Boston, with family…

Since my last post I have been to a few different states…and said goodbye to a few good friends, such is the life of an au pair…but I’ll break it up into a few posts.

My travels began with a trip to Boston, we left on the Friday afternoon and arrived in Boston by early evening. My host family was staying in a hotel for the night before driving to Cape Cod, which is where we were vacationing. They offered me the weekend off after I mentioned I had family in Boston. Sue met me at the airport, and the first thing I noticed about her…her South African accent was still there! It was really great to hear! Once arriving at their house in Weston I realized Alric also had his accent while the boys, not so much. It was crazy seeing the boys after, what we worked out was 10 years! Yip the millennium party on the farm was the last time we saw each other. Sue and Alric had a great weekend planned for me which started with a family meal on Friday (the biggest T-bone steak ever, and salad. I love vacation!)

South African Breakfast with Micheal, Sue, Alric and Richard

The Saturday was pretty exciting as we did the Boston Duck tours, which is a tour that is both on land and water, so you are driven around the city then driven into the Charles River and because the vehicle is a converted boat on wheels it floats along…best part of the Duck tour? Had to be steering the boat!

Would you trust me?

Dinner that night was at Vapiano’s, which was really great food and it was cool cos there whole family was there (plus Richard’s friend Julia) After dinner we went to the Blue Man Group, which was one of the most amazing shows I had ever seen! There is always something happening on stage plus it’s so diverse that you are constantly entertained and surprised. Unfortunately they ban the use of cameras and video recorders, so I could not document the experience.

Micheal, Julia, Richard and I

The Sunday was spend on the Charles River when we decided to do a kayaking trip up (or maybe down?) the river. We (Sue, Alric, Michael *my younger cousin* and I) were in single kayaks, which was fun for the first few bridges that we had to cross (there were about 8 altogether) by the 4 bridge we had a group vote as to whether we should continue on or turn back. The water in front of us was really choppy as the waterway widens. We decided to forge ahead, which meant you had to keep paddling non-stop or else you started to go backwards! I ended up by myself for a while as the others had taken a break, but I only realized when I was a bit far from them, not wanted to turn around as I had managed to get that far. Luckily we had cell phones on us so I let them know I would meet them at the rental place at the end. Afterwards I realized that I didn’t actually know where the rental place was, but thankfully I had a map! So now I was trying to paddle, take pictures and read a map…thankfully I made it! KFC for dinner was the best decision ever!

Me :) with Boston in the background

Monday was pretty relaxing; I had to catch the ferry to Provincetown…which I unfortunately missed! But that just meant I got to stay in Boston a little longer, I sat by the Dunkin Donuts and played on my computer ‘til the ferry came. It was a 90 minute ride, and once I arrived in Provincetown I met up with my host family and we had a dinner with Dave’s side of the family.  This meant I got to eat my first Boston lobster, which Mike (Dave’s uncle) had to teach me to eat…as they are a little different from crayfish!

Yip...I ate this one :)

Later that night we drove back to Harwich Port, Cape Cod where we were staying for the next two weeks. The house we rented was really nice and big enough for all of us that were staying there. It was a 2 minute walk to the beach, although I spent most of my days watching kids napping, which is why I managed to get so many emails done! The weather in the Cape was really nice it was hot but not unbearably so. 

Sunset in Cape Cod, MA