Home Sweet Home

We arrived home on Sunday evening the 13th of September after having left the 2nd of September to head for Maine and Massachusetts for vacation. We had a wonderful time away.

Over Labor Day weekend we were privileged to vacation with my Mom and my sister Heidi and her husband Mike. We spent Wednesday night with my Mom in Ohio and then as soon as Mom finished teaching her classes on Thursday we headed out to meet up with Heidi and Mike at a motel in New Hampshire. We arrived around 3 a.m.

Now, If I would have been Heidi, I would have taken a picture of our motel, but it didn't even enter my mind. My camera didn't make it out of its case until Friday morning. So I leave you pictureless this post. I fully intend to come back and post more about our vacation as soon as I have the time to go through our 1,400+ vacation photos.

Until next time,

Julissa

Julissa at Cape Cod Light.

Sunset Cruise on the Boston Harbor

On Monday, September 7, 2009, we took a sunset cruise on the Boston Harbor. It was an absolutely enjoyable ride.



The kiosk where we bought our tickets for the sunset cruise.

A boat docked in the harbor.

A cruise boat coming in to shore.

Sailboat

Another sailboat

A beautiful clock tower

An airplane coming in over the harbor to the nearby airport.

Cranes used to load train cars onto barges/cargo ships. These are lower than the norm due to being in the flight path of the airport.

The sun setting over Fort Warren (an island out in Boston Harbor).

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Sunset - Boston, MA

Julissa, Sam and Alex enjoying the cruise.

Jeff and Curtis on the cruise. It got a little nippy out on the water.

Briana

Time for Some Expensive Ice Cream!

It is Monday, September 7, 2009 and we have just dropped Mom/Grandma off at the airport in Boston, MA. After dropping her off, we decided to go back to downtown Boston, MA and see if we could find a parking place so we could find a place to take a cruise out on the Boston Harbor.

After finding a parking spot and walking around looking for a cruise to go on, we decided to get the kids some ice cream at a freestanding snack place. Talk about latte factor, this is it! We bought the kids prepackaged blue bunny ice cream cones for $3.00 a cone! Ridiculous! But they were enjoyed and below are a few pictures of that enjoyment or the remains of it!



Samuel and Alex eating their ice cream cones.



Briana and Curtis having finished theirs.

Dixie and Julissa

Plymouth, MA (September 7, 2009)

Today (September 7, 2009) we went to Plymouth, MA with Mike, Heidi, and Mom. We saw Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower. After saying goodbye to Mike and Heidi, we headed to Boston to take Mom to the airport. Below are a few photos from our time in Plymouth.



Beautiful Flowers

Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Bay

The kids standing in front of the Mayflower.

Mom

Heidi and Mike

A few boats anchored in Plymouth Bay.

Cape Cod Bay - Private Beach

This is our third full day of vacation (September). It was a beautiful afternoon, so we spent it on the beach.

I am just now getting more vacation photos posted. I understand that many people are probably not interested in them, but that is okay because this is for my record more than anything.


Curtis

Samuel and Briana looking for shells.

Alex enjoying the water.


Julissa watching Alex filling his bucket with sand.

Curtis, Briana and Alex enjoying the water.

Alex, Samuel, and Curtis (Sam, of course, had to be at least a step or two further out than anyone else.)

My sister Heidi walking down the beach!

The view to the left of me.

Interesting rock towers

A close-up of one of the rock towers.

Waves

The kids enjoyed playing with the seagulls. They found a brightly colored lighter in the water and would pick it up and throw it. The gull would get it, carry it off, and eventually drop it. If you look closely you can see that he has dropped it and it is about to reach the water. The kids and the gulls did this over and over.

Another seagull

The view to the right of me.

Bunker Hill Monument

It is now Saturday, September 5, 2009 and we are going to visit the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston, MA. We spent quite a bit of time there at the monument. Mom, Jeff, Mike and Sam climbed all the way to the top of the monument. I believe it was 291 steps. It was definitely not for the faint of heart. My other four kids and I climbed up about fifty steps and I think Heidi made it up to the one hundredth step.


Gas lamp alongside the street

Colonel William Prescott

Dr. Joseph Warren

Alex, Curtis, Briana and Julissa waiting on the rest of the clan to get back down out of the monument.

Samuel at the top of Bunker Hill Monument

Mom

Mike, Sam and Mom

Jeff and Mom reading information about the monument.

This picture and the ones below are taken from the top of the monument overlooking the city of Boston.

This is Charlestown Naval Yard

This is the same area as above.

Uncle Mike and the kids sitting in the back of his truck. Jeff is using his GPS to try and locate a place to eat lunch.