BOSTON "TO Party"

Jared and I took our first solo trip since before Isaac was born (like 5 years) at the end of April to Boston. Jared qualified to run the Boston Marathon last year so we had a great excuse leave the boys and go party.

They must have known we were coming because this sign was right outside our gate at the airport....
Day 1 & 2 (Sat. & Sun.): Unfortunately, the weather was really cold, RAINY and windy. But, we also had alot of pre-race check-in stuff to do....so it all worked out in the end.

Jared at the Sports Expo checking in and getting all his stuff.

We also walked down to the finish line and got some shots before the big race. I was informed all the seats in the bleachers around the finish line were for "VIPs" so I wasn't going to be able to watch/get any pictures of him crossing the finish. :(
These cold days also gave us a great opportunity to sleep-in, do some shopping, reading and eating at LOTS of restaurants (I'm talking about sit-down, with waiters, having actual conversations at dinner, and taking as long as we want)!! One famous place we just had to try was: CHEERS! Not because we thought the food would be great....but come on it was part of our TV childhood. Jared reminded me that we actually watched the last episode together at his house in high school with some good o'le root beer.

(YUM...Boston Cream Pie)

We also went up to the 52nd floor observatory at the Prudential Center for an amazing 360 degree view of the city!

Day 3 (Monday): THE BIG RACE

Jared had to get up at 6:00am to catch his bus out to the start even though the race didn't begin until 10am! Ouch! (Marathoners are crazy....)

I got to sleep-in and watch the race on the TV at our condo. When Jared was about 2 hours from finishing I headed out to go get a good place close to the finish. We stayed less than a mile from the finish line so I headed out to the famous "right on Hereford, left on Boylston" area. (These are the last to turns before the finish.....which is on Boylston Street).
As, it turns out the place was already packed!! But, I did get my spot in time to see the winners run by...and of course, Jared. The fans were great and everyone was just cheering and screaming for all the runners. I finally saw Jared and even enlisted some help from the people around me to yell for him....but despite hanging over the railing, waving my arms, and screaming he didn't see me. Then I realized I had better hurry and get a picture because I had already missed my opportunity for a good picture.....so here he is running by. He is the one with the black hat on.

Jared was alittle disappointed with his time; but don't let him fool you; he is still a major stud!
Especially considering:
1) He didn't get to run AT ALL from March 28-April 15th (not even one mile). He ran two short runs before the race(16th and 17th) and that was it. And besides not running he was only getting about 5 hours of sleep a night for those 3 weeks also!!
2) It is actually amazing he didn't get really hurt, have a heart-attack or die on the course considering #1. I thought it was great that he just finished!!
3) He had leg cramps from mile 18 to the end AND he completely bonked with 2 miles to go (no energy).
4) His pace of 7:52 (per mile) is still FASTER than I can run ONE mile!!!!
5) He still beat 75% of all the other runners; 60% of all males and was right in the middle of his age group (which is one of the toughest)!!

That night we celebrated his great race with some seafood at Legal Sea Food....

well...one of us did! What's a trip to the East Coast without some Lobster, right?!?

Day 4: (Tuesday) We did some major sightseeing! We did a 'bean town' trolley tour which stopped at all of the historical spots along Boston's Freedom Trail. Some of the highlights included:

The Old North Church (think Paul Revere)

And Paul Revere's house

USS Constitution (old "iron sides")
And Bunker Hill

Where Jared (& I) climbed 279 steps to look out the top (one day after running a Marathon...crazy stud!) I was reading some plaques and looked around and couldn't find Jared anywhere. I went out and yelled up the stairs...."Jared are you up there"? "Yep", was all he said. As I started my climb, I heard many marathoners at the bottom reading the sign "279 steps to the top" and say, "sorry, guys I can't do that today"

We also did some good eating in the North End (aka Little Italy). Like cannoli's from Mike's Pastry and some great Italian Food.


We also took a Harbor Cruise with some great views of the City....


And a nice stroll through Boston Commons and the Public Gardens...

I just LOVE tulips! And they were everywhere in the Public Gardens!!

Day 5: (Wednesday)

We headed to Fenway Park for a tour of the nation's oldest Baseball Stadium. It was built in 1912 and it was pretty impressive. Our tour guide was a funny old man in his 70's with a great Boston accent. And, he even knew who the "Cougars" where and we had some fun teasing each other.

THE Green Monster

Mr. Yankee Fan

Down on the field...pretty cool!A great view of the "Citgo" sign from Fenway Park. The sign is right on the Marathon course and marks only 1 mile to go.

And then out to Cambridge for a tour of Harvard and some....
..."what might have been"...

Us...in front of the John Harvard statue on campus.

P.S. Don't every touch that "left" shoe that is all worn.....the students might be 'smart' but they are still college students, if you know what I mean!!

Finally, we ended the day by catching a Red Sox game at Fenway. They played the Texas Rangers and at first it wasn't looking so good (they were down 3-1 by the 2nd inning). But then the Sox hit a huge homer right over the Green Monster and followed that up with a grand slam home run in that same inning. After 9, it was tied 7-7 and the game went to the bottom of the 12th before the Sox hit another homer to win! Sox fan or not, it was a great game.

Day 6 (Thursday): We got up early and headed to the JFK Presidential Library before or flight later that afternoon. It was really fascinating. They had tons of TV clips to watch of JFK, Jackie and just from that time period in history.

(Coincidentally, Austin is home to the LBJ Presidential Library. And of course, while in Texas we also visited the Book Depository in Dallas, so we really have got this part of history down!!)

Then off to the airport and back to Utah to pick up the boys from Grandpa & Grandma's!! It was a great trip and we really enjoyed ourselves. And thanks to both of our parents for taking turns watching the boys for us!!

Here is a view of the Back Bay area from our cab ride....I forgot to take a picture of the condo we rented; but it was in a building that looked just like these.

And now back to real life: like laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking and potty-training!!!