New England Day 4: Train, Boston Temple, Lexington and Concord

Matthew and Megan slept in the same bed in NYC. Megan complained that she'd been squished by Matthew the night before. This is right after they went to sleep Monday night. Who is squishing who now?

In the morning, the situation reversed itself.

Tuesday morning, we took the train up to Boston. Train travel is so much more relaxing than driving. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, including lots of sailboats in Connecticut.

Heading to the train.

Me and Matthew

Megan, U and Sarah

Goodbye NYC!

Hello Connecticut!

Hello Rhode Island!

Nice scenery from the train.

Sarah slept for much of the 4.5 hour ride.

Matthew, Megan, U and Sarah at the station in Boston.

We stopped by the Boston Temple. It's beautiful!

We went to Minute Man National Historic Park which includes many sites from the first battles of the Revolutionary War.

Walking to the Minute Man Visitor Center.

What a lovely leaf!

I love all the greenery! And seeing the raindrops on the water.

Matthew and Megan finished up their Junior Ranger packets. We also watched a multimedia presentation and explored the exhibits at this visitor center.

U at the Paul Revere capture site. It's sure good that Paul Revere and William Dawes met Dr. Samuel Prescott in Lexington since he's the only one who made it all the way to Concord.

The Alcott home in Concord.

Minute Man Matthew

Minute Woman Megan

This board is said to have been a part of the original North Bridge.

The new North Bridge.

View from the bridge.

Looking the other way.

That's one huge spider web!

Minute Man Memorial by the bridge.

Poem to the British soldiers (and yes, there are a couple buried here). It's a bit harsh....

Monument at the bridge.

Plaque on the monument.

Description of what happened.

Megan, Me, Sarah and Matthew on the bridge.

Panoramic from the bridge.

Megan found a leaf!

Me and Matthew hiding under a tree.

Sarah showcasing her gymnastics skills.

Look at that stretch!

We then drove to the Lexington Green where the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired.

Inscription on the monument.

Fall!

Megan loved playing in the leaves. In speaking about the leaves, she said, "These trees are so pretty. Why do they do that?"

When planning a trip to see fall colors, there's always a bit of uncertainty due to not knowing when colors will be at "peak." We weren't sure where the colors were at for sure, but Me noted that, "It looks like the leaves have trees on still." That's reassuring....

Greenville part 2

On Saturday morning, the oldest four kids went to an art class to paint pictures of cupcakes. They all really enjoyed it.

Getting ready to paint

Background work

Megan hard at work

Sarah was completely absorbed

Drying the finished product

So many delicious looking cupcakes!

After lunch, we headed over to Heritage Park. We rode the train around it first. The train went under a bridge, over a bridge and through a barn.

View from the back

View from the front

Zach and Matthew enjoying the ride.

Then we played on a nice playground. Grandpa and U were monsters chasing the kids around for a bit.

After that, we went hiking on a path in Lake Conestee Park. It did not feel like the park was in the middle of the city! There were some boardwalks which are always fun for walking. We also played Pooh sticks a few times as we crossed over the river.

Boys bringing up the rear.

The kids were real troopers!

Megan and Me

We saw a baby turtle in the swamp.

Matthew loved pushing Josie's stroller.  Good thing she wasn't in it.

Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch the kids while the other adults went out on a double date.

First we had great food and fun at an Elder's Quorum activity. We learned that one of Me's zone leaders from her mission is in Jon's ward.

Playing spike ball

Then we went to an escape room and got out with almost 23 minutes to spare.  Somehow we skipped a couple steps (with U's amazing manipulative abilities as well as a bit of smart luck getting us a code before we were supposed to have it).  We still saved the world.

Sunday was Aspen's birthday.  The older girls stayed the night with Grandma and Grandpa.  They enjoyed Aspen's birthday cereal in the morning.

Aspen loved all of her presents.

Later that night we went to Kinley's piano recital.  She was great!

We played some Machi Koro with Jon and Marci and then came upstairs to find the older girls tangled together. (Megan and Matthew spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's apartment Sunday night.)

Monday we started out by going to Airplane Park.  It is right next to the downtown airport and it was neat to see the planes and helicopters land.

This helicopter landed right by the fence. Of course, everyone ran to look.

Matthew and Zach hung out by the fence for a long time, watching the planes and playing pilot.

Thick as thieves. They do get along really well!

Cute girl in the luggage chute

Marci couldn't resist getting in on the action as well.

Pilot Quincy ready for take off with chief mechanic Zach and fuel operator Matthew.

Flying boys

After the park, several of us went swimming at Jon and Marci's neighborhood pool.  We swam, dove and played water games like Marco Polo and lacrosse.

Megan loved diving for squid.

Cousins make the best friends.

We are a bit worried about the size of Jon's head...

The older girls planned a wonderful FHE and we talked about all the things we like about Aspen.  Then we played Tenzi and had ice cream sandwiches.