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Big
City Here We Come
I
recently attended a conference for the National Society of
Newspaper Columnists in the beautiful city of
Boston
. When signing up for the conference I was having a good
day and had happy thoughts of taking my entire family along
for the trip and making a vacation out of it. What the
heck - it is summertime and I figured the seven of us could
enjoy some real quality family time together. And as I
said before, I was having a good day.
Going
to the city is a big deal for our gang as we live in the
country. So after talking with the hubby about my idea,
which he was all good with, I decided to ask the five kids if
they would like to go hang out in
Boston
for a few days and get away from country life.
"Hey
guys! Do any of you feel like a vacation, you know,
getting away from the quiet countryside and heading over to
the big city where it's nice and crowded and noisy?"
My
son Phillip perks up and says, "We're going to
New York City
, dude?!
"Relax
Phillip. NO, we are not going to
New York City
."
"
L.A.
?" Nick asks.
"
Boston
!" I say out loud. "We are going to
Boston
."
"
Boston
?" Joseph asks. "Cool dude, so we are going to
a Red Sox game?"
"Well,
not exactly unless your father wants to dish out 700 bucks to
ticket scalpers for one night of baseball pleasure. Sorry
guys, I don’t have tickets for a Red Sox game. I have
a conference to attend and your Dad and I thought it would be
nice if we all went. We were even thinking of going to
see the Aquarium and a show at the IMAX theatre."
"The
Aquarium?" our oldest son Tony squeaks out.
"How about the beach or maybe even the hotel pool, you
know, where the chicks are?"
"Baby
chicks are in the hotel's pool?!" Anna, our four year old
daughter asks, excited at the thought.
"No
sweetie, but we will see Penguins at the Aquarium" I tell
her, giving Tony the evil eye.
While
in
Boston
I had a great time at the conference and actually learned
quite a bit from other writers. After the conference, it
was family time. Time to put on our walking shoes and
hit the streets. Walking was fine. It was keeping track
of five kids and walking through the city that was the
difficult part for me.
"Ok
everyone, we are approaching a crosswalk so let's all stay
together." I say as I hold on tightly to Anna's
hand and as I grab on to eleven year old Joseph's hand.
"Um,
Mom. What are you doing?" Joseph asks looking over
at his older brothers who are snickering at him.
"Nevermind,
hurry, it's our turn to cross!" I yell out dragging him
along.
Then
every few minutes...
"
Tom
, where is Phillip? Nick, where is Anna? Tony, where is
Joseph?"
I
couldn't help myself. I'm a mom and I need to keep track
of all my children.
Overall,
we did end up visiting the Aquarium, which was enjoyed by all
- even our oldest son Tony who got to see chicks - Penguin
chicks that is. We saw wonderful street shows, shopped
and ate great food for three days.
Maybe
next time we head to the big city of
Boston
this mom will think to order Red Sox tickets well in
advance...
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