A Little Taste of Seattle in Boston

Many of you know that I grew up in Washington State. So, I have a love for the sports teams from there.  When we planned our trip to Boston Mike asked if we could go to a game.  I really wasn't sure that I wanted to spend the money (or time) at a baseball game, however when I found out they were playing the Mariners I was in!  So Sunday we spent most of the day @ Fenway park.

Mike thrilled to be in Fenway (even though he's a NY fan!?!?!)  But he was thrilled -- talking about the history in this park & so on & so on...

Well, there was one thing that Anne Marie and I were thrilled about.... an autograph from a Mariners player

Enjoying the game... I made sure that we all wore blue and white and green.  We even sat behind a family of RedSox fans EXCEPT their son -- who was a Mariners fan!  Funny!

Sad to say ... we lost :(   Final score : RS 12 / SM 8 

We then headed back to the hotel to eat left over Chinese food from the previous night & a dip in the pool

Boston Here We Are!!!

But 1st there was a small pit-stop we had to make.  While having dinner last night - we found out that there was a walking bridge over the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie.  Well I just knew we had to do that!!  So, we got up early, ate breakfast & headed out to hit the bridge before taking off to Boston.  (Mostly we got up early because it was going to be 100 deg. again today and I DID NOT want to walk the 2.5miles of the bridge in the heat of the day!!)  And what a beautiful walk it was!!

Photo in the middle of the bridge overlooking the river.

 The best $0.25 we spent today... she LOVED looking at the boats & cars driving over the other bridge over the Hudson River.  And it wasn't one of those cheap 1/2 second deals either -- it let her view for about 3minutes!

The view of a beautiful Church looking over the river & the driving bridge.

On to Boston we went.........

We got to Boston a little before dinner, so we decided to head out to the Metro & go downtown to see what we could get into.  Well, around the corner from the Metro stop where we got off was China Town.  PERFECT!  We walked around until we could find the most locals in a restaurant.  Found it we DID!  This is the best Chinese food we've had in the US!  YUM!  We then took a walk down the street -- just to see what the street vendors were selling.  Of course we ended up buying someone special a little gift.  A purple Chinese parasol... perfect for the HOT sunny day we were having!  We then came across a Chinese bakery.  OH BOY!  We brought dessert back to the hotel.  YUMMMY!  Quite a perfect day.  Looking forward to our game tomorrow & other fun things that we might get to do in Boston... Until then.....

PA to NY

This face described how she felt about today's travel..... THRILLED!  We headed out of PA and traveled on to NY.  However as we were driving we passed the "Hershey Park" sign.  I turned to Mike and said I hear that you can take a plant tour for free!  So, off the exit we went.  OH MY ... THE HEAT of the day was insane!  We headed strait for the indoor area where you could take a small tour & do a few "hands-on" activities.  I actually felt sorry for all those fools people that decided to PURCHASE tickets to the aamusement park today!  I think the the temps reached over 100 today!!

Headed into the Hershey Chocolate Factory.

Thrilled to be able to "play" with the Hershey-kiss machine. 

Taking a train ride on the free tour.  We were able to "see" (all of it fake, but made to look like the real thing) how they make the candy.  She didn't know that it wasn't real and she was in awe!

Since we did get buy paying $0.00 for our tour we decided that a small treat was in order.  Especially since it was SOOOOOOO HOT outside.  And wow!  was it a sweet treat.  (Hershey Chocolate-peanut butter ice-cream)  Not a bad day for $3.36!!  Really -- if you ever pass by and want to have a fun little treat for the kids it's quite a cute place.  It's free as long as you don't stay more than 3 hrs and if you can pass by ALL those sweet shops & not buy any of the yummy treats.

Then, it was off to our hotel in NY for a little swimming & some dinner!  Now, off to bed, because I can hardly keep my eyes open.  (The other two are SOUND asleep!!)  Tomorrow?  Hike across the Hudson River Bridge & off to Boston!!!

Boston or Bust....

We're headed to Boston (and then Maine).  Going to let my hubby (who's a NY fan -- go figure) see a Red-Sox game.  He swears it's not about the team, but just getting to be in "THAT" ball park.  And I must say since they are playing Seattle, I was ok with it!! (wink wink).  But really, we are on our little family vacation, and I'm excited.  I've always wanted to see Boston & Maine (and surrounding areas).  So we're off...... I don't want to bore some of you ... but I told the Grandparents I'd update here as often as possible so they can see pic's so here goes.......

We started off Thursday night....We didn't leave until late, so we didn't get but about 3 1/2 hours driving in.  We did cross three states (4 if you count where we started).  But then decided it was after 9pm and Anne Marie was STARVING!!  (Poor girl...she's excited though, so she didn't complain too much).

We finally pulled off, found a hotel and broke out some sandwich "fixn's" and had dinner.  (My way of saving money was to pack a TON of food and try to eat out as little as possible.)  She was thrilled we were here to stay the night... jumped on the beds, ran around the room & asked if she could swim. 

Daddy relaxed w/ a little cable sports ... since we doesn't have it @ home, he was happy!

We're off to NY tomorrow...

This July 4th we had a full planned day!  The first part of the day was spent making our dish to take to my moms for lunch.  Part of my family got together at my moms house for a 4th of July picnic.  (Which was held indoors due to the excessive HEAT WAVE we were having that week!!  UGH... it's been hot, muggy & very very buggy around here .. I guess bugs come out in full force when it's so hot & moist!)  All the kids were dressed in their 4th attire & I found these cute little flag-pin-wheels for the girls.  How cute are these kids??   I"m sure that baby "J" one day will enjoy all the attention these girls give him.  (They just can't keep their hands of him... they both wrapped their arms around him & couldn't decide who's arm went where.  Doesn't it look like he's being smothered?? Haa!)

Then it was out to dinner w/ Mike's parents and my sister and her family joined us.  We then headed over to his parents house for a little fire-works show that Grandpa put on for us. 

The evening brought a storm (it seems to do that every day when it gets as hot & muggy as it was that day)  But that did NOT stop Grandpa -- we all stood under the front stoop to watch the fireworks.  (The rain was not too bad by the time it was dark, and didn't dampen the fireworks or our spirits!) 

One of Anne Marie's favorites... 

The girls got sparklers - and LOVED them! 

By the end of the night we were all pooped!!! 

We hope everyone had a fun & safe 4th!!!!

Company Pinic

Every summer Mike's place of business has a summer company picnic.  They always let the employees off early on a Friday and set up a HUGE field they own near the pool/ball field area they have.  We have not always made it a point to go, sometimes we're out of town and when Anne Marie was little it just seemed a little "much" to take her when there were not many things for little ones, but now she's a little older she looks forward to going, so we headed out this year to see what we could get into.........

There were jumpy-palaces to be jumped in...... 

And large slides to be slid on.... 



 And Schwans ice-cream to be eaten.......



And BBQ & grilled foods to be enjoyed....... 

And fun carnival games to be played......... 

And prizes to be won ("Dolfy" the Dolphin now sleeps with us every night!!) 

And new experiences to be had.....

We waited in line well over 20 minutes for this..... I turned to Mike at one point & said it's gonna stink to wait in this line for 1/2 hour if she gets up there & panics (she has a bad habit of doing that).  But we stayed positive, talked it up, pointed out all the fun the big kids were having (she was the youngest one that was in line).  Well, we got up there & they had to add a few extra little buckles for safety since she was so little (thank you helper boy for coming to us to assure us that he was taking her safety 1st and wanted us to know that he was going to make her extra secure since the waist band was too big for her!)  Well, I'll just say this Mike and I were pleasantly surprised as her bravery.  Brave is not something we can say about Anne Marie very often.  She usually is very shy, cautious, and thoughtful about everything she does.  She usually will only do things if we are right by her side, however there was no chance of that on this little "ride"..... 

But she had a BLAST!  The jumped & jumped & tried to do a few little "tricks" (again, she was too little to get enough momentum to do anything) but we LOVED the look on her face.  And she was sad when it was all over.  If we had another 1/2 hour to spend we would have let her do it all over again!!