Boston.

Boston.  Where even George Washington professes his love of the Bruins.

Before we headed north to Maine for our annual summer vacation, we hung out in Boston for a few days.  After a day on the plane and a busy week leading up to our trip, we planned nothing for the afternoon and evening when we arrived.  Perhaps that is a little misleading, since I did plan to take the kids to the public garden and let them go nuts.

They really enjoyed the space and decompressing a bit.  Alastair is walking next to the duck pond here, complete with little ramp so the ducks can easily got on and off their island.

Surprise!  This park has a carousel.

Emery was convinced to ride.

The NHL playoffs were going on while we were there and even the "Make Way for Ducklings" statues were wearing their team jerseys.  We learned that there is a Beacon Hill family that has costumes made for the little fellows for most holidays.  In Boston, the NHL playoffs are definitely a holiday.  

I was a little horrified at the kids desire to sit on the ducks, but it seems like Mack, Quack, Lack, Ouak, Jack, Kack, Nack, and Pack are used to the attention because every kid that came along hoped right on.  They are amply polished under their jerseys.

Then we spent some time just rolling around in the softest grass ever.

No fire ants!

The awesome thing about city parks is that we were smack in the middle of an insanely busy area of a very big city and it felt like we had all the space in the world.  The kids just ran around and did their own thing while we watched and did a little resting of our own.

Nell got to practice her sitting up.

I helped.

For the rest of the day, we wandered around, soaking up the Back Bay and just enjoying ourselves.  We had dinner at Legal Seafoods and then hit the hotel.

In the morning, we had another kind of duck surprise for the kids.

 

A duck tour!

Alastair had been watching all the colorful amphibious vehicles driving by since we arrived in Boston and he was ecstatic to discover he was going to get to ride in one.  

 

 Imagine how excited he was, then, to get to drive it on the Charles. 

 He'll be talking about it for quite some time to come.

 

Even little sister got in on the act, although I don't think she saw much of anything during her turn. 

That didn't keep her from enjoying it one bit though.

Littlest sister snoozed through the whole thing.

That's us in the back.

Right now you can't be in the Back Bay without seeing the memorial for the victims at the Boston Marathon.  

Running shoes lined several barricades and there were notes, candles, and other memorials all over Copley Square.

"In those days, we finally chose to walk like giants and hold the world in arms grown strong with love and there may be many things we forget in the days to come, but this will not be one of them." Brian Andreas

Boston Strong, indeed.