We ventured to Boston, MA to see Brady's sister Kelsey graduate from college May 6-10th. Yeah Kelsey!

**** This is a VERY LONG JOURNAL ENTRY ****

The morning of our Thursday depart I wound up taking Hailey in to see a doctor. She wasn't feeling well on Wednesday and was running a fever by the night. Her doctor and other pediatric doctors were super full so the family doctor on the other wing saw her after I insisted she be seen. He diagnosed her with it being viral, some bronchitis and a secondary ear infection. He put her on a quick round of medication which oddly enough he told me would cover pneumonia. So with antibiotics and an off brand Tylenol in hand, we rushed to the airport. (This is also the first time I have used a store brand for my children. I have always gone for those bigger names. Funny thing is that they keep getting recalled. My mind has been changed.)

The children were good on the two airplanes we took to get to Boston.  I packed several things to do just in case but they wound up sleeping and looking around for most of the trip. We arrived in Boston, got our rental car and headed to find the hotel. We met up with the rest of the Tucker family in the front of the hotel. They even gave us the better room for Hunter's sake. So sweet. Out of one window you could see where the trains would load and depart right by the hotel. Hailey told me she didn't think our hotel would look that way. She liked how homey it was!

FRIDAY:

We woke up early, ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and headed out for the Graduation Ceremony. I am not a fan of going on subways, trams or whatever they are called anywhere, anyplace, period. In all actuality, they terrify me. I don't like purposely putting myself into a box crammed with lots of other people and not being able to get out if I needed too. Not to mention that I had 2 children which made me extra nervous. I LIVED and everything went smoothly. Hunter loved it and Hailey took every opportunity to stand when she could. I don't blame her. She doesn't care to be strapped into her car seat and this was something totally different.

We sat and watched Kelsey who looked super cute in her new haircut and black shoes which I loved. The kids did great listening through the whole ceremony. I think I handed out an entire pack of tissues for Hailey.  Hunter got so used to clapping that he clapped once in his sleep. It was funny to me.  Kelsey and Zivi also made some cute shirts that said on the back that they Graduated. I loved the precise even lines guys!

We met up with the GRADUATE afterward and then met up with Kelsey's boyfriend and their family at a mexican restaurant for lunch. After that we went and toured Kelsey's apartment and the kids terrorized their lovable cat Raj. He is a super fluffy soft cat who tolerated the children petting and playing with him. They have really never been around any nice animal for long periods of time so this was fun for them.

We then headed out on a walk and went to this huge mall area where I picked up a couple gifts at Franklin Covey. We pretty much called it quits after that because it had been a long day and Hailey wasn't looking so well and needed to go to bed. This is also where we are pretty sure we lost a $400 pair of prescription sunglasses for Brady. We called a cab to take us back to our hotel instead of traveling by the subway. At the time, it t was so worth the $13 to get back to our hotel. Loved it.

SATURDAY:

We woke up to a rainy drizzly day so we headed out to the Aquarium. I thought the kids might enjoy it and it looked like fun too. We drove the rental car and met up with the family. We hadn't eaten so made a detour to this fabulous mall type area that had every kind of food in it that Kelsey suggested. I thought it would be like our mall food but oh no. Just about everything smelled and looked yummy.  Hailey spied a pretzel right off so that is what she wound up eating along with some juice. Hunter didn't want to be left out so he had pretzel bites with cheese sauce. I wasn't that hungry yet so I just had a raspberry turnover. I did sample Brady's delicious meal. Don't remember what it was but it was good. He also got a piece of lemon pie which Hailey and I ate half of too!

Views from our hotel windows

The aquarium was a good one. I could have done without the gazillion tourists every square inch but I liked it. Hailey and I agree that the penguins were the highlight. It was also the perfect spot to get that tourist travel token trip gift. Grammy let the kids pick out something in the gift shop. Hailey immediately wanted a penguin but she searched for a bit until she found one that looked like "Penquino", her penguin she got in Santa Fe at good ole Ross. Hunter also picked out a penguin but his was a super soft one. I think he goes for feel.

Across the street from the Aquarium was an interesting talkative man who was hoping we wanted a horse ride. He kept going on about how the Tooth Fairy owed Hailey some money. Apparently $2 isn't enough. Anyway Hailey rarely talks to other people she doesn't know very well. She had no problems talking to this guy. Why? He had a horse. It is still one of Hailey's dreams to ride on a horse in the open by herself. 

Since it was about to rain some more we stopped and ate at one of the Cheers restaurants. I still wasn't that hungry and the Boston creme pie looked yummy and it didn't disappoint! 

From there we toured the dock areas and then headed back to the hotel so the kids could swim. Hailey was looking forward to this even before the trip started. I had to pack her floaties for fun! The kids had fun with Grammy, Kelsey, Michael and Brady swimming but I think us adults were quite shocked at the group of unsupervised children/teenagers who were swimming in their underwear. Lovely site. Hailey had already warned me that I was to film her swimming across the pool and back. She was so proud of herself even though she did it in her swim floatie!

I bathed the kids and tried to put Hunter to bed but he was still mad from being denied by me of going back out with Brady and his family to the  hotel restaurant to hang out. When Brady came back, we wound up getting room service. I am pretty sure that even though we were hungry, the steak and potatoes were delicious as well as that 2 person chocolate cake. Hunter dug right in and helped himself to the entire outer edge of the cake before he called it quits!