Boston, Part 4

All of them had been looking forward to the Museum of Science, and I saved it for the last day. We were really slow getting out the door on Wednesday (and it was raining and cold), which meant we didn’t have time to see the USS Constitution or the Boston Tea Party Museum. I don’t think they even cared, and by this point, all I wanted was for them to have good experiences. I realized I’d expected too much from them and I was fine to spend the day at the museum.

We rushed into the IMAX theater for “Great Barrier Reef,” and that theater was unlike any IMAX I’d ever seen. It was HUGE with 180-degree views. It was too big, in my opinion, and I couldn’t ever see everything that was going on. The movie was good and got the kids excited to see more, but we first needed some lunch.

Sidenote: Ever since Micah broke his collar bone, his appetite has disappeared. Walking 14,000+ steps a day brought it back in spades. I can’t believe how much he ate on this trip. And let it be known, he likes ice cream just as much as his dad.

After lunch, we wandered through the exhibition halls, but the boys quickly realized that this museum is geared to 3-6 graders. Eve loved it. They barely tolerated it. By the time we realized it wasn’t what everyone wanted to do, it was too late to go see anything else, including travel time. Eve was a little disappointed, but I dropped them off at the apartment around 4 with some movies, promising to be back around 6 to make dinner. I rented another blue bike and squeezed in 90 bonus minutes of research on a volume that can’t leave Widener Library. I’m finding some great information, and I’m hopeful I will have everything together by the November 1 deadline to apply for the next class.

Fancy macaroni and cheese dinner (yeah, not fancy), more conference, then Survivor, and everyone was hammered and ready to sleep.

 Cambridge Common--I never tire of this park. I mean, WASHINGTON STOOD HERE, PEOPLE!

I wanted one last run through the fall weather, but the forecast predicted lots of rain Thursday morning. I didn’t care, and I set the alarm early (6:45—not early!) and headed out. It was cool and sprinkling but it was gorgeous. The colors. The temperature. The surroundings. I’ve fallen in love with Cambridge, and I’m so happy I got to spend almost an entire week enjoying it in the best season of the year. Before 7 am, I got a notification that our flight was already delayed an hour (not a good sign), and we had to be out by 10 am. What to do? The kids were split about going straight to the airport or finding something to do, but in the end we ran for the bus to get on the train for the airport. And Mom miscalculated again—missing the bus by less than a minute. By this time, Eve was a grumpy mess from pulling her suitcase along the bumpy sidewalk and ti was raining, so I called an Uber to take us to the train station. While we rode our (supposedly) last train ride, Eve realized, through a flood of tears, that she’d left her souvenir knitting set on the nightstand of the bedroom. (She found it buried in her backpack two days later, but these were some real, serious tears.)

Something needed to be done, fast. So I called an audible, and we got off the train at Boston Common for one final (our third) round of Dunkin’. There were only a dozen to choose from! Instead, the kids chose McDonald’s breakfast right next door, and everyone was happy once more. We walked across the street to the Common, down to the train station, used our train passes for (supposedly) the last time, and waited two minutes for the train. Just as we were ready to board, Micah panicked. “I left my backpack in McDonald’s!” Off he ran, and in less than three minutes he was back. That really was the last time we used our train passes. Two transfers later (and a flight update that moved our flight up half an hour!), we were at the airport and heading home.

What a great trip. I hope my kids have forever memories of the time we spent together in Boston. Nothing profound or extremely exciting or noteworthy, but it was a fun way to spend Fall Break. The little AirBnB where they slept and watched movies and played Nintendo Switch (thanks for sneaking that on the trip, Rum!). The changing leaves and “hardcore Parkour” in the park. Their first subway rides. Harvard—which may not mean much to them but was thrilling for me to share. History and science and aquatic life and rain and sunshine and fish and ice cream. I love these kids. I loved spending a week with them. I’m so glad they’re mine.

Goodbye, Boston. I’ll see you on Sunday, but this time I’ll be flying solo.