The month of October started out with a really wonderful, amazing trip through the North East. We got to travel through Boston, Vermont, the Maine coastline, and finally down to Cape Cod. It was such a great loop! We got a little bit of everything in and it was so fun to tour through that part of the country. My parents came, which made it even more exciting!
Day #1, October 4: Flight
Today was spent mostly on the airplane, but while it was really long it was bearable. We got stuck in the most horrendous traffic on the way to the airport, but luckily we had given ourselves plenty of extra time. We got to the airport, got some food, and then got on the airplane! Henry did really well and even had the guy next to him apologizing for thinking that he was going to be a pain to sit by. At the end we were definitely ready to get to our destination. After we got our bags we went and picked up some clam chowder on our way to our place. This was, in my opinion, the best clam chowder that I've ever had! It has been served at every Presidential Inauguration since 1981, and it is not hard to see why. Perfection in a bowl. It was really nice to sit down and relax on the couch and eat our warm soup after a long day of travelling.
Day #2, October 5: Boston
Today was our first day in Boston and it was a busy, crazy day that took us all around the city. Boston seems really big, but it is actually really pedestrian friendly and walkable. We had some breakfast at home, drove downtown (thank you Rusty-driving here is CRAZY) and then started the Freedom Trail at the Commons. Boston Commons is a huge, beautiful park. I could easily envision myself sitting there in the summer reading, or letting Henry play. It is so beauitful! The Freedom Trail has tons of really historical sites all along the way. Some of the highlights were the Granary Graveyard, Boston Massacre Site, Quincy Market, and saw the Bunker Hill Monument. I loved being able to walk around the city, and by the end we bought some hop on hop off trolley tickets. It was fun to listen to the history, and to also use it to get around the city!
We started in the Commons and enjoyed strolling through. It is a really big park!
The Freedom Trail was marked by a red brick line with these cool markers every once in a while.
Then there was an old church, called Park Street Church. It was built in 1809 and was the tallest building in Boston for about two decades! This city just has so many historic places that walking around is fascinating!
One of the coolest stops was Granary Graveyard. The headstones are amazing, and they are so old. It also doesn't hurt that there are some really cool people buried here! For example, Paul Revere, five victims of the Boston Massacre, and three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine, and John Hancock. We drove past another cemetery that had the oldest grave in Boston, a woman that actually came over on the Mayflower. WHAT?! This is so cool! Oh, and also Mother Goose is buried here. Yeah.
John Hancock
Paul Revere's grave is actually the tiny one, but after he became famous they put in the bigger one. Everyone was putting coins on his grave marker, and I wasn't sure why but I wanted to do it haha! Later I found out that it was because he was a coppersmith and silversmith. He did everything! They joke that he was a called a minuteman because he didn't even have a minute haha.
Sam Adams!
By this time we were getting a little hungry, and that was just perfect because it was time to visit the Omni Parker House! They were the ones that created the Boston Cream Pie, so we grabbed two to go and ate them outside. So tasty! And so fun to eat them in Boston. And Henry definitely liked it!
The next stop was the Old State House and the Boston Massacre Site. This is something that I learned about in middle school, and just being able to be here in person was pretty cool. Dad pretended to be being shot haha. It is so crazy that these historic buildings are surrounded by the new, modern high rises.
On the trolley!
We headed over to the USS Constitution, but turned out that you had to have your ID and not all of us had them. So we took a little sneak peek and then moved on. We decided to come back the next day.
The Freedom Trail ends at Bunker Hill, which I had heard was underwhelming. In my opinion I thought it was really cool! We got to climb up to the top (294 steps) and then had amazing views from the top! And as an added bonus, we saw this huge falcon swoop down and pick up a squirrel and go to a tree with it. It was like watching National Geographic.
After Bunker Hill we went back over by the USS Constitution and waited for the trolley to come and take us closer to the North End to get some dinner and walk around Little Italy! We got to see Paul Revere's house, Old North Church (the "one if by land, two if by sea" church), eat an authentic Italian dinner, and get some delicious pastries! This dinner was the first time that Rusty and I felt like we were in Italy since actually being there. The restaurant was run by an Italian family and all of the customers were friends. The pace of the meal was slow and relaxed just like in Italy, and the food tasted like we were there. It was a great spot!
Paul Revere's House
Old North Church. This is the steeple! Right there!
There are two main pastry shops in Little Italy: Mike's and Modern. Tourists supposedly go to Modern and locals go to Mike's, but we heard that the lobster rolls at Modern were excellent and the cannolis at Mike's were the way to go. So we decided to indulge and try a little bit of each :)
Day #3: October 6. Boston
Today we woke up and went downtown again for our Harbor Cruise! We got to walk around a little while before we boarded, and it was so beautiful looking at the water and all of the ships. When it was time to board we got seats up on the top deck and had so much fun for the next hour learning about some of Boston's history and seeing it from the water. It was definitely cool to compare and contrast the history that we learned on the trolley tour and then out on the harbor. It was so exciting to see where the Boston Tea Party happened! We learned about this sailors by the island of Nantucket who had to stay out there for six months at a time to act as a lighthouse so ships didn't crash into the island. They started weaving baskets to make the time pass, and they became very famous and expensive.
After our cruise we walked over to Copley Square in the Back Bay area to see Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library. We decided to go into both of them, and they were beautiful! Trinity had tons of stained glass and the library was intimidatingly huge, and you felt classier and smarter just walking inside. They had a pretty fun children's area that Henry enjoyed playing in for a little while. This is a fantastic library! I could have spent all day in there.
After Copley Square we headed back to the USS Constitution so that we could actually go inside (we all had our licenses this time haha). It was really cool, I'm glad we went back! This is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat. She set sail first from Boston in 1797! And we got to go on! That is just crazy. She is called "Old Ironsides" in the War of 1812 because canons bounced right off the sides, like they were made of iron. It is actually made of three layers of live and white oak, and then copper made by, you guessed it, Paul Revere. Man, what didn't that guy do?!
After the USS Constitution it was time for dinner and to head home. We wanted to get a lobster roll from James Hook, but we were going to be cutting it really close on time. I called ahead and ordered them for take out but by the time we got there they had closed. Dad ran up to the door and walked right in and asked if they by chance still had anything, and they said, "Of course! We stayed open for you!" How nice! And, we tried lobster rolls all through Maine and this place came in a solid second for almost all of us (expect Rusty. Weirdo).
Day #4, October 7: Salem, Harvard, Vermont
Today was our last day in Massachusetts, but we didn't head back into Boston. Instead we decided to take a few side trips: one to Salem and one to Harvard. Because it was October it was a fun time to visit Salem with all of the witch trials, and we actually got to go into a house where they did some of the trials. But first we stopped at Dunkin Donuts (they are everywhere there like Starbucks are in Seattle) and got some Boston Creams. Yum!
So the first stop was Salem, and we wanted to tour one of the houses where a judge lived that did some of the trials. They even think that some of the witch trials happened right in their house! It was a big house (a mansion for back then) and it was both interesting and creepy to walk through it.We learned a lot about the witch trials, like that they only lasted for a little more than a year (1692-1693), more than 200 people were accused, 20 were executed and several more died in jail. It all started because two little girls started having fits, and three ladies were accused of having used the Devil's Magic on them. Two of the three insisted on their innocence, but the third admitted to having made a deal with the devil and that there were many other witches that wanted to hurt the Puritans.
After seeing that house, we went over to see the House of the Seven Gables and Nathaniel Hawthorne's birth home. You had to pay to go on the tour so we just looked from the outside and then went to the gift shop to by the book. On the other side of the gift shop you could see Nathaniel Hawthorne's house! Bonus!
We left Salem to go to Harvard where we first ate lunch at Bartley's Burgers (on good advice from Calvin). The burgers were giant and delicious, and right across the street from Harvard. Then we went into the Harvard Book Store before walking around campus. It felt so exciting to just be back on a university campus, but there was something alluring about Harvard in particular. It felt like unlimited potential and knowledge.
After a short walk we left Harvard to start our drive to Vermont. The leaves hadn't changed very much in Boston, so I was getting nervous that our whole "foliage tour" was going to be a bust. But as we started driving North we started to see some really pretty leaves changing! By the time we got to the place where we stayed the night, it was dark. We met our host and he was really nice. We asked for some advice on a place where we could see rolling hills with all of the colors, and he gave us some ideas but kind of laughed and said, "This is a pretty good place." When we woke up the next morning we found out just how right he was!
Day #5, October 8: Vermont, New Hampshire, and Bar Harbor, Maine
This morning we woke up to beautiful red, yellow and orange leaves outside the windows. We got ready and then went outside to start loading up and to see the views from the cabin and they were BREATHTAKING. Oh my, the rollings hills, cows, red barns, and pond were just exactly what I was hoping for. It looked like a post card! It was perfect. We played around here for a while just soaking in the scenery before driving into town to get some breakfast. It took us quite a while to get to town because we kept stopping along the country road trying to take more pictures and look at the huge flock of wild turkeys.
Our main goal for breakfast was to get some authentic maple syrup. We asked our host for a recommendation and he told us to go to Maxi's, but that it was better known for dinner so don't get too excited. WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT MAN SAYING?!? It was divine. And the maple syrup was so delicious I wanted to bathe in it. In fact, we had to ask the server for a few more servings of it. It was so good, and the rest of the food was too! A perfect start to a perfect Vermont day.
Mom and Dad went into a grocery store to buy some maple syrup to take home, and Henry and I took that prime opportunity to play in some Vermont leaves! It was so much fun!
The drive through Vermont and New Hampshire was stunning. Truly, it was. We drove past Montpelier (the smallest capital in the US) and it was adorable. The scenery was just striking with the beautiful splashes of red, orange and yellow. We stopped at an elementary school along the way to get out and let Henry stretch his legs and get some energy out before continuing on. We finally made it to Bar Harbor (really Sullivan) where we were going to be staying for the next two days. The little cottage is just perfect, and it is right on Frenchman's Bay. We walked down and got to walk around the little beach and look at the beautiful colors of the trees across the water.
For dinner we ordered some lobster rolls that I had looked up earlier as some of the best in Maine. We splurged and decided to get an order of seafood mac n cheese too (best decision I ever made), but after I ordered it online and paid for it I realized that we had a bit of a problem. I had made sure it wouldn't be too far; it was only nine miles from where we were staying! But, come to find out it was nine miles by water... Oops! It took the boys about 45 minutes each way to go and pick up dinner, after our extremely long drive in the car. I felt so bad, but the food was HEAVEN and so worth it! Even for the driving boys. :)
Day #6, October 9: Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor
Today was pretty rainy and windy, so our plans to go to Acadia National Park shifted a little bit. We decided to still go, but to just do Cadillac Mountain and stay in the car. Even with the clouds, and sometimes because of them, the views were spectacular! It offered lots of contrasts and it was beautiful. Dad and I got out at the top and ran to an overlook in the freezing rain. I thought we would die. But it was beautiful and worth it (barely).
We could see cool cruise ships through the mist!
After spending some time in Acadia we went to downtown Bar Harbor and drove through it. We found the place that I had picked out that had the best lobster dinner and we went in to make reservations. Luckily, the wait wasn't too long and right after they accepted us they started turning people away because they had a private event going on later. We were so lucky! Each of the four of us ordered the famous lobster dinner, and we also got some delicious crab cakes as an appetizer. It was so, so much fun to have the plates come out with whole lobsters and all of the tools to crack them open. Mom and I weren't crazy about the faces and all of the antennae, and neither was Henry haha. When the lobsters came out he was pretty taken aback!
When Henry first saw the lobster haha
That night we went back to the house kind of early and had a lazy night watching movies and drinking hot chocolate. It was just like a sleepover; we pushed all of the beds together and got all cuddled up.
Day #7, October 10: Acadia National Park
Luckily for us today the weather was much better! We had some breakfast and then Rusty and I went out in the kayaks in Frenchman's Bay. The current was still pretty strong, but it wasn't as bad as the forecast had said. It was low tide, so our plan to go around the little island was definitely not plausible haha. Henry, Mom and Dad had fun playing on the shore while we were out there for just a little bit.
We got back in the car (a general theme for our whole trip) and drove back to Acadia. The drive is so beautiful that we decided to stop at some places along the way.
Eventually we did make it to Acadia National Park where we had three main goals: we wanted to do Cadillac Mountain again, Thunder Hole and Otter Point, and Sand Beach. There is a loop that goes through the entire park, and we wanted to do that too. Because of all of our stops, we ended up being able to just focus on one small part of the park; this place is huge! It was all so gorgeous though, and we hit all of our musts!
At the top of Cadillac Mountain
Sand Beach
Close to Thunder Hole
On the way back home we ate dinner at Young's Lobster Shack. It was definitely the most unique place we ate on this trip, and maybe even ever. You walk in and there is this huge tank of lobsters on both sides. The smell is definitely not appetizing, but you watch them weigh the lobsters and then throw them right in the pot. They even picked them up to show Henry and let us touch them. We walked in and they handed my dad this HUGE box with everything that we ordered (Rusty got a lobster roll, Mom got the halibut dinner, and Dad and I got a seafood platter with lobster tail, crab dip, and shrimp, and we shared some clam chowder) and I don't think I've ever seen his face happier haha. Luckily the smell upstairs was much, much better and we got to enjoy our food looking out at a beautiful view of a little harbor.
That night we checked into our place in Rockport, Maine. We were only staying there for one night, but it was a cute place! It had a big kitchen, two room, two bathrooms, a formal dining, and a living room. It also had a washer and dryer where we did all of our laundry. This house was built in 1862, and we got to stay in it! How cool is that! Everything in it was all antiques and old.
Day #8, October 11: Rockport, Maine, and Cape Cod
We strayed from the plan a little bit today to fit in some lighthouses (especially for Mom). Our first stop was the Marshall Point Lighthouse. It was really cool because you got to walk right up to it. We enjoyed walking around here for a little while, and Henry liked playing with a big bell. Rusty rang the Liberty Bell when he was about Henry's age, so this was fun to get to see him do it too haha.
Marshall Point Lighthouse
Our next stop was the Portland Head Lighthouse. It was quite a bit out of the way but we thought it would be worth it, and it was! And luckily for us, the place where we were going to get lunch was right in the same parking lot. Actually, it was a little food truck. With the best lobster rolls we had our entire trip! This lighthouse was beautiful! We got to walk around and take pictures from lots of different vantage points and then eat our lunch at a picnic table facing the lighthouse.
We kept driving to Cape Cod and we stopped a beach called Sandy Neck Beach. It was great, and we got to spend time throwing rocks, looking for shells, and playing in the sand. This sand was the prettiest, white sand I've ever seen! We even got to watch the sun set there.
To end off the night, we went to a pizza place and then checked into our beach house!
Day #9, October 12: Cape Cod, Flight Home
We woke up and went out to Coast Guard Beach, which was just a tenth of a mile away from the adorable little cottage we were staying at. This beach was one of the best beaches I have ever been to! I thought that Cape Cod was going to be way overrated and not that great, but it really was amazing! We walked along the beach and there were a few sea lions swimming right along with us. We also could look out across the horizon and see whale spouts, and we even saw one breach!
Seals
He loves his Papa
Then we went and packed up and went down to Hyannis to walk around the town. Mom and Dad did some shopping while Henry, Rusty and I went to another beach to hopefully let Henry get some energy out before our flight home. This beach was awesome too! It had all kinds of colors there from the red kelp, seashells, sand, and rocks.
Our flight home was uneventful, except for the fact that they lost Henry's carseat. So we had to wait for a long time while they tried to find it and then wait while they tried to get us one to borrow until they did find it. Luckily, after almost an hour they found ours! Yikes.
Well, after a trip like that the rest of the month might not seem that exciting. But we do have some nice tricks up our sleeves! :) On October 15 (the Saturday after we got back) we got a puppy! Oh my gosh, we got a puppy! Rusty and I have been talking about getting a dog pretty much since we got married. But it just never worked out timing wise. But lately we have been thinking that it could totally work! The issue was that the shelter basically only had Chihuahuas, and let's be honest: those are not my kind of dog-- just ask Kristi haha. Or ask me about the most embarrassing night of my entire life. Anyways, Rusty got online on Friday night and we saw the most adorable puppies! There was an older dog named Buster that we really wanted, but someone was coming to get him later. So we headed down to the shelter to take a look. This batch of puppies were the first ones we looked at, and as soon as I saw her I knew she was ours. I know that sounds so stupid, and I promise I'm not trying to be overly dramatic or weird. But it is absolutely true. She and four of her siblings were abandoned and left by the side of the road. They were extremely skiddish and every time we would go to pet them they would just cower. It was awful. But Bailey (named Wahoo at the time; what in the world?) started to warm up to me pretty quickly. The worker was surprised and said she doesn't even really let them pet her. I looked in her eyes and I just knew she was our dog. We could help her and love her and make her feel safe. Rusty was unsure and wanted us to look at some of the more normal puppies that they had, so we did. And they were adorable, and lively, and made Henry laugh, but I was set on my puppy. So we went back out and told the lady that we wanted to take that puppy home with us, but it would be best to go back in the morning so we could get some things for her. The next day we went back and she became ours! And it's a good thing we went on Friday night because as we were walking in some guy was trying to adopt her! I am normally a very passive/shy person when I am with people I don't know, but I walked right past him and told the secretary that I was here to pick up my dog.
Henry taking her on her first walk
We thought it would take her a couple of weeks to stop being skiddish and to feel more comfortable, but it only took two days! It was amazing watching this transformation. At first we would try to whisper and not make any loud noises because it would just make her shake she was so scared. But by the second afternoon she was running around the backyard playing with Henry! Seeing those two play together is one of my favorite things haha. They are so happy! Henry laughs so hard with her, harder than he does with me and Rusty unless we are working really, really hard for it haha. They are best friends and worst enemies all at the same time. Often I am yelling, "Bailey don't bite Henry!" or "Henry, don't pull on Bailey!"
We have had some problems with her though haha. She is a puppy and she is all over the place. We went to church before we got her a kennel so we just left her in the bathroom. I went home to check on her and this is what I found.
Rusty and I took Henry to the Children's Museum for the first time and we were all pleasantly surprised! Henry loved a lot of the activities, especially the water table and the scarf fans. The time went really quickly and we are excited to go again! I think it's crazy that our baby is getting old enough that we are doing these kinds of activities.
I joined this group called Hike It Baby, and it's a group of moms with kids that get out and hike! It is so awesome to get new ideas but also to have people to go outdoors with while Rusty is at work. I've only done one, but it was a blast. It was a pumpkin hunt, so they hid these tiny pumpkins all along the trail and then let the toddlers run and try to find them! After a little while Henry understood what was happening and he was so excited to find them!
We also went to a pumpkin patch! It was a little bit different this year because we went to a new place and it was different from the ones we've gone to in the past. We got free tickets as a gift from the company we bought our house with to Bob's Corn. It had so many different activities that it was kind of overwhelming! Also playing into this was the fact that the weather had been really poor until this one particular day: a Saturday. So it was PACKED! Absolutely packed. But, we went with Amber and Kenny and had fun! We did a huge slide that Henry LOVED. He laughed the whole way down and then immediately asked for more. He also played in a big corn pit, did a rope maze, and ate a yummy pulled pork sandwich with the very best apple cider donuts I have ever had. AMAZING. There was a hayride and a corn maze, but we had a Halloween party that night so we were running out of time and decided to skip it. We didn't even get our pumpkins from there! See, it was a different year. But it was fun to try something new and Henry loved it!
We had a Halloween party with some people in our ward that we don't normally hang out with. It was a lot of fun and we played this hilarious game where you had to hum a song and have people guess it. I drew "It's Getting Hot in Here" and I could not sing that in front of the Bishop! Later, he got up and he drew "Like a Virgin" and did this dance and it was HILARIOUS! And I'm the one that guessed that song haha. The next day we went to some friends' house to carve our pumpkins! We had a yummy Cafe Rio dinner before and it was a lot of fun!
The Trunk or Treat was awesome! Henry at first was so confused and didn't want people to put the candy in his pail, but then he figured out that he could just get a whole bunch and that it wasn't going anywhere. He would not let anyone take it away from him though haha. Henry won a goldfish and decorated a Halloween sugar cookie with m&ms and frosting, and he actually really did it! He didn't just eat the candies haha. On actual Halloween we went to Katie and Cody's house and had yummy chili and cornbread before going out with Hannah and Henry. We went to about ten houses before calling it a night. Henry got really excited and would say hi to everyone that opened the door!
A couple of days before Halloween I started to feel kind of weird and emotional, like I felt when I was pregnant with Henry. I asked Rusty if he wanted me to tell him in a fun way like I did with Henry or if he wanted to be there for the pee test, and he said that this time he'd like to be there for the first test. So, one night I took one and kept telling myself to not be sad if it was negative. I let it sit for just long enough to see that pink line show up and then I took it and all of the papers out to Rusty and told him to tell me if I was pregnant or not. It was so wonderful to see his face light up and his smile show up when he said, "I think you're pregnant!" Haha. We are so excited!
Henry's Highlights:
- Loves his firetruck pajamas so much! He always wants to wear them and carries them around next to his face and says, "ni nite".
- He is talking so much! He can repeat a lot of the words that we say and it is so fun to hear him talk with us.
- Lately he has really loved to snuggle. He will grab this Seahawks blanket we have downstairs and bring it over to me, then we'll sit on the couch together. It is my FAVORITE. He also really loves this book made into a movie called Room on the Broom, and because it is October we have been watching it a few times a week. He will cuddle with me for almost the entire 20 minutes! I am in heaven with this kid.
- He loves being outside, and with it being so rainy here that can be hard. But, there are these Tuffo Suits that are really popular here that are basically like a huge rain suit that they can jump in puddles in and stuff! We got one for Henry and with that and his boots he is so, so happy!
- He loves to copy us and do what we do. He follows us around all of the time.
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