Boston Trip: Day #3

Ahhhh, the last day of the trip.

We were really enjoying Boston, but we were ready to go home. Everyone was exhausted, and our super loud crazy bus was sooooo quiet for the first hour or two that morning as so many people were napping.

We stopped for lunch in Cobleskill quickly, and then it was a quick drive over to Howe Caverns.

I've been in caverns before (but can't remember which one it was), but this one was a lot different than I remembered the other one being. We got to ride an elevator down to where the tour started, then started in exploring the caverns.

Paige really loved riding in the boat along the water up to the waterfall!

My favorite part (which I didn't photograph) was the winding way. It's a pathway that's 300 feet long, has about 60 twists and turns, and ranges in height and widths!

After the tour everyone was able to grab a snack or souvenir shop, and then back on the bus. A couple hours later we stopped for dinner, and then the last stretch home....which was not the smoothest sailing.

At one point of the drive we were in Manchester, and everyone was getting antsy and just wanted to be home. I heard a gasp, so I looked up at the people across the aisle from us, and they were all panicking and bracing against the seats in front of them. Paige and I looked out the front window and saw a semi truck riiiiight in front of our window, and thankfully, our bus driver, Ron, is the best bus driver in the world and got us to a stop mere inches from the back bumper of the semi. We all let out a sigh of relief, but then saw the semi pull off to the side of the road....along with our other bus that had been in front of the semi.

Thankfully, they only had a super minor fender bender, where our other bus was slowing down for a construction zone and the semi wasn't able to stop quickly enough. The back bumper of the bus was barely damaged from what we saw, and the semi was a little crunched. No one was hurt, but everyone was shaken up. Our bus ended up leaving the other behind while they exchanged information and filled out the police report, but they ended up not being to far behind us the rest of the trip home.

We were able to get back to school and got our things, then made the drive home. I was so excited to come home and see my guys, but both boys were asleep! Ry refused to wake up (they made me promise to wake them); Nate woke up, happy cried when he saw me, and then fell back asleep (and didn't remember seeing me when I asked him the next morning!).

I really enjoyed the trip, even though it was a lot jam packed into three days. Everyone was really tired, so there were some hiccups along the way with attitudes and tempers. Nate has begged me to go on his whale watch trip next year, and I am looking forward to it! I will be better prepared with what to expect and ways to keep kids happy on the bus or out and about in Boston, and just be able to really enjoy the trip knowing what to expect and take it all in better.

What is your best tip for traveling, especially with tweens? Let me (and Nate!) know in the comments below!

Boston Trip: Day #2

Well, Day #1 started out with exhausted Apps girls....and Day #2 started with super crazy exhausted Apps girls.

You see, I am strange. I never sleep well my first night in a new place. There's too many new noises, smells, the bedding feels funny...I just can't sleep. And poor Paige, there was another group on her floor of the hotel that made noise into the wee hours of the morning. Not much sleeping was done, and that makes for a difficult day.

Our morning started off with continental breakfast in the hotel lobby, but as they're working on renovating their tiny meeting/dining room, my group of girls decided to take their food back up to their room for some peace and quiet. I thought that was a great idea!

Shortly after breakfast came boarding the bus again to head into Boston for the New England Aquarium! Pete had gone to Boston a few years ago with the Science Club, and he loved this aquarium. Paige and I were super excited to finally get to see what the hype was about, and we were not disappointed.

Waiting to get into the aquarium

Outside of the aquarium they have a harbor seal exhibit. Some of them were swimming around and splashing, but we liked the sleeping lazy ones the best!

Inside, we went to the ray touch tank first. I guess I didn't know what I thought they would feel like, but they felt kind of squishy yet rubbery, almost like what I thought a dolphin would feel like. There were two that hung around us a lot, and we named them Flappy (because he'd flap and splash us) and Happy (because he'd act happy to see us there!).

Next were the penguins for my penguin loving girlie!

In the main exhibit area is a huge (and when I say huge, I mean HUGE like four stories high, 40 feet wide, 200,000 gallons huge!) tank in the middle that a ramp goes up and around so you can see all of the layers of creatures in the tank. They had so many varieties of fish and sea creatures in there, even some scuba divers cleaning/checking on the creatures! We spent most of our time here, so we weren't able to go see all of the tanks on each floor.

The top of the tank

We were under strict orders to find the giant octopus. It was Pete's favorite thing when he was there, so we had to find him and say hi. And goodness, were the octopi amazing! They were just sitting around, but, they were huge and gorgeous!

Octopus on the front of the tank

I also found this pretty boy; he loved posing for a picture!

We checked out the gift shop while we were there, and had lunch in the cafe. Everyone was getting super nervous for the whale watch at this point; we had to take medicine for sea sickness, and a lot of the kids (and even me) were so afraid of getting sick on the boat. A lot of the kids also had Sea Bands (Paige and I got some as well), and I had ginger ale, so I felt as prepared as I could be for the boat.

Finally, it was time to board our boat for the whale watch. It docks right next to the aquarium, making for a quick walk over. Paige, her friend and her dad (my co-chaperone) and I all went up to the top deck, but Paige started feeling sick almost immediately. I figured it was mostly nerves, but we went to the main deck and she started feeling better once the boat got going. Once the boat is out of the harbor, it goes really really fast! I'm glad we were told to bring sweatshirts, because boy, does it get COLD on the boat!

On board the whale watch, watching everyone outside of the aquarium

Some of our group on the main deck
looking down from the top deck

We drove out for quite awhile, and then stopped and waited for a whale....then drove a bit some more and waited....and still nothing. The crew on the boat were really trying hard to get us a whale; apparently their policy is if there's no whale, they give you a fee pass to go back on another watch. As that would be expensive for them to do, they do whatever it takes for everyone to see a whale!

About the time a lot of the passengers were feeling like we wouldn't see a whale, one of the crew members who had been telling us all facts about whales over the PA system starts yelling that there's a whale at 1 o'clock (they had instructed us on that 12 o'clock is the front of the boat, 6 o'clock is the back, so when a whale was spotted everyone would know where to look). And sure enough, there he was!

A little later there was another whale spotting at 11 o'clock!

And then again later at about 8 o'clock. I didn't get pictures of this one as it was farther out, but it was really neat. One of the ladies we were standing with spotted where a whale was in the distance, then Paige saw the spray, and then the crew saw it and alerted everyone else!

There had been evidence of a whale again, but we unfortunately had to head back into shore. Neither one of us got sick, and it was such an amazing experience!

Fun fact: there are four big engines on the boat. One of them can fill up the huge tank in the aquarium in FOUR MINUTES. That is craaaazy!

Once we got back to shore, we walked a few blocks over to the Quincy Market for dinner and shopping. We had three hours for food and souvenirs, and Paige and I pretty much hung out just the two of us for that time. We got smoothies for dinner (we weren't overly hungry), got souvenirs for us and gifts for the guys, and watched a street performer!

We were hoping for a slow trip back to the hotel as a lot of the kids had fallen asleep, but as it was after rush hour, we made it back in about 25 minutes. The kids woke up, and then it was pool party #2. Only two of my girls wanted to swim, so they went in and the other two visited and relaxed on the pool deck. After a short while, they all decided to go watch tv in their room. I went to our chaperone meeting, called and talked to Pete, and did lights out for the girls between 9:30 and 10....and then I passed out and barely moved until 6 the following morning! I was just a liiiiitle tired ;)

Day #3 will be up on the blog soon: the long and slightly eventful drive home and our stop at Howe Caverns!

Have you ever gone on a whale watch? What is your favorite aquarium? 

Boston Trip: Day #1

When Paige started up at her new school in the fall, we heard that there was going to be an amazing trip at the end of the school year for the sixth graders: a three day trip to Boston, featuring a whale watch! She was super excited about it, and when they asked for chaperones, so was I!

She's been fundraising all year (the other kids started fundraising in fourth grade), and between what she raised and funds from one of her friends who over-raised money, she was fully paid for! We only had to pay for my portion, woo hoo!

We planned, packed, and counted down the days until our trip.

And finally the day arrived for us to depart!

Day #1:

We had to be up around 5 to get to school around 6. The bus was going to leave at 6:15, and as I was chaperoning, I had to be there early to get my group settled in. Buuuut, as we had to be up so early, I hardly slept in fear of oversleeping. I had three alarms set, but still I didn't sleep well. And to make it worse? Around 4:30 that morning raccoons decided to be partying/fighting in the tree riiiiight outside of our bedroom window. Starting a long day of travel off exhausted is never fun.

Sleepy faces, ready to head to school!

We got to school around 6, I met my co-chaperone, and we got our four girls situated on the bus. Our group worked out really well; all four girls each had a parent on the trip, and we were the only group that had two official chaperones!

The trip down was mostly uneventful; there may have been a u-turn in a non-u-turn area, but that's besides the point ;)

On the bus!

Reading the book Dad got
her in Boston a few years ago!

We actually made it to Boston earlier than we had originally planned. We let the kids burn off some energy in this fountain area before our Duck Tour around the city.

Paige and her roommate enjoying the sunshine

A lot of us parents were very confused about what a Duck Tour was. Many of us thought that we were going to go to something like a zoo just for ducks or looking for special ducks around Boston, and me, well, you can tell I love the Outer Banks because I think of Duck and Duck Donuts! Ducks are actually amphibious vehicles that were used in WWII for unloading cargo onto beaches, and these ones have been modified to be more comfortable for the tours.

A Duck!

The tour was really neat, seeing various parts of town. The narrator (we had Sgt. Meatball!) makes it enjoyable, giving historical information while keeping it fun. I don't remember what all of my pictures were, but some of them were things like where Edgar Allen Poe was born, a library, a piece of the Berlin Wall, the bar that inspired the tv show Cheers, and my favorite, the Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge!

Sgt. Meatball beginning our tour

Where Edgar Allen Poe was born

Love this bridge!

Cheers!

We also went in the water with it, and a few of Paige's classmates got to drive the boat:

Paige's friend driving the Duck!

Skyline of Boston

A boathouse! I had to get a pic for Boathouse ;)

I really liked the tour; it was a quick way to see the city and see a few of the important landmarks. I think I'd really like to go back and do a walking tour or just walk around the city. I loved that we did that in New York City in October last year, and I feel like I didn't really get to experience Boston, just got a quick little taste of it. Looks like I'm just going to have to go back!

After the tour, it was time to head back to the hotel. Unfortunately, it was rush hour traffic, so our 12ish mile trip took an hour and we were running late for check in and dinner. But, we got there in one piece, got everyone unloaded and settled in, and then it was pool party and dinner time!

Pizza and swimming!

Paige and a couple friends; the boy was her classmate
in preschool as well! They're happy to be reunited!

The pool was the perfect way to get everyone's energy out after a long day on the bus! They had a lot of fun, and although it was really loud in there, it was a great time for the adults and chaperones on the bus to put their feet up for a few minutes.

After the student meeting was the chaperone meeting, and then finally, lights out for the kids around 10. It was a long day, but the long and exciting day was about to begin! Stay tuned for the Day #2 post: New England Aquarium, Whale Watch, and Quincy Market!

Have you ever been to Boston? What was your favorite part?