Boston, Massachusetts: August 24 & 25, 2009

We drove to Boston to visit my parents' friend Louise & Pell (and their kids Annie and Will).  We went to the big ship Constitution but it rained so hard we didn't see it.  My rain dance didn't work (or maybe it did).  My dad and I climbed the Bunker Hill Monument (294 steps + 3 metal steps) but my Mom didn't go because she's afraid of heights.  That night we ate on their porch on top of the house.  Afterwards we walked to the North End and got tasty Italian desserts.  They have toilets on the streets of Boston that are sort of robots.  It was near a small plaque about a flood that happened when a molasses tank burst.

The next day we went to the New England Aquarium and took the Water Taxi back to Charlestown.

South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, August 22 & 23

We made a potato gun at "Uncle" Neil's house. He's not really my uncle; he is a friend of my Mom and Dad, and is a professor at the University of Massachusetts. The potato gun was very big and shot off several potatoes and apples. We shot them into the neighbor's yard, probably into their pool (which would be very funny if it clonked them on the noggin). It was hard to hold and my mother kept yelling "Stop pointing that at me!"

He had a huge garage with a million cars -- five cars, all with the name of "Old SomethingOrOther." For example, the one outside the garage was called Old Rustbucket. We drove around pretty fast in Old Blue; there is a picture of me pretending to drive it below.

Newport Rhode Island, August 20-22, 2009

After Niagara Falls we drove forever across New York State.  We stayed in Utica NY in a hotel that I remember nothing about.  The next day we finally got to the East Coast and visited my mom's friend Jodi and her family at a vacation house in Newport, Rhode Island.  The house was right on the beach where there was a huge rock, a fair with bumper boats, huge waves from a hurricane, and enough fog that we didn't need sunscreen.  The house also had many many breakable things -- but also a trampoline outside.  In the pictures is my new friend Sam, Jodi's son.

Niagara Falls, August 19 2009

We drove from Chicago to Niagara Falls, Ontario through Canada.  We stayed at the Hilton Fallsview  hotel on the 34th floor.  You could see Niagara Falls from the window of our room.  The Horseshoe falls looked pretty good.  It had good food, with an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. We went to the top of the hotel, where the builders were still working but the view was even better.

There was a casino, but I don't like casinos very much.  This fountain was really cool because it was very mechanical.

The Falls was quite nice.  The hotel had a very good view of the Falls.  We took a boat called the Maid of the Mist where you get silly blue raincoats to wear before you enter the boat. We went out to the falls after I stepped on the elevator-man's toe.  It was very WET because the water is crashing down all around the boat.  We went very close to the Falls and my face got very wet; it was very misty.