A time or two a year, Laura goes off with her sister and cousins on a girl’s weekend, and usually I stay at home with the girls and we find ways to occupy our time.  With temperatures in the 90s and thunderstorms forecast for Saturday, I decided mid-week to start looking at flight loads with the thought of possibly being brave enough to take all three girls on a day trip.  With weather forecasted in the mid-70s and flights looking open, and with times being optimal for a day trip, Boston was a pretty easy pick.  The hard part was determining if I was crazy enough to take them all solo without any help.  After asking the girls if they’d be interested, and a talk about expectations for them on the trip, we decided Friday night that we’d give it a go.

We showed up to the airport around 7am for an 8am departure, with plenty of room for all of us to sit together on the flight.  The flight time was just over two hours, getting us there just before 1030am.  I had done research and found that the Silver Line would take us from Logan Airport to South Station for free, so we navigated the stroller to baggage claim and to the bus stop, boarded the bus, and were in South Boston before 11am.  I didn’t realize that the bus runs through South Boston through an underground tunnel, powered by propane for that portion of the journey.  It was a nice ride, and it was very easy to navigate to street level when reaching South Station.

Upon leaving South Station, we walked north through Dewey Square Park and Wharf District Park.  The goal had been to swing by Trillium Brewing’s Garden on the Greenway for a pint along with food from a food truck, but the food truck was an hour from serving food.  We walked a bit further and found State Street Provisions, a restaurant near the aquarium.  When we got to our table, I found that the youngest had fallen asleep in the front seat of the stroller, so she slept on the bench of our booth while the girls had pancakes and I had eggs benedict.

She awoke upon leaving the restaurant, and from there, we walked north to The Greenway Carousel, where we payed $3 each for a ride on it.  After determining that some of the insects to ride on were too creepy for all of them, we settled on less threatening creatures, with the oldest two together on one, with the youngest on another.

After that we walked further north and walked by Faneuil Hall, and across the street to see boats on the harbor, and used the Marriott Long Wharf for a bathroom break.  The girls had been asking for ice cream all day, and while I was having trouble finding a shop, did find a 7-11 that had drumsticks, which are cheaper than and just as good to them as anything else.  We spent a while sitting near the aquarium watching boats and airplanes go in and out of the harbor and airport.

After relaxing a bit, we walked back south and crossed the Seaport Blvd Bridge into South Boston, from which we could see the Boston Tea Party Ships.  Having missed out on a pint at their beer garden, we swung by Trillium Brewing’s brewery to pick up a few 4 packs to stuff into my backpack, which I checked at the airport to take home with me to enjoy later.  By this time it was close to 2:30pm, plenty of time to head to the airport and get through security for our 4pm flight.  Finding the Silver Line stop was very easy, and getting on the bus and back to the airport, and even going through security, was fairly quick and stress-free.

All three girls were zonked, and all fell asleep on the way home.  Having left the house just before 7am, we were back just over 13 hours later, before 8pm.  While we didn’t do a ton of sightseeing or activities, the goal of escaping the heat for the day and doing something new and fun was met.  Plus, I found with the right tools (snacks, water, coloring books, tablets, change of clothes, etc), a day trip with all three of them was not only mostly stress-free, but also very enjoyable.  That said, the older they get the easier it will get, so we’ll be looking at doing more day trips in the near future.