Saturday, April 26, 2008

Patriots' Day in Boston

Patriots' Day is the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. The town of Lexington has a reenactment on the battlegreen. Andrew and Angela's parents used to take them to the reenactment every year when they were little. Their mom made them little revolutionary outfits, complete with hats, that they would wear to the parades. The town of Lexington used to host a pancake breakfast after the reenactment, in the basement of a church in Lexington Center.


Last summer, Cyrielle, Guillaume and Angela visited the battle green, and ate sandwiches on the grass on a beautiful sunny day. Do you remember, Cyrielle?



The Boston Marathon also takes place on Patriots' Day. Angela's doctor, Dave Harmon, has run the marathon for the last 4 years, and he was going to run it again this year, to raise money for cancer research.


This year, there was also a Red Sox game on Patriots' Day. Andrew got tickets to the game, and asked Guillaume if he wanted to go. On the morning of the game, Angela also decided to go, since it was not going to rain. (She did not want to sit in the rain.)



The game was early in the day (11:05 a.m.!) because of the Marathon, so they got to Fenway Park a little early. They wandered around the park a little bit, and made their way to their seats.


The first seats were in the shade, and it was very very cold. So Angela decided to talk to the ticket people to see if they could get seats in the sun. And they did! Hooray for the nice Fenway Park people!
Not only were the seats in the sun, but they were in the very first row in the bleachers!


Guillaume looks very proud of his new Boston Red Sox hat, doesn't he? Andrew and Guillaume are especially happy because they are in the sun.





Angela was looking forward to a Fenway Frank. But the hot dog vendors weren't coming to their seats! She waited, and waited. Finally! She got her Fenway Frank. Of course Guillaume and Andrew got Fenway Franks too.



Red Sox win!



After the game, they walked to the corner of Boylston Street and Hereford Street to watch the Marathon runners. Of course, the winners and Lance Armstrong had already passed by, by that time. But there were thousands of runners still running by.
This picture is looking down Hereford Street, as the runners have to make the last push uphill.

And this is the final stretch. At the very end you can see a Boston Marathon sign stretched across Boylston Street. That is the finish line!




They had been watching for about 15 minutes, and they saw a man dressed as a plastic beer cup running by. (In the Boston Marathon, some people dress strangely.) Just after the beer cup ran by, Angela saw her doctor running! She shouted, "Go Dr. Harmon go!!" Of course he didn't hear her, but she was so happy that she saw him. There were over 30,000 runners in the Marathon this year, and Guillaume and Dr. Harmon think it is a good sign that we saw him! Dr. Harmon raised over $4,500 for cancer research this year. http://www.firstgiving.com/harmon Thank you Dr. Harmon!


Sunday is Greek Easter, and everyone is going to Vas & Sal's for Easter Dinner. And after a small battle at work, Guillaume can go to Easter Dinner too. Hooray!

3 comments:

Cyrielle et Nicolas said...

Of course I remember ! One of the best holidays in my life !
Yesterday i saw a lady with a Boston Marathon T-shirt on the beach.
Enjoy the spring in Boston ,
Kiss

p'tit pap said...

After the snow, the sun is back..Hourra for the sun, hourra for the red sox and hourra for Val and Sal who cooked for Greek Easter..To morrow, we go to Vietnam.."Speak" to you later..Ptit' Mam'

p'tit pap said...

SORRY....HOURRA FOR THE RUNNERS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO DR HARMOND !!Ptit' Mam'