Destination Boston

Devil-Eyes Emma all excited to be getting some of my ice cream

Grandma and Emma sharing a moment in the garden

Michael excited to have cajoled us all into playing table football with him

Chinese from a carton was very important to me. I got my wish.

Maggie and Emma

Michael taking me on man to man

Looks like an advert for JetBlue. Not if we had anything to do with it it wouldn't.

Two planes and a bit of hassle later we were in Boston. We'd been messed about with the internal flight tickets, as JetBlue decided to cancel our flight and not tell us. Luckily Neil spotted it.

Michael really took to towing our travel-on suitcase. He looked like a wee businessman travelling about with it.

We travelled via Long Beach California to Boston. Luckily Michael and Emma were pretty good. I remember hearing a child crying, but it wasn't Emma. Sarah was good enough to offer the couple with the baby some calpol and a shot of a toy or two, but they didn't seem bothered that either their child was crying, or that it was disturbing everyone else on the plane.

The first day in Boston was a bit of a write off. Everyone was really tired, as it had been an overnight flight getting in early in the morning.

The house itself was great, but needed the air conditioning cranked up when we got there. Apparently the Boston area doesn't usually get as hot as it was when we got there (high 90s, low to mid 30s celsius) and many houses don't have air-conditioning. The swimming pool was excellent, and most nights we ended up in there. Sarah got bit by mosquitoes, and her skin reacted quite badly. She looked like she had chicken pox. Luckily Michael and Emma were ok.

There was a lot for Michael to do at the house. There was a croquet set, a TV downstairs with some films on it (he was enticed to watch Up! again, but still found it too scary). There was a sun lounge with a stereo and lots of songs. Luckily for us there was no Wii, as that had been a bone of contention (mostly between Mum and Michael) in Park City, as well as a source of relief.