Monday, August 30, 2010

boston

Scroll down for previous post on Newport, RI.

We drove back into Boston for a quick day of sightseeing. We stayed in the Back Bay area of Boston at the Sheraton. By the time we got to the hotel it was lunch time. We refueled and then walked around the Prudential Center for a bit before check in time. Once we checked in, Asher had a blast playing by the windows and checking out our view of Boston.


We did have a pretty great view of Boston.  Since we only had a few hours we decided to take the famous Boston Duck Tour to see what we could see.

Asher was ready.

So was Quinn.


Its not a great tour for taking pictures since you are pretty much driving the whole time but you got a great feel for what Boston has to offer and what to do next time you have a few days to spend there.

Asher was very lovey dovey on the tour.



This was on the Charles river looking back towards where our hotel is. Boston is a gorgeous city that I feel in love with. I can't wait to go back and spend some more time there.

Faneuil Hall

After the tour we walked back over to Copley Square to check out Trinity Church

Quinn loved these sconces on the facade of The Boston Public Library.

Asher was immediately drawn to this fountain.

He of course had to get in. He got soaked. We headed back to the hotel to change his clothes and rest a bit before dinner. The concierge recommend a great little restaurant Charley's on Newbury Street. We enjoyed walking around that evening and seeing all that Boston had to offer.

Then we got ready for bed. We had a mostly peaceful nights sleep. We woke up very early to catch a flight back to Raleigh.

One of my favorite pictures of the weekend...this is Asher trying to wake up this morning. He is just so cute!!!

newport, ri

We left for Newport, RI via Boston early Friday morning. It was a gorgeous flight. You fly along the eastern seaboard the whole time and Boston is a gorgeous city to fly into. We grabbed our rental car and headed off on our hour drive to our hotel. By the time we got to the hotel we were starving and as luck would have it there was a Chili's in the hotel parking lot. Even though it breaks one of my cardinal rules to eat a national chain restaurant when visiting a new place, we did it anyway and it was worth it. After lunch, we checked in and tried to get Asher to nap knowing we had a long night of wedding rehearsal and dinner ahead of us. No such luck. So we dressed for the rehearsal and headed into town.

I can not say enough about what an absolutely gorgeous place Newport, RI is.  The rehearsal (and wedding) were at the Trinity Church built in 1726.




Asher and Quinn really enjoyed walking through the church cemetery and checking out all the very cool headstones.

After the rehearsal we had some time to kill before dinner and we drove through charming Newport.

We headed out to the cliff walk to check out the view.

We saw many of the famous Newport mansions, including this one The Breakers.  Stunning and huge!

More views from the cliff walk. 

After taking in the amazing scenery, we headed back into town for a rehearsal dinner at The White Horse Tavern. For some reason I didn't take a picture but the building was quite charming. It was originally built in 1673 and they have really tried to keep it true to that time period. All of the rooms were small and just like how you would imagine it to be back then.  It was a fun day and around 11 pm we finally headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

The next morning we headed back into Newport. We spent some time down by the harbor checking out all the boats.



Then we walked to the end of a pier where you could buy lobster and other fresh seafood.

You can't really tell from the picture but the lobster at the very top was HUGE. I bet it was easily 10 lbs+ and almost two feet long.

This was a cute restaurant I saw that was built circa 1780. We saw many of these types of buildings. We strolled through the streets and visited tons of cute shops. Once we were worn out we headed for lunch.

Lobster rolls. Delish! So so good. Then we headed back to the hotel so Asher could nap. It didn't work out very well. Quinn ended up putting him in the car and just driving him around for an hour and a half so he would sleep. We needed him well rested for the wedding.  It was finally wedding time. We got dressed and headed to the church.

Asher was a ring bearer and he here is pictured with his flower girl Isabella. I spent most of the time just trying to keep him happy before his big moment. I don't have any pictures of him walking down the aisle so that will have to wait for the professional photographer. By all accounts, he was perfect and adorable. I think he did stop about half way down and the matron of honor had to hold his hand and coax him a bit.

The inside of the church.

Still trying to keep him happy.

This is a picture of the pew that George Washington would sit in when he would visit the church.

After the wedding we headed over to the sight of the reception at one of Newport's mansions, The Rosecliff. It was spectacular and my pictures do not do it justice.





This is the view from the back terrace with Asher running off towards the water.  Asher only stayed for cocktail hour then he was whisked off to a babysitter.

He spent the evening on a lovely boat in the Newport harbor with this adorable girl named Sloan. We raced back to the reception just in time for the introduction of the happy couple.

Ben and Ashley Harris

The ballroom.

Ashley had commissioned an artist to paint the scene of the evening. I loved watching him work all night. We had a delicious dinner of roasted lamb and had fun dancing.


Here I am with my good friend Ashley the lovely bride.

We had a fabulous time at the wedding but we are old fogies so we ducked out around 11:30 pm headed back to the boat to pick up Asher and then back to the hotel for some sleep.

Stay tuned for pics from our day in Boston.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

trips

A week ago Monday Asher and I headed up to Northern Virginia for a little getaway. Asher had a great time playing with all his cousins and his Grandpa and Grandma. We drove back on Friday and Grandma joined us. She stayed for a few days and we had more fun playing and relaxing. I think Asher needs therapy now for his separation anxiety from Grandma having to go back home. We head out again early Friday morning for a wedding weekend in Newport, RI and a day of sightseeing in Boston. I can't wait! Hopefully, I'll have pictures if I can remember to bring a charged camera with a memory card in it. I've had a few problems with that my last couple of trips.

Friday, August 13, 2010

cute picture

I've been cleaning out my Inbox and came across this picture that Stacey snapped earlier this summer. I just had to share it.


I just love cousin love!

Monday, August 09, 2010

day 4

So far so good. The one thing I like about WW is that it allows me to be flexible with what I eat. I need to know that after a long day if I'm exhausted I can run out to Arby's for an 8 point roast beef sandwich. It's really a life saver.

I've exercised three times since Friday. My goal is to alternate between a Jillian Michaels 30 day shred routine and a YogaWorks routine. I've decided to do this because if I did Jillian Michaels everyday I would have to wash my hair everyday and that does not excite me. Plus the yoga routine kicked my trash and I've always been super inflexible so it couldn't hurt to work on that as well. The best part of working out for me is seeing Asher try to do it with me. He will stand right next to me and do squats with me or during a boxing sequence he starts flailing his arms. It is adorable.

I've been a bit hungry but I know that will get better with time. The one thing I've really learned is how much mindless snacking I do during the day. I'll weigh myself on Friday morning and hopefully will see some results.

Friday, August 06, 2010

putting it all out there

I've debated about doing this but I've decided I can use any help I can get. So here it is. Ever since I stopped nursing Asher I've gained weight by just looking at food. Let's just say I'm almost up to my delivery weight. How depressing is that? So starting today I'm getting serious about this. I've started and stopped several times over the last few months so I'm looking for some accountability and figured my friends and family in the blogosphere can give it to me.

So here is the deal. Once a week I'll post about my progress good or bad. If for some reason more then a week goes by...call me out on it. I need your help!

Here are my goals...I'm giving myself 12 weeks to lose 23 pounds... baby weight part deux.. .I plan to do this by diet and exercise. I joined weight watchers online and my goal is to work out 4 times a week. Totally feasible.

I'll post every Monday on my progress. So stay tuned to hear how the first few days have been!