Leones Do Boston

We vacationed this summer "out East," hitting Boston for a couple days, and then heading up to Maine.

In Boston, we checked out Boston Commons, hiked the Freedom Trail, explored the USS Constitution, and visited Joe's cousin Helen and her beautiful family in Jamaica Plain.

The five youngest Leones got their first taste of the subway. 

We admired the swan boats and reminisced of "Stuart Little."

We noted that Boston ducks are every bit as cute as Wisconsin ducks.

We met cool Revolutionary dudes and made sure our faces reflected our excitement. Or something like that.

We got into the Revolutionary spirit on the Freedom Trail.

We checked out the Old North Church. One if by land; two if by sea. This is where it all happened!

We stopped for lunch, of course.

We checked out massacre sites.

In fact, some of us had to point out the exact spot of said Boston Massacre.

We met still more cool soldier dudes and asked them about their weapons.

We let the soldiers lock Joe up for a while.

Andrew too.

We checked out street vendors doing all manner of interesting things—like playing water chimes.

We checked out the statue of William's hero, Paul Revere. (This was the whole reason William wanted to come to Boston.) 

We endured near-heat-stroke in line to explore the U.S.S. Constitution. 

We mugged for cute (partial) family shots on Old Ironside.  

We resisted the urge to swab the decks and enjoyed being shorties when we reached the low-ceilinged hold below.

We rejoiced that we were on the ferry, headed out of the 98 degree heat and into an air-conditioned restaurant. 

We broke the bank just a bit and ordered all kinds of shellfish, including lobster for dinner at Ye Olde Union Oyster House.
For at least half of dinner we were lead to believe we were sitting in "The Kennedy Booth." Turned out to be a bald-faced falsehood.  The dinner was a success not only for the excellent food but for much-needed AC. The meat-locker atmosphere was just what we needed after managing the whole Freedom Trail with seven kids in high-90's weather.