(My career began in this building. I actually ended up working for two different companies located here. Gorgeous views from up on 32. As a senior associate, I scored an awesome cube that faced a line of windows overlooking Boston Harbor and the airport. Watching those planes made me contemplate my choice of basically working in a box.)
The girls have been learning about Massachusetts state history as it is part of the third grade curriculum. Some teachers have assigned projects that involve earning points by visiting certain historical locations in the state. For the girls' project, they had to read a book (or books) about a historic figure in Massachusetts, and complete a timeline of major events in that person's life. They were all given a completely optional project of visiting historical places in the state and creating small posters with pictures.
For an afternoon outing, we decided to bring the girls into Boston and walk part of the Freedom Trail. I should note that this was the day after our 3 mile bike/walk, after which we had visited a playground. I gave Anna some time to cool down and recover in between. And then to top it all off, we had attended a birthday party for one of Rich's sisters that night. We had intended to leave by 8:30 so that the girls would be in bed, and hopefully asleep by 9:00, which is pretty much the norm for them. We actually didn't end up getting home until 9:30. So they were tired the next day and hiking around Boston wasn't exactly at the top of their list of things they wanted to do. More Disney training! We brought our old Britax single stroller for Anna in case she needed it. And she did.
We are in kind of a weird spot with Anna. What do we do when there's a ton of walking and we know that she physically may not be able to handle it? She's small enough to still fit in a stroller and look like a tall toddler. No one says anything or looks at her questioningly. The best part is that she absolutely doesn't give a crap.
We made a handful of stops along the Freedom Trail which was perfect for an afternoon outing.
Old State House and Boston Massacre Site
Faneuil Hall
(We didn't go into the marketplace this time but I popped in here for lunch for years and years. I should do a guide on where/what to eat here. I actually want to share more on what to do/where to eat in Boston. After 20+ years, I feel a bit like an expert with that subject matter.)
Paul Revere House
Old North Church
(This was the favorite and most interesting stop.)
I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of our city. More to come! With food!!
6 comments:
You probably already know this but there are strollers designed for bigger kids with special needs. The best one I've found for kids who don't need to ride all the time* is the Maclaren Major Elite. It's not cheap (about $425 on amazon and elsewhere) but it supports a kid up to 110 lbs so it should last as long as you need it.
*it doesn't have the padding you'd want for a kid who was sitting in it all the time but it's smaller and lighter which makes it easier to transport when the kid isn't riding in it.
How long of a walk is the Freedom Trail? Is it best to divide it up,or can it be done in a day? We have this years vacation planned,but are always adding to our list of places to go in the future.
Thanks for a very interesting post,looking forward to the food post.
Thanks for sharing:)
Kate - we're not quite ready to take that step yet. She still fits comfortably in the jogging stroller. The issue with Boston is that many of the places we went to were not stroller friendly and we had to leave it outside. If someone stole the old Britax, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. We didn't want to risk the jogger - or a more expensive stroller.
Bernice - the Freedom Trail is about 2.5 miles long. You could do it in a day. With little kids, it could be a lot but it's do-able.
I would absolutely love to learn about places to eat lunch in Boston. I probably won't get there again for another 10 years but it would still be great to read about it! Thanks for sharing your day.
That makes sense; I misunderstood the issue you were having. In the last few years I've seen a couple of carriers designed for special needs kids that basically provide a some support/structure so you can carry an older kid on your back more easily and for a longer time. Something like that might work for non stroller friendly situations.
http://www.myfreeloader.com/special-needs-community
Just catching up on your most recent posts and I love the photos! We live in Lexington, so lots of great history here too, but there is just nothing like Boston! I love this city so much!
My father immigrated here from Italy in his early 20's and just became a US citizen in May of 2015! The ceremony is at the old court house in your photo. I love our photos from that day, filled with people being sworn in from over 100 different countries. Your photo of the empty courthouse is so beautiful though, I think I may try to find a similar print online and have it framed for a father's day gift.
Thanks for sharing! Such a great day trip for the girls. We have done it a few times with Jackson, who's in 4th grade, and I look forward to doing it with Ava and Emma (in Kindergarten now) in a few years.
Tanya
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