Boston, MA - where they 'pawk da caw'

He has this pac man as a tattoo

I have the best friends in the world.  Really - I do.   There is a whole group that like to play soccer at work.  me, I'm not sure what I do is technically called playing soccer, but I chase the ball around try to take a swipe at it.

First bruise from soccer

Most of the players on this group are guys.  Then there's my friend and I.  She played in HS...I hadn't seen a soccer ball in my life before I stepped out on the field.  It was on.  Fortunately, the guys have a good sense of humor (most of them anyway) and they keep inviting us to continue.

My soccer playing friend/partner in crime/hiking buddy/best friend

One of these fellows is a very good friend of mine.  We're chatting one day and he tells me he's in Boston.  Are you serious?  Are you trying to make me jealous?  I wasn't even requested to carry luggage, WTH?  The invite comes.......why don't you join me!  (he knew it was on my bucket list)

Had my "Irish Breakfast" here

Really?  Are you serious?  This is awesome!  First things first, clear it with the wife.  His wife and I are in aerobics class together.  She literally said, "OMG Dawn!  PLEASE drag his a** all over Boston!"

 CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

How in the world he managed to navigate through the tunnel work is beyond me.  The dwarves in LOTR didn't get this creative in the dark.  He's wipping right and left, back and forth.  We. are going. to die....

I love a good sense of humor

Of course I couldn't pass up an opportunity like this.

I mean com'mon...it's NORM!!!!

We all recognize this sign, right?

No kidding, they do wedding at the top of this staircase.

I had my Brick Red Sam Adams sitting in the original Cheers, looking out on the streets of Boston with my good friend Rusty thinking I needed to pinch myself.  

(I don't even like beer and this was good)

I have walked where Ben Franklin walked

Pay no mind to the woman licking the screen

When your friend says, try the cannoli, you try the cannoli.
I'm so glad I tried the cannoli.  I've had cannoli in Little Italy in NYC....it's so tasty.  (they make great breakfasts)

OH MAH WORD!   My tastebuds were singing hymns....

The Last Hurrah - wonder what happened here

We walked the Freedom Trail all over Boston.  This is such a fascinating place.  There is just no way to post all the pictures (because I'm a shutter bug).   There is so much to see.

Ben Franklin's headstone

This was such an interesting place.  Not only were the gravestones sinking into the ground, but there is just so much history in this city. 

There was a woman dressed in period clothing that would walk people around the cemetery pointing out the founding father's and their places of rest.  

We even went past the house Paul Revere lived in.  

Paul Revere's headstone

I love old graveyards

  

We went to the ship museum.  It was so neat.  Not just the typical, how to tie ropes and such but the history, the education, the...stuff!

My first 'Bubble Tea'

When you are out wandering around, one works up an appetite.


 Me, I always have an appetite.

Oh yeah.....SUSHI!!!

The street vendor was so interesting.  He has to have been at this for years.  He had the audience involved.

Street Vendor

Go SOX!

The Green Monster

While we were walking around, I got a phone call from another friend of mine.  He had a business meeting in Boston.  So he stopped in and suggested we go to a Red Sox game.  That was my first major league baseball game.  Mercy!

I warned him what happens when you give a hyperactive person caffine...nooooo....he insisted the girl have Starbucks.  Oh mercy, mercy...you KNOW I was irritating to everyone around me.

The boys just thought it was funny!

Thank you to the friends of mine that encourage me to get out and have fun.  Kudos to you!

Wow.....I went back and read parts of what were posted in July.  Mercy. . . . .

Well....since then.  I have grown stronger.  I am more stable.  I feel safe.  The constant static that was up in the air has dissipated and there is a different peace than before. 

In a series of unusual and not so good events, I decided it was best for the family to go house hunting.  The electric in the old house was burning through electronics, burned through the AC, the thermostat, arcing around plugs and we had several plugs that no longer worked.  The cold weather was heading in and there was NO way I was going to turn the heat on.  My daughter had turned it on near the end of the previous season and upon returning home found her ceiling popping and cracking, the walls too hot to touch and her animals dead.  The wall thermostat hadn't kept it at the controlled temperature. 

Being a big fan of Dave Ramsey fan, there were multiple steps taken before I walked out the situation before with four children on my back.  Apparently, the discipline put into those steps set me up quiet nicely in a housing market for buyers.  My children are told repetitively, there are consequences to all your actions, both good and bad.  I have reaped some really good consequences. 

This house is the closest I have ever been to my dream home.  The wooden staircase.  The music room.  Crown molding. The kitchen is exactly how I have always planned one.  The dining room with the hardwood floors, custom book cases and double doors leading to a deck overlooking nothing but woods.  Let's not forget:  MY   OWN    BATHROOM!

This long after, I still pause on the street and gaze in awe of it.  Home........  I've never had a place considered home.  It's always been someone else's house.  Then again we moved so frequently, it's hard to become attached to a place that way. This one, I wrote HOME on the inside of the front door.  Maybe it's because it's mine and no one is going to be allowed to hurt me, mistreat me or harm my children in here. 

The lessons a year has taught me are priceless.  I have grown in knowledge, experience and self confidence.  I have watched my children grow and stretch in this new found freedom where they are allowed to have opinions, make decisions and mistakes without the worry of impeding doom. 

My son has made such great strides in his behavior that he is not even the same little boy he was before, he is becoming a well mannered and happy little man.  Instead of coming home with negative reports of the daily misbehavior, he is coming home with more and more good reports and the occasional mishap.  This is great improvement and we have all worked so very hard to see it. 

All in all.....life is good.  I'm rather curious as to what all it has to bring in the next 6 months.