Beach Vacation 2019

 We love our week at the beach, and this was one of the best in recent memory.  The weather could not have been better.  It was in the mid-to-high 80s with a gentle breeze every day.  I spent about four hours on the beach on all but one day. The older kids spent more time than usual on the beach this year as well.  They usually boogie board some, and they did this year too.  But, the big thing was getting out in the waves and playing in them. They asked to do this every single day. I have lots of pictures, so I'm going to do several posts.  Here are the first set of beach pictures.

Six Flags Over Georgia (with friends)

One of the perks of our Six Flags passes is that we have several "bring-a-friend" days.  In the past, these days have usually passed by unused because Six Flags is so far away so it's not really convenient to use them.  This is summer, though, and we have time on our hands.  So, the kids invited their friends to accompany us.

 The park was busy, so we didn't ride everything.  We did, however, hit up some of our favorite rollercoasters including Twisted Cyclone, Dare Devil Dive, Goliath, and Mindbender.  We also rode some non-rollercoaster favorites like Monster Mansion and Justice League.

It was very hot, so we took a break in the middle of the day to visit the attached Hurricane Harbor Water Park.  I didn't bring my bathing suit, but I wish I had.  I ended up going into a splash area in my clothes a couple to times to cool off.- it was that hot.

 After leaving the park we visited a rolled ice cream place.  Our friends had just gotten back from Thailand and they wanted to share this Thai dessert with us.  The rolled ice cream was so amazing.  I will be seeking out places to get this dessert again in the future.  It was a long day for sure, but we all had a great time.

Lexington, Concord, and Old Ironsides

Once our time in Massachusetts was done, Brian flew home and my dad flew in to ride back to Georgia with me and the kids.  We did make a few small detours before heading home.  After picking daddy up, we visited Lexington and Concord.  The highlight here was walking down to the bridge where the "shot heard round the world" was fired.

Daddy has been wanting to go on the USS Constitution for years.  As a matter of fact, he and my mom went on a trip to Boston with Uncle Mike and Aunt Connie several years ago and had planned to do it.  Unfortunately, there was a government shutdown during their trip and the ship was closed to the public.  We decided to revisit the ship so that daddy could go on board.  Uncle Mike and Aunt Connie even met up with us so that they could go on board with him. This ended up leading to a super cool moment.  Because Uncle Mike is a retired military officer, he was piped aboard the ship.  About 50 or so people were gathered on deck and they all stopped to cheer for him.  It was really cool to witness.

 We made good time on our way back to Georgia.  We were on the ship in Boston until about 11 a.m. on Sunday, and I was sitting in my house by 6:00 p.m. on Monday.  I think that we had a very good trip.  I did not think that I would like Boston as much as I did.  I found it to be a clean, safe, and friendly city.  I would not mind a return visit at some point in the future.

Six Flags New England

On the last day of our family vacation, we visited Six Flags New England. This was our first time at this park, and our overall impression was favorable.  They had two stand-out coasters- Wicked Cyclone and Superman.  The only sort of negative thing that I have to say about our experience there is that some school groups with poorly behaved students were there on the same day.  Having to put up with cussing, line cutting, and overall obnoxious behavior was not how I wanted the day to go.  Fortunately, the groups left in the early afternoon and the rest of the day went smoothly.  The lines were short for all rides and the weather was good, so overall we had a pleasant day.  Our Six Flags season passes are once again proving to be worth the investment.  Here are our 2019 stats so far:

Number of visits:  3
Number of parks visited:  3

Rainy Day in Beantown

 Day 6 was supposed to begin with a whale-watching tour.  The forecast was not favorable, but we were hoping that our tour would be over by the time the worst of it arrived.  We boarded the boat and headed out to see the whales.  After about forty minutes of feeling like we were on an episode of Deadliest Catch, the captain determined that conditions were too bad for us to continue, so we turned around and headed back to the dock. I was a little disappointed that our plans fell through, but I was happy that the captain put safety first.  We did get a free boat ride out of it, so it wasn't a total loss. The weather ended up getting much worse.  It was rainy and cold.  So cold in fact that we all bought souvenir sweatshirts to wear over our clothes.

 Our whale watching tour getting canceled left us with more time on our hands than anticipated.  We decided to visit the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum because it was a (mostly) inside attraction.  This experience was much more involved than I realized.  There were live actors, high-quality holographic images, and surprises at every turn.  We did have to go outside to get on the ship and to throw the tea into the harbor.  We learned that it was rainy and cold on the night of the actual tea party, and it was rainy and cold during our visit so I guess the weather just added an element of authenticity to the whole experience.

 After our tour was over we grabbed hot chocolate and cookies at Abigail's Tea Room (which is part of the museum).  The weather was really bad at this point, so we killed some time playing the old-timey games that were on the tables.

 It was early afternoon and we hadn't had a proper meal.  I knew exactly where I wanted to eat.  My sister Hannah and niece Ava visited Boston in November and just raved about Fire&Ice, so that was our destination.  This place was really neat.  It's like a build-your-own-stir-fry place.  You put ingredients and sauces into bowls and then take it to a large Mongolian Wok where it is cooked before your eyes.  The experience was really unique, and the kids loved it. 

 After our meal, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts with a very specific goal in mind.  The whole reason that we decided to visit Boston in the first place is that because for years Olivia has been going on about wanting to see the Liberty Bowl.  Not the Liberty BELL, the Liberty BOWL.  There was no way we were leaving Boston without seeing it.  There was tons of great art to see at the museum, and we saw as much of it as we could.  I have included pictures of some of my favorite pieces.