Mother's Day in Boston

Sunday was Mother's Day, and it was the second one I've celebrated since having Kai.  We started off the day with our usual weekend morning trip to the park.  After nap time we decided to head up to Boston, which is only about 45 minutes north of Providence and a city I had never visited.  It was a beautiful day in Providence and we imagined it would be the same in Boston.  How silly of us. We arrived to weather that was about 10 degrees cooler, windier, and not nearly as sunny.  But not to let it deter us, we bundled up as best we could, and headed off for the Boston Public Garden.  We didn't realize it till we were walking through the park, but both Kai's jacket and pants were too small for him!  That kid is growing incredibly fast! In the park we took Kai for a ride on the carousel.  He was really hesitant at first and insisted that I ride on the horse with him. "I ride horse Mommy." translation- "I want to ride on the horse with Mommy." In the picture, you can definitely see the unease in his face!  

 After leaving the park, we put on our tourist hats and began the "Freedom Trail" walk. This is one of the attractions for which Boston is famous. The "trail" leads you on a 2+ mile walk through the city dotted with historical landmarks such as the site of the Boston Massacre and Paul Revere's grave site. Of course I always enjoy a good walk, but I had a little trouble appreciating the history of it all because overshadowing every step of the way was chain after chain of Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Barnes and Nobles, Bank of America, Claire's, etc, etc, so on, and so on.  In my opinion, all of these shops really take away from the authenticity of the "trail".  I would so much rather see and support small local gift shops, general stores, and used book shops. I have a hard time understanding why tourists want to go on vacation only to shop and eat at the same stores and restaurants that exist wherever they come from.  Anywho, we still enjoyed ourselves, even as I rambled on to Graham about my opinions of this shift from local to large businesses during most of the way. :)  We ended our walk with a stop in Chinatown to fulfill our craving and homesickness for Taiwanese cuisine.  We ate at a restaurant called Taiwan Cafe which had gotten great reviews on the web.  It was definitely no Stinky Fish Market (one of our hangouts in Taiwan), but it was still enjoyable.  And we even got entertainment with our meal in the form of a blow out argument (in Chinese of course) between two waitresses in the middle of the restaurant... right in front of all the customers!  I cursed myself for not having continued studying my Chinese, I was dying of curiosity to know what it was all about.