Boston!!!

The climax of our trip was Boston and the kids were so excited to arrive as we had been talking about it for months!  We drove in to Boston on Saturday, April 15th on a gorgeous spring day!  The drive went smooth and was so pretty and everyone was so excited to be in Boston!!  We decided to go to the city to obtain Rich's race packet prior to going to the house that we rented which was about thirty minutes outside of the city.  Rich had to pick up his packet at the convention center which is right in the middle of downtown so the kids and I hung out at the Public Garden while he went there and then he met us back there and we roamed around for a bit before heading to the house.  There were so many people out and about on this beautiful day and we had fun eating hot dogs and ice cream in the gorgeous park in the middle of the city!

 We found the mother duck and her ducklings so, of course, had to take a picture!!

 Look at these cutie patootie cousins!!!  SO happy to be with Linz, Paul and Finn for the long weekend!!!  We rented a really neat, old home with the Byers and the Zicklers which couldn't have worked out any better!  The Zickler's arrived to the home first and got things set up and as kid proofed as we could make it.  We made dinner together on Saturday night, got situated and hung out together before the Byers arrived later that night.

 There is a separate post about Easter Sunday so the following pictures are from RACE DAY!!!  Yay!!  Rich ubered into the city to meet up with his training group from San Diego around 5 a.m. that morning so snuck out while everyone was fast asleep.  The rest of the crew got up and ready to take the 10 a.m. train into the city.  The house that we rented was a 5 minute walk to the train station which worked out perfectly so after breakfast and a quick photo op we made our way to the station.
We were WILLPower ready!!

 Charlotte was enjoying her first train ride!!

At one point Linz and Paul had all of the kids sitting with them so I enjoyed a few moments of relaxation and they got to experience what it would be like to have 5 kids under the age of 6...ha ha!

 The energy in the city was incredible!!!  There were so many people out and everyone was so friendly and you could just feel that the city was so excited for the race.  We met up with Uncle Bruce and Bruce David once we left the train station and made our way down Newbury Street to find the perfect cheering spot.  They blocked off Newbury Street which ran parallel to the race course so it was nice to have the entire street to walk down without having to worry about the kids staying on the sidewalk or crossing the street with cars.  Once we made the decision to get on the race course and go through security it was definitely tight with spectators...there were seriously people everywhere but it was such a fun atmosphere!  I am so thankful that Laura suggested that I take my tandem Phil&Ted's double stroller instead of the wide double BOB because it was so much easier to navigate.  The girls played musical chairs between the stroller, the ergo, and Uncle Bruce and Bruce David's shoulders.  I'm pretty sure that at one point Joseph was on Uncle Bruce's shoulders, too!!  We ended up walking to right after the 25 mile marker and found a spot with a little bit of space for us to set up camp and wait for Rich.  There were spots that we walked by that were 4 or 5 people deep to watch...really incredible!  The hardest part of the day was waiting for Rich to come by.  We probably waited close to thirty minutes since we got there early and he was a little later than we originally expected so this was definitely the hardest on the kids.  At one point Ella was asking to go home, Julia was sitting on the ground pouting with her arms crossed, Charlotte was crying in the carrier and Joseph kept asking "Where is Daddy?" but we made it through and it was all worth it when we saw him run by and he turned back around and gave us a wave once he passed us.  He told us after that it was SO crowded the entire time and that people kept calling him "Will" since his shirt said "WILLPower" but when he heard a group of people call "Rich" he knew it must be us so he was able to turn and give us a wave.

 A few months ago Rich told me that he wanted to put "Gloria" on the back of his shirt.  This meant so much to me and it was so special that Uncle Bruce and Bruce David were able to see it in person since they were at the race.  Aunt Gloria was always there for me growing up and since meeting Rich she has always been so loving and supportive towards him as well.  She showed so much love towards our family so he was honored to run for her as well as Will in Boston.

After we spotted him we headed back down Newbury Street to the family area where we picked him up.  He was feeling great and with a time of 3:10 he was happy and proud.  He was aiming for under 3 hours but within the first few miles of the race he realized that this was not the race to break 3 since it was so crowded and he just couldn't get into a groove to get his mile splits to where they needed to be.  He said for the first 8 or so miles he was basically elbow to elbow with people and even towards the end where it started to thin out a bit there was always someone close to him.  He says it was an incredible experience, but has no desire to do it again ("it" meaning Boston...he is already signed up for his next marathon-ha!)  Definitely the experience of a lifetime!  After saying good-bye to Uncle Bruce and Bruce David, we walked the streets of Boston for a bit and picked up Panera and then made our way back to the Public Garden to have a picnic and to stretch our legs before the train back to the house.  It was the perfect spot to let the kids run around and to relax after a busy morning.

 Since we were back by the ducklings we were able to get a family shot which I just love!!

We made it back to the house around 4:00 that afternoon and everyone was happy and ready to relax!  Rich, Charlotte and I walked to the local pizza place to pick up pizza for everyone and we all enjoyed some drinks together to unwind after such an unforgettable day!  We put Moana on for the kids but I'm pretty sure all of the adults ended up watching it as well.   Mike Baskin and his girlfriend, Maria, stopped by the house to congratulate Rich and to visit with everyone which was a nice treat!  Everyone slept well that night and we are all so proud of Rich who trained so hard but also always made our family his first priority.

 We just love this picture of Will and Joseph from the morning of the race.  Will is the reason and the motivation behind every run that Rich does and we are all so blessed by having him in our life.  We feel honored to help raise awareness and funds to support him and other children who are fighting for a cure and he has touched the lives of our entire family.  He and Joseph share a special bond, despite not living 10 minutes away from one another anymore and I know they will always be close.  We are thankful for his entire family and are better people for having them in our lives.   It is always hard to say goodbye to them but our adventure in Boston was so much more special because they were with us.  Our friendship runs deep with them...we definitely miss the day to day interactions of living physically close to them but know that we have such a stronger bond than that and just feel so blessed by knowing them and are so thankful that we have gotten to see them yearly since our move to California.  We are already looking forward to our next visit with them.

 The Byers headed out early to catch their flight back to Texas and the Zicklers and our crew followed shortly behind them.  We were all on the road by 11:00, back to reality and the day before almost seemed like a dream.  I know I mentioned this earlier but it was such a treat having the Zicklers join us in Boston and we are forever grateful for their help over the weekend and for wanting to meet us there and spend the time together.  We love that although we live across the country from them that we can pick up right where we left off and that the cousins have that special and immediate bond that cousins often do.  We had to get a picture of the youngest cousins before we left but Linz and I decided that Rich took this picture at an awful angle but I had to include it especially because I love the way that Charlotte is looking at Finn!  Who would have ever thought that I'd have my last baby 4 months after Lindsay's first baby but I'm so glad that it all worked out this way and I  just can't wait to watch these two grow up together!  

 Love these sweet cousins.

Whew!!  What an incredible weekend in Boston.  I told Rich that if the weather wasn't cold for half of the year that I could live here.  It was so fun to be in a big city, although it didn't really have that big city feeling as everything was so easily accessible.  The people were so nice and it helped that the weather was so nice, too!!  We look forward to coming back in the future to walk the Freedom Trail :) and I need to bring Rich and the kids to Marshfield to show them where I grew up since that is the one thing that we just couldn't fit in...some day!! This trip brought back great memories of living in Massachusetts as a kid and I am thankful for the new memories that we made with our kids!