The beginning of the end of this December whirlwind trip found us at Fenway en route to BU, my old stomping grounds.
For that whole Freshman year I lived right down the street from the “Green Monster” so it was fun to show the girls.

…with their “fake” Red Sox hats.

Ha!

Then it was on to West Campus where my dorm was all those years ago.

Get ready…

…drumroll…

I’d like to introduce…my old dorm:

Rich Hall.

This was my view right out to the football field:

And here we are where I walked in and out hundreds of times…late for a test, bracing myself for the bone-biting winter windchill, heading off to church at Harvard Square, the commons room in there is where we gathered huddled around the television in shock with news about the gulf war.

 Here’s the Boston University chapel, which I think is the prettiest part of campus.

 We walked through to the student union and tried to find some good BU paraphernalia…

 …and checked out my old “T” stop right next to where my art history class was.

 …that’s where i fell in love with art history right there.

Warren Towers where my friend Natica lived…

 …and the famous Citgo sign which interestingly isn’t even owned by Citgo anymore…someone bought it rather than having it torn down since it’s become such a landmark there.

From there it was off to the Boston Fine Arts Museum where I really fell head-over-heels in love with art (more about that back HERE).

I was so excited to find the two main paintings I remember writing extensive essays on:

Oh the hours I spent in front of those paintings!

I still need to whip out those papers I wrote and read them to my girls.  And bore them to tears.  Ha!

The kids were most excited about reenacting scenes from the paintings:

They loved this one:

Here’s their pose:

The museum has an awesome kids’ program and sent us off with kits to copy our favorite paintings.

 Cool shadows as a work of art was interesting for the girls too.

 Loved this sculpture way up above us:

Guess what that is made with?

Styrofoam cups.

Pretty cool right?

We paid a visit to John Harvard and touched his toe…

 …hopefully we’ll all get super smart now…

This picture is a reminder how COLD it was.  Oh boy!

Somehow it’s a tradition for us to jump on the Harvard steps…

Here’s a flashback to Elle and Lu’s jump way back when.  Not sure where Max’s is…

I am the luckiest mama to get to spend this time with these two girls of mine.

Saydi introduced us to a place called Sweet Greens and the girls and I are trying to figure out how to get one of those puppies here in the desert because it was GOOD.

Have I mentioned how incredible my sister is.

I could write a whole post about her and how although she is my little sister, I look up to her in SO MANY WAYS.  She always makes me think.  She is good to the core.  And I loved getting to talk her through her grand adventure coming up moving to California.

We need to pause right here, right now, and link up to her for a second.  She has written a great synopsis over HERE about what she and her family are doing in California right now, and it’s far better than I could explain, so there you go.

And she is the most beautiful writer.  Enjoy.

Ok, back to Boston…

Saydi took us to her new favorite museum at Harvard: the Fogg Museum.

I LOVED that place, small enough to really take it in, and filled with such great art.

Some favorites:

Isn’t this next one such a cool perspective?

This is a blanket made of rose petals:

After Harvard we were ready for some serious hot cocoa to warm up our bones again…

…and Sayds took off for her ward party back at home (her husband was wrapping up being Bishop out there), so I took the girls and I hung out in Harvard Square a little longer.

We couldn’t decide between Wagamama and Shake Shack for dinner so we had a little at both:

…and these girls had a laugh attack right there at Wagamama.

And as I watched them laugh, and eat, and got muddled up in our conversation about life and learning and love I had such a deep love fill me up for these girls of mine.

I get to be “mother” to them.

I am the luckiest.

Shake Shack never disappoints.

On Sunday we had a low-key morning before we had to take off.

We got to go to my sister’s beloved ward for one of their last times, complete with Joyce, this wonderful elderly woman they have taken under their wing as kind of a pseudo Grandma who adores them all…and they adore her right back.

 Saydi pulled off another amazing meal…

 I love to cook with that sister of mine.

And with that we wrapped up and said our sad goodbyes, our hearts filled with so much gratitude for that grand city of Boston that was wrapping it’s tentacles into my daughters’ hearts.

But mostly for FAMILY, and that this particular one took so much of their crazy Christmas/getting-ready-to-move hoopla to soak it all in with us for one of their last times in a while.

As we flew off en route back to the desert I got totally teary thinking about how grateful I was that we got to do that.  Right then.  Right there.

Love you Shumways!
(Remember to check out Saydi’s blog over here if you want to follow along with their new adventure.)

3 Comments

  1. Shawn, finally I'm finding a sec to catch up on blogs. Loved reliving this visit. I'm so glad you guys came, snatched up that crazy moment in time and just came. It was so great to share boston with you before we left, to revisit so many of my favorite things with so much nostalgia before changing our life. Thank you, love you.

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