Fun with Mindi

So Mindi came to visit. We did lots of sight-seeing and yummy-food eating (our favorite was the Boston Cream Pie!!)

Ivy accompanied us on most days - she's a trooper. This day, as we were going through the subway, I thought she was asking me if we were going to the doctor. I kept saying "no, we're not going to the doctor" and she continued insisting. I finally figured out she was saying "duck tour!"

This time she got to drive the Duck - and was thrilled.

At the Union Oyster House - the oldest continuous running restaurant in the country. Paul Revere and other patriots were regulars there! This is where we had the FABULOUS Boston Cream Pie.

Mindi's happy to have found her long-lost boyfriend!

Touching the toe of John Harvard means you'll have a child attend Harvard University. (Richard and I have touched it many times, so it was Mindi's turn this time.) We didn't tell her until after that freshman use the statue in some stupid initiation trick, so then I gave her Germ-X.

Eating more delicious food (we had to keep our strength up!) and Ivy was popular with the little birdies, because she was feeding them my onion rings. (They liked the breading, not the onion.)

We went to Salem for a little witching. Wish we really could wiggle our nose and have our housework (and workouts) done! Mindi really does look like Samantha.

With the little witches.

Our family was spellbound by the witch trials. In this picture you can't tell, but the littlest witch was having a screaming fit, much to the amusement -and perhaps annoyance - of all the bystanders.

Mindi doing a magic napkin trick while we waited for pizza. My kids all miss "fun" Mindi. In fact, one morning Cooper came up to ask me if I wanted a pancake. I said, "yes, is daddy making them?" He said, "Nope, Mindi is, and she's good! She made me a 'C'."
Richard was SO GREAT helping me juggle kids. On Friday he stayed home most of the day so we didn't have to take Ivy, nor get home early to pick up the little ones, so we could walk the Freedom Trail. It's a three-mile trail of historic sites. We took a tour and learned a lot. The weather was perfect!

Our guide - well-known patriot James Otis (I think James. The names all run together).

I loved all the old cemeteries. This one has the graves of Paul Revere, other patriots, and three of the Declaration of Independence signers.

A neat one.

At Copps Hill Burial Ground - maybe an ancestor.
The courthouse where the Declaration of Independence was read to the public for the first time ever.

At Quincy Market.

On the gun deck of the U.S.S. Constitution - the oldest commissioned battleship afloat. It was cool! The woodwork was especially beautiful. -- 54 cannons in all, and I think Cooper climbed on all of them.

Waiting for the tour. Austin was at his new job, Shaws (a supermarket) and McKenna was at a YW activity.

Waiting for the tour. (Tessa was the photographer.) Richard was there with us, but since he had brought a weapon onto the federal installation, they wouldn't let him proceed! He had a knife with a blade longer than 2 1/2 inches. He could have let them confiscate it, but it was too expensive. He could have taken it back to the car, but that was a long walk over the bridge and we didn't have the time. It wasn't an option to have security hold it for him. So he asked the guy if he could just "hide" it somewhere on the base and then get it after the tour. The guard didn't even slightly smile, and just replied "that would be abandonment of a weapon and you'd get a citation." So, Richard didn't do the tour, but we'll go back to do it again because the big kids will love it - and we didn't have time to do the museum and everything.

So one of the greatest things we did was go to the Opera House and see the production "Wicked." It was FABULOUS!!! It's the story of the witches of Oz before Dorothy drops in. Amazing talent and spectacular scenery. (I just bought tickets to take the 3 big girls for part of their Christmas. I'm excited to see it again!) -- If you can't figure out what we're doing here - look closely at the poster. -- The Opera House was built in the early 1900's and is GORGEOUS. Very baroque with beautiful plaster carvings, painted ceilings, and gorgeous staircases. -- It was a great night! -- Oh yeah, when we finished we pretty much ran through a nearby scary area to get to the subway. There wasn't another soul in sight - except for the scary guys. We were glad to come upon some police officers, and I told them so.

So, the week with Mindi was GREAT! We played a lot, laughed a lot, and ate a lot. One of my favorite memories is after a long day we were just getting ready to go to the subway to head home. We had been walking the Trail all day and were exhausted from nights of very little sleep. We were in the Prudential Building (a massive office/mall/restaurant complex) that has a skywalk with a gorgeous view of the city. We walked through the doors at the entrance of the skywalk and showed our ID to security. When they informed us it was $11 for the view, we hesitated, knowing we only had a few minutes. So I asked if there was any thing else up there we'd want to do. The security officer said "there's a bah (bar) up there." Mindi sighed and announced, "I want a bed, not a bar!" He raised his eyebrow and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. We've sure laughed about it a lot since!