25 Days of Chrstimas...Continued!

Zechariah 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." 

Day 4: On Friday we celebrated our 25 days of Christmas by making cookies with Aunt Rachel (my sister). The girls had a blast making and decorating gingerbread cookies. 

Day 5: The girls went to First United Reformed Church's Christmas puppet show. They love attending this every year. It has become part of our yearly family traditions. The girls actually attended the puppet show twice. We went Friday night with Aunt Rachel and then our neighbors took the girls Saturday night as well.

Day 6: Since I was out of town (see below), day 6 of our celebrations included watching AFV and hanging new blinds in the girl's windows. Super exciting I know, but it was what the girls told me they did for day 6. 

Weekend Review - Boston: As mentioned above, I took a trip to Boston this weekend with my sister. We were supposed to leave early Saturday morning (8am flight), but due to weather, it was cancelled. Our next flight didn't leave until after 1. The girls were thrilled to have their aunt around for a few more hours. We didn't arrive in Boston until 4:30pm, which limited our ability to sight-see that day. We were bummed, but we made the best of it. Friday night we made reservations at Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in America. Before we ate there, we found a restaurant offering $1 oysters. My sister said I needed to try them. I'm glad I tried them, but I don't think I would go out of my way to eat them again. The Union Oyster House was a great experience. It was amazing to sit in a room where stirrings of the American Revolution began, where Louis Phillippe king of France lived while exiled from France, and where Presidents like John F. Kennedy visited. The clam chowder was phenomenal as well! We walked around the city a little after dinner and then hopped in our rental car and headed to Rockport, MA (a beautiful seaside town). 

We woke up early Sunday morning for my half marathon in Gloucester, MA (about 45 miles from Boston). The views during the run were amazing...the terrain, not so amazing. The course was very difficult, especially since I haven't trained enough for this race. On top of that, I had a chest cold that made breathing difficult. I was so thankful that my sister Rachel was there to be my cheerleader and to walk/run with me the last 4.5 miles. It wasn't my best time by any means (2:23), but I completed state #18!! After the race, we stretched for a few minutes and jumped back into the car to drive back to Boston. We got our hotel in Cambridge and got ready to see Boston. It was now after 2pm and it gets dark in Boston around 4:30. We knew we were on a tight schedule to see the city! 

Our hotel in Rockport

View from the hotel.

Views from the race.

We found a Hubway station near us (a place to rent bikes). We then biked into Boston, switching bikes before our 30 minutes was up so that we didn't have to pay extra money. We rode/walked past Boston Common, Park Street Church, King's Chapel, the Old South Meeting House, the Boston Massacre Site, the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, and Paul Revere's House along the Freedom Trail. By the time we got to Revere's house, it was dark and closed. Unfortunately, we were unable to see the Old North Church or Bunker Hill. For anyone visiting Boston and wanting to take this tour, I highly recommend visiting the National Park Visitor Center first and talking to a park ranger. It wasn't until we stopped at Faneuil Hall to get Junior Ranger books for my kids that we discovered a trail of bricks that you can follow for the Freedom Trail. We used our GPS to find places along the way we wanted to see...learn from our mistake. 

Waiting at a light. 

We headed back to our hotel after a long day of fun, and lots of exercise. We got up at 3:45 to catch our 6am flight. After we boarded, we heard that our flight would get in early (7:20 Chicago time). I was thrilled to hear that. When we were about 30 minutes away, I noticed that we slowed down a lot and kept making turns. That would be our pattern for the next 1.5 hours. "Fog" in Chicago made landing difficult and they made planes wait to land (I say "fog" because I'm from CA and the stuff today wouldn't stop a morning of flights). Instead of arriving at 7:20, we finally landed at 8:45am. It was an amazing weekend of fun, but I'm glad to be home. My quick trip to Boston (about 36 hour), made me excited about bringing the family there in the future.

This is what the departure/arrival board looked like at Midway when we arrived. Every flight is delayed and a few were cancelled.

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I just want to thank my amazing husband Wayne for making my trip to Boston possible. Thank you for taking on the kids and the house while I was away. You are the best. It is astounding to see how God has worked in your life over the last 10 months. I wasn't sure a trip like this would be possible. I love you Wayne!! God is so good!!!