Boston - Last Day

 Saturday morning we packed up and tried to take a cute pic by the pond before the geese came up...

... everyone was looking SO NERVOUS because these geese had been a terror and we fully admit that they're the bosses of us ;)  Honestly, this kind of makes the whole wooden swan/duck/goose debate from the day before even funnier because regardless of what it is it reminds us of this pond and these geese.

We made a quick pit stop by this spring water station right down the street - people were here at all hours of the day and night filling up containers of drinking water so we filled up one last time and then hit the road for Plymouth.

We had tickets for the Plyimoth Patuxet museums and we were pretty much immediately impressed.  Self-admittedly I didn't do a ton of research so we were going in a tiny bit blind (which is very unlike me) but it was WAY cooler and in-depth than we had anticipated which is the best kind of surprise.  

We walked through the gorgeous visitors center/lobby area, watched a quick video and then started our walk to the first area - the historic Patuxet homesite.  

Here we got to learn about the Indigenous heritage of the Northeast from contemporary interpreters who discuss the 17th-century lifeways of a culture that still thrives today. They had a home set up that we could to into...

... there were interactive things that the kids could try....

... there was a cooking demonstration going on (it was strawberry thanksgiving that day)...

... we got to see the process of making a canoe using fire as a tool, see a native dance, talk with interpreters, see their garden, etc.  It was immersive and awesome. 

We could have spent longer at the homesite but we were a bit pressed for time so we continued on the path and made our way to the Colonial village.  Plymouth colony is complete with timber-framed houses furnished with reproductions of the types of objects that Pilgrims owned, aromatic kitchen gardens, and heritage breeds livestock.

It was so cool to get to go into these buildings and see, touch and explore everything that was in there.

Just like at the Patuxet homesite there were interpreters scattered around talking about what life was like  and it really brought the whole experience to life.  

When you buy your tickets to the museum you can buy combo tickets that include the Mayflower II and a Gristmill and we opted to skip the Gristmill this time but definitely wanted to check out the ship.  

It wasn't huge and there definitely wasn't as much to see as there was at the homesites BUT it was such a cool experience to get to be in/on a ship the same size as the actual Mayflower and hear and think about what it would have been like on the ship.  All three of my kids said that they had assumed the Mayflower was WAY bigger than it actually was so it was neat to be able to get some perspective and apply that to what they already knew.

You get to go in various parts of the ship and see what it would have been like...

... and there were guides around talking about the number of people on board, how things were stored, animals, etc. 

It didn't take us any more than 30 minutes to walk through start to finish but was definitely worth seeing. 

 

After being in Plymouth for the morning we all said that we cold have EASILY spent a day in the town.  There seemed to be lots to do and see and so IF I was planning this again I'd plan more time for Plymouth in general.  

We couldn't spend a ton of time because we had to grab some quick lunch, drop of our rental car and head back into Boston for our last night. 

We stayed at the Omni Parker House hotel which was extra cool since earlier in the trip we'd eaten there with our tour guide and he'd told us a bunch of the history/lore surrounding the hotel.

We hung out for about 30 minutes (enougt time for a hotel robe!)...

... and then we headed out to check out Quincy market since we hadn't had a chance to earlier in the trip.

Stop 1 - corn dog ;)

We shopped around a bit, explored, played some corn hole..

... and then shared a pizza and people watched.

 

WE LOVED QUINCY MARKET!

A quick pit-stop back at the hotel....

... and then a super pretty walk alongside Boston Commons...

... all the way to the Charles Playhouse to see Blue Man Group!

When I was planning and asked the kids if they wanted to see Blue Man Group I really didn't know if they even knew who they were and Mason goes, "the guys from the Smurfs movie?!?!"  I guess there's reference to them in the Smurfs movie and that was pretty much their only reference point. hahahaha We watched a couple of videos and they quickly decided that they definitely wanted to see them and for sure wanted to sit in the "splash zone" ;)

We arrived, got our ponchos on and really had very little idea of what the show was going to be like.

 

It's honestly kind of hard to put into words what the show is like.  It's kind of comedy, kind of music and a LOT of "what?!?!?!" hahahaha

At one point they were climbing through the audience shooting streamers using leaf blowers and Dave and I just made eye contact and cracked up.  

After the show we were all just kind of like "what just happened" but in a good way.  As far as the splash zone seating - it was super fun.  G and I had a tiny bit of paint on us, but that was because one of the guys literally crawled over us at one point and he had paint on him.  Then there was a part of the show where they sprayed water and I got SOAKED but the rest of my family just got splashed.  So you really don't need to worry about getting messy or anything like that but definitely be prepared to look like a drowned rat if you sit where I sat ;)

This was a highlight for all of my kids - so if you're going to Boston and debating whether or not to see Blue Man Group I'd definitely say it's worth it.  If nothing else it's unlike any other experience!

After the show we walked back to the hotel making pitstops to see the Benjamin Franklin statue at night and grab a Burger King crown (but no burger king food)....

... and we ended the night passing around sour patch kids in bed ;) 

The next morning we had a Dunkin bed picnic....

... and then packed up to get ready to head home.  It can be hard with a family of 5 to find hotels that can accommodate us without two rooms and the Omni Parker House was great.  The room had two queen size beds and then a full size pull out couch and had lots of room to spare.  The room wasn't NEARLY as big as the Westin we stayed in at the start of the trip but it worked fine and it's fun to be able to say we've stayed in the same hotel that Charles Dickens (amongst others) stayed at ;)

We debated having the hotel hold our bags and go explore a bit more but ultimately decided to go ahead and Uber to the airport and just wait it out.  We're definitely more "check in early just in case" people than "push it to the limit and get stuck in a security line" people ;)

Joke was on us because we literally walked through security and had LOTS of time to kill, but that was just more time to play a few games, read a bit, grab some Starbucks and eat airport Shake Shack ;)

The flight home was easy and we were home to our fur babies by dinnertime!  

I always get asked what we do with our animals while we travel and we hire someone to keep an eye on them at our house.  They come by 3-4 times a day to let the dogs out, feed Jelly Bean and Queso, play, water our outside plants, bring in the mail, etc.  There's a huge peace of mind knowing that someone is checking in on our house as well as our pets and it's SO MUCH EASIER on the dogs to not have to be boarded.  I've always used connections with school to hire former students, their siblings, etc. and can't imagine doing it any other way.

This trip was SUCH  a fun one and, again, a really good balance of "go go go" and relaxing which is what we all really enjoy.  Getting to see so many historic and important sites and places with our kids was a bucket list item for me and Dave and something we feel so blessed to be able to do!

If you have any questions about anything we did/saw please don't hesitate to reach out - leave a comment, email (momfessionals@gmail.com) or send a DM on IG!

HAPPY Wednesday, friends!