Boston Day 5: Plimoth Plantation

 Plimoth Plantation was a fun place to visit;
the little village is built to look just like the one that the pilgrims lived in, and there are actors on site who play specific people who came across on the Mayflower. They have researched their characters in depth and will talk to you and answer all kinds of questions.

 

As soon as Rylee saw these chickens, she said, "Look, there's Sarah, Vanessa and Nigel!" She still remembered their "names" several days later.

Petting the cow

Inspecting the Oyster shell she found on the ground.

This lady told us that 11 people lived in her little house. She also said that the flower Cailyn had been holding was used in salads and as medicine.

 We took a quick jog over to the Indian Village

Smoking out a tree trunk to make a canoe.

Close-up of a bed (sticks) and pillow (split log). I think I'd prefer the ground...

In a canoe

 Posing once again...

The Mooflower

 Then we headed over to see the Mayflower II - replica of the original Mayflower.

 

The girls loved testing out the various beds.

 They giggled and played with this cradle for probably 20 minutes.

(I think a cradle on a ship has to be either a brilliant idea or one of the stupidest ideas I've ever heard of...I'm not sure which; would the waves rock the baby to sleep or tip it over?)

These ladies were singing traditional hymns.

 And then we saw Plymouth Rock. Very underwhelming...I always imagined it to be huge, but it was actually pretty small.

 

Boston Day 4: Castle Island and Bunker Hill

 The first few days of our trip were cool and felt like fall. Then we had several days of temperatures in the mid 80's! We took advantage of the warm weather and spent a day at Castle Island. Such a fun place!

We played on the playground

 {Cailyn could have spent all day sitting on this Kangaroo}

 toured the fort,

 (when Cailyn, who loves all things "beautiful", saw this girl wearing a tutu, she said "Mom, she's so beautiful; she's my friend!")

 played on the shore,

Rylee's collection of colorful seashells

 ate hamburgers,

 and played in the water again.

Rylee adopted herself into this family.

Cailyn took it upon herself to get all the rocks out of the water. This is more of a pebble-y beach than a sandy one. You can guess how that went.

Then we drove over to the Bunker Hill Monument. 

Quinn told the girls the story of the battle that happened on the hill where we were sitting.

Don't you love Cailyn's belly peeking out?

 Rylee had been complaining of being too tired to walk and wanted us to carry her. But once she heard that we could climb up the stairs to the top of the monument she said she wanted to do it. We told her we would do it if she would climb all by herself. Always up for a challenge, she was suddenly no longer tired. Funny how that works.

At the 100th stair...because 100 is her all time favorite number!

View from the top.

She made it! All 294 stairs by her little four year old self!

She is turning into quite the little portrait poser, this girl.

My calves were sore for three days after climbing, but Rylee was just fine! Granted, I carried Cailyn all the way up and down...she was in one of her Mommy Only moods...