July 4th in Downtown Boston

From my research on Wednesday night, I knew that there was a big festival called Harborfest going on the whole week of July 4th in downtown Boston and on the waterfront. Unfortunately we had missed the kids "Kids Day" that day, but there were supposed to be some concerts and other stuff going on downtown. I wasn't really sure what to expect, so Brian and I just decided we would head downtown and play it by ear.

After nap on Thursday, we donned our sunscreen and walked down to the T stop. Our adventure started off with a long wait for the T. It was HOT and we waited...

and waited...

and waited!  THIRTY minutes later, and after two "No Service" trains passed our stop, our train finally came!  Oh the joys of public transportation!

But we finally made it downtown!  Here's a shot of some of the buildings around city hall against the beautiful blue sky!  It was a beautiful day, but did I mention that it was HOT (high of 93 and muggy)?!

Faneiul Hall from across the street.  Faneuil Hall is a stop on Boston's Freedom trail and "has been a marketplace and meeting hall since 1742". (thanks Wikipedia!)

Here were some men performing dances and acrobatics outside Faneuil Hall.  Brian and I stopped to watch these same guys when we were here in April and I had thought at the time that Nathan would really enjoy watching them and I was sure right!

Daddy and Nathan in their red shirts on the right.

This man was performing this crazy balancing act in the back of Faneuil Hall.  Nathan was also entranced with this show.

See?  Intently studying the scene before him.

Sarah was not quite so entertained by the sidewalk shows.

Brian had to buy a hat in April to protect his head from getting sunburned.  At the time we noticed they had kids hats for sale, so we brought Nathan back to the same outdoor stand to let him pick out a hat for himself.  He picked red, possibly to match his favorite red shirt?

Sarah also picked out a hat, appropriately pink!

Inside the Quincey Market building is like the most amazing food court.  Brian and I ate here also during our April trip.  That time Brian got a delicious shrimp and crab BLT and I got a lobster roll that wasn't very impressive.  This time around Brian got a Cuban sandwich (weird and not good) that he and Sarah shared, and I got Teriyaki chicken and fried rice which was intended to be shared with both children.  Its interesting how sometimes the kids are feeling culinarily adventurous and want to try new and random foods, and sometime they will refuse to try the most common foods (peaches!).  Sarah also spotted some "ju" (juice) so Brian bought us a cool cup of fresh squeezed orange juice and a large fruit salad to round out our meal. 

Following dinner, we got two giant cookies to split between the four of us.  The search for dessert took us all the way back to the front of Quincy Market, where the Freedom Trail passes between it and Faneuil Hall.  After the cookies were demolished, the kids decided to take a stroll down the Freedom Trail (they had no clue what it was, just a fun path to follow).

By this time it was 6:30 and Brian and I were BEAT and figured the kids were too.  Especially since they're still adjusting to their new room and its affecting their sleep some.  So we headed back to the T station and thankfully only had to wait one minute for our "T train" as Nathan calls it. 

Sarah decided she was going to be a big girl and wanted to stand up on the T.  Sometimes she would cooperate and hold onto the pole, other times she would want to dance in the middle of the train and found it hysterical when she would almost fall as the train jerked down the track.  And, of course, we were seated right by stairs that she could tumble down if we weren't careful.  Thankfully, no incidents occurred!

After we got home and got the kids to bed, Brian and I turned on the Boston Pops Orchestra's live concert from the Esplanade downtown and enjoyed the music while Brian carved and I puttered around on the internet.  Following that was the 20 minute fireworks show, but I quickly realized that although I LOVE fireworks live, on TV they just don't do anything for me.  I guess the "boom"-ing and feeling the percussion waves is an integral part of the experience for me.

So even though we didn't actually do anything particularily patriotic for the 4th, I'm glad we had a memorable first trip to downtown Boston with the kids!