Whirlwind of a Weekend

Wow, what a weekend! I think we were on the go for the whole thing! Saturday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, we headed over to the base pool for a morning swim. Jack practised his floating and putting his head under water, and even stood on the underwater platform and swam a couple of feet over to us without holding on! Emma normally just relaxes in the warm water, but this time she learned how to float. After she got over having water in her ears, she loved it!

After our swim, we drove into Newport for the annual Rhode Island St. Patrick's Day Parade. And what a parade it was! One of the best I have seen in years! Apparently it's the parade for the whole state, so it was huge! We saw bands, Irish dancers, Navy Sailors and Marines, a sax playing Batman, a clown band...well you get the picture. We saw everything!
And, of course, you can't have a parade without fire trucks...and boy did we see fire trucks! Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Warwick, Bristol, Providence...and those are just the ones I remember!

This parade even had boats! Navy boats, Coast Guard boats, and models of Air Craft Carriers.

After the parade, we headed home for a quick nap and then we were off again to a birthday party for a wonderful 2 year old little girl whose daddy goes to school with Matt.

This morning we headed north to Boston. This was the first day we have had since we moved to Rhode Island that was both in the 50's AND sunny! So, of course we took advantage and took a trip! First we headed back to the Boston Children's Museum, one of our favorites! We checked out the Construction Zone again, after a brief stop at the butterfly wall.

Jack drove the Bobcat while Emma and I watched.

Before we headed to a new exhibit, we stopped to enjoy the beautiful view!

Next, we moved on to the Bubble Room. We weren't able to see the Bubble Room last time, so it was a fun new adventure. After Jack tied on his red smock, he and Matt got to bubble blowing. Well, Matt got to bubble blowing...

And Jack got to bubble popping!

After lunch, we left the museum to head over to Boston Common and the Public Gardens. Before we left the Children's Museum, we stopped to look at the Charles River, and the beautiful Boston buildings.

Jack and Emma took a little snooze on the ride to Boston Commons, so Matt and I were able to drive around a bit and find (1) a free parking spot and (2)take in the posh part of Boston - Beacon Hill. We parked across from huge, beautiful homes bordering the park on Beacon St. This is the "planter" in one of the windows of one of those homes....yep, that's running shoes! Too funny!

We also parked right across the street from the Hampshire House, which houses the pub that Cheers was modeled after!

After the kids woke up, we wandered into the Public Gardens to see the Make Way for Ducklings statue - the #1 thing I have wanted to do since we moved to New England! Not only is this a book that we read to Jack, it's a book that my parents' read to me growing up. This was my absolute favorite story book growing up. I don't know if it was because of the heart warming story, or the fact that my parents' added their own personal tidbits since they had lived in Boston for college....but I have wanted to see this place for years and years. I sure hope Jack enjoyed it as much as I did!

Jack and I posed by the duckling named "Jack", of course!

Of course, they are still decked out from last week's partying! Lots of Mardi Gras beads! Jack gave Mrs. Mallard a pat on her beak....and kept saying "duck duck duck" and "quack quack quack" over and over and over.

After we checked out the ducks, Jack stretched his legs before the ride home to Middletown in the park.

We had an amazing day in Boston, sunny, warm (relatively of course) and full of fun!

One last look at the beautiful park before we headed home!