The 24 Hour Boston Adventure

Last weekend we went down to Boston so that Mal could become Zumba certified at an all day course. We decided to make a weekend of it (somewhat). We stayed in Lowell, MA on Friday night at the Courtyard Marriot. You can see Madie about to pound me with a pillow because I was pretending to sleep on her cool pullout bed. She had a lot of fun! It was a bummer that the pool was closed. Who puts in an outdoor pool in a Massachusetts hotel??? Only seasonal =( Very thankful that we all got a good night sleep though.

The next morning we found the "Classical American Diner", prefabricated with steel exterior, almost a railcar look, and Boston accents flying left and right. When we walked in, I felt like we had walked onto a movie set.

Check out these juke boxes...each booth had their own. They didn't work, but I'm sure they did at one time.

After a good greasy breakfast, we dropped off Mal and headed for the train.

Madie was so excited to be on the train, I think she was more excited to be on the train than go to the aquarium to see the fishes.

This is their relationship as of right now. Madie sticking her finger in his ear.

When we first arrived in downtown, we went to the iMax theater to watch a movie. It was a 3d movie, and the opening scene was one of a huge wave breaking right onto us...with the 3d effect...was a little bit too much for Madie (now wearing 3d glasses) and Finn (who just happened to glance over when the wave was crashing). Madie flinched, trying to cover her face with her hands. Finn just screamed! We lasted about 10 more minutes, and then Madie was a little too scared. So we just headed right into the aquarium. These little penguins were fun to watch.

Madie refused to take a picture standing next to Finn with that seal in the background. She just hates pictures!

Finn was in a great mood, all day.

Checking out the seals.

This guy was so close to the window, Madie loved watching him.

Based on our trips to PetCo and the amount of time Madie spent watching the fish in the aquariums, I thought the aquarium would be an all day event! We probably spent only an hour in there....now, how do I kill 6 more hours with two kids in downtown Boston?

We ended walking up to the North End to check out Little Italy. The lunch was pretty good, not as impressive as I thought it would be. I guess when you have a really good friend who has created some of the best Italian dishes in the world...it's hard to compare. It was fun to see all of the little shops though. And people kept giving things to Madie! She got the rose at the restaurant, and the lollipop at an Italian pharmacy. They just couldn't help themselves.

After walking around a bit more and hanging out in the train station, we finally got back on the train.

Madie watched Cinderella so that I could deal with a hungry Finn-man.

After 10 minutes of movie time, she just couldn't keep her eyes open. This was a long but fun day.