Noah's birthday adventure

For our grandson Noah's 8th birthday, we thought a Duck Boat tour of Boston would be fun.  We also took Noah's little sister Elsie, since Noah came along on Elsie's birthday adventure in January.  Then their Mom Wendy decided to come....and why not invite Wendy's brother Kenny??   Our Birthday Adventure turned into a group of six!

The Duck Boats start out at the Boston Museum of Science, so we picked up Wendy, Noah and Elsie and parked in the Museum of Science parking garage.   Kenny met us there, since he lives in Boston.

We got there about 12:30 and much to our dismay, the first available Duck Boat with six spots was at 4:30!  Oh no!  Now what should we do?

Well, let's all take a walk to Quincy Marketplace for some lunch!  The walk through Boston was an adventure in itself.  The city was packed with people, all out to enjoy the last days of summer.  And it was a perfectly gorgeous day. There was so much to see!  Noah is a great lover of anything with wheels....and we saw taxis, and city buses, and trolleys and subway cars and police cars and fire trucks and ambulances, etc etc etc!  Very exciting!

When we got to Quincy Marketplace there were plenty of buskers and artists and entertainers that were all very intriguing for an 8 year old.

He especially loved the guy playing drums on buckets and pot covers.  It was hard to pull him away!

The Invisible Man was a little scary...but he went as long as Memere went with him!

Wendy, Noah, Elsie and Grampy waited patiently and people-watched while Kenny and I went to get pizza.   It kind of broke my heart to get pizza in a place like Quincy Market...where you can get many more delectable things! .....but there was no way we could bring everyone inside to the food court.  It was shoulder to shoulder!

We still had more time so we continued walking all the way to the Aquarium to see the seals in their outdoor pool.

On the way back we saw a Hard Rock Cafe, so Grampy took them inside to look at all the instruments.  And the nice lady inside let Noah sit behind the drum set!

He loved the guitar-shaped handles on the doors.

And finally...the main event!

Noah, Kenny, Elsie, Wendy and I wait for the ride to start.

We got the America is Beautiful Duck Boat

Hubby and I are excited for the ride to begin!

Elsie checks out the view

The tour guide was amazing....very funny and knowledgeable.   He brought us to this glass skyscraper, where we can see our reflection as well as the reflection of the beautiful old church behind us.

Longfellow Bridge....aka the "Salt and Pepper Bridge" because of its resemblance to salt and pepper shakers!

 Once we did the land tour, the vehicle splashes into the Charles River and becomes a boat!  The highlight of the water portion is when the Captain allows each child on the boat to have a turn at the wheel.

And then he posed for a picture for the Moms and Dads.

We had to laugh, because this was our view of Elsie driving the boat!

But she posed for a photo too

Did Noah have a good time?  I think so!

Time to go home?  yup!

Boothbay Harbor 2016

Hubby and I  decided to head up to Boothbay Harbor for a little mini-vaca with our good friends, the Coopers.

Our first stop was for lunch in Portland.   We went to our current favorite place, The Old Port Restaurant.   Then Hubby talked us into walking to the crazy record store he found the last time we were in Portland!  What a surprise...he found some records to buy!

Good thing Kate could direct us with the GPS on her phone...we would have never found our way back to the car!

Naturally, the guys also found a guitar store to visit.

And aren't they cute in their matching hats?

Then we continued on to our B and B right in downtown Boothbay Harbor. 

                                                      

 It was right on the waterfront and had some nice chairs on the lawn and on the dock.  

We all got to spend some quite time on the dock.

And the view was terrific!  (as long as it was high tide....at low tide the dock sat in the mud!)

Kate's cousin has a summer place in Boothbay Harbor, and had graciously invited us all over for dinner.  We were able to walk to her place from the B and B.   When we got there, Lois had wine and 

 hors d'oeuvres on the back lawn. Then her son David offered to take us for a boat ride!  Well, that was a very nice and pleasant surprise!

Rick and Kate on Lois' back lawn.

After Lois and her family fed us, ( and including a very delightful short concert on ukulele by Lois' two granddaughters)  we headed back to the B and B for a nice, long game of Dominoes.  Next thing we knew, it was 1 am!    (Who stays up and parties until 1 am?  We do!)

After a nice breakfast in the morning out on the deck of our B and B, we took the short drive over to the Maine Botanical Garden.  A few photos:

The Labyrinth is one of our favorite features at the gardens.  

 The pot of succulents in the middle gives me an idea for my backyard garden!

Tag working hard to make a Fairy House in the Fairy Village

A very comfortable snoozing bench.  Seems like both guys enjoyed it!

Fields and fields of my Mom's favorite flower

My Hydrangea never got this many blossoms!

Cardinal flower

Tag having a short rest

Rick and Kate enjoy the Meditation Garden

Their view

Hubby posing for his statue called "The Stinker"

The only place I've ever actually seen a frog on a lily pad.  And there were dozens of frogs!

Hubby providing us with a puppet show in the Children's Garden

Dahlia - another flower I intend to plant in my garden next  year

A very pretty waterfall in the Rhododendron Garden

After walking all the way down to the bottom of the Gardens, we didn't mind taking the little golf cart back to the top!

After the Gardens, Hubby and I did some window and art gallery shopping in the downtown area......while I'm pretty sure the Coopers grabbed a nap!   Hubby managed a short nap too, when we got back.   Because then we got together and found some dinner - we wanted to go to this iconic place but for no good reason, they were closed!  (the sign says, "Sorry where (sic)  closed today - see you tomorrow")     Luckily, we went back the next day right before we left and were able to get the foot-long hot dogs with chili and/or sauerkraut.

 After that we did some window-shopping, got some ice cream, and came back for a much shorter game of Dominoes before an early bed!

After breakfast on our last day, we took a great boat ride out of Boothbay into the harbor.  It was a Lighthouse and Seal watch.....but we only saw the heads of a couple of seals and we saw two lighthouses.  The weather was perfect and the views were stunning!

One last visit to the stores. because Rick told Tag he'd found a "60's store"!  All "New Age" stuff with an overwhelming incense smell!

And naturally, our trip wouldn't be complete without finding a store with used records

(yes, we do realize it says "antiques" right above their heads.....how appropriate!)

The two of them reminded me of Howard and Leonard on Big Bang Theory as they look at comic books:  "Got it, got it, got it.....need it!"

For a last hurrah, we stopped at Brown's on the way home so I could finally get some fried clams!

What a wonderful adventure and so much fun to share it with two amazing friends!

PS...some of these photos were taken by Rick....I stole them!