Boston: Salem, Lexington, Concord

On Day 2 of our trip, we got back in the car and headed to Salem, home of the witch trials. We got lost after being in the car for like 5 minutes when we were trying to get to the freeway. Good thing Spencer's phone has internet, or we would have been in trouble. We quickly learned that roads in Boston aren't marked very clearly, which was frustrating because we could never tell if we were on the right road or not. My opinion of Salem didn't start off very well since it had lots of traffic and road construction, and it wasn't easy to navigate.

We started our day at the Salem Witch Museum. It was not at all what we were expecting: We sat in a big room, and there were different carved scenes portrayed up on the walls. Different scenes were lit up as the narrator described what they were depicting. Then we went into a different room where we learned about the perceptions of witches throughout history. It was all just kind of weird.

For lunch, we walked across the street for a picnic in Salem Commons. We made our sandwiches with bread, peanut butter, and jelly that we snatched from our hotel's continental breakfast- how's that for cheap?

After that we went to tour The House of Seven Gables. I thought there were some ties with this house and the witch trials, but it turns out the book Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote about the house dealt with them, not the house itself.

Sydney in the kid's area, steering the ship. The view from here overlooked the water, and it was absolutely beautiful.

The house had super low ceilings, a secret staircase, and a hidden passageway. Sydney was grumpy during the tour (probably had to do with not being able to walk around or touch anything), which also made it slightly painful for us.

So, overall we thought Salem was kind of a disappointment. Plus, we also got lost trying to get out of there....

Our next stop was Lexington, but anything worth seeing in there was overshadowed by Sydney's screaming. She had fallen asleep in the car, and we woke her up when we got out of the car at the visitor's center. So basically, we had an overtired, crying kid, and we just spent our 10 minutes in Lexington trying to console her.

We got back in the car and headed to Concord, which totally redeemed the other failures of the day. Despite my disdain for the book Walden (mandatory reading in high school), we decided to stop at Walden Pond to go swimming. We knew we needed to do something Sydney could enjoy too, and it was totally worth the trip. Our little grumpster was much happier after splashing in the water and playing in the sand.

Plus, the scenery was beautiful. That would be more obvious if I was any good at taking pictures.

The next thing that made us love Concord was a little restaurant called Helen's. It was just a local little cash-only place on Main Street that looked charming and was reasonably priced. And it turned out that it was completely delicious! Always nice to stumble upon gems like that.

After dinner, we went to the Old North Bridge on the Concord battleground.

Spencer & Sydney by the memorial with a few lines of Thoreau's hymn that coined the phrase "The shot heard 'round the world."

The battleground, with Spencer and Sydney (who's also saying "prayers") running up the path.

Again, the scenery was really pretty, especially as the sun was setting. Seeing the battlefield, I just couldn't help but think about the hugeness (couldn't think of a better word) of what these people were doing in revolting against England. Whenever I read stories about people standing up for themselves like that, I always wonder if I would have had the guts to do it too.

I hope this wasn't desecrating a historical landmark, but this tree on the path was just begging to be climbed. Spencer got up there and I gave Sydney to him so I could take a picture, but she didn't really appreciate that.

I climbed up the other side and had Spencer take a few pics (senior portrait style) just for fun.

Just for the record, we got lost driving home too. Eventually we found signs to a familiar freeway and made our way back to the hotel. I swear we're not usually bad at finding our way around.

Boston: The Freedom Trail

Since we've lived in Ohio, we've talked about all the places we need to visit while we are on this side of the country: New York City, Washington D.C., Boston, etc. And now here we are, in his 4th year of dental school, and we haven't done any of it together! So we decided to use one week of his summer break to take a little family vacation to Boston, MA and Newport, RI. We picked a lot of people's brains to get their input on what we should do in Boston, and made an itinerary for each day we were there.

Our hotel had a complimentary shuttle to the nearby T station, which was really great, but I have to admit I'm kind of terrified of public transportation. Not just because your scrunched next to sometimes freaky strangers (we're pretty sure there were 3 women who were actually men on one of our rides), but I'm just intimidated by figuring out where to go and everything. Luckily, we were able to find our way around pretty easily. Sydney was fascinated with the "trains," and would say, "Bye bye chain," when we got off at each of our stops.

On Monday, we spent the day walking the Freedom Trail. We weren't planning on doing the whole thing in one day, but it wasn't taking as long as I had anticipated, so we just kept walking and walking. I thought it was so nice to be outside to enjoy the city- plus it was like 80 degrees with no humidity. Can't beat that!

Our first stop was the Bunker Hill monument. We were planning on walking up all 294 steps, but unfortunately it was closed for renovations.

Our next stop was the USS Constitution, the oldest naval ship still in commission. Spencer told me the tour guide is an active duty navy person, so the guide had to salute him (and all the other ODS people he was with) when he went in uniform a few years ago. Anyway, they weren't giving tours that day, so we were 0 for 2 right off the bat!

The USS Constitution museum replicas were the closest we got to a ship. Luckily, there was a kid's area upstairs with lots of hands on stuff that Sydney enjoyed.

Captain Spencer thought long and hard about his career as a Navy man.

Sydney got to wear a sailor's coat, which she didn't want to take off.

Our favorite part was swinging on the hammocks in the sleeping quarters.

After the museum, we followed the red line in the sidewalk to the Old North Church, where the lanterns were lit to let the patriots know the British were on the move to Lexington.

We also saw Paul Revere saddled up for his midnight ride,

and then took a short walk to his house.

Sydney was conked out in the stroller while we walked through Little Italy, and woke up just as we finished eating our first ever cannoli from Mike's Pastry (recommended by a friend). She had no idea what she was missing :)

Spencer & Sydney at the site of the Boston Massacre.

After lunch at the insanely crowded Quincy Market, we walked to Boston Commons and took Sydney for a ride on the carousel. She LOVED it and cried when I told her we were all done after it stopped.

So we bought her another ticket so she could ride again with Daddy. I think she cried when that ride was done too.

Then we walked across the street to the Public Gardens to ride the swan boats,

and walked around to see all of the beautiful flowers.

Our day went out with a bang with a Duck Boat Tour. It was pricey, but totally one of our favorite things we did on our whole trip! Our "ConDUCKtor" was quirky and hilarious, and it was just nice to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride while getting a fun history tour.

When that was over, we walked back to Little Italy for dinner. Sydney fell asleep again in her stroller, and when she started stirring when we got in the restaurant, I picked her up and held her while she slept. She woke up just as we finished dinner, so we took our leftovers back to our hotel. Spencer crashed on the bed in about 15 minutes (I think it was like 9:15 pm) while Sydney ate chicken parmesan and spaghetti at the desk. It didn't take long for her to get a bunch of sauce in her hair, so I gave her a quick tub when she was finished. I think she went to bed at like 10 pm... just the start of a week of some bad parenting when it came to naps and bedtimes.

Hill Cumorah Pageant

This weekend we drove to Palmyra, NY for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. And what a painful drive it was!! Sydney pretty much screamed the whole way there, and didn't fall asleep until we were about 40 minutes away. Then we missed a turn (darn Google map!), and had a 40 minute detour. She woke about when we were still about 10 minutes from the Visitor's Center. The good news is, she was pretty happy once she was free of the car (and so were we!).

Aunt Kristie (Baize), Uncle Ken, Spencer, Me, & Sydney

We were excited to meet Baize, Ken, and Chelsey, who have been in the pageant for about a hundred years. It had been 4 years since we last saw them when they came to visit family in Provo. After feeding us dinner, Baize took us to the seats she reserved for us on the front row!

We had a decent amount of down time between dinner and the start of the show, so we hiked to the top of the hill to see the monument.

We relaxed on the hill and enjoyed the incredible view. Just like the last time we were here, it was mighty windy up there.

It made my hair look just like George Washington's.

Down below, we passed the time by reading stories, throwing a ball, and chasing Sydney around. She stayed busy, busy, busy during the entire show too, constantly getting on and off my lap, in and out of her chair, etc. We still enjoyed the show- I think Spencer was especially impressed since it was his first time seeing it.

This morning after church we went over to some of the historic sites to walk around for a bit.

Well, we walked. But Sydney ran.

Spencer and Sydney in the Sacred Grove.

The Cooper House in front of the Smith home, where Joseph once hid the plates from an angry mob.

According to the account, Joseph had initially hidden them in the floorboards, but then felt impressed that they would not be safe there. He moved the plates to the attic above, and when a mob came they tore up the floorboards and only found an empty box there. They apparently had no thought to look right above them where the plates were just a few feet above their heads. Pretty incredible.

Family picture with the Palmyra Temple in the background.

The drive home literally could not have gone better. Sydney slept, then woke up happy and stayed happy for all but maybe 10 minutes of the ride. She even had us laughing a few times when she was reading books, singing songs, and just being silly.

Showing me her "gackes."

We're hoping that our next trip goes as smoothly as the ride home. Otherwise it is going to be torture!

The Project of All Projects

I've never really been a fan of the red paint on my kitchen walls. I felt like such a bold color in such a small space made it feel even smaller (a luxury that this kitchen can't afford).

But I think it was the hideous border with baskets of apples on it above the half wall of fake brick that really made me hate this room. Needless to say, I've always been kind of embarrassed when new people come over to our house- like I have to put out a verbal waiver to say, "We're just renters. I promise I would never intentionally do something like this to my own house."

Since I have a decent amount of down time these days, I decided to ask our landlord if I could paint the kitchen. Spencer was completely against the whole idea since we'll only be here for one more year, and I always offer to foot the bill for paint and supplies since all I want is a "yes." Sure enough, she gave me the ok, and even said she'd be happy to see the border go.

I decided on a sagey green color called "Artichoke Hearts" that I thought would complement the cabinets and tie in with the green in our living room. So after removing the border (a project that resulted in me peeling latex paint from the wall behind the stove until 5:30 am), I primed the walls. The primer was tinted green as well, and let me tell you... I felt like I was on an alien planet after those walls were painted. Like everything in the room (including me) was glowing green.

Of course, these pictures don't do it justice. I promise it was really bad.

I was pretty relieved when I started putting the actual paint on the walls and saw that it was significantly lighter than the primer.

But that relief quickly faded when after one coat I realized that "Artichoke Hearts" was just Martha Stewart's code word for "Mint Green." Uh, not exactly what I was going for.

It looked TERRIBLE with the cabinets, and worse with the brick. Plus, it looked really bad from the living room because the wall color in there is so warm. It totally disrupted the flow of the house, so it didn't take long for me to decide that I would have to redo it.

After practically clearing out paint samples from Home Depot, analyzing them for several days, and getting my friend's decorative opinions, I decided on a color called "Natural Twine."

And it looks 384,957,834,895 times better.

Of course, I couldn't get off completely easy on round two. Notice the blue tape in the picture below?

It's covering this:

I was moving the fridge away from the wall, and it was putting up a fight. So I pulled harder, not realizing quickly enough that a balancing foot under the fridge was caught under the linoleum. Unfortunately, it's kind of in a conspicuous place, but for now I'll just focus on enjoying the new look of the room.

Happy 4th of July

We spent another 4th of July in Columbus. On Friday night we drove down and watched the city's Red, White, and Boom fireworks from the highway overpass with Shauna's family. It didn't disappoint! The fireworks are set to music on the radio, and the show was spectacular. I always feel a little extra pride in our country when I hear "Anchors Away."

Then the next morning we went to Upper Arlington's annual parade, where we got to eat hot dogs and popsicles for breakfast.

This girl loves her "pacles" (popsicles).

Sydney was so cute waving her little flag and clapping while we cheered on the veterans, bands, and floats going by.

Nonnie & Benji.

We spent the afternoon at my parent's house. It was a beautiful, hot day, and we had fun playing outside on the ATV, doing relay races, throwing the frisbee, and enjoying yummy food. The kids had a blast having a water fight with Grandpa, and we had fun watching it all from the safety of the porch. Sydney was basically eating the whole time we were there. She had a sucker, a popsicle, and a cookie, all within like a 1 hour period. What good parents we are, huh?

Later that night we headed back to Arlington for their fireworks show. We were concerned by how Sydney would react since we would be front and center for it. She was whiny at first, but I held her tight and basically talked her through the entire show (pretty much me saying stuff like, "Look, another one. Boom!" for 30 minutes straight). When the show was over she looked up in the sky and said, "More."

Spencer didn't have school on Monday, so we went to the lake in the morning, then had a bbq with friends in the evening.

Sydney and her best buddy Addie gulping the sugary syrup from their snow cones.

The kids got to do some sparklers and pop-its. She kept trying to touch the fire, so I had to hold those little hands just to be safe.

Sydney has been saying "Fireworks," almost every night since then. Sometimes it's even, "Fireworks. Boom!"

We also had a little tournament in ladderball- guys played first, then the girls. It's a really fun game, we might have to invest in getting our own set.

As usual, Spencer was a natural. He's good at every game he plays.

Overall we had a great holiday! We are so grateful to live in this free country where we can enjoy raising our family.

Number 5

We celebrated our 5th anniversary a few weeks ago. I really wanted to go DO something, rather than just sit at a movie. Our neighbors graciously agreed to watch Sydney while Spencer and I went out. We had planned to go to dinner and then go to a place to play miniature golf, do batting cages, and maybe hit some balls on an indoor driving range. But Spencer told his patient that morning that it was our anniversary, he offered us to treat us to dinner at his restaurant on the west side called the Tick Tock Tavern. We happily agreed to that and found a place to do mini golf nearby.

The restaurant turned out to be kind of a hole in the wall, but the food was decent. After dinner we headed to American Funland, a place we found online, only to discover that it no longer existed. So after about 30 minutes of searching Google Maps on the tiny screen on Spencer's phone, we found another place to do our mini golf and such. We got through the 18 holes pretty fast (Spencer ended up kicking my trash), and then we hit some softballs in the batting cages. Then we decided to use the free movie tickets we get from credit card points to see Knight & Day in Crocker Park. We picked up Sydney from the Barnum's house at like 1 am. It was a fun night, and nice to be out on a bona fide date to celebrate #5!

The Cutest Ever

Sometime last week, Sydney and I were playing and I started singing "Pat-a-cake." Sydney totally joined in by clapping, then even said "Woll it, pat it," right on cue, motions and all. I've been making her do it like 50 times a day now because I think it's so adorable. "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" is another one of our favorites.

We also usually bust out "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

And if that's not cute enough, she's also been requesting to wear these ladybug boots (which are a little too big and sort of heavy).

That makes walking a little awkward.

So she goes really slow and watches her feet, and it cracks me up.