The entire summer there has been no overlap in daycare for Kat and Reece. As a result, Mondays and Fridays, Reece has been getting 100% mom time while Kat’s in daycare, and Tuesday through Thursday the mornings are all about Kat, while Reece is at camp. Once school starts in September, Reece’s mom only days will be few and far between. This will be great for my productivity, but will be a little sad. We will still have plenty of time together, but the dynamic is just a little different with little sister or dad around. Since our Reece and Mom only days are numbered once school starts, I took advantage and planned a special day for both of us. A Mommy/Reece date!!
I got an invitation to go to the Trunk Club Boston’s Clubhouse and decided it was the perfect excuse to make the drive into Boston. I don’t venture into Boston often because I don’t like risking a car nap happening at the wrong time. But, caution to the wind, it’s our special day! My Trunk Club appointment motivated me to follow through. I kept the plan flexible, with just an itinerary of my Trunk Club appointment, swan boats, ice cream, and explore the Back Bay and Beacon Hill neighborhoods.
We arrived a little early and sat by the fountain outside Trinity Church. I pointed out the John Hancock Building, Boston Public Library, and Copley Place Mall to him. I also pointed out a Wendy’s that used to be Poppy’s pizza shop. Reece was only interested in the Hancock Building. Now I have some homework to do finding toddler facts about Boston’s tallest building. Our Trunk club appointment took about an hour, I got two cute shirts. The focus for the rest of the day was whatever Reece wanted to do! We drove down to the Boston Public Garden and only had to circle once for a spot. I was so relieved, there are parking lots nearby but street parking is so much cheaper! We would have walked, but I forgot the stroller and the parking meter time was a factor.
Reece really wanted to explore and inspect every acorn. He’s a dawdler, I rushed a little bit to make our way to the swan boats. I didn’t want to risk lots of aimless wandering, then scratching the main event to haul it home ASAP for a nap. Don’t worry, I didn’t rush too much. It still took us about 20 minutes from the car to the docks – it’s about a 3 minute walk for a normal person.
We spent about 10 minutes on the footbridge talking about how we were going to go on the swan boats. I have to mention, Reece dressed himself, which explains the backwards shirt. I asked him several times if he wanted to fix his shirt to no avail. Nope, very proud, he did it himself, doesn’t need help. At least his shorts were on right. I think it’s 50/50 that any article of clothing is on the right way.
Once we had soaked up the idea of what the swan boats were, we made our way into the line, applied more sunscreen, and hopped onboard. If you don’t know the history of the swan boats, you should read about it here. It’s not a long read, and the sweetest story.
Back at the dock we decided it was ice cream time, so off Reece and I ventured to some of the pushcarts nearby. I did not have any cash so that was a fail. We explored the Commons and Gardens a little more and headed down to Charles Street to find lunch. A few of the places I wanted to check out had crazy, long lines and weren’t the most toddler friendly, and most importantly, NO ice cream. After three or four restaurant fails we decided on Caffe Bella Vita. I told my father later, and his response was, “That place is still open?” Apparently, he used to go as a kid for gelato. We ordered gelati for lunch with a PBJ dessert.
We still had time left in the meter for one more thing. It would be tight, but just enough time to go to the Boston Common Carousel. I found $3 after rummaging through my diaper bag, hurrah! Reece picked a bench instead of a horse and was in toddler heaven. I even let him have a slush on the walk back to the car. Which was sort of a bad idea because at this point we were pushing the limit of our parking meter time. I tried to carry the slush to pick up the pace but no dice. We got to the car and while I was buckling him in our time expired. Whew!
When we saw Dada that night, he asked Reece, “What did you do today?” Reece told him, “I went shopping with Mama.” Glad the swan boats, ice cream, carousel, and exploring the city and BPG made an impression! When pressed he did also mention he had ice cream for lunch, haha.
