Boston

Tim had a work conference in Boston last week and since I've never been to Boston I thought, why not jump on the chance at a half paid for vacation with my husband?!?! My sweet mom and sister watched our boys and we headed of the east coast, beautiful fall trees and weather.

Obviously this picture barely does the colors of the leaves justice. They were just amazing! 

We bought "charlie cards" and took the trains, subway and buses. The public transportation was pretty clean and google makes getting around on it no big.

Our first night we bundled up after we checked into our hotel and wandered the streets to find a restaurant. We chose a little place called Brownstone and we were very happy with our meals....not so much the service. Turns out Bostonians are kinda crusty.

Our first full day there we rented a car and headed to Newport, Rhode Island where we met up with some friends who are living in Connecticut. 

Paul and Emily and their two cute kids Nolan and Phoebe were so fun to hang with. Paul is going to school in Connecticut for the next couple of years and we were so happy we were able to see them while we were on the East coast.

Our first stop in Newport was The Breakers. Cornelius Vanderbilt's summer home. It was huge and beautiful and amazing and historical. We took an audio tour of the home and let me just tell you, I made a lot of mental references to Downton Abbey during the tour. It sounds like the "staff" situation was very similar.

Emily is seriously one of the happiest people I know. She is just fun to hang out with.

The side of the house.

The front of the house.  The grounds were pretty impressive!!

Why a picture of the floor in the restaurant where we ate? Because look at that mess!! ;) This is just something that my little Phoenician self will never have to deal with. I kinda love it though.

A random street in Newport. There were these amazing stone walls everywhere and the houses were amazing. And then of course as I have mentioned before, the trees were just beautiful!

After lunch at a quaint little place, we went sailing in sail boat....I've never done that before. It was very cool!

A picture of the pier as we were pulling out.

Another sailboat. They're so pretty aren't they?

A sailing selfie

Cute Nolan!

And the trees on land!

This doorstep made be quite happy! It's just the epitome of fall.

We took a "cliff walk" that evening.

The moon was just rising and this picture doesn't do it justice. 

We had a great day in Rhode Island. And we headed back to Boston that night with a quick stop somewhere in between for a little soup at....drum roll please.....The Olive Garden. Sometimes it's good to have a little something familiar while your on vacation.

Monday morning we got up nice and early for a Duck Tour. See that green boat/truck thing behind me? That's a duck. I had no idea these even existed until we went on one. So cool!! 

See, the amazing thing about the Duck is not only were they used in World War II, and not only do they drive you around on land so you can get a good tour of the city....

They also drive in WATER!! That right! This is Tim and I dropping into the Charles River for the water part of our tour. I was impressed to say the least!

After our tour, Tim went off to his conference where apparently they had decided to make me not only a name tag, but Tim's assistant. Love it!

I wandered Boston. And took some pictures.

The churches there are pretty old and pretty spectacular. I also did a little shopping and got some lunch.

Tim and I met up after his conference and walked to the Public Gardens. This statue of George Washington is there. It's pretty fantastic. And basically the entire park is amazing. It was so beautiful!

The Make Way For Ducklings statue is also there. We got my mom a copy of the book for watching our kids. 

Then we started the Freedom Trail. 2.5 miles of tear jerking inspiring history. I seriously LOVE America and it's history.

Red brick marks most of the path and these markings are scattered along the way.

Massachusetts State House.

Park Street Church - "My country, Tis of Thee" was first sung on the front steps.

Granary Burying Ground - John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin's parents, Paul Revere, James Otis, and Samuel Adams along with many victims of the Boston Massacre are buried here. 

Paul Revere's tomb stone. The tomb stones were so old and so small and so squished. 

Old South Meeting house - where the Boston Tea Party was planned.

The Old State House - "The center of civic events that sparked the revolution". 

This is the back of the Old State house. The Declaration of Independence was first read from that balcony July 18th, 1776. Every year on the Fourth of July someone stands on the back balcony of this building and reads the declaration of independence. Such a great tradition!! Today the Old State House is a Revolutionary Museum. 

Site of the Boston Massacre - The shot heard round the world. 

Paul Revere's house.

We had dinner at a little (emphasis on the little) local pizza place called Regina's Pizzeria. It was delicious! And our root bears were served in small Paper cups....I don't know if that's ever happened before.

After Pizza we stopped by the iconic Mike's Pastry. Where apparently you NEED to get a chocolate chip cannoli. I don't really like cannoli's so I tried Tim's and it was pretty good....for not really liking cannoli's. 

The next day Tim had a meeting and I had breakfast. We met for an early lunch (for Tim) and I went and read in the Public Gardens. It was for picturesque. Then I did something I have never done before. I went and saw myself a movie. All by my lonesome. It was awesome!!! I saw the Intern and really quite liked it. It was so nice to have a little time all to myself.

Tim met up with me and we got donuts at Dunkin Donuts which are about as popular a Starbucks on the East Coast. They are seriously EVERYWHERE!! Tim got a Boston Cream.

Then we went on a walking tour of Fenway Park. 

The ball park was pretty intimate. I loved it!! You could really sense the history there. 

This is the Fenway Farms on one of the rooftops. How cool is that?

I love the movie Fever Pitch and was actually happy to have the reference before taking the tour. Such a cool place!

There was lots of historical pictures and memorabilia at the park. Like this Babe Ruth signed baseball.

Tuesday night we went to a work dinner that was at a Bar (eye roll) and when we got there, a bouncer would not let me in because I had forgotten my ID (more eye rolling). I told him I was a 30 year old pregnant (cat's outta the bag) mormon and that I was absolutely NOT going to drink. No go. So I had to walk back to the hotel and get my ID. I did pass the Mecca of all Apple stores on my way though. How insane is that?

Wednesday morning we got up and had breakfast together. As I mentioned before, I am pregnant :) and I have never been more nauseous in my entire life!! Seriously! Food, which usually helps with the nausea makes me sick. The thought of food even :( I've only thrown up a handful of times though which is good. So unfortunately towards the end of my breakfast I had to excuse myself and threw it all up in a trash can. Throwing up in public is pretty unfortunate. After that, I brushed my teeth ;) packed my bags and headed to the airport. Tim stayed one more day for the conference.

When I got to the airport I was hungry having lost said breakfast and this sounded good to me....random.

My first layover was in Baltimore. It was supposed to be a two hour layover and turned into a three hour layover. I finished my book Austenland which was a fun read.

This was my next food choice....and a bagel from dunkin donuts. I was trying to listen to my stomach. So apparently we had a stop from Baltimore to Houston that I was totally unaware of. After we took off from Houston finally bound for Phoenix, I was feeling so SICK. And after traveling for literally over 10 hours we touched down in Phoenix just in time for me to grab my barf bag and loose all of the food I'd eaten right there on the airplane. It was not pretty. I assured the people I was sitting next to that I was pregnant and that they would not be getting a stomach bug from me. Then as I deplaned, I very wearily asked the flight attendant what I was supposed to do with the throw up that I was carrying around (so gross) and the nice guy said that he'd take care of it for me....bless his heart! Getting home never felt so good!!

Boston was BEAUTIFUL!! Such a fun city!! The history was amazing and really gave me a renewed sense of patriotism and appreciation for all of the sacrifices that were made to make this country so great and free. I love the US!! It was so fun to have time to myself, and to travel with Tim. I love that man. And it was so great to come home to our sweet boys. It's always good to get a break from them and to miss them and want to come home to them.

Love my little Patriots!! Peter's face in this picture makes so happy!