The Boston Commons & Freedom Trail, Part 1

Freedom Trail is a self-guided tour of the historical sites of downtown Boston. We originally intended to walk the entire thing, but instead ended up splitting it up over several days. The wind was bitterly cold, so we eventually only chose the sites we really wanted to see & decided to save the rest for next time.

A lot of famous people were buried in this cemetery.

Samuel Adams' grave

Mother Goose's grave

The Franklin family grave

It was starting to get dark, so we ended the day by eating at Fajitas & Ritas - a really good Mexican place.

The Boston Zoo

Okay, now that I got "the Big Announcement" out of the way, I'll try to finish posting the rest of our vacation photos. I'm just going to do a quick re-cap of each of the places we visited, rather than try to remember what we did on what day. Comprende?

Up until lately, Ryleigh had never been to a zoo, & we had good intentions of taking her to the Washington D.C. Zoo all summer long - but it never happened. So, when we heard that Boston had a nice zoo, we decided to go. Well... either we got our facts wrong or we went at the wrong time of year, because it really wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Oh, Ryleigh did have fun seeing the animals - at least the ones that weren't "on vacation". But, Jeff & I were more than a little disappointed that it only took us a couple of hours to walk through it & there really wasn't much to see. Oh well... we had fun anyway!

Okay, I know I'm woefully behind on posting, but I really do have a good excuse - & some really exciting news! This new little person has been making its presence known in a very - shall we say "real" way - to it's mommy. I have barely been able to keep up with normal everyday stuff & have not had time or energy for much more than that. But... now that I'm coming out of the first trimester, I'm hoping that I'll get a fresh burst of energy any day, now. (I know... I'll just keep wishing ;-) Ryleigh is very excited & insists that she wants a baby sister. The other day, I mentioned something about the baby being in Mommy's tummy, she wanted to know if I ate it! I had a good laugh at that one! ;-) Jeff is also really excited & hoping that it will be born on his birthday (June 3) - but I guess we'll just have to wait & see. As for Grant, he's oblivious to the fact that his days as the "baby" are numbered. He continues to go through life as a generally happy & content little guy, who loves to laugh at the stunts Ryleigh pulls. Yes, life in this household is anything but boring! ;-)

Vacation Photos: Day 2

On Sunday, we thought it would be kind of cool to attend services at Old North Church in Boston. (This was the church mentioned in the famous poem about Paul Revere.) It was a beautiful old church with the old box style of pews. We sat in Revere's son's family pew for the service! However, the service was eternally long & the kids (not to mention Jeff & I) were getting very restless. We finally gave up & snuck out through a side door. We decided to come back another day when we could see more of the building & take pictures (I had forgotten my camera in the van).

On our way home, we decided to stop in Plymouth to eat our picnic lunch & enjoy the gorgeous weather. We saw Plymouth rock, the Mayflower II, & walked around the town a little.

The perfect ending to a good day... bedtime stories with Daddy!

Vacation Photos: Day 1

For our vacation, this year, we visited New England (Cape Cod/Boston area). It was the off season, so we didn't get to really enjoy the beach, but there was SO much to see & do that we've already decided that we want to go back when the kids are old enough to really enjoy it. We stayed in Yarmouth, MA, but ended up taking several day trips to see the sights. If we go again, we'll probably stay closer to Boston & take a day trip or two to Cape Cod.

Our first day was spent relaxing & getting settled. About midday, we decided to take a leisurely drive up the peninsula to Provincetown, where the Pilgrims first came ashore in the New World. We drove through several quaint little seaside towns that were so neat!

We saw this sign for a B & B as we were driving through Provincetown & just had to take a picture.

This is as far onto the beach as I ventured. The wind coming off the ocean was bitterly cold!

We decided to visit the Pilgrim Monument & Museum. The view from the top was definitely worth the climb. Incidentally, Ryleigh insisted on climbing all the way up AND down by herself!

Just one of the views from the top of the monument.

The wind was so strong that I didn't take Grant out onto the observation deck.

Ryleigh wanted to go up, though, but I couldn't get her to pose for a picture because she was doing this.

More views from the top.

Second Engagement Session

Just a few of my very favorites from this afternoon's engagement session. They were such a fun & easy couple to work with! Stay tuned for more photos... I'll be posting more as I get them edited.

And last, but not least... my all-time favorite!

I'm back...

We arrived home from vacation last night. We had so much fun & got to visit a lot of historical sights & museums. I have lots to share, but it will most likely have to come in segments over the next few days, since we have basically "hit the ground running" since we got back. I'll leave you with a teaser for now....