The Children's Museum, Tuesday August 12th, 2008

With a steady rain falling, I drove Maura and I to the T-station, stopping on the way to purchase a small umbrellas, since we didn't have one handy and it promised to rain all day. As it happened, the rain stopped and barely used the umbrella, but we probably would have needed it if we hadn't had it.

After a quick stop by the building where Jennifer works to deliver a forgotten lunch we headed to Quincy Market to get lunch for ourselves. It might not have been a good choice. We had a fine lunch of clam chowder followed by gelato bought from two of the many food stands inside the central market building. I let Maura pick what we would have and she was not disappointed. I was a bit shocked, though, by how much we spent. The food was delicious and the service wasn't bad despite the crowds and the fact that we were eating at a lunch counter, but the bills seemed high even for Boston.

When lunch was over we deviated from out original plan of visiting the Old State House and headed for the Children's Museum instead. Since I got a membership the last time we went the Children's Museum won't cost us any more for the rest of the year. It was a few extra blocks but Maura doesn't mind walking and I don't think she was disappointed.

At the Museum we enjoyed a few special events. We saw a demonstration of Chinese martial arts put on as part of Boston's China summer of Chinese related cultural events on the occasion of the Beijing Olympic Games. The demonstration was fascinating, to Maura as well as to me. Afterward we picked up a Department of Conservation and Recreation Park Passport and a poster of the stamp designs for it, signed by the artist.

Shortly after that we headed home. I was finding the noise and chaos of the Children's Museum a little hard to deal with and was starting to get a headache. Maura wasn't ready to leave but she didn't give me any trouble. She's starting to learn that complaining doesn't help and knows that I will take her back again.