We had the best time exploring the out skirts of Boston and downtown Boston for a fun filled girl’s weekend. Madison talked about this trip for weeks before we left and was more than excited!
Our first stop was to the Natick Mall, to the American Girl Store. We had reservations at the Bistro so we headed there before we browsed the store! The bistro and our table was decorated in girly pink and flowers and was such a fun atmosphere. Something that we both loved about the American Girl Bistro is that their dolls are included in the dining experience. Your doll will get their own highchair and a special mug just for your little friend! Don’t have an American Girl doll yet? No worries, there are plenty to choose from for you to pick out from that you can bring to the table with you!
They offer a lunch or dinner menu and an afternoon tea! We arrived for dinner so we each got to choose a starter and a main entrée. For my starter I got the warm Artichoke-Spinach dip and Madison got the Fancy Fruit Fondue. These were both so good!
For Dinner Madison went with the Macaroni with Lots of Cheese, which came with a fresh fruit kabob. I went with Herb-Roasted Salmon, which came with garlic mashed potatoes, sautéed green beans, and a rosemary-citrus butter. I was really impressed with how good the whole meal was.
After we finished up our meal we head to take a look around. Madison had brought with her my American Girl doll that I got 20 years ago for Christmas! She has a Bitty Baby at home so we were planning on getting her some outfits for her, or get a new bitty baby friend. She picked a new Bitty Baby out, but then walked by the Wellie Wishers and fell in love!
We cannot wait to head back to the American Girl Store for our next trip! We found out on our visit that her doll can get her ears pierced or even visit get her hair done! How fun!
Element Boston Seaport Hotel
We headed into Boston which was only about a 45 minute drive to our hotel. We stayed at the Element Seaport. We were really excited about this as it was right across from The Lawn on D, which we were wanting to visit. The Element Seaport is a part of the Westin hotel brand. This hotel is different from all other hotels has it is a green hotel. They really went above and beyond to keep this hotel green from including water filters in their rooms, to creating their carpets from recycled materials.
The Element Boston Seaport hotels room are suites that include a full kitchen, which makes it great for any type of stay. If you are staying for an extended period of time and wanting to eat in you have your own stove, refrigerator, coffee maker, dishwasher and all of the pots, pans and utensils that you will need.
Our room was one of these one-bedroom suites, which included one room that had a king-sized bed with a flat screen TV. The other area of the room included a pullout couch with a TV as well. The bathroom was very large and the shower was amazing!
After we checked in we were able to walk across the street to visit The Lawn on D, which had corn hole games, a live band and these amazing swings that were lit up! There is no age restriction, although I felt there should have been after a certain time because it was pretty wild and plenty of small children still around.
In the morning we ate breakdown down in the lobby. They offer a ton of different options and also had a lot of gluten free options. I had the breakfast basics which included a bagel, muffin and fresh fruit and Madison got cereal. My mom and sister who were with us headed over to the waffle bar and got the Nutella waffle and said it was awesome!
I love how the hotel is very convenient and located near everything in Boston and a lot of the main attractions. They also included bikes for you to go and ride on and check out the city, how cool is that? For parking there is a parking lot right next door which was $25 per night, or you could do the off-site parking… which we did and I don’t recommend as I got a $60 parking ticket because I was not a MA resident. Overall I would totally recommend the Element Boston Seaport Hotel for your next Boston stay.
Boston CityPass
When heading to Boston I would recommend if you are going to be sightseeing and checking out some of the main attractions to get the CityPass. The Citypass includes admission to The Boston Aquarium, The Museum of Science, Skywalk Observatory, and the Harvard Museum of Natural History or Boston Harbor Cruises. You receive a booklet that each attraction will take out and you get in for one low price instead of paying separate to each attraction. We were only in Boston for the weekend so we headed to the Boston Aquarium but still have the booklet to use for the next time we are visiting.
The Aquarium has always been one of my favorite places to go since I was a child. This was Madison’s first time coming here and if it were up to her, we would have spent the entire day at the touch tanks! We spent a good amount of time touching the sting rays and they even had some baby tiger sharks in there to touch as well!
We were able to sit in and listen about the penguins and also view one of the seal shows that they offer. It was a very rainy day, so it was very busy but we still had a blast. We grabbed a snack at the café upstairs which included lots of different options.
Southwick’s Zoo
Sunday morning we headed over to the Southwick Zoo which is located in Mendon, MA. We made sure to get there bright and early because we wanted to do one of the giraffe encounters and knew that they would sell out fast as the only offer 3 time slots throughout the day. Luckily we made it in time to get the last few slots in the 1:30pm encounter!
We ventured around the park and the first stop was to see the camels, and Madison even got to ride one! The camel that she rode was name Joe, and he’s actually in the Zookeeper movie, how cool!
We saw a ton of fun animals and took a ride around the park on The Skyfari. Madison loved seeing the animals from up high, myself on the other hand was a little scared! Haha
There is a ton of different rides for the kids and they offer a bracelet that includes the mechanical Kiddie Rides, The Skyfari, Woodland Express Train, & 1 admission to the Rainforest Adventure Maze.
We anxiously went up to the giraffe area and waited for our encounter. Each person attending the encounter gets a large branch and a small branch to feed the giraffes with. We were told that the giraffes are extremely strong so to make sure I hold Madison while she was feeding the giraffe. This was one of the coolest animal encounters we have had and it was an awesome experience to be up close and person with these animals.
We had an awesome time visiting Boston and the surrounding attractions, plus we got a ton of back to school shopping done! Hooray!
Thanks for following along with our adventures!
This post has been sponsored by American Girl Natick Mall, Boston Element Seaport, CityPass & The Southwick Zoo. As always the opinions above are 100% my own.
Xo,
Ashley
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