a little less than one year ago, richard was accepted to participate in a defense civilian emerging leader program (dcelp) at work. since then he has traveled to boston, ma five times for these training sessions. the longest he was gone was two weeks, but pretty much every time it felt long. the most difficult time for me was my last week of work, when i would wake up and get marty and myself ready, drive him to daycare (which richard was doing at the time since it was on base where he works), back to my work (which is basically like coming back home), and then picking him up from daycare, and finally coming back home at the end of the day. however, that was also marty's last week of daycare/my last week of work, and i was so thrilled about that that i barely thought about all the driving i was doing at all.
one of the things we were both excited about with this training was that there was to be a graduation at the conclusion on the east coast. originally it was supposed to be in washington d.c., but then the sequestration happened and it got moved to a ballroom of the conference center/hotel where the training took place in southbridge, ma (about an hour south of boston). we're always looking for an excuse for a vacation, and this certainly seemed like a prime opportunity. however, this would be our first big vacation with the boy, so there were a few nerves involved, too. richard had to go out for the last part of his training, so we would meet him the night before the graduation at the hotel.
when we were first talking about the graduation (last year), we talked about how it would be fun to hit a few cities while we were out there. then we would talk about how much history we'd get to see. then he said how it would be fun if my dad could come and be our tour guide...or how it would be great if both sets of our parents could come along for the ride. so we extended the invitation, and although neither of our moms was able to come, both of our dads signed up for the trip of a lifetime. dale flew out two nights before the graduation, and my dad and marty and i got there the night before. and that part of the trip is where the pictures begin:
i would be lying if i said i was only having a little bit of anxiety over traveling with a baby. i put out questions on facebook, where i received loads of very helpful advice from my friends who are professional "with-child" travelers. i also searched on pinterest, talked to my pediatrician, and asked just about everyone i came in contact with during the month prior to our trip if they had any advice for me. i may have overdone it, but i certainly didn't feel unprepared.
marty and i stayed at my parents' house the night before our flight since my dad and i had to be to the airport at the buttcrack of dawn. from the very first minute of our trip he was a little trooper. here he is while we waited for our first flight, listening to me complain (again) about the fact that cinnabon is no longer in the airport. i just really don't know who thought that move was a good one!
he had just started solids a couple of weeks before our trip, so that was another thing i was stressed about, but it turns out i didn't need to. those baby food pouches were a life-saver, and it helps that we have the best little eater in the world. this is when we discovered his love for sweet potatoes.
thank goodness my dad was with us. i mean, marty was awesome, but getting the stroller, bags, and both of us through security and onto/off of our flights would have been a nightmare without him there to help. i know marty was glad to have him with us, too.
we had two layovers on our way there, and one of them lasted forever because of a plane needing to be repaired. here is the boy having a ball sitting like a big guy while we waited to find out we would be getting off that plane and waiting for a few hours for another one to fly us to boston.
after it took a lifetime to get our rental car (in the middle of the night) we finally drove to southbridge to see richard. we got a few hours of sleep, and then it was off to the graduation ceremony. richard had to go down before we did to practice playing guitar for the national anthem. as we strolled through the lobby to get to the ceremony, so many people stopped me and asked if we were richard's family..."he's showed us pictures of you guys!"..."he's pretty proud of this little guy." it was fun to hear that from complete strangers. it was also fun to hear everyone laugh as richard put his arms around these high-ranking women as he accepted his certificate. i have no doubt that he made the best kind of impression on his classmates.
marty is a chatterbox, so i stayed in the ceremony as long as i could, but ended up taking him out in the hall for quite a bit of the time. richard said that whenever he was making noises that people would pat him on the back or give him a big smile. i loved seeing how proud richard is of our boy. we're lucky to have such a good daddy in our little family!
after pictures and farewells, we loaded up the rental car and headed to boston. i had to drive because i was the only driver we paid for. it was clear after only a short time of me driving that someone else would need to be added. saying that i hate driving in boston would be a gross understatement. the drivers there are rude and reckless, and the signs and lines on the roads are a joke. richard thought that i was being a little overdramatic about the whole situation until he actually got behind the wheel. he said that he doesn't know if he's ever been more frustrated while driving, and my dad said that it was probably the first time he's ever seen richard get frustrated like that at all. freaking boston.
we finally parked and got out. i kept telling richard we should just go straight to new york and forget about boston. i was huffing and puffing about the drivers, i was tired and hungry, and i was pretty much giving up any hope i had of this trip being a good one until this happened:
^^^^^we were walking down the street in the "north end" (which is like the little italy of boston), when we saw this sign hanging in a convenience store window. i laughed and told richard we had to get a picture. so there we were taking this very picture when the store owner came out and asked, "is his name marty?" but he said it like a bostonian, so marty was "mah-dee." when we said yes, he went in and took the sign out of the window and gave it to us to keep (it is now framed and hanging in the boy's bedroom). he said he had plenty more. now this might not seem like a very big deal, but this was the exact moment that my very, very low spirits started to lift.
and this is when they started to soar. i've never seen a bigger variety of cannoli's in my life.
right away we saw some great historical sights. richard had seen a lot of them already, so he was happy to act as our tour guide. my dad was loving every minute of it. and now, so was i. this is the "bell in hand tavern" where a lot of prominent historical figures would whet their whistle, including samuel adams.
we went to fenneuil hall, and ate at quincy market. i felt like elaine benes on seinfeld when i had to watch this sorry sight of my dad eating his cannoli with a fork. i guess it gets the job done, and clearly he didn't care what i had to say.
it was raining pretty much the whole time we were there, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the street performers.
on our way back to the car, we came across this incredible holocaust memorial. there were six glass pillars that you could walk through, and there was fog coming out of a vent under our feet. on each pillar there were a million names of holocaust victims, along with a few quotes/accounts from survivors. it was very touching, and i don't think that i was the only one of us who was moved to tears.
we ended that day by driving to groton to stay with richard's aunt jeannie and uncle kevin. it was a long day, with lots of emotions. but mostly, it was a great start to our east coast adventure.
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