We were lucky enough to be on a slightly larger plane between Cleveland and Boston, and therefore there was a first class cabin. Yes, we're spoiled.
Here we are at the USS Constitution in Boston harbor.
It's quite a boat, especially considering it's over 200 years old!
The kids were sitting under this shelter in the Wampanoag camp at the Plimoth Plantation.
I'm pointing out all the different vegetables and plants growing in the Pilgrim garden and no one is listening.
Can you imagine living here, without the benefit of Target?
Yep, it's morning! Shake a leg, you two!
In downtown Plymouth, there is a statue of Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief at the time of the Pilgrims' arrival in the New World.
The kids are sitting on the steps of the Mayflower Society house in Plymouth.
Oh, look, a reflective surface - so naturally Esme is posing.
Here we are at the Submarine Museum - Aidan and Esme are "driving" this deck gun.
We got a tour of the Nautilus! Whoo-hoo!
They have periscopes inside the museum that allow you to look all around the outside of the building - so Aidan is looking for our car.
Esme found what she thought was a racetrack - but it was really just the parking lot seen from a distance.
They look like they're really driving the boat, don't they?
At Mystic Seaport, the first thing we did was try out some of the old-fashioned kids' games. Aidan really tried hard to walk on stilts, but he just couldn't seem to get the hang of it!
These are "training stilts," which are supposed to help you get used to lifting with your hands and lifting up your foot at the same time.
Here's Esme, a "green hand" in the Mystic Seaport production of Tale of a Whaler.
All the hands were on deck to swab it!
Aidan, aka "Rain #3" is raining on his sister Esme, aka "Green Hand #2".
Michael was kind enough to take this family shot at Gillette Castle. That's the Connecticut River in the background!
Here's the Qin family! Michael holding Andrew, Laura holding Ada, and Laura's cousin Diana.
Aidan and Esme are about to get eaten by this great big clam at the American Museum of Natural History!
This is one huge dinosaur!
Esme didn't mind the subway at all. This was only one of the three or four times she fell directly to sleep while riding the hectic and loud New York City subway.
Yee-ha! We're at the Statue of Liberty!
...and there's the Manhattan skyline directly behind us as we stand on Liberty Island.
Geocaching in Central Park!
This was definitely the best part of FAO Schwarz. What fun, to make a song just by running around.
Aidan and Esme with Lego R2-D2. They didn't have a C-3PO (or as Esme calls him, C-P30).
Aidan and Esme in our room at the Waldorf-Astoria, ready to go down for breakfast.
Good morning, Prometheus!
Jim and the kids on the observation deck at Rockefeller Center.
Home again, on Aidan's birthday: he was really impressed with his birthday gift! (This shows about 1/3 of the collection, which wouldn't all fit in the frame.)
Aidan working the line-control AT-AT Walker.
Jim took some beautiful portraits of our handsome son at the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. These are fourteen of the best. We will be having prints made of the best ones, once the grandparents choose their favorites.
This is my favorite (below).
Happy 8th birthday to our dear boy.