Wednesday, July 23, 2014

More Adventures...and another Good Report!

We decided Saturday would be our history day.  We rode the T to the aquarium, and started walking the freedom trail.  We made our way into the North End, and after a detour for treats and gelato, we went to the Paul Revere Mall, and visited the Old North Church.  Boston is such an amazing city, with such a rich history, I am so happy we got to come here with our big kids.  It will be neat for them, when they learn the details of history in school, to remember being there where it actually happened. The Old North Church is a beautiful church, and the kids were very amused by the cubicle-type pews.



Asa was excited to find his name inside, as one of the former ministers was named Asa.  We don't run across his name very often, so it was a find!


The gardens outside were also beautiful, and Jacob was more taken with them than with the church. Though he was too busy running around to stop for a picture!



After that we continued our walk out of the North End, and across the bridge to follow the freedom trail to the U.S.S. Constitution.  We deliberately avoided this site on our previous trips, in hopes that we'd get to see it for the first time with Asa and Elena.  So glad we did, it was great all of us seeing this beautiful ship together for the first time.  It really was an amazing sight, that everyone enjoyed.






After exploring the Constitution, we continued following the trail to Bunker Hill.  What a tranquil, beautiful park within a charming neighborhood of historic homes.  It's hard to imagine all that happened there, as now what remains on the hill is a smaller version of the Washington Monument, and beautiful expanses of grass. Very peaceful.






We walked around the park a bit, but were soon ready for dinner.  We headed back to the North End for some Italian food, which was delicious by the way.  After that, we were all exhausted! By the time we made it back home, we had walked over 5 miles.  I am so proud of the kids! Asa and Elena were troopers, walking all that way without complaining!  They were awesome! We were beat though when we got back home, and passed out.  We got up Sunday morning and got ready and went downtown. We were trying to make it to church, but by the time we got there we were over 30 min late, having underestimated our subway commute time.  The church was beautiful though, I took some pictures, and we headed to the nearby Boston Public Garden. The park was beautiful as always, with flowers in full bloom.  And the swan pair were residing over a nest of 7 eggs, which the kids enjoyed seeing.




We rode the iconic swan boats, the kid's favorite thing so far, and I must say, one of mine as well. The Garden is probably my favorite place in Boston.  I could spend all day there, enjoying the oasis in the middle of the big city.







We came home a took a rest for a while, hit up our park and playground across the street for a bit, and called it a day.  Monday morning we headed out early for a 9am date for whale watching.  It took over an hour to get far enough out to the area where the whales feed, but it was a nice boat ride out of the city.  


Luke loved the wind in his cowlick hair.  He laughed hysterically as soon as the boat picked up speed.


We apparently really lucked out on our whale watch tour.  They said most of the time you have to wait and really watch for the whales.  But practically every direction you looked you could see humpback whales.  They were in a feeding frenzy, clustered in groups.  My pictures weren't great, as I took most of them at the beginning when the whales were farther out, not realizing how close they would get.



We saw 2 whale calves breach, which was an amazing sight.  The whales got really close to our boat as well, one of the calves especially.



It was a great trip, with non-stop sightings, well more than we hoped for.  Asa got a little green out there, but was still able to enjoy himself.  We got back just in time to grab a quick lunch and head across town to the hospital for our next appointment with Jacob's surgeon, and the leading expert in the treatment of BRBNS.  He was amazed at the progress Jacob has made under the treatment of the Interventional Radiologist.  He was expecting to need to talk to us about a potential future resection of the lesion on Jacob's back.  But he said with the way Jacob has responded to the sclerotherapy, he would be very surprised if his lesion grew uncontrollable enough to warrant such an intervention.  This was great news as we considered the need for surgical resection a drastic measure we very much wanted to avoid.  We also discussed with him the lesion that he removed in February is already growing back.  He decided that he wanted to go ahead with attempting to remove this one again, in hopes that attacking it while it is still small, will keep it gone this time.  If not, we will likely just leave it alone until it begins to bother him again.  So we will tack that mini procedure on with this anesthesia. All in all it was another great report for Jacob, that was a huge relief for me.  I was really upset at the prospect of surgical resection at this stage, and couldn't be happier about all our doctor said.  I know I need to stay calm and not worry so much until I hear from the actual doctors, but it's hard being so far away, and receiving bits of information trickling down.  I tend to worry first and ask questions later, which I need to try to reverse for my own sanity.  But thank you to all who shared this burden with me, and prayed specifically about it.  God is truly doing great things for my Jake.  I am enjoying each day's miracle, but am humbled to see some huge miracles taking place for him as well.  Please continue to pray for Jake and for all of us as we travel this journey with him.






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