Webkinz travel to Boston, sees the sights

Yesterday we took my sister-in-law and her family to Boston to see some of the historical sites. The four younger girls in our group decided to wear their newly made backpacks (they each made their own the day before) because it seems that L. and G. have spread their enthusiasm for Webkinz to their California cousins (it was our New York cousins who got my kids hooked). So each of the girls (except for G., she was more reasonable about the whole thing and had a smaller pack anyway) had to carry their Webkinz stuffed animals on their backs ALL over the city.

That would end up being a 7-hour walking tour.

Of course carrying junk around is nothing new for L. She HAS to have her 'special' something(s) with her wherever we go (from biking trips to hiking).

But L. wasn't content to simply carry her beloved stuffed animals in her pack like the other kids. Nope, she had to have one in her hands at all times.


On the T with CheChe the monkey (just like in Dr. Doolittle)  and her cousin's Peanut Butter the pug.


The monkey climbed all 294 steps to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument in L.'s hands. And might I just add that we were all dripping sweat and panting by the time we got there....


... because that is one tall monument! 

I think bumper stickers about climbing this monumement would be more worthy a feat to advertise than the Mt. Washington car climbs. (And sadly we looked but found no stickers for climbing Bunker Hill so we've decided to make our own.)

After a snack  - we needed the energy boost! - we walked several blocks to our next chosen stop, the USS Constitution.

But the really over-the-top thing was that L. decided to rotate the animals she carried in her hands with what she had in her backpack so each of her special friends had a turn to see everything.


Note the swap to the duck posing with the cousins.


Exploring the USS Cassin Young WW2 battleship after the Constitution with Patty the duck.


The duck apparently liked the navy yard.


And the jellyfish we saw in the harbor.


Then it was back on the Freedom Trail to Faneuil Hall. And even though you can't see L.'s hand (she's in front of G. in the blue shorts), believe me that she had a stuffed animal in her hands then too.


And when we got to Haymarket Square, she had swapped the duck out for the monkey again.


But the duck was back by the time we made it into the hall to learn about its history.

I grew up just outside of Boston and am familiar with the sites along the Freedom Trail (I even spent some time following it to my workplace just after college) but I still found the www.thefreedomtrail.org a helpful resource in planning our day trip to the city. I knew we couldn't walk the entire trail with our big group yesterday so the detailed map helped to estimate how much our group of 10  could realistically see in one day.