (We went inside the following day...keep scrolling!)

This was the only shot I took of Paul Revere's house.  We weren't actually permitted to take any pictures while inside.  So, I'll just say that it was very interesting.  It's one of the oldest original structures in Boston.  And it was NOT a big home.  One thing to think about for future visitors - this place was absolutely packed on Friday at 11am.  It opens at 10am.  I would maybe go on a weekday when it opens.  Just a thought.  :-)

Then we got hungry.  We had just heard from the actors at the Old South Meeting House about the meetings the Sons of Liberty used to have at the Green Dragon Tavern.  We had passed it on the way to Paul Revere's house, so we went back!

 Luke is tired and hungry in this picture.  But I'm posting it anyway.  It was nearly 2 o'clock in the afternoon.  Definitely time to feed the people.

 The place is filled with cool Revolutionary War artifacts.  So cool!  

After our late lunch, we decided it was time to rest.  We walked back to our apartment and spent a few hours doing not much.  The boys played their handheld video games and we napped.  Lovely.

After rest, the boys really wanted to try the wading pond on Boston Common.  And since it's my new favorite place, I agreed it was a splendid idea.

 The backdrop of city buildings against the park is just stunning to me!

For birthday dinner, we grabbed McDonald's pancakes for the kids and Thai takeout for the grownups.  Our first night in Boston, we did a fun Italian restaurant with the boys.  I didn't really want to press my luck with tired children on my birthday.  Take out seemed smart.

Saturday was our final day in Boston, but our flight didn't leave until 6:30 pm.  Our airbnb host was gracious enough to allow us to leave our luggage in the apartment until we headed for the airport.  We were able to go enjoy the city unencumbered!  Sweet!

We headed for the Old North Church.  Rather than walk for twenty minutes, we took the subway.  Luke was pretty impressed by the sight and sound of his first subway train.  Those puppies are loud!

There it is!  One if by land; two if by sea.  The spire is a replica thanks to Hurricane Carol in 1954.  But it still looks awesome.

The boys are holding our copy of Johnny Tremain.  I can't help myself.  We read about these places all year long!  When we get to see them, it feels so special and amazing.

 Another picture with the book in front of the entrance to the church.  Costumed gentleman was super sweet and accommodating...probably meets crazy history geek moms all the time.

As we entered the church, a presentation was just beginning, so we took a seat in one of the box pews.  We looked over and read this plaque:

 HA!  Extra brush with cool history - no extra charge!

This clock is original to the church.  It's over 300 years old and still runs.  That's impressive to me.

 The sanctuary

 This plaque explains that General Thomas Gage viewed the Battle of Bunker Hill from the spire of this church.  The boys thought that was cool.  Because it is.

This is the window through which Robert Newman escaped on the night he hung the two lanterns.  There were British Regulars stationed at the church, probably because it was the tallest structure in all of Boston, the perfect signal tower.  Newman climbed out this window, eluding them.

Another picture of the spire because it is beautiful against the blue sky and the green trees.

And because it was my birthday, I wanted my picture taken with these ladies in historical garb.  :-)

We did the behind the scenes tour, which allowed us to climb to the first level of the bell tower.  Paul Revere was hired as a teenage boy to ring those bells.  He climbed those stairs.  We sat in the room where he worked.  I love it!  Sidenote:  I probably would not recognize most of the folks considered to be celebrities today.  And even if I did, I'm confident I would ignore them if I saw them. Seriously. But if historical figures were walking around, somehow resurrected, I would turn into a mushy, gushy school girl and probably follow them around asking for their autographs.  That's just how I roll.

 Luke climbing the stairs to the bell-ringing tower.

By the time were we done at the Old North Church, we had about three hours until our flight.  Too soon for the airport.  So, we stopped off at the Old State House for an hour.  It was a great museum!  There were lots of interesting artifacts and plenty of interactive exhibits for the boys to enjoy.

 Our final interactive map!

 Actual weapons from the Battle of Bunker Hill

 The balcony from which the Declaration of Independence was first read to the citizens of Boston on July 18, 1776.

 The table where the colonial government of Massachusetts met.

Well, people, that might have seemed like a lot of pictures, but I did an amazing job of paring down from the 377 that I took.  It was a glorious trip.  We learned that our kids can travel well, eating at non-chain restaurants and walking for three to five miles a day in high humidity and moderate temperatures.  I think the key to our success was drinking lots of water and stopping when we were tired.  We didn't get to Bunker Hill or the U.S.S. Constitution because we stopped when we were tired.  But we all have mostly sweet, awesome memories of our time in Boston.  And that was the goal.  Go Team Bangsund!