Today, we were able to sleep in. Stacy had arranged a campus tour of Harvard for 11:00am, so we had time to ease into the day today. We were able to sip our coffee slowly without juggling it while bouncing down the road! Nice! The girls decided to go to the gym with Scott this morning. Uh oh! Not a good idea for the day Stacy has planned!! But they insisted that they were fine.

Our hotel was just around the corner from our tour meeting spot - so cool! We joined the group and were led to different areas of the campus – which is HUGE and really spread out! The focus of the tour was on freshman life and how it all works. Very interesting and fun! Stacy wants to go back to college now!

The girls were fascinated! The tour guide was so nice. He happily answered all of Madison’s questions, one being “On a scale of 1-10, how hard do you think it is to get into Harvard?” He had the best answer. He first said, “11.” But then he followed it up with, “No one really knows what the key is to getting in, but you have to work really hard through high school, and give it your all. But, always remember that wherever you get in, is where you’re meant to be. If you don’t get in somewhere, it means it wasn’t where you’d be happy. When you do get in somewhere, it’s because you will be happiest there, and that’s where you’re meant to be. “ AWESOME TOUR GUIDE! After the tour, Stacy and the girls wandered around a little and went to the bookstore, or what they call the Coop. The girls DID NOT want to leave Harvard. They fell in love. Gotta spark them early!!

Then, Stacy and the girls headed to Boston while Scott worked for a bit at the hotel. Stacy got to get her history geek on by taking the girls on the Freedom Trail. The girls said they liked how they didn’t have a formal tour guide, but that Stacy would tell them a little about all of the things they were looking at along the way. We started at Boston Common and worked our way down the trail. Since we spent so much time at Harvard, we were trying to make it to Paul Revere’s House (the last stop with a closing time attached) before it closed. We didn’t rush through any of the stops, but had to walk at a brisk pace in between sites. We saw Park Street church where America was first sung, the graves of Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and all 5 victims of the Boston Massacre, the site of the first public school, the Old South Meeting house, where over 5000 people gathered to protest the tax on tea, the Old State House where the Declaration on Independence was read aloud for the first time on its balcony, the site of the Boston Massacre, Faneuil Hall, the Old North Church where the signal lanterns were displayed to alert Paul Revere which way the British were coming – one if by land, two if by sea. This was the beginning of Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride (Two lanterns were displayed.), and in the nick of time, we made it to Paul Revere’s House. We were the last ones allowed in. Phew! After that, the girls were wiped out, so we decided to find a place to get an appetizer and a cocktail. We found a great restaurant in the Italian neighborhood of Boston at Pagliuca’s Ristorante, and told Scott to meet us there. An accordion player showed up and played music by our table. We all had a fabulous dinner, and ubered back to our hotel to go to bed.