Bueno in Boston

Mom returned home early this week, and we headed down to Boston to meet her because we missed her and couldn't wait to see her, but also it was a good chance to spend some time in the even bigger city. We reserved a hotel room near the airport and the plan was to head down for a couple of days. The beauty of the internet is that you can reserve a hotel room in Boston from pretty much anywhere in the world. How cool is that?

The one downside to it all was that her flight was landing at midnight, so it meant having the kids go to sleep and then heading over to the airport, which was fine. It's nice to have someone meet you when you land rather than having to negotiate the bus or shuttle, especially at that hour. Another complication that we learned of at the last minute was that A had to work that day and the next, and N was also doing pet sitting both days, so we didn't have unlimited time in the city. We also had to prepare for the market earlier than usual because we were going to be away. Boy, talk about complications..

Our day went something like this: I took A to work and then went and got stuff for the market before heading home. N and I did the last of the cleaning of the house and then had lunch, after which we headed to pick up A, who had brought her overnight things to work with her. I packed a bunch of snacks and sandwiches for the road and we headed south. The ride wasn't bad and we found the hotel just fine. It was actually really nice, and they had a pool so we were golden. For supper we decided to get daring and, thanks to TripAdvisor and Yelp, headed into the slightly less refined east-side section to get some ethnic Mexican food at Mi Pueblito Restaurant, and it was excellent. The food was tasty and the service was great, and they had free chips and salsa to start, which is not as common on the east coast. I even tried out my limited Spanish and I think the waitress got a kick out of it. I've found when traveling, especially in Europe, that a little effort goes a long way and is appreciated.

After our meal of killer tacos and burritos, we headed back to the hotel and I chilled out while the kids went for a quick swim. Then it was back to our room where the kids watched movies and I read my book until it got close to 11:00PM. I figured about 45 minutes was a good cushion because it was literally 5 minutes to the airport, but I had to get parking and find her gate and all that good stuff. I also didn't want to shell out the big bucks to park, which is an hourly rate, so I had to time things right. It was a little bit of a circus act but I managed to minimize my time in the lot without missing out on mom's arrival. It was nice seeing her after so much time, and we got back to the room a little after midnight.

The next morning breakfast was good but not overwhelming, you just can't beat the breakfast bar at the Embassy Suites, but you end up paying for it. A was itching to get back home because she had to work and they were expecting her, albeit on the late side. We dropped her off and came home, where mom was happy to see a clean house and we had hoped. We relaxed and hung out before starting to think about the market the next day, but that's a story for another time.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to bionicgrrrl for the pic.