Then, we came home and did some research.

A friend of ours who is a Massachusetts native came over to our apartment to watch game 6 of the World Series (Yay, Red Sox!) a couple weeks ago. We always love hanging out with Tim (our Mass friend, not my brother-in-law...although, we love hanging out with that Tim, too), and he's very witty and funny. During a commercial break, we had this conversation:

Tim: So, I've thought of a good slogan for the Massachusetts license plate.

Erin: What does it say now? The Bay State? Spirit of America? (please note: we have two of these plates on our car...and I obviously pay lots of attention)

Tim: Uh, no. It's "The Constitution State." But, I think it should be "Massachusetts: We invented the United States of America. You're welcome."

<insert lots of laughter>

It's funny to me in an ironic way, because I think that Massachusetts is the silliest state in the Union. They charge gobs of money for everything, they don't attach garages to houses (hello- if you attach the garage, you don't have to walk into the house in the cold), they make you parallel park everywhere...I have a long list. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I realize that most of my reasons have to do with cars, traffic, parking, or getting tickets. Hmph. Anyway. The idea of Massachusetts inventing the country makes me nod in agreement (because, there's some truth to the idea, historically speaking) and also makes me shake my head, thanking the Lord that other states have improved upon all of the silly things that just aren't taken care of here...like making use of central air conditioning and massive parking lots.

Tim's license plate idea is also funny because, on the whole, I think it sums up the Massachusetts mindset nicely. If we're being honest, they did kind of invent the US. Mass folks are pretty proud of their state. And their history. And their values. 

Speaking of values, the Boswell family values tend to diverge quite a bit from the generally liberal views of the majority around here. I'm sure you know this. Being from Alabama, a very very Red state, it's quite a transition to live in the bluest of Blue states.

Now that I've rambled almost incoherently about these thoughts for a while, let me show you some pictures of our family outing to the Boston Public Garden.

One man band. Just like Dick Van Dyke.

The Swan Boats.

The Ducks. Claire has an adorable little board book about Boston, and the ducks are in it. We thought it would be so cute to get a picture of her with the ducks...

This was the best we could do. She had just woken up from her nap.

Then, we tried to get a good Mom-Bear shot. This was the first face she made.

Then she was so excited!

Then, she got coy. And I look crazy.

Definitely an outtake, this one.

I really like this one.

And, although this looks like I'm kissing my adorable baby, I was actually checking to see if the wet, slimy something I touched on her face was slobber or something else.

Now, to tie all of the things I just wrote about together:

When we pulled up and parked next to the Garden to go in and have a nice family outing, we noticed that a big festival of some kind was going on across the street. It looked like a lot of fun...music, funnel cakes, balloons. It looked super exciting. The longer we were around the Garden, though, the more I thought I heard the folks using the microphone saying "weed." Brad was pretty sure I was wrong. I hoped I was wrong. Because that would be weird and wildly inappropriate for our baby.

After a little while longer of walking around, I could have sworn I heard them say "marijuana." I mentioned it to Brad, and he hesitated, thinking that, perhaps, he had heard it, too. It was when we were taking the pictures of Bear and me on the bench that I spotted a gal walking into the Garden, wearing a lei. Made of marijuana leaves. Yeah...no way I was mishearing things. 

As we were walking back to the car, someone started reading a poem about marijuana over the massive speakers, and we finally saw the giant "Cannabis" banner. I don't know how we missed that honking sign when we were debating whether or not I was hearing them talk about weed. It was only gigantic and in bold letters. We felt silly.

Then, we realized that we had unwittingly taken our little baby so close to a pro-marijuana rally that we might as well have been part of the crowd. We were that close. Oi. Then, when we got home and researched it, we learned that it was actually the second largest pro-marijuana legalization rally in the world. In the world, y'all. 

Because Massachusetts invented the United States and upholds liberal values in this free country they invented.

And, we took our baby down there to see it in action.

Oh man.