Boston Trip 2010

Our trip to Boston a couple of weeks ago was AMAZING!! I found a WONDERFUL hotel that I HIGHLY recommend to anyone going to visit the Boston area. It was in Cambridge, MA, on the campus of MIT and it's a renovated fire station. Breakfast is included (a prerequisite for our family) and so is parking (also quite handy in the Boston area). There's no pool or fitness center at the hotel, but you do get free passes to a center around the corner. We didn't have time to use it so don't know much about that! It's the Kendall Hotel and we really enjoyed our stay. Another nice thing about it is that you're literally a block from a T station which makes it really EASY to get into and out of the city.

Our homeschooling this year has focused on American History so we were really excited to see the sites in Boston of things we've read about. One of the projects I had Ian do was a "brochure" of things he wanted to see in Boston. Almost all of what he wanted to see was along the Freedom Trail so we tried to do as much of that as we could. The weather really cooperated and it was beautiful! We had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing Brian's parents as well as enjoyed that Josh got to come join us for most of our time in Boston. It was good to be together as a family.

Here's a slide-show of pictures from our trip. Enjoy!

Make your own digital slideshow

Our Trip to the Cabin

Last week we had the opportunity to stay at Brian's uncle Steve's cabin. His cabin is in Hayward, WI, so it's about a 7 hour drive from here. We left on the 4th of July and were there by that afternoon. We had a wonderful time! We relaxed, fished, saw the fireworks, went out to lunch at the original Famous Dave's on Round Lake and a place recommended in the Food Network magazine (there's a story about that so stay tuned). It was such a nice, relaxing vacation and we really didn't want to come home! The story about the place we went for lunch is that I bought the Food Network Magazine while we were there to read while at the cabin. It just so happened that there was a letter to the editor by a man who says he's traveled across the US and he thinks the best hamburgers ever are at a place called Farmer's Inn in Hayward, WI. How crazy is that? So, we decided (being the hamburger eaters we are) that we should check it out. So, it's a little bit of a hole-in-the-wall but that's normally where the good food is anyway. While we were sitting there looking at the menu we just happened to hear the folks at the table across from us talking about the Food Network Magazine and a feature they'd done the previous month about the best places in the US for hamburger and the man commented that he'd written in a letter telling about this place!! SO, it just so happened we were sitting next to the guy who'd sent in the letter AND he and his wife live in CA but have a cabin in Hayward they come to for a few months every year and this was their first day back! How crazy is that?! Needless to say, Brian's hamburger wasn't cooked to his standard (he prefers medium rare and it was more on the medium side) and so we thought the burgers were okay. Mine was pretty tasty but not sure I could say it's the BEST I've ever had - just a fun story to share!

Here's a slide-show of our time at the cabin.

Our Ten Year Anniversary

Well, it's been almost a week but I thought I should post something about our anniversary. We celebrated our ten year anniversay with a trip to Minneapolis and the Mall of America. Our actual anniversary was Friday August 8th - yep, 08/08/08 the same day the Olympics began. Rather than go into gruesome detail about our trip, I made a little Smilebox scrapbook since I know how much you love them! :) Before I do, though, I thought I would also say that our anniversary gift to each other arrived the day before we left on our trip. What romantic item did we select for our 10 year anniversary gift to each other? A bedroom set!! It's a long story but suffice it to say that we've never had one and we thought it was time. I'm attaching a picture so you can see it. It's not the best picture because I took it as we were literally running out the door to go on our trip but you'll get the general idea! So, we are spoiled now because we have a new comforter set and a new bedroom set! Exciting stuff - no, really, I am excited because I do love it!!

Neither one of us can believe we've been married this long but have agreed that we would happily do it all again. Three kids, five moves, and we wouldn't change a thing!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Our Crazy Life

Well, it's been a week now since we left Alabama. Ten months goes by so fast! We are on the road to our new home in North Dakota but we've been able to make some stops before we start that way.

We had the opportunity to visit a friend of Brian's that he met in Florida years ago - Beth and her husband, Don. It was nice to catch up with them. From there we headed to my brother's house outside Atlanta. We spent a couple of days there then headed down to Savannah to my mom and dad's where we've been able to recooperate a little from the stress of packers and such before we head out on the road again, tomorrow. We arrived here on my birthday and my mom made a yummy dinner of Low Country Boil - for all you non-Southerners out there it's a big pot of shrimp, new potatoes, corn, and sausage all boiled together with Old Bay and other seasonings. She also had a cake for me and a present - Switch Flops, cool flip-flops that you can change the strap on to look different. After dinner, we went to my aunt and uncle's house to swim in their pool and enjoy their hot tub. My cousins were also there so it was nice to visit with everyone. Tuesday we ran some errands and just kind of relaxed. Wednesday we woke up to me not feeling well and Ellie running a fever. We stayed around the house while Brian took the van to get a new tire (on the way to Savannah, we got a flat tire). That evening my mom was kind enough to let Brian and I get away to our favorite place for Buffalo shrimp - the Oyster Bar on River Street downtown. It was just as good as we remembered and we enjoyed some time to ourselves. Thursday we went to the beach. We were only there about 3 hours but most of us left with a burn of some kind. I am probably the worst since I was pretty white to begin with. We then went to another Savannah favorite that my granddad used to take us to all the time - Johnny Harris. We were all looking pretty rough but we sat in the kitchen area and enjoyed a nice dinner. Today we ended up doing some shopping and got to meet my cousin, Tina, and her kids for lunch. Tomorrow we are going to my paternal grandmother's side family reunion and I hope to be able to see my other aunt, uncle and cousins there plus meet some other family members I've never met before. Should be pretty interesting. From there we are heading back up to Atlanta for the evening then beginning our trek north.

Well, that's pretty much a quick overview of life with us right now - and it only gets crazier from here! If you think of it, please say a little prayer for us that we'll have a safe trip!

Our Trip to the Beach

Josh was on Spring Break the week of March 10-14 but Brian and Ian were not. We were invited, by our friends/neighbors to join them at a condo they'd rented for the week. I decided that Josh, Ellie and I could do that so we made plans to go down on Wednesday the 12th and come back on Saturday the 14th. The condo was in Gulf Shores, AL, and we'd never been there so we were looking forward to it. It was a three bedroom condo and each bedroom had its own bathroom. We were on the 12th floor and looked out right over the beach. It was amazing! The only downside was Thursday night we had a bad storm come through with some good wind and it made horrendous noises so I barely slept that night and, much to Brian's delight, called and woke him up at 2am to talk to him! All-in-all Josh and I (and even Ellie) had a good time and were very thankful for our friend's generosity at inviting us to join them. Here is the slideshow of pictures from our trip! Enjoy!

How we spent President's Day

I so enjoy having a three day weekend! Not all of us had a three day weekend, though. Ian and Brian had the day off yesterday but Josh had school. He wasn't happy about that. It ended up being a beautiful day which made what we ended up doing even better! We took Ian on a hike and he loved it! We hiked 2.5 miles and although he started to get a little tired at the end, he still did great. Ellie, even though she missed a nap, did great too! She did nap for about 20 minutes on the hike but otherwise was awake and loving it - she loves to be outside! On our hike Ian checked out ever hole he found with his flashlight he brought along. Never did find anything. (Don't know what he would have done if he had!) Brian and I were talking about it later and the trail was actually pretty dull - not much wildlife or foliage. BUT, Ian loved it and that's what matters! Plus, it was nice to be outside enjoying the beautiful day with our family.

Brian and Ian's Trip

Two weekends ago Brian and Ian went on an overnight "guy" trip with Ian's RA (Royal Ambassador's) group. They went to Mobile, AL, and stayed on the USS Alabama. I'm including some pictures for you to see. The first one is of the boys waiting to be able to go on with the ship in the background.







The second is a picture of Ian and Reed (our neighbor) on their bunks.







The third is a picture of Ian on deck at sunset.

The fourth is a picture of Ian with the 16 inch shells - can you tell which one is him? {smile}

The last picture is of Brian in the Brig and they took a picture of the label to the Brig and it says, "BRIG: This is the bin for bad apples." I thought that was funny!

Ian had a great time and they enjoyed being able to have some bonding time together.

Our Trip to the World of Coke!

Monday since the boys were off for the holiday, we took the day to go to Atlanta and visit the World of Coke. Here's all of our pictures in a nice slide show format for you!! Enjoy!