Ben goes back in Boston!!

At six and a half years old Ben got to return to Boston for the first time since leaving there when aged only 7 months.

All Marguerite and Jude's friends who had last seen Ben when he was a little baby were delighted to see him now as a little boy.

Let's just say Ben had a great time.

Here are the highlights of the trip. 







Marguerite and Jude had feared Ben would be really bored on the long flight to Boston .......











......... but he enjoyed it.  No bother at all.























Marguerite quite enjoyed this flight too ....... a couple of glasses of wine shortened the trip!!!






















Max was also making a return to Boston.  He was a little less impressed with the length of the flight.  'That's the last time I'll be taking a bird with an engine to Boston ...... I could have swam this quicker ..... or rowed it ........ still ....... I mustn't grumble ...... Coolidge Corner here I come!!!!



















Today was the first full day of the trip and they had an exciting adventure lined up ....... skiing at Wachusett with Lindsay.

Here they are sitting in the reception at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Coolidge Corner, Brookline awaiting the arrival of Lindsay.





Lindsay was so happy to see Ben, and Ben was delighted to meet Lindsay (again).

Ben chatted away to Lindsay non-stop on the drive to Wachusett.



















The car was quickly parked and the gang were ready to hop on the shuttle bus to the slopes.






















And before you knew it they were out skiing ....... having loads of fun flying down the Indian Summer and Sundowner slopes.










It didn't take Ben long to get back in the skiing groove.

Six years old and skiing with so much confidence ........ it was fantastic to see.


















It had been 7 years since Marguerite was last at Wachusett .......... she totally loved being back!!






















After a couple of hours skiing it was great to settle down for lunch and do some more catching up with Lindsay.










Marguerite and Lindsay enjoying their lunch and being back in each other's company.











Meanwhile here's Jude showing off his super cool - 'Road Trip Wachusett Mountain' t-shirt.






















Lindsay and Ben having fun at Wachusett Mountain.























'Look Lindsay ....... I get down like this and it makes me go faster', Ben explained to Lindsay.   






















'And Lindsay ....... this is how I make snow angels', Ben went on.

Spot the Challenger and Ralph's Run snow trails in the background.

After skiing it was time to relax for an hour.  Here Ben and Lindsay share a laugh about the day's activities.






















Apres Ski.

Time for a beer to celebrate a great day back at Wachusett. 










Back on the 'Bart Simpson' shuttle bus and headed back to Boston.












Now it's the next day and here is Ben visiting (the entrance of) his first home, Apt 7, at 32 Winchester Street.  All the five windows on the top floor in this pic were in apartment 7 and it's where he lived for his first 7 months.

Ben didn't seem to really care too much about this ...... but Marguerite and Jude thought it was cool that he was back there.
















Then they went on a nice dander down Newbury Street.

Here is one of Ben's snowballs about to splatter on Jude.

Nice pic.  Wha?



















Tonight Marguerite, Jude and Ben met up with their friend Clare for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. 

It was great to spend the evening with Clare and catch up and have some craic.



















Each morning as Jude would head off to work he would exit the hotel in Coolidge Corner and cross the street to get the 'T' tram into the city ........




















...... but before hoping on the 'T' he would look up to the 7th floor to wave at Ben.  Can you spot him there?  (He's peeking through the middle windows where the railings are).




















So as Jude trudged off to work during the day, Marguerite and Ben were able to spend some quality time together with plenty of day time activities. 

Here they are visiting Legoland.


















And here they are visiting The Clayrooms in Brookline.  This place is class.  A few years back (2011) Jude and Marguerite went in here one weekend and made themselves two super cool Mugs which they still have on display in their kitchen.  Today it was Ben's turn. 






He really got into the whole artistic side of this and had a whole lot of fun creating his very own ice cream jar.






















Throughout the week Marguerite and Ben (and Jude on the weekend) would eat their breakfast at the delicious Busy Bee at St Mary's Street. 









The staff all took to Ben and he kept them entertained all week.























Another day time activity they did was a visit to the USS Constitution.

Ben loves the Pirates of the Caribbean films and so he totally loved being on a real ship that actually sailed the seas and fought in battle.


















Captain Jack Sparrow!!!























Another film Ben really loves (and has watched like 100 times) is School of Rock.  So when researching things to do in Boston for the trip Jude was delighted to see that the Broadway on Tour staging of School of Rock was on at the Boston Opera House during their stay.

Ben really loved this show.
 



The next night Ben got to see his first ever basketball game as Northeastern University played James Madison University at the Matthews arena.





















On this trip Ben went from activity to activity and he really enjoyed every thing he did.  Tonight he had a great time.

Here he is with the Northeastern Huskie mascot.




















And here is a great pic of Ben with Northeastern star player Anthony Green.






















After the game Ben got chatting to a Northeastern Coach and he gave Ben this cool basketball.  This is Ben playing with it back at the hotel as the Boston Celtics play in the background.





















Tonight is Friday night and Marguerite, Jude and Ben have met up with Ann Marie and Lindsay to go watch an Ice Hockey game, Harvard University v Brown University.

As you can see from the smiles in this pic everyone had a great time at the game.










Harvard won the game by 4 goals to 2.























Today was Marguerite and Ben's last full day in Boston (Jude was staying on for another few days for work), so they decided to stay in Boston and do some simple but fun activities.


They started the day off with one last visit to Busy Bee .... where Ben showed off his 'flossing' skills. 




Here is Melissa and Ben.























'See you next time' - Melissa, Ben and Marguerite say goodbye for now.























Then they headed over to Charlestown to Bunker Hill.  Here is Ben at a picture depicting the scene of the battle between the British army and the local militiamen.
    








Jude and Ben couldn't wait to get up there so they ran on.























Here is Marguerite coming behind and about to make her way up to Bunker Hill.






















Marguerite made it up just in time for this nice pic.























The Bunker Hill monument has 294 steps to the top and it's a fun activity to do to climb to the top.
Here is a nice family pic at the monument.





















And here are Marguerite and Ben at the top.























At the bottom of the Bunker Hill monument is a little museum.  Part of it focused on the Irish involvement in the battle of Bunker Hill and the large numbers of Irish born persons who lived in Boston at that time.   

Here is an interesting little piece noting the a particularly kind gesture of the city of Boston towards the people of Ireland.



Making their way back from Charlestown they hoped off the 'T' at State Street and got this nice pic taken outside Jude's work - located on the 8th floor of the building on the right here.


















 
Next up was a walk through Boston Common.














Here is Ben dandering through with the State House building in the background. 





















You never know who you might meet when walking through the Boston Common!!!



 

And Marguerite walking past the Duck pond with folk enjoying themselves ice skating.











Next was the Boston Public Garden.























This is a real beautiful place and a joy to walk around at any time of the year.











Ben has the book Make Way For Ducklings so he knows all about Jack, Lack, Mack and the other ducks.  Here he is at the little statues in the Public Garden.

Today Ben had a plan which amounted to he had to go sleighing but they didn't have a sled.  But as Marguerite headed to the Prudential Center Jude and Ben hoped on the 'T' and went out to St Mary's Street 'T' stop where Jude was pretty confident he would get one.



















And he was right.  This was $7.99 well spent as Ben proceeded to have a whole lot of fun whizzing up and down the grounds of Armory Park (just a block away).

It might not look it from this pic but at this stage of the day it was real bitter cold, around minus 10 Celsius or therabouts.  Ben didn't mind though!!!

Time to get back into the heat .......















....... the heat of the Prudential Tower.























Ben was amazed by the views from here.  He had never seen anything like it.  It was a crisp clear day and approaching sundown .......... perfect for a spot like this.





















Jude loves this pic.  It was up here that Marguerite and Jude actually first announced (to Lynn and Dave) that they were expecting Ben, way back in early 2012. 

For now they had one last evening in Boston to enjoy ..... so when at the Prudential it's got to be ........





............ cocktails.

The best cocktails are served up here.  One of these things and your singing like a canary!!




















Ben and Marguerite enjoying the food.  Tonight it was Oysters, Lobster Roll, Fries ...... and of course those cocktails!!

Here are Marguerite and Ben on the 'T' and heading home.

This was a great adventure indeed.  Ben got to pack so much into his return to Boston and it is no exaggeration to say he totally enjoyed the whole experience.  And Marguerite and Jude too of course ...... so much so that the word on the street is that this could easily become an annual (mid term break) winter event for this family!!