Visit with our friend Anna!

My lovely friend, Anna came to Boston for an extended July 4th weekend.  We drove to Boston every day that she was here to see a little bit of what the city has to offer tourists.  Together we enjoyed watching the USS Constitution leave the harbor and the fireworks from the Boston Common, as well as touring the Freedom Trail and the Boston Aquarium.

My long-time friend, Anna

The USS Constitution, named by George Washington himself, is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel.  It leaves the harbor once a year every fourth of July to maintain its status and we got to the harbor just in time to see it pulling away from the navy base.

Isabel dressed up in red, white and blue to show some pride in the American part of her heritage

Our most recent family photo taken on July 4, 2011

Visit with Yiayia and Grandpa on the Cape

This post is about a month over-due since my parents came to visit in the middle of June, but better late than never, right?!  Here are a few photos of our 6-day visit to Dennis, MA where we enjoyed playing on the beach, taking moonlight strolls in the sand and meals on the deck overlooking the ocean.  We also used Dennis as a base to visit a couple of other places on the Cape, namely Chatham and Plymouth.

Lukas loved making "cement", which required the use of much water and sand poured through a toy with a funnel and wheel attached (it's laying in the sand behind the bucket of water).  I love the fact that Lukas wore his goggles even when he was out of the water! :-)

Lukas making a series of sand castles

Lukas with his Papa trying out a boogy board to "ride" the waves--Lukas had a blast!

Lukas and Isabel using their watering cans--gifts, along with the "cement mixer" from Yiayia and Grandpa.

Here we are walking back from the Chatham lighthouse.  Truthfully, it was a little unimpressive when we saw it.  However, we later found out that it truly serves an important purpose as the dangerous rocks and cliffs near the Chatham shores are the main reason that the Pilgrims decided to settle in Plymouth rather than sailing onward toward the Hudson Bay.

Lukas standing in front of the famous Plymouth rock

We took a tour of this replica of the Mayflower and it was quite interesting to learn about the voyage of the Pilgrims.