East Coast Trip - days 3 & 4 (New York to Boston)

On Tuesday, we got up bright and early to fit in those last couple things before leaving New York City. In particular we were invited on a personal tour of NBC Studios by my old high school buddy Todd Whiting, so of course we jumped at that chance. We had breakfast at Rockefellar Center, walked around the streets to see the buildings and statues from the outside, then met up with Todd at 11am.

He took us to see the MSNBC newsroom, the Nightly News desk & broadcast room, the behind-the-scenes control room, and most excitingly the Saturday Night Live set. When we were standing on the SNL set taking pictures and watching the crew work, we looked up to see the "official" tour members looking down at us from an upper window. It was awesome to see everything up close, and felt great to get the real personal treatment.
It was so great to see Todd again. It's been about 10 years but there's something so familiar about being with someone you knew well in high school - and when you're in a strange city far from home it is nice to have a little something to help it feel a little more personal and like home.

After we finished with our tour, we parted ways - Scott to pick up the rental car in midtown and somehow make his way driving across town, me to take the kids back to the hotel to pack up, check out, and meet Scott at the curb with our luggage. The plan mostly worked and eventually we were on our way out of town.

We drove from New York City to Boston without much incident. There was the usual amount of boredom and fighting, then everyone needs food and bathroom stops at different points. But eventually everyone fell asleep so we just drove on through and made pretty good time. Scott was a little disappointed at how much all the tall green trees obstructed his view. He had hoped to see more of America on this drive, but what he saw was mostly forest-lined highways.

We arrived at Zack & Ana's house and ordered authentic Boston pizza, let the cousins play together, and hung out with Mom & Dad & Christine & Zack & Ana for a bit. Brenden & Oliver slept over at Zack & Ana's and the rest of us headed to a hotel nearby. This time we were all in one room, which didn't really go over that well in terms of Huck ever falling asleep or June staying in her own bed. Oh - by the way - Happy 14th wedding anniversary to Scott and I. We totally ignored the event, but enjoyed spending the day, like every day, spending time and working together to lead our family.

This morning, we got up early to make it meet everyone for a tour of Harvard at 9am personally guided by Zack's HBS buddy Mike Christensen. It is such an amazing campus with all the beautiful architecture, history, and tradition. We promptly went to JP Licks for ice cream, then parted paths and the Wileys + Christine went to be tourists in Boston, and everyone else headed to HBS graduation activities.


Of course the highest priority was to take the crew on a Duck Boat Tour of Boston. It was really great. The driver was knowledgeable and interesting, you could hear and understand well, the weather was perfect, and the boys loved the chance to drive the boat.

After the duck boat tour, we walked over to Boston Commons, met up with Rachel, Steve, Annee, and Jack, and spent some time throwing rocks and sticks in the water and watching the swan boats go by. Huck spent a lot of energy yelling at the ducks to come over to us, but for some reason they didn't want to. I spent a lot of energy trying to make sure he didn't fall in the water, but quickly gave up the effort to keep him dry. (Note to self - next time include extra shoes with the backup outfit for Huck.)
























We let the kids do a ride on the carousel, then walked back to the car parked at the Prudential Center along Newbury Street - dying to stop in each store to shop. On one hand, having 4 kids might be cheaper for us, since without them we'd do way more shopping. On the other hand, if we didn't have them we could spend all the extra money we spent on their plane tickets on other stuff. Hmmmm... tradeoffs.

We met up with Mom & Dad and Zack & Ana & Jack at Legal Seafood for a family dinner honoring Zack's graduation. There we enjoyed great popcorn shrimp, clam chowder, almond-encrusted salmon, and watched Zack devour the innards of a lobster - Tahitian-style. It was all delicious. A quick walk along the wharf to see the jellyfish completed the evening. We sent Brenden back to Zack & Ana's, and the rest of us headed back to the hotel. We moved into a one-bedroom suite, so hopefully the sleeping will happen a little more smoothly tonight.