We were so blessed. Gordon passed his last actuarial exam and his company flew us out to Boston to the commemoration ceremony. The girls were watched by some wonderful angels here at home so we only had Grant with us.
Saturday we started out our time in Boston with dinner at the oldest restaurant in the United States. Ye Olde Oyster House. We went with our good friends, Paul and Molly. Paul also became a fellow after the last test. I did eat an oyster while I was there. I was feeling brave for eating it. But I don't think I'll order them for myself, ever again. The funny story there is that there was a long wait to get a table, until they noticed we had a baby in our party. Then suddenly, we were told "you only said it was a party of four, you didn't mention it was a party of five" And they had a table ready for us immediately. If you ever end up eating there the corn bread was so yummy, and the gingerbread, MMmmmmm.
After dinner Gordon and I drove up to Portland, Maine. The weather was drizzly and foggy, to the visibility was terrible for the drive. We were worried but the next morning the weather was beautiful. We went to an early church service then spent most of Sunday driving down the coast and stopping at lighthouses. Maine is so beautiful we both commented about how great it would be to stay longer, visit again or move there.
Monday morning began with the ceremony. I was a little tired, I tried to stay awake, but it was hard. I've never been very good about graduation ceremonies. My mom had to talk me into going to my own.
After the ceremony we walked around Boston and went to the aquarium. Going to the aquarium with out kids was a whole new experience. We got to really take our time and ask a lot of questions. We could read the signs and listen to the experts. I was having a lot of fun trying to take low-light pictures with my camera. And I loved the jellyfish exhibits since they were lit in fun ways that would make the fish glow or be shadows.
On Tuesday we had to take a water taxi, just for fun. We had hoped to go and see the USS Constitution, and we did see the outside. But they had closed the ship from touring, so we went in the museum, then wandered on. We had to hit Mike's pastries, we went there before with my sister, Jessica, and her husband, Luke. But it was worth going to again. We also climbed Bunker Hill. We didn't climb the tower memorial, but you can if you want to.
That even the Casualty Actuarial Society catered a dinner for everyone at Fenway park. The food was yummy and the company was great. It was fun to see the old team jerseys too.
That was about it for our trip. Gordon did fit in some classes (sorry, no pictures of those). And Grant and I did take a couple of naps, (no pictures of those either).
We did end up in the Chicago airport for a long layover on the way home and thought these doors were funny.
A balloon landing right next to the road. They lifted off again and their crew pushed it further back, so it didn't block the traffic at all. Except for us slowing down to watch the process.
We went down to Gordon's office to watch the balloons float by from the roof. But lucky for us several balloons were setting up in the field right next to us.
We went down and talked with the balloon teams. One of the men asked Eve if she would help him out by counting to three. She did and he used it as a count down to lighting the burner. It scared her to death and she jumped behind Gordon's legs to hide.
