Ockey Family Adventures: Boston Day 5

We had a great day in Boston. First, we drove down to Plimouth/Patuxet Plantation. This is a re-enactment center for the Pilgrims who settled here. We started in a small Patuxet village. We saw how they carve out boats and how they make their homes out of bark. We even played a few native games for the kids.

We went inside a larger Wigwam.

Learning about the native people of America.

Down the hill, we found the Pilgrim Village. There were actors dressed up speaking with ancient lilts in their voices. We walked through several houses and gardens and even explored the fort. It was really cool because we are so used to 1800's history, that it was refreshing to see 1600's history. We learned a lot and enjoyed our time at the site.

Walking through the Plimouth village is so fun.

It's similar to This is the Place.

The chain mail was impressive.

The boys had to help change the beds.

We explored all the houses.

Cute Randy in the old Plymouth house.

Seth was happy despite this pic!

We also had the opportunity to walk down and see the Mayflower replica. The boys liked this, but their favorite part was the pond we passed along the way. We had lunch amid the geese, but we also saw swans, fish, herons, ducks, and turtles in the water.

The pond was a great spot for lunch.

We spotted a few turtles.

They were so cute.

A fun bridge along the way to the Mayflower.

We also stopped by Plymouth Rock.

Right before we got to the boat, we found the statue of William Bradford, who is the boys 12th great-grandfather through Natalie's side. Then we went aboard. We were shocked at how narrow the Mayflower was. They crammed 102 people below deck with dogs, pigs, and chickens, too. The boat was really interesting, and we saw the smaller boat they used to land people as the ship was moored three miles out. It was fun to talk with the workers as they really knew their stuff.

William Bradford is our relative.

Going to tour the Mayflower.

Seth takes the best pictures.

The boat was not that big. How did the make it here?

Mom loved these purple flowers all over the East coast!

After that, we had to drive to Costco to buy Dad a white shirt. Somehow he forgot to pack one. Luckily, that was close to our next stop at the Boston Tea Party Museum. None of us had done this, and it had been Seth's idea to go. It turned out to be one of our favorite stops. We met in a building representing Town Hall in Boston. John Hancock and Sam Adams addressed us in a meeting (Dad got to say a line), and then we went to the ships. We were on the Eleanor, and we got to explore the ship and throw boxes of tea into the harbor. Then we went inside and saw actual tea from that night, as well as the only surviving tea box, which washed up on shore. Finally, we went in and watched a short video about the Battle of Lexington. It was really exciting, and the boys called it the best part of the day.

We had a great time at this stop.

We all got parts, and Dad even had a speaking part.

Then we all got a chance to throw the tea overboard.

At least, it was the best part of the day until we arrived at Fenway. The atmosphere was so exciting and we stared with huge eyes as we made our way through the crowd to the monster. They only let you up on the wall with a ticket, and we felt a little like kings as we found our seats right on the front row. Through the light stanchion, we could see Kevin Millar and Kevin Youkilis twenty feet away doing the play-by-play. Before the game, we grabbed Fenway Franks while the boys watched batting practice. They all said the hotdogs were the best they'd ever had. They even introduced the NBA champion Celtics and brought them on the field before the game.

The game moved fast, and it was the sixth inning after a blink. The Sox were ahead 2-1 when they pulled the starter, Houck. Mark complained about the reliever, and he gave up 5 runs in his one-third of an inning, including a massive home run to Vlad Guerrero that sailed way over our heads. That made it 6-2. But in the eighth, the Red Sox scored 4 to tie it up. Then, our favorite player, Jarren Duran hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th inning. We screamed until our voices were gone. Everyone was celebrating. The streets all around the stadium were full of happy Sox fans. It was a really great ending!