What fun it is to be living in the middle of a big city! 

We arrived at our berth at Constitution Marina under a spectacular sunset on Monday night.  Our perseverance through the cold and wet trip up was rewarded as we pulled into Boston Harbor.  The sun appeared below the clouds over the city and provided a spectacular backdrop of brilliant colors as we pulled up to the marina.  We arrived just after the regular crew had gone home for the day so the owner of the marina, who lives here on his boat, met us at the dock.   The accommodations are top notch and the location is perfect, just across the Charles River from the North End of Boston.  We are within walking distance of Bunker Hill and right next to the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned naval warship still afloat in the world.  Of course, the 8am canon blast was a bit of a shock on the first morning!  At least they wait until 8 instead of firing it off at sunrise!  They also shoot it off at sunset every night, as the big tour boats line up in the river to witness it.

The weather has been glorious the whole time we have been here and we are really enjoying our time exploring the city.  We signed up for a trolley tour on Tuesday to get the overview of the city.  The girls flew out of Logan Airport for Seattle on Wednesday morning.  We took a water taxi right from the boat to the airport and back.  Joe and I immediately set out in search of breakfast once the girls were safely in the air.  We found a great little Italian deli "Mangia Mangia" in the North End.  It was a real bit of culture, sitting among the five other customers in the small diner-style restaurant.  The owner was taking carry out orders over the phone.  At one point a 10 year old girl walked in and requested some changes to their order.  "Didn't I tell you not to let your grandmother call in the order?" says the proprietor.  One of the patrons asks another, an elderly lady, where the rest of the family was.  "They don't like to get out too early," she replied.  It was 10:45am! 

Today is a bit of a mile stone for me, my 40th birthday.  I can't think of a better way to mark the occasion, sitting on our boat - our home - exploring a new city and celebrating with friends.  I am truly blessed.  We are having a cocktail party on the boat this afternoon and hitting an Italian Trattoria for dinner tonight.  I've got to run and shower so this will have to be a brief update.  I am thinking of all of you and am so grateful to have such wonderful friends and family. 

Love,

Christy, Joe, Cassie, and Juliana

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