Steve and I are in Boston sans children. We feel very blessed to have good friends who offered to watch our kids for a weekend. Thank you, Jill and Kevin.
We all woke up around 7 AM, except for Mei Li. She slept in until I woke her up at 7:40. We were scrambling to get everything together. We kept thinking we were forgetting things, and we didn't leave our house until 8:10 or so, even though we planned to drop of the kids at 8:00.
When we got to Jill's, Mei Li and Stephen immediately started playing. Mi Na reached for me after I gave her to Jill, but she didn't cry. I briefly explained the bedtime routines to Jill and then we kissed all of our kids and said goodbye.
It is a weird feeling to leave your kids behind. My heart broke a little as we walked away.
We were afraid we were late, but we weren't. The good thing about traveling without kids was that it took us only ten minutes to check bags and go through security. The worker who checked our IDs and boarding passes called Steve "honey" and called me "sugar pie." I don't know if I've ever been called "sugar pie" before, but it made me laugh.
The plane ride was short. We didn't come prepared with reading or listening material so Steve and I tackled the crossword puzzle together.
We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. We got dressed in nice clothes and hopped on the T to the Alewife station, and took a taxi to the Boston Temple because we just barely missed the bus.
The taxi dropped us off at the church building next to the temple. I loved how the church was sweetly tucked away in a little forest of trees and that there was a tree-covered walkway that led to the temple.
We made it to the 3:00 temple session. It's a beautiful temple, and we felt inspired, renewed, and so happy as we left.
We walked out to the road to catch the bus, and just then, a bus came down the road and stopped for us even though we weren't at an official bus stop. We felt so blessed.
That very bus also broke down several times on the way back to the station. "Sorry, people!" called out the bus driver. And all of the riders just laughed and made jokes about getting out to push the bus. I loved how everyone made light of the situation.
Eventually, we made it back to the station and back to our hotel. We changed out of our clothes and started our walk to the North End. On the way, we stopped to watch some impressive street performers.
We walked through the Holocaust Memorial. One quote in particular stuck out to me:
“Ilse, a childhood friend of mine, once found a raspberry in the camp and carried it in her pocket all day to present to me that night on a leaf. Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry and you give it to your friend.”
Gerda Weissman Klein.
I don't even know what to say about the Holocaust. It was such a horrible event and it's just not fair that so many had to suffer so much. I'm glad that I could walk through that memorial to remind me to be grateful to my Heavenly Father and to be loving to all of His children.
Our walk ended at an Italian Restaurant. Steve ordered shrimp and pasta in marinara, and I ordered gnocchi with mushrooms in a sun-dried tomato sauce. Delicious.
That very bus also broke down several times on the way back to the station. "Sorry, people!" called out the bus driver. And all of the riders just laughed and made jokes about getting out to push the bus. I loved how everyone made light of the situation.
Eventually, we made it back to the station and back to our hotel. We changed out of our clothes and started our walk to the North End. On the way, we stopped to watch some impressive street performers.
We walked through the Holocaust Memorial. One quote in particular stuck out to me:
“Ilse, a childhood friend of mine, once found a raspberry in the camp and carried it in her pocket all day to present to me that night on a leaf. Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry and you give it to your friend.”
Gerda Weissman Klein.
I don't even know what to say about the Holocaust. It was such a horrible event and it's just not fair that so many had to suffer so much. I'm glad that I could walk through that memorial to remind me to be grateful to my Heavenly Father and to be loving to all of His children.
Our walk ended at an Italian Restaurant. Steve ordered shrimp and pasta in marinara, and I ordered gnocchi with mushrooms in a sun-dried tomato sauce. Delicious.
After dinner, we walked around the North End and couldn't help but notice that every other person we saw was carrying a white box labeled "Mike's Pastry." We felt a little left out and decided that we needed to have a "Mike's Pastry" box too.
We chose three different cannoli flavors: plain, pistachio, and chocolate peanut butter. We took our little white box to the Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park and ate our cannolis on a bench. They were yummy, but we couldn't finish them. We were stuffed.
While we sat on the bench, a dog approached us and sniffed us and licked me (ewww). The dog's owner was chatty. He told us about all of the great pastry places while his dog continued to sniff us.
Our walk back to the hotel was slow and pleasant. We saw two couples making out and overheard funny girlie conversations.
We made it back to the hotel and shared an elevator kiss. I can't remember when we started our elevator kissing ritual, but I'm grateful that while we're here we get to ride the elevator together a lot. :)
Jill and I texted each other several times today. The last text message I received from her was a picture of Mi Na in her red bathing suit smiling. It made me so happy to see her happy.
We have one more full day here. It's going to be awesome.
2 comments:
I am so jealous! I thought we were going to trade kids for weekends away. Enjoy your little get away! I wish I could remember the name of the awesome little pizza place I loved while I was there.
Tiana, just tell me when you want to go somewhere and we'll watch your kids. We would love another opportunity to get away too.
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