Boston
Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Donna has a very nice post at http://dd4cottage.blogspot.com that lists many of our family members who have served over the years. To that list, I would add my Grandpa Thielhorn, who was in the Army during WWII. He always had a story to share about his times in Italy and North Africa...always stories about the good times, never about the bad, though he talked about being wounded in Italy and about trenchfoot. He talked so much about the fun times that as a child, I half-believed that war was nothing but laughs with one's buddies. I know better now, of course.
Thank you to all of our service members, past and present and to the good women and men who stand behind them and support them in their endeavors!
Hans and I decided that it was high time for a fieldtrip, so we went to Boston on Friday morning. We found a good hotel room in Cambridge, just across the river from downtown. Our first stop was the New England Aquarium. There were approximately 1,000,003 eight-year-olds there on their last hoorah school fieldtrips (we always had our fieldtrip at the end of the year, just before school let out for the summer--and only ever ONE every year). As soon as we got inside, Josiah dragged us to the big tank to see the sharks. He was very adamant about seeing the sharks. I think my arms are getting longer from him pulling so hard to go do what HE wants to do! Anyway, as soon as we got to the tank and a shark swam by, he screamed like a teenage girl in a low-budget horror movie and clung to me like a baby monkey. All the eight-year-olds clustered around the tank stared at him from their 5-year seniority with looks of disdain.
I don't understand what it is with the sharks. He acted terrified of them for the rest of our visit. Every time we went near the big central tank, he'd leap up and cling to me, trembling. Where in the world did he get this fear? We've never watched "Jaws" in front of him! The only movie that I can think of that has somewhat scary sharks in it is "Finding Nemo". Are some fears just in our genes? I'm not even that afraid of sharks, though I wouldn't ever want to meet one face-to-face!
Anyway, after a hyper-overpriced lunch in the aquarium cafeteria (still beating myself up for not packing a lunch), we returned downstairs to discover that the 1,000,003 field-trippers had exited and thus we were free to wander at leisure and enjoy the exhibits without hordes of screaming children around. I can't tell you how many times I go into these places and understand why people like Tom Cruise "rent" Six Flags for the day for their children. It would be nice to be able to look at the exhibits and be able to use the touchy-feely pond without hordes of pushing and shoving children (and some adults) all around. Ugh. I'm not really good with crowds, if you all didn't already know.
After a visit to all of the exhibits and purchase of a penguin for Annie and an octopus for Josiah (stuffed, not real), we exited the parking garage to the tune of $30 (still beating myself up for not suggesting taking the T) and drove across the river to our hotel. Checked into our room and discovered that the hotel was going to charge us $25 to park in their garage overnight (beating myself up even further for not taking the T). What is up with parking in Boston? Sheesh. We relaxed for awhile, then all donned our swimsuits after dinner and headed to the pool. We had a blast in the pool. It was Annika's first time in a swimming pool--she loved it. She and Josiah had so much fun jumping from the edge into our arms and splashing us.
Saturday morning we had room service for breakfast (still kicking myself...oh what the heck, how often do we have room service?) then headed over to the river to enjoy a pleasant, nice, enjoyable cruise on the river. OK, not so much. What we thought was going to be a pleasant ride was punctuated with Annika's crying and Josiah's obnoxious behavior. Thank God there weren't very many people on the boat. The day was beautiful and the cruise, what little we had in peace and quiet, was amazing. We had planned on going downtown to Boston Commons afterwards, but instead we checked out of our room and headed home, completely defeated by the two evil geniuses!
Lessons learned: take public transportation while in Boston, pack lunches and food when visiting museums or zoos, develop thicker skin to withstand humiliation of having naughty children, do not plan outings with over-stimulated and possibly tired children.
Thank you to all of our service members, past and present and to the good women and men who stand behind them and support them in their endeavors!
Hans and I decided that it was high time for a fieldtrip, so we went to Boston on Friday morning. We found a good hotel room in Cambridge, just across the river from downtown. Our first stop was the New England Aquarium. There were approximately 1,000,003 eight-year-olds there on their last hoorah school fieldtrips (we always had our fieldtrip at the end of the year, just before school let out for the summer--and only ever ONE every year). As soon as we got inside, Josiah dragged us to the big tank to see the sharks. He was very adamant about seeing the sharks. I think my arms are getting longer from him pulling so hard to go do what HE wants to do! Anyway, as soon as we got to the tank and a shark swam by, he screamed like a teenage girl in a low-budget horror movie and clung to me like a baby monkey. All the eight-year-olds clustered around the tank stared at him from their 5-year seniority with looks of disdain.
I don't understand what it is with the sharks. He acted terrified of them for the rest of our visit. Every time we went near the big central tank, he'd leap up and cling to me, trembling. Where in the world did he get this fear? We've never watched "Jaws" in front of him! The only movie that I can think of that has somewhat scary sharks in it is "Finding Nemo". Are some fears just in our genes? I'm not even that afraid of sharks, though I wouldn't ever want to meet one face-to-face!
Anyway, after a hyper-overpriced lunch in the aquarium cafeteria (still beating myself up for not packing a lunch), we returned downstairs to discover that the 1,000,003 field-trippers had exited and thus we were free to wander at leisure and enjoy the exhibits without hordes of screaming children around. I can't tell you how many times I go into these places and understand why people like Tom Cruise "rent" Six Flags for the day for their children. It would be nice to be able to look at the exhibits and be able to use the touchy-feely pond without hordes of pushing and shoving children (and some adults) all around. Ugh. I'm not really good with crowds, if you all didn't already know.
After a visit to all of the exhibits and purchase of a penguin for Annie and an octopus for Josiah (stuffed, not real), we exited the parking garage to the tune of $30 (still beating myself up for not suggesting taking the T) and drove across the river to our hotel. Checked into our room and discovered that the hotel was going to charge us $25 to park in their garage overnight (beating myself up even further for not taking the T). What is up with parking in Boston? Sheesh. We relaxed for awhile, then all donned our swimsuits after dinner and headed to the pool. We had a blast in the pool. It was Annika's first time in a swimming pool--she loved it. She and Josiah had so much fun jumping from the edge into our arms and splashing us.
Saturday morning we had room service for breakfast (still kicking myself...oh what the heck, how often do we have room service?) then headed over to the river to enjoy a pleasant, nice, enjoyable cruise on the river. OK, not so much. What we thought was going to be a pleasant ride was punctuated with Annika's crying and Josiah's obnoxious behavior. Thank God there weren't very many people on the boat. The day was beautiful and the cruise, what little we had in peace and quiet, was amazing. We had planned on going downtown to Boston Commons afterwards, but instead we checked out of our room and headed home, completely defeated by the two evil geniuses!
Lessons learned: take public transportation while in Boston, pack lunches and food when visiting museums or zoos, develop thicker skin to withstand humiliation of having naughty children, do not plan outings with over-stimulated and possibly tired children.
Comments
Funny, I wonder if the being scared thing may be kind of fun. (like going to a haunted house). I used to take care of a little guy, Joe's age, who LOVED to watch E.T., but every time would hide behind a chair peeking out through the whole thing. It also could be that Joe is in school now and subject to the influence of other 3 year-olds shark fears.
Stop beating yourself up!!!