Fall Break in Maine Day 6

I had mentioned to Mom the other day that it would be neat to go into Boston for a day and she in turn mentioned that we could take the train to Boston. The train is an Amtrak train that travels from Portland, Maine down to Boston, Massachusetts in about 2 and a half hours. I had never ridden the train before and thought that would be really cool! So, we planned the trip...to Boston we would go on Thursday!

We decided to take the train out of Portland which meant we would need to be up and out early, we made it in time for the 8:00am trip, really excited!The closest restroom was right through the connector section between two cars, so the kids had to make many restroom breaks! It was kind of freaky walking through this part of the train.

We brought breakfast with us (this would entertain the kids for a while). Dunkin Donuts is very popular in the North, I saw more Dunkin Donuts up there than I did McDonalds!

Right on schedule we arrived in Boston...10:30, plan in mind its time to set off on our journey!

Boston is full of history and not to bore the kids to much, but I want to stop and see a few of the history spots...now we can say "I've been there and I have the picture to prove it!"

First stop, we followed the Freedom Trail to the Old North Church, where Paul Revere and the famous, "One if by land and two if by sea" took place!

As we walked past the older buildings, the kids noticed that the doors of many of the building were very short. They thought it is pretty cool, with comments like "its a kids door."

On the journey to stop two a lady stops us and says, "the elephants are coming!" My thoughts, "Huh, crazy women stopping me about elephants in the middle of Boston...we need to go now!"

No, but really the elephants were really coming. Come to find out the circus was in town and every year when the circus comes into town, they parade the elephants through the streets of Boston to a specific location where they feed them in front of the public.

What a great surprise for us to witness! Its not every day when you can say you saw elephants in the middle of the street!

On the way to the next location we crossed the bridge and Tanner noticed another bridge that he wanted me to take a picture of to show daddy.Boston has about 13 sites on the Freedom Trail and throughout the town they have painted a red line down the sidewalks to represent where this trail is and how to get to some of the sights. Off we are following the trail to get to the USS Constitution.

Many of us have heard about the Battle of Bunker Hill...from afar we saw the monument, which we could have gone to but with so little time decided to skip it.

The USS Constitution is the "oldest battleship in commission afloat in the world". Built in the early 1800's this warship saw battle in the War of 1812.Back in the times of this ship the purpose was battle, not comfort of the sailors. This ship was built to house 44 cannons, but has always carried more. When shooting them off, every other one would go off, while the others were reloading. I couldn't even imagine the amount of noise this created!

The sailors would sleep in 4 hour shifts in hammocks!

Next to the USS Constitution was another warship from WWII, this warship was in dry dock undergoing renovations and so we couldn't go aboard. The kids really enjoyed seeing these old ships.

We grabbed a water taxi to take us to another part of Boston to go to the other locations on our list. This was neat because we traveled through Boston Harbor where of course the Boston Tea Party took place.

We got off the water taxi in the area of Quincy Market and Feniuel Hall. Quincy Market is a very busy shopping area that consists of 3 main buildings. Inside Quincy Market we found Cheers! Cheers is a bar from a TV show of the last 1980's and early 1990's. I use to watch this show and so this is where we ate lunch!

After eating lunch we headed to the Childrens Muesuem. This ended up being more of a walk than I expected, but probably because Tapanga fell asleep and so I ended up carrying her much of the way.

Finally, we ended up at the Childrens Museum to let the kids play for awhile. This museum was full of many fun areas and we could have spent all day inside, but the kids only got a few hours. Right inside they have a huge climbing area they call "boulders" It was all enclosed and three stories tall, but it only had one entrance and one exit, so the kids couldn't get off on another floor!

One thing I really liked about this museum more than our childrens museum in Nashville is that this one has themed rooms. So the kids were mainly confined to the room that you were in. They had a science room, a bubble room, a ball room, a woodworking room, a construction space, a school room, and many others. It was very nicely put to together and maintained.

The kids weren't happy about leaving but we had a 5 o'clock train to catch...we had to go. The subway station wasn't to far away and we knew we would catch the subway to take us back to the North Station where the Amtrak was. This was an experience in itself, making sure we are on the right train going in the right direction and getting off at the correct spot.

We arrived at the station with 5 minutes to spare...today has been a day of good timing! So we hopped on the 5 o'clock train back to Portland and arrived back in Maine at 7:30. We hadn't had dinner yet so we went to On the Border, one of my favorite Mexican restaurants that we don't have at home. Poor Tapanga was exhausted, she fell asleep in the car and didn't budge when I carried her into the restaurant, not even when I tried to wake her up. She slept all the way through to the next morning...poor baby!We had a great Boston experience...I know we did more than we needed to, but to be honest I don't think we will ever be back. If the kids hadn't heard about the Childrens Museum I would have skipped it and done a few other sights, but they were excited about the museum....all in all the kids did great, they held up wonderfully and we all had a good time.

Fall Break in Maine Day 5

Wednesday, the week is almost over! Where has our time gone? Denise is going home today and the kids have been begging to go back to the beach, so today we hope to have a picnic lunch on the beach and enjoy some play time in the sand.

Before heading to the beach, the kids got Grandpa involved in playing with Tapanga's princesses. I don't think Grandpa knew what to do with this!Grammie and Grandpa stayed home while we headed to the beach for lunch. Unfortunately, it wasn't as warm today and so I decided the kids couldn't play in the water.

With the weather being cooler the birds have not been getting as many visitors as they are use to. One bird was eyeing Tapanga while she ate her lunch I wondered if she might be attacked for her PB&J!

My Aunt had put some buns in the freezer a few weeks ago that she had bought for Grandpas birthday, after sitting out for awhile they molded quickly and so we brought these for the birds!

The birds were crazy and pretty freaky. I was taking the bread and crumbling it up and tossing it in the air, they were not scared of people...such a fun experience!

After feeding the birds we noticed the tide was coming in so we moved down the beach a little bit where there was more open space. I had encouraged Mom to bring her book, but she didn't...I brought mine and while the kids played in the sand I sat in the chair and read...what bliss! I wish we were able to do this whenever we felt like it!

Tapanga was tuckered out after her fun in the sun and took a nap on Grammies couch!

It was a little chilly at the beach today, but the kids still enjoyed their time. We watched the tide come in...I wish I had taken a picture of it, I couldn't believe how far in came in...the area where we ate lunch got completed covered blocking off our exit to the parking lot!

After returning to my Grandparents we headed out to dinner with them to The Steakhouse, a yummy steakhouse near Wells Beach...what another great day!

Fall Break in Maine Day 4

Grammie and Grandpa need their rest, so mom and I are taking the kids (and Aunt Denise) to Portland to ride the mail boat. The mail boat is a boat that goes around to many of the islands outside of Portland, it delivers mail and goods to the residents that live on the islands. It is also used as transportation for the residents who live on the islands so that they can travel to the main land.

We knew it was going to be a chilly ride, but they do have a part of the boat that is not open aired if it gets to chilly. To start out though we had to be in the open air, front of the boat.

One of the sites to see during the ride is an old abandoned fort, you can see trees growing out of the top of it. Built back in the 1800's this fort never saw battle, but was there just in case.

The kids were given a map of the tour and enjoyed some time drawing out the path that we took around the islands.

The picturesque islands were very pretty to look at, we also got to be "leap peepers" seeing some of the beautiful New England foliage...we also got to see an interesting boat, with a van on it!

On the way back to Portland we got to see some seals in the water which was pretty cool. I also talked with a women who lives on one of the islands about island life. She says it expensive living on the island, with costs like having two cars, one of which you pay for parking and storage in Portland, you have to pay for you cargo you bring to and from the island.

Some of the islands are pretty big with their own stores and restaurants, where others are small and don't even accommodate cars. Personally, I think island life would be ok for a week, but that would be enough for me! I like to go to many places to want to live on an island.

The most populated island has two stores, some restaurants and even an elementary school...maybe one year we could come back and stay on that island...otherwise we will just visit!