Chowda Head in Training Part 2

Wednesday July 1 Continued-
The drive to Isaiah's house was pretty quick, only about 20 minutes or so. And it was so late at night that there was barely any traffic. I was so excited to see him and where he's from. This was my first time being in any part of Boston, so it was a lot to take in during one ride. We pulled up to his house and as soon as I walked in the door all the fear and nervousness and anxiety about meeting his family dissolved. His mom and dad were still up and gave me a hug and kiss. I felt so comfertable and welcomed! Zay told me his mom had bought new sheets just for me and had gotten the kind of soda and cereal I liked. Even though she had worked all day and it was very late (around 11:30 p.m.) she made me dinner! I chatted a lot with his dad and sister (by the way, Zay is exactly like his father in many, many ways. A glimpse of what I am in for!). Unfortunately I didn't really get to meet the baby this trip because she was either sleeping or gone whenever I was in the house. We all went up to bed around 1 a.m. after a very long day, but I was so glad to be there and that the first meeting had gone really well.

Thursday July 2-
I slept until about 9 a.m., which is not like me but given how late I had been up the night before wasn't too bad. When I went downstairs Zay was up and we were the only ones home. We ate breakfast and got ready, but we really weren't sure what we were going to do. The weather was disgusting. It was dark, rainy and thunderstorming all day. We decided to just take a drive around the area so he could show me Lynn and Salem and surrounding towns. Then we went to the mall to walk around a little and get some lunch. He's been looking for a particular kind of sneaker and wasn't able to find them in his size. When we were done with the mall we went to the movies and saw The Hangover. It was hilarious!!! We went back to the house and waited for everyone to get back from work, and then got ready to go out to dinner for Isaiah's birthday. We went into the city of Boston (my first time ever!) to a restaurant called Fire and Ice. It's like hibachi, if hibachi was a buffet. What you do is get a bowl at the beginning of the buffet line and fill it with whatever combination of veggies, meats and seafood you want except it's all raw. Then you pick a sauce like teriyaki, alfredo, tomato, citrus, etc. and take it all up to the massive grill in the center of the restaurant. Then the chefs cook it all on the grill for you while you wait. And you can go up and get more any time you want, and make as many different combinations of stuff you want. His family had been there before, but I had never (apparently it's an international chain) and we all loved it. The chefs at the grill also got the entire restaurant to sing happy birthday to Isaiah! The only thing that was a little downer was that driving in and out of the city I couldn't see a thing because it was so rainy and foggy, I thought I was in London again. Luckily the weather cleared up for the next day...

Wednesday July 3-
We started our day a little earlier since we had quite a bit planned. It was touring Boston day, and we started by driving to the train station in town. Lynn is located at the very end of one of the lines. It took us about 20 minutes to get to the Aquarium stop. I had said for a while I wanted to see the aquarium, and I was really excited. It was shaping up to be a really nice day out, warm and blue skies. The line for admission was pretty long, but we had anticipated crowds just about wherever we went because of the holiday weekend. We got in and started looking around. The aquarium is set up with one large central tank that is about 5 stories high. As you walk up the ramp that winds around the tank, you see all different marine animals like rays, sharks, fish, and turtles!!!! I love turtles!




They also had penguins...



We went to the back of the aquarium where it butts up against the harbor. It was such a beautiful day.




Then we walked across the street to Quincy market to get some lunch. If you've ever been, it's like a large open air commons that has all kinds of vendors and buildings with shops and a huge food court. It was really crowded, but I've seen worse at Disney! We got lunch at a seafood take-away counter, and it was soooo good. Zay had fried clams and I had crab cakes. YUM! We sat outside on a bench to eat and people watch for a while. The weather was so nice that instead of taking the train, we pretty much walked from one end of Boston to the other! To be honest, I didn't think it was bad at all. It's definately one of the biggest cities I've been to, but navigating it was easy since it seemed smaller to me. We walked through downtown to the financial district and up to Boston Commons. It was so pretty and there were lots of people around with families and walking their dogs. We walked over to the Public Garden and across to Newbury Street, which is like Boston's 5th Avenue. Oh the shops and designer stores!!!! I was salivating over the Kate Spade store and was soooo tempted to go in, but knew there was no way I could afford anything. Then we went up to the Prudential Center (a big mall in the center of town) to meet up with one of Zay's friends who was in the city. We grabbed a snack at the food court and chatted with Cliff. I met a lot of Isaiah's friends this weekend, and they were all really nice guys. After we left the Prudential center Cliff gave us a ride back to the train station in Lynn. It was about 5 and we needed to pack up at Zay's house because we were going over to his bff's place to spend the night.

Here are a couple more pictures. Part 3 to come...