Boston

In October Brendan and I took our first trip without the kids, and it was wonderful!  We had so much fun together, and it was so easy to get around and do things we wanted to do.  As much as we love traveling with our kids and making memories, it is a lot of work and can be exhausting.  Brendan's parents were nice and watched the kids for us, which I know was a lot of work, but the kids love them and had fun.

We flew into Boston and had a rental car and traveled around New England for 5 days.  It was beautiful, and we loved every place we visited.  Boston was such a cool city.  We walked around Harvard's campus, and walked the freedom trail which brought us through downtown and to 16 historic sites.

We used airbnb to book all of our lodging for this trip, and it was a great experience.  This is the house we stayed at in Boston.

 Harvard Campus

 The Old North Church was beautiful and is still used today, but it is famous for signaling Paul Revere's night ride.  I had never seen box pews before and thought they were very interesting.  Families would buy or rent them and that was the only way you could attend this church and they could be pretty pricey.  The boxes helped to keep the cold drafts out.

Captain Jackson's Chocolate Shop and the Print Shop of Edes and Gill.

 Mike's Pastry shop is famous and along the way of the trail.  We waited in line and when we got up to order realized you had to have cash only.  We were going to come back later after getting cash, but didn't have time because the line was three times as long.  At least I got some pretty pictures of some sweets.  Maybe next time.

You can see the Bunker Hill Memorial in the back.

Swiss Days and Snowbird Oktoberfest

On Saturday over Labor day weekend we went up to Swiss Days in Midway.  We enjoyed some pie with a slab of ice cream and some fry bread.  We walked around the booths and enjoyed the entertainment and beautiful weather.  

On Monday we went up to Snowbird's Oktoberfest.  We ate some traditional German food and then took the tram up to hear the alpine horns being played.  It was a beautiful view and a fun day with the kids.

Hazel's First Day of Kindergarten

 Hazel started school in August at the school that I used to teach at before I had kids.  In fact I had her on the last day of school while I was teaching.  Unfortunately, a couple days before school started, Hazel fell off her bunk bed and her teeth cut her bottom lip.  Her whole right side of her face was swollen and her chin had a bump on it.  The doctor said to only eat soft foods for a week.  She could barely smile for these photos.  

On the first day of school I sent Hazel with some applesauce as her snack because the school snack was pretzels and crackers, which she couldn't eat.  She spilled the applesauce all over her backpack, so the next day I sent her with a banana.  I got a call later in the day from the school to see if I could come over and hep calm Hazel down.  I guess some kid in the class was allergic to bananas (who is allergic to bananas?) and the teacher asked Hazel to go out into the hall to eat her snack.  Hazel thought she was in trouble and started crying and the teacher couldn't calm her down.  By the time I got to the school she was fine.  The teacher apologized and said she shouldn't have sent her outside.

We haven't had any other incidents like that, and Hazel loves school and her teacher.  She has made lots of friends.  

This is Hazel a few weeks later on school picture day without a swollen face.