Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Geoff's 40th in Boston

 For Geoff's 40th birthday, I wanted to do something pretty cool and I really wanted his 40th to include his closest friends and family. I had a few thoughts come to mind, including a weekend in Boston.

Nothing makes a birthday party more awesome than a) having friends and family there and b) making it a surprise. Starting in August, the planning started.

I was grateful that all of Geoff's closest friends and family were more than willing to travel to Boston via every mode of transportation (train, plane, automobile) to be with Geoff for this weekend.

The weekend started with Jay, Brenna, Geoff and I flying down to Boston together via jetBlue on Friday morning. Jay and Brenna were Geoff's first surprise! We got into Boston for 9:20am, leaving us with most of the day to enjoy as a foursome until the big surprise dinner at Cheers pub on Beacon Hill. All of 23 of us Canadians surprised Geoff with our own little party in the back room of Cheers. Having our own private bar was a huge asset to this crowd! Geoff's brother and sister-in-law Graham and Shanna even made the drive from Nova Scotia to join in the fun!

Saturday we all went to the TD Garden to take in a Boston Bruins hockey game. Bruins beat the Nashville Predators in overtime and a shootout which made it that much more fun for us! It was pretty cool seeing a Bruins game, especially since I've been such a big Bruins fan for so many years and had yet to see a game. 
Saturday night, we all hit up the Union Oyster House, where we again got our own private room. We took in traditional Bostonian fare of lobster and a variety of other types of seafood. Downstairs in the restaurant was a fun little bar that we took over after our dinner.

It was the final night of fun for most as all but 8 of us were leaving Sunday morning to return home. Geoff, Sue, Chris, Jay, Brenna, Shanna, Graham and myself all stayed until Monday.


The Sunday we took in Fenway Park. It figured that this was the day where we experienced extreme cold and wind. It was brutal. Maneuvering a city like Boston in this cold is torture at times. The wind seems to travel in every single direction. No matter which direction you walked, your face was blasted with frigid air. This was a day where we appreciated cabs.  Sunday night, our remaining 8 enjoyed dinner at Bertucci's, which is a pizza/pasta place near Quincy market. It was a low key night following the 2 nights prior. 
 Fenway Park was awesome for Geoff as he is a Boston Red Sox fan. We got some Red Sox gear for our little boy as I'm sure Geoff will be making him a fan as well ;)

Monday, we hit up a cute little breakfast place called The Paramount. This little breakfast nook served delicious food in a cafeteria style. I fell in love with their cinnamon-cranberry oatmeal. It was also located in the middle of the Beacon Hill district which is just beautiful. Old cobblestone streets and little shops just made it so quaint and beautiful.
We loved strolling the streets and shopping in all the little boutiques. There were the neatest little chocolate shops and kids stores. On Monday we also did Macy's, the Boston Harbour and we also did Quincy Market again.

There is still so much to do in Boston, which we'll save for warmer weather. Geoff and I are just so grateful that our friends and family were so willing to sacrifice time (and money) to come and share this weekend with us in such a neat city. It isn't so much about where you travel to, but who you travel with, and that was proven this weekend. Fun was had by all and Geoff, a person who truly deserves a special weekend, was touched by the support and love of his friends and family.
 The weekend ended with Jay, Brenna, Geoff and I having to kill almost 3 hours in the Boston airport. Our flight was delayed on the way home due to some mechanical problem on ANOTHER aircraft (they made this part very clear) and we ended up in Buffalo at nearly 10pm and home well after that.

It was a tiring weekend but one that was spent with a great group of people. The stress of having to keep the weekend a secret is over and we have a ton of good memories :) Thanks to everyone who was part of this weekend.

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