My brother Ken, his wife Kenna, baby Zoë and Kenna’s sister Dora are visiting us now, and already we’ve had quite a few adventures.  My mom is currently unavailable to spend time with us, and Dad is busy caring for her, so I was responsible (and willing!) for meeting everyone at the airport on Thursday.  Dora arrived first and we took her up to Revere Beach to have Kelly’s roast beef sandwiches for lunch.  While we were sitting on the beach watching Evan chase the seagulls, I decided to check Ken’s arrival time on my iphone, only to discover that they had already landed!  Somehow, we drove back to the airport and parked before they arrived at baggage claim; so the timing worked perfectly.  Unfortunately, I did not have enough room for 4 adults and three kids plus their luggage in the car, so I took all the luggage and made them take the T to Coolidge Corner.  We had dinner at Panera and soon Jon arrived and we drove the whole bunch back to my parent’s place.

Friday was the first “explore Boston” day.  My dad took our visitors downtown; where they visited Chinatown and Quincy Market and walked a little bit of the freedom trail.  Saturday was spent in Salem; my haunting grounds.  They toured the Witch History Museum while Jon and I took our kids to lunch.  I enjoyed walking through downtown Salem on a beautiful summer day. I saw many new shops and boutiques that would be fun to go back too the next time I need to buy a gift.

And now I come to today.  Jonathan joined his two brother-in-laws, Ken and Phil, on a hike up Mount Washington in New Hampshire.  That left us women to plan a fun day with the kids.  After visiting with my mom in the morning and afternoon, Kenna, Dora and I took Evan, Karen and Zoë on another downtown adventure.  We took the train to haymarket and took the North End by storm, first stopping at Mike’s Pastries for treats and cappacino.  We then walked along the freedom trail and saw a parade honoring Saint Domenico. Evan donate a dollar to the cause and received a pretty card with a prayer in Latin.  After the excitement of the brass band following the Saint, we stopped at the plaza in front of the Old North Church for a little food, sleeping and running around.  We walked through Chrisopher Columbus Park to the Aquarium, where we spent an hour or so before dinner at Panera at Rowe’s Wharf.  By this point, we were all pretty tired, so Evan, Karen and I headed home.

We had a lot of fun on this full day with the Moms and Aunt!  Pictures from the day are up on Flickr!

Sea Lions
Originally uploaded by alisajon

We took a little trip to the Boston Aquarium a couple of weeks ago.  I described our trip here and you MUST compare this photo, to the ones here.

I’ve put some other photos  from the day up on Flickr.