great things come in small states

We officially crossed the last of the New England states off of our "to visit" list this weekend with a trip to Rhode Island. We left after PTCs Friday morning and headed to Providence. We didn't really know what to do expect. I had looked a few options online, so we had a plan, but we didn't really know what to expect.

We started off walking down Benefit Street, which has a ton of really old (Colonial) buildings. One of the coolest was the First Baptist Church in America. And not just the "First Baptist" that you see on half of the baptist churches in the country and you jokingly say, "oh, hey, this is the first one. Haha." No this one actually was the first Baptist Church in the United States.

Then we walked up the State Capital and then into an enormous and ritzy mall right next to it so that Ana could go to the bathroom. While we were there, though, Ana and I walked into Tiffany and Co to look around and they gave her a bracelet. I told her she was a lucky girl to get a bracelet from Tiffany's. (It is a blue plastic blank armband bracelet, but still.)

 

We headed toward the car, but we decided to walk around Brown University for a minute on the way. There is something about University campuses that I love. There is an atmosphere of energy and excitement and hope for the future and it feels like there is knowledge just hanging in the air waiting to be grasped. So we started down a street hoping to walk across the quad but due to a concert we couldn't cut across. And then it was about 5 blocks before we could cut across towards our car. By the time we could, we were all starving and there just happened to be a little burger joint on the corner. The streets were swarming with college kids, but the place looked good enough so we decided to go it. Best. Decision. Ever. The burgers and fries were delicious. The obviously don't get many kids in there because they gave us a free huge cookie and when we ordered a nutella shake (which was DIVINE) they gave us two small ones for the kids in addition to the normal size one.We made it to our cars full and happy and headed to our hotel. (Of course, the kids favorite part of the trip was swimming in the hotel the next morning.)

Saturday we went down to Newport, RI. We had heard it was a cool place and to check out the Mansions. These turn-of-the-century homes were the summer "cottages" to wealthy families, including the Vanderbilts. We went to two (think Pride and Prejudice home touring) - The Breakers (the biggest and most grand) and the Marble House (the most lavish.) They were super impressive. The former had 70 rooms and was actually considered "simple" compared to other Victorian era homes, though they had platinum panels in one room and everything was ornate. The other was incredibly opulent, almost gaudy. A shrine to wealth. An entire room was gilded in gold. There was 500,000 cubic feet of marble used in its construction. The tours (self-guided audio tours that our kids really enjoyed) talked a lot of the women of the house and it was interesting that though they were sisters-in-law, they were so incredibly different in personality. (I am still deciding what I think of them. I will have to discuss more of this later.)

We also spent some time driving around Newport, walking the streets and looking in shops. We ended the day playing at the beach. The air by then was chilly, and the water was freezing (I am told.) But it was a good way to get the kids last few wiggles out before the drive home. Ana and Dave put their feet in the water. Jack chased the waves. Or rather they chased him. Katie mostly shivered and was very worried about the waves lapping on the shore, but it was still fun. We got as much sand off as a could and loaded back in the car, headed up the smallest state through farms and vineyards, got a quick bite to eat, and the kids drifted off to sleep.

At one point during the weekend, Katie exclaimed, "This is the best day of my life!" She probably got it from Olaf, but still, it does make a parent feel good. Here's to wholesome recreational activities and small states.

maine attraction

Maine has been calling us since we moved to the East. So we scheduled a weekend to go and headed to the coast! We had three goals: camping, lobster, and the beach. We went with our good friends, the Dahle family, who happen to be amazing photographers. Hence, I didn't pull our my camera because I felt like an imposter.  But Dave got a few shots on his phone, so that will have to suffice.

We got to our campsite after dark and during a thunderstorm. Cool thing: seeing the ocean light up with a flash of lightning while we were driving into the campground. Not-so-coo thing: setting up our tent in the rain and dark and then trying to get Ana to settle back down to sleep once we moved her in.

  We went to the LL Bean store the next day.  "Store" is an understatement. Museum is more like it. They refer to it as the LL Bean "campus." We also shopped at outlets and had a grand ol' time.

We then went to the coast. Freeport has a rocky coast, so it wasn't much for swimming, but the kids found ample things to do. They threw clam shells against the rocks, watched some clammer, and watched some osprey up in their nests.

 That night was a free outdoor concert at the LL Bean campus, and we thoroughly enjoyed listening to the bluegrass music of a couple of bands. Fun times!

  

The next morning was a beautiful day, so we hit up a lovely little lobster shack on a wharf, then headed to the beach.

 

Everything was great about this trip. It was a great cap to our summer, and we can't wait to go again.

new hampshire

It is a beautiful thing to gather together as mothers and talk about the power of moms. And that is what I got to do this weekend. I went to a Power of Moms retreat in New Hampshire and it was incredible. I learned so much and I'm still trying to process it all.

Dave and the kids drove me over to Lake Winnepasaukee on Friday. Katie and I went to the retreat and they explored a little of New Hampshire. While I gather my thoughts and insights, here are some pictures of their adventures.

The beach by our motel:

Lighthouse near Portsmouth, NH:

The Children's Museum of New Hampshire:


Looks like they had fun, too!

what we didn't do on independence day

*We didn't watch a parade.
*We walked (most of) The Freedom Train instead. We saw the original site of the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere's house, and the gravesites of Paul Revere, John Hancock, Ben Franklin's parents, and the victims of the Boston Massacre.


*We didn't have a backyard bbq.
*We ate Cannolies from Mike's Pastry and a pulled pulled pork sandwich from Ari's BBQ at Quincy Market, where the guy who took our order told us the only "specials" were our kids and then gave Ana a free juice for being so adorable. Ana blew him a kiss when we left.


*We didn't see the Rupert fireworks or "The Biggest Show in Idaho" or watch the neighbors light fireworks in the street.
*We watched the fireworks sitting in the street in front of MIT with our friends, the Dahle's, (and approximately 500,000 other people) and listened to the Boston Pops and Martina McBride over loud speakers.






*I didn't take too many pictures because our camera battery died.
*We had our video camera, and that was cool.

We had an awesome, though very different, 4th of July. We are so glad we decided to go!

boston, mass.

Every time Dave has a free weekend, we talk about going somewhere. We've had days where we debated for an hour on where we should go (Boston? Montreal? Lake Placid?) and end up not going anywhere. Time, money and/or weather usually stop us. (When we first moved here we thought "this is awesome, we'll be so close to stuff!", but in actuality, we're not.) But this weekend we were determined. Dave felt caught up on studying and he has Monday off anyway, so we decided it was time to go someplace fun.

I remember attending the National Museum of Natural History as a kid, as well as going on family trips to historical sites and I must say I'm a sucker for museums. So when Dave and I decided a trip to Boston sounded fun for the weekend, we wanted to include the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the USS Constitution museum. Friday night we loaded up the car and headed to Massachusetts.

Of course, Ana was most excited about swimming in the hotel swimming pool, and was up super early on Saturday morning begging to go down the pool. Then we headed over to Harvard University. The museum was awesome and our kids loved it!

Ana's favorite part:
The dinosaur exhibit. This one was a Kronosaurus - the most complete set of this type of underwater dinosaur. Ana, however insisted that she is a "dinosaur expert" and that this one is called a "T-rex fish."

Jack's favorite part:

The meteorite exhibit. He wanted to watch the video about craters and asteroids and meteorites. He calls them "the rocks that come from the air."

The USS Constitution was also very cool. We went to the museum and then got to board the ship at the dock.
Ana liked laying in the hammocks on the boat. Jack didn't.


Some fun facts about the USS Constitution:

*it is the oldest (213 years) commissioned (still owned by the navy) warship still afloat.
*it was involved in 33 battles, the most famous of which was during the war of 1812.
*its nickname was "Old Ironsides" because, even though she was made of oak, the enemy's cannonballs either got stuck in the hull, or simply bounced off.

After that we drove around downtown Boston, which was crazy, and we decided we'd go back some other time when the weather wasn't quite so windy and we could walk. We did manage to drive by Old North Church, and I'm looking forward to going back and walking the Freedom Trail with my sister in April!

At the museum, there was this short little video with quotes from actual sailors on the Constitution. One sailor said, "I do not fear the day of battle. We are too busy fighting to be afraid. But the day after, with the fatigue and caring for the dead and the wounded, that is the day I dread."

The days after a vacation are always the hardest too. :)