New England Aquarium

We got up early Wednesday morning and headed straight for the T! It was pretty packed since it was a weekday morning, but we all (the Avery's and Gillespie's) crammed ourselves in with our strollers. We got off in a beautiful part of the city and walked along the coast up to the Aquarium.





In the Aquarium, our first stop was Cohen and Scott's favorite part, the penguins!
(I don't know what he is doing in this picture! :))

We saw all sorts of awesome sea life!



My favorite was this amazing sea turtle! It was huge and one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen...

Picture the turtle above saying this..."Jellies, sweeeet!" :) (Nemo quote...)


I love this picture, how their reflections show with the fish swimming by...



Everyone had fun touching the crabs and starfish!

We had a hard time getting Cohen to leave this area, he loved touching stuff and playing in the water so much!


What cute boys we have! Dylan, Cohen and Jack

Cohen loved this turtle and wanted to give it hugs.

He also thought the penguin was pretty cool.

Ok, my favorites were the turtle, jellies AND the sea horse. I can't pick just one...

Cohen trying to hold his enthusiasm in... we just saw DORY!

After we said goodbye to the fish, walked over to the pier for a quick pic.
Have I mentioned how this kid HATES pictures? AH!

We picked up a dozen Dunkin' Donuts on our way back to the T and thorougly enjoyed them as we walked. As good as they were, I really don't understand why there is honestly a Dunkin' Donuts on EVERY OTHER CORNER! I am sure I have seen at least 100 different locations and I haven't traveled that far through Massachusets! I personally think Crispy Creme is better. :)
We had a great time at the New England Aquarium and best of all, spent time together before Scott headed off for the day!

Nantasket Beach

There is a cute little beach town called Hull about 10 miles from Braintree. We spent Memorial Day here with everyone from APX (the guys all got off early that day!) and roasted marshmallows over a bonfire! It was too dark to take pictures by the time we got there because we went out to eat with Ashley, Regan and Cole at a great BBQ place first.
We went back last Sunday to walk along the water and play in the sand. We waited to go until after church and Cohen's nap and it had been a beautiful day which is hard to come by with this crazy New England weather, but by the time we got there it started to sprinkle. We pulled our hoodies out and made the best of it. Cohen was unsure about the rain and was quite bothered by it dropping on him, but it soon cleared again and we were able to play around building sand castles, looking at all the huge sea shells that fill the beach and we made a rock collection! Cohen wanted nothing to do with the water and the rolling waves! Scott soaked in every single minute at the beach and loved following Cohen around as he repeatedly threw himself down into the sand and laughed. I spent time walking in the icy water, that I enjoyed more once my feet were numb, gathering stones of all colors that had been polished as they were tossed about in the waters. I think it is my grandfather's "Moab red rock, arrowhead hunting" blood that runs through me that makes me enjoy collecting rocks so much... It was relaxing and enjoyable and since it had rained we basically had the beach to ourselves! More heavy clouds soon rolled in so we packed up just in time to miss the down pour, but enjoyed watching the rain fall from our car as well.

Harvard Square

Jen and I drove into Cambridge on Saturday with the kids to check out Harvard! Our plan was to go on the tour at 11 with some of the other girls, but all of us didn't make it there in time so we did some exploring of our own for a bit...
(This old church is beautiful! Click on the pic and look at the detail.)

































It's all about history here and I can't help myself but to stop at every monument or old building and stare... this cemetery was interesting to me looking at rows and rows of hand carved small, medium and large headstones, most without any information on them.
This woman was playing a glass harmonica which was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761. It sounds beautiful! It's amazing how it's just glass, but plays complex music. Mozart and Beethoven composed pieces for this instrument as well. It's use died out because they didn't have ways to amplify the sound and it couldn't be heard in concert halls. This is a very rare talent now... online it said there are only a dozen or so performers worldwide. I would have lingered a little longer if I had known! I will try to catch it on video next time I head up if she is there.
There are bridges over all of the small and wide rivers and the water is filled with canoes and sailboats.

This building reminded us of the one in the movie Just Like Heaven.
As we drove by we noticed there are wall murals all over the area in color and black and white.











Neat old brick buildings line the streets everywhere you look.








The view of Boston from Cambridge

Walden Pond

Last Friday we went with the Avery's to explore Walden Pond! We all piled in our car and Jen gave us some history about it as we drove.
The Basics: Walden Pond is in Concord, Massachusetts and is where Henry David Thoreau lived alone for two years in the mid 1800's to write...

We had a lot of fun! It was a beautiful day, which was a relief since it has been so cloudy and rainy almost everyday since we have been here.

The sand was soft and the water was warm and perfect to play in! It was a last minute decision
for us to go so I brought what I could grab in under a minute, Cohen just played in his diaper without a swim suit which he didn't seem to mind. Cohen and Dylan had tons of fun together throwing sand back into the water and being adventurous!