Daxen's Big Trip!

When the Iverson grandkids turn 12, they get to go on a trip with Grandma and Grandpa. We were lucky enough to host Daxen for his big trip (Andrea came along to keep things interesting)! It was a fun-filled week, as they really packed in all the Boston essentials. Henry and Ellis were in heaven with their week-long playmates. We stayed up so late at night playing games that our entire family switched to Utah time! We went to bed around 1:00 each night and got up around 8:30 each day. Ellis has been sleeping in until almost 9:00 every morning since they came. It's been so hard to wake up since they left that we're thinking of just staying on Utah time until we go there for Brady's wedding in July. It just might work!

Here are the trip highlights:

The Museum of Science: Henry and Daxen both LOVED this and could have stayed for hours more. I was surprised at how well Henry enjoyed the adult exhibits -- we didn't even go to the children's section! The museum is really well done for all ages.

Duck Tour: I came home with Ellis while the rest of the group went on a Duck Tour (a tour of Boston by land and sea in an amphibious vehicle). It was rainy for most of the week, including the Duck Tour, but I think they liked it a lot anyway.

Henry got to drive the Duck Tour boat in the Charles River! He was a pretty careful (and excited) driver.

The Duck Tour people gave Henry a bunch of stickers for driving so nicely. Henry is currently in the middle of a big sticker phase, so they couldn't have given a more appropriate gift! He wore these on his legs for 3 days, and when he finally took them off I had to scrub black circles off his legs from the residue.

The Freedom Trail: a Boston must! I am the obstinate sandal-wearer.

Ellis sucked on his toes for most of the trek. He was really good though and stayed happy most of the day in his stroller.

See? Told ya.

A break in the Freedom Trail at Faneuil Hall for lunch.

Looking at downtown Boston from Charlestown.

Aboard the U.S.S. Constitution -- Ellis and Grandma

Tour of Harvard's campus with the insider-expert tour guide, Ben. Here they are in front of the Baker Library where Ben's office is.

Waiting in line at Pizzeria Regina. Was the pizza worth the wait? Absolutely. We topped it off with Canolis from Mike's Pastry, of course.

Perhaps the best part of the trip was how Daxen and Henry bonded. They had so much fun playing together (well, at least Henry did), and they built many complex train tracks and lined up lots of cars. We would like to adopt Daxen for a couple of years!

We would adopt Grandpa too, if Grandma would let us! He was a pretty fun playmate as well. It took Ellis a few days to warm up to our guests, but he was pretty comfortable by the end of the week!

As if we hadn't already eaten plenty of yummy, unnecessary treats, we made sure to pick up some donuts for Linda herself at our favorite donut shop in Belmont and ate them with hot chocolate the last rainy night before they left (Summer? What's that?).

Thanks for the fun visit, Iversons and Smiths! Luckily we'll all be together again soon.