Independence Day

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I dunno what it is, but I just love it. I think it's because everybody just seems so united on Independence day. Everyone is friendly and happy. I've never spent the holiday outside of my home town, Anaheim... until this year, that is. It was such a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I was able to go. The girls performed in another parade. The one in Boston that ends at Faneuil Hall. The girls then performed again in Faneuil Hall for the mayor and everyone else in there. The man who sang the National Anthem was amazing!!!

We went to lunch afterward at McCormic & Schmick's.After that I shopped a little with Mom.

Me with a purple motorcycle!


In Faneuil Hall


Me, the singer, and Emily getting his autograph

Day 7... The Salem Witch Museum

Okay, so the whole reason we all came to Boston was because Emily, Grace, and Katie were performing in a patriotic group. It's called Celebration U.S.A. and they were invited to perform on the 4th of July in Boston. We (as a family) decided to come to Boston a few days early. Well today was the first day that the big Celebration group arrived.

We decided to meet them all in Salem to go to the Salem Witch Museum. On the way there, in the car, Emily randomly yelled, "HOOTERS!!!!" I admit it's quite a delicious restaurant, but I didn't realize Emily loved it so much. So random. Then, Kelly noticed a place called Bunghole Liquors. I think we all peed our pants laughing. We are so immature.



So, the museum, it's a tiny museum and quite strange. I learned a little about witches, and stereotypes... nothing too special. Afterward we went to The Lobster Shanty which is a dive from that television show that Kelly watches.

After that we met the kids' group at the Gloucester House restaurant and hung out. The kids practiced a little and then went off to do a parade in the city of Gloucester.

Day 6 Fenway Park (July 2)

We went to Fenway Park today and got a tour of the park. I really loved it. The tour of Fenway was awesome. I learned a lot of new things (that I couldn't tell you anymore), but I do have a new respect for Fenway Park and Red Sox fans. It was so fun to hear about the baseball history and whatnot. It was super hot outside so sometimes it was hard to care, but I tried to enjoy it and I did.

After the tour we met Alana and  Steve (her hubby). Richard, Benny, and Dad went back to the hotel room while the rest of us went to do what Katie had been talking about alllll week long: kayaking in the Charles River. Out of our hotel room we could see the Charles River and Katie had been asking us to go kayaking for days since she could see everyone else doing it out the window. So we went for an hour long kayak ride. I was in a boat with Mom and Grace. Alana went with Steve. And Kelly went with Katie and Emily. We kayaked down to the Museum of Science and back. Katie loved it and our next stop was the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner.

After the Hard Rock Cafe we went back to Fenway for the Red Sox game. They played the Oriols and Red Sox won. It was a good game. Getting back to the hotel after the game was quite an adventure. The subway that we originally planning on getting was right outside the park (it was the subway we took to get there) was full. When I say full I mean FULL. The line was like a mile out of the subway station. So we thought maybe we could take a bus instead since the subway pass works for the buses as well. The bus line was crazy as well so we walked a ways down the street to get to a bus station farther away. We waited at the bus stop for at least a half hour. The bus just wasn't coming. We waited for  the bus forever but it never came. As we waited on the sidewalk with 4 tired yet hyper kids, we tried to make sure they didn't run into the street. So I'm sure the kids heard "don't go in the street" pleanty of times. Well, a few minutes went by and I noticed Katie staring at a man who was standing in the street. He wasn't really even in the street. He was on the gray part of the street that is the same color of the sidewalk. He was right at the edge of the sidewalk with his feet off of it and in the street. There were no cars around, but Katie still felt the need to say, "Umm, you're standing in the street." He quickly jumped up onto the sidewalk and said, "thank you! That was a close one." Sarcasm that a 5 year old wouldn't understand. In her eyes, she saved the man's life.

Day 5... Family, Can't Live With 'Em, Can't Live Without 'Em

It's kind of a rule... an unwritten rule that you bring a boyfriend or girlfriend on a family vacation with you BEFORE you get married. I mean, it's only polite. The other person deserves to see what they're getting into. They need to see your family at its best and at its worst.

Well, I wonder... if I had brought my boyfriend, Chris, on this family vacation... would he stick around? There were some days on this trip where I was having so much fun that I wished he were there. I wanted him to share the joy and love and funness of my family. But today wasn't exactly one of those days. Oh I love them, but sometimes it's a different kind of love... a more chaotic type of love. The kind of love that only some people can handle. I can. And I love it. But a future mate of mine? Well, he's gonna need to be able to handle it too.

Here's how it all started:
We went back to the Museum of Science this day to watch a movie called "Whales" in the Mugar Omni Theater. The theater is a big round bubble-type theater that reaches back to your peripheral vision. It made me a little dizzy, but it was cool to be in a theater called the same thing that I am called.

My fondest memory at the museum was seeing a baby chick hatch. When we first saw it, there was only a little patch open and he was pecking his way out. We came back a couple hours later and he was three-fourths of the way out. His brother or sister even came up and started to help him get out. It was so sweet.

Alright, so that memory might be sweet, but here's the one I will never forget. The one that would determine if my future mate could be part of my family or not:

The minute we left for the museum my dad was driving like a madman around all the crazy Boston drivers and (even worse) all the crazy Boston pedestrians. My mom was screaming to drive one way while Kelly was screaming to drive the other way. I was screaming for my life and Grace was calmly asking over and over again, "would this shell be better for a key chain or a necklace? Lauren??? Mom? Answer me. What is better for this shell?" Emily and Katie were in the backseat fighting and Benny sat in silence watching the chaotic scene around him. Thirty minutes later (as we hoped to be almost to the museum), we realized that we had ended right back in front of our hotel.

Anyway, eventually we made it to the Museum and saw the movie. We also went on a Duck Tour. I don't think the lady in front of me liked me very much. My knees kept hitting her seat and she looked back with a dirty look every few minutes. It's not my fault they don't make seats for people with long legs.

Our Duck tour guide was hilarious. He kept us laughing the whole entire ride. At one point we did introductions. He wanted to know where everyone was from. So he started at the front of the car and went back. "Where do you come from?" He asked the lady in the front. Blah blah blah. When he got to my dad, there was silence. No answer. Dad's looking down at his cell phone, of course. He had no idea what was going on. "What's that guy doing on his phone back there?" Dad didn't even look up!!! I don't think he even knew that everyone in the tour was staring at him waiting for an answer. Our whole family just started busting up laughing. Everyone probably thought we were crazy, but if they knew my dad (and knew that he was ALWAYS on his phone), they would laugh too.

Part of the way through the tour, Katie said, talking about the tour guide, "this guy talks a lot. He talks more that me!" That says a lot, considering that I NEVER see Katie with her mouth shut. That kid can talk.

Once the Duck turned from a car into a boat and got into water, the tour guide let the kids "drive." When he got each one in the front seat he would ask them questions like, "What's your favorite color?" or "Where do you go to school?" Well, Grace was last to drive and when he started asking his questions, we (the family) all realized that she was in Graceland. Graceland is the place where Grace always seems to be. She's the daydreaming child. Anyway, the tour guide started asking bit she was just staring into space so he waved his hand in front of her face as if to say, "is anyone in there?" Typical Grace.

After the tour, we went over to a park where the Swan Boats are. The Swan Boats were closed, but we hung out at the park and found out that ducks and squirrels both love fruit loops with peanut butter. The kids fed them for at least an hour and probably could have stayed all day.

Later on, as we were at dinner, the restaurant gave us some papers to color on. I drew a picture of Chris and me. Well Emily saw that and started a little chant of "Lauren's obsessed with Chriiiisss, Lauren's obsessed with Chriiiisss." Katie caught on and started chanting "Lauren's upset with Chriiiisss, Lauren's upset with Chriiiiss."

 

Day 4... Meeting the Family

Today we went to Cape Cod to meet some cousins we have never met before. Kelly got into contact with them when she started getting into family history and so we wanted to meet them since we were coming to vacation in their territory. Robert is the one on the right who was in contact with Kelly. He was so nice! There were 3 of them and they took us out to lunch at a place called Quarterdeck. We walked around and hung out near the water where this huge cruise ship comes in to drop everyone off and after that we went and saw a cool lighthouse. On the way out we got some ice cream since the kids begged (it was a pretty easy fight since all of us adults were slacking on our diets anyway). Kelly decided to stick with her diet and have self control... she didn't order an ice cream for herself. But when Grace got her cone, Kelly couldn't resist.

Kelly: can I have a bit of your ice cream, Grace?
Grace: okay (hands her the cone. Kelly has it for less than 2 seconds)
Grace: can I have it back now?

Day 3 (June 29, 2010) Boston

Today we went to the Museum of Science. I remember going there the last time I was in Boston. That's one of the locations where the Duck Tours leave from. Anyway, the kids loved this museum just as much as the Children's Museum. We got to see a baby chick hatch and touch the heart of a lamb (which is really similar to a human's heart I guess).

Oh yes, and how could I forget! Today was a huuuge success! I went into that place where they keep all the butterflies. I know butterflies are beautiful and all but going into that place was so scary. Wow. I felt so jumpy and nervous that my heart was racing the whole time.

 

7 Eleven (used to be Mugar Cafe)

Elli at Dinner

Day 2 Boston

We started this day by going to the Children's Museum. During out whole trip, we mostly used the subways all over Boston which was pretty convenient... most of the time. Alana and her daughter Elli met up with us this day and the kids had a ball. Everything at the museum was hands-on and perfect for the kids. There was one room where the kids could go in and paint pictures. They also got to mix paint and make their own colors. Katie made this beautiful pink color and named it "Sky Green." Don't ask.



On our way out of the museum we were looking in the Charles River and saw a TON of jellyfish. It was crazy. I couldn't believe there were so many jellyfish. I didn't even know that jellyfish lived in rivers.

Afterward, we tried to decide where to go for dinner. Kelly watches  this T.V. show called "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" where this guy goes to different restaurants and talks about which ones are delicious. Well, Kelly found out that there were like 6 of the restaurants from this show in Massachusetts and so we decided to go to one on this day. We noticed that one of the other places that we wanted to go to in Boston, the late Mugar Cafe, was close to Mike's Diner so we stopped by. The Mugar Cafe is only a 7 Eleven today, but it used to be my family's cafe, which my dad's grandfather opened up when he came over to the states. Anyway, finally we found Mike's Diner and it was closed. It closed at 3 p.m.! What kind of diner is that?! Some diner! Not even open for dinner.

Anyway, we found a nice girl and asked her where a good place to eat was. She led us to the Columbus Cafe and by this time the kids were starving. I could see their bones popping out! Okay, not really, but if you heard their complaining you would think their bones were popping out. As we were waiting for our food Katie said, "If I don't get my mac and cheese soon then I'm gonna probably die." That says it all. I promise it's not child abuse. The kid eats fine. When the food finally came it was great. I ate the yummiest cheeseburger of my life!

After dinner we hurried back to the hotel so Alana could drive home to Springfield. I was talking to Alana about how there are so many cemeteries in Massachusetts and she said, "Uhh, yeah. There are more cemeteries in Massachusetts than there are Del Tacos in California." Well, that's quite the feat.

Quote from Katie (while trying to wash her hands in the bathroom): "I don't know how do to Boston things. The water won't turn on!"

Day 1 of Boston

Okay, so I know I haven't written in a long time. I've been traveling. Since Boston I've been to Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, and Wyoming. As of now, I am in Laughlin, Nevada.

I kinda want to stay in order of chronology, so here I go with Boston, day 1 and negative 1 (our arrival)...

The night we arrived was tiring. We all got out of the plane and went to the car rental place. We got a big suburban that fits 8 people...... But there was 9 of us! PLUS all our luggage. It was a tight fit and we literally had every inch of that car filled up. I mean, if there was space in your butt crack, it was filled up. When we pulled up to the hotel, we all wanted to get out of that car as soon as possible so we just started throwing the luggage out. As Kelly lifted up Grace to help her get out, she pushed her over the seat. Grace said, "I'm not a suitcase, Mom!" Apparently Kelly was a little too caught up in getting everything out of the car that she forgot who was what and what was who.

Okay, so our first day in Boston we went to Mount Auburn Cemetery to see the graves of some Mugars. It's a huge cemetery and we needed a map just to find the 2 Mugar plots. Kelly has done a lot of family history on the Mugar side and she's been in contact with one of the workers at this ginormous cemetery. Well the cemetery puts out some magazine and there was an article about the Mugars in it. They used a picture that Kelly has at www.mugarfamily.com. They used it for an article about our relatives, pretty cool, huh?


I remember when I came to the east coast a couple years ago for Alana's wedding and seeing how many cemeteries there were there. It was very different from home. In California cemeteries are new, with green grass, away from neighborhoods. Here they are in the middle of neighborhoods, in the middle of the city, on a side road, in a forest, everywhere! As Alana once said, there are more cemeteries in Massachusetts than there are Del Tacos in California. And it's amazing how old some of the graves are. The oldest original headstones I could find were from the 1600s. So beautiful and so amazing. My mom and dad kind of have a thing. They like going to cemeteries. I inherited it. The knack for cemeteries. They are beautiful and peaceful and completely interesting.

After the cemetery we went to this fancy restaurant called Oceanaire. They have THE best mac and cheese on the planet. Wow. It's on the kids menu, but all the adults took a taste. It looked irresistible.

Not just the Mac and Cheese was good, because Grace said, "This is the 2nd time I've had crab cake and it's the best one. Boston has the best food! Even the french fries are the best!" Take it from an honest 8 year old. Or maybe she was just really hungry...

Benny was falling asleep while eating his dinner. It was so cute! But kidna sad. The poor kid just wanted to go to bed.