FALL FUN

The weather is changing and there is nothing I can do about it.  While Fall in New England is my second favorite season, I also know that it means winter is just around the corner, which is my least favorite season.  I already miss being able to head to the beach, but we are finding plenty of other things to do to fill out time (somehow we never have a problem doing this).

Berke started a kickstart soccer program for 4-5 year olds; they do not put them on teams, but do drills and then are divided into mini teams for the day for a 4:4 soccer game.  Berke is pretty excited to play soccer but when out on the field seems more interested in people watching that watching the ball.  He does okay with the 1:1 drills, but is much slower than most of the kids.  When game time comes he is rarely found where the ball is and when the ball is close by he swings his legs around like a dancing monkey generally making no contact with the ball, unless by complete accident.  He is at least getting some exercise and says he has fun doing it; for the time being I guess that is a good thing.

You simply cannot live in New England in the Fall and no go apple picking.  Berke and I headed to Tougas Farms this year, it is a bigger orchard with lots of people, but it was close to Auntie G and Aunt Steffy's new house and since daddy was helping them move into said new house we visited the orchard.

Berke enjoyed feeding the goats grass and petting them. 

We met up with our friends Bonnie, Patrick, Owen and Evie.  We enjoyed a tractor ride to the orchards where we were pulled in a wagon. We picked a huge bag of apples together and then divided them between the two families.

We picked some fuji and honey crisp apples; they were delicious and we ate all but 7 in a weeks time.  We'll finish them up this week!  We made the Aunties an apple crisp on their move in day to fill their new home with yummy smells.  Berke and I love apples so we ate one every day, and then I made two apple strudels today.  I'm pretty sure they will all be done by the weeks end.

After a fun filled day apple picking, we headed back to visit/rough house with the Aunties.  Berke loves his Aunties so much and is exciting to come and play more at their new house; we just wish it wasn't so far away from our humble abode.

Boston, your my home

I have to pinch myself sometimes when I think about where we live.  

I never really imagined myself leaving Utah growing up, just wanted to stay close to family.  We've been in this city for 6 years now and it officially has our hearts, it has for some time now. 

 I think about how lucky Berkeley is to live in such a cool place; he'll never know anything different, but I think he is pretty lucky.  On any given day he can take a train ride to downtown Boston,  

  and hang out at Boston Common and swim at Frog Pond.

 There is always entertainment on the Common; sometimes it's a guy blowing bubbles of different size and shapes that you can chase. 

 It's nice that Berke, at 4 years old, can walk a mile without complaining; that is something I love about living in a city where people walk.  It took us time to get there, but he can do it now.  

So many things to do, see and experience.

Historic Trip

After being in Boston for six years, Christian's sister and her two oldest children decided it was high time for a visit to learn about this history of this great country.  We loved having Juliane, Laurel (B could not say her name so she became forever now known as "Carl") and John.

We took a trip to Plymouth, MA to learn about how our country was settled by the white folk.  We visited Plimouth Plantation.  Christian has been there a few times, but this was my first time going. 

Berkeley was afraid of the Wampanoag Indians at first because of their "tattoos." But by the end of the visit he was talking about the Wampanoag Indians and the Puritans like he knew what really going on.  He found them both to be nice and friendly people.

Plimouth Plantation was an amazing place and I love what they have done to recreate how things were in our country at this time period.  What was super disturbing as we toured Plymouth was to here how wrong history is taught in our schools.  That the white folks who came on the Mayflower were not searching for religious freedom at all, they had already found that in Holland, they were really just seeking opportunity to own land.  So many things that are taught that are not true; I really don't understand why?!  

We also visited the Mayflower II and saw the awful conditions that the people traveled in to get to America.  

Berke made a friend on the Mayflower, Mr. William English who is a fisherman.

We also toured the grist mill in Plymouth which was how the puritans were finally able to be more productive and advance in many ways.  We had a very interesting tour guide, so this was surprisingly the kids favorite part of the day.

This is the only shot we got of our whole group, it didn't quite turn out as we planned.

The Heaps clan went with Christian to Lexington and Concord to learn more about the Revolutionary war.  They did lots of tours and learned a lot about Mr. Revere.

We had to send the Heaps out to the city on their own the next two days due to work, but met up with them in the evenings for some fun cousin time.  Berkeley loved having his cousins around to tell him stories, play with him and to watch Phineas and Ferb with.

It was so much fun to reconnect with family that lives on the opposite side of the country.  It was a crammed household for the week, but we had a lot of fun.  We surely hope they wont wait quite so long to visit again.

Operation: Plan a vacation on the fly because you are too pregnant to get on your cruise to the Bahamas that you already paid for and you are now stuck in Florida for the week, was a HUGE SUCCESS!!

Sometimes life throws you lemons and when it does, it is good to be with friends who know how to make the best lemonade around!  

When I found out I couldn't go on the cruise Julia and Wendy were SUPER AMAZING friends doing everything to make my tears and guilt go away.  They took care of everything from getting our cruise credited so we can go in the future, to planning a quick new vacation in Ft. Lauderdale for the next four days.  I am so lucky to have some of the best, positive, hilarious friends EVER.  I love these girls so much!  I really wanted them to go on the cruise without me, but they were not going to leave me.  Lemonade I tell you; sweet delicious lemonade!

We decided to spend the week in Ft. Lauderdale Florida; this was never a spot I thought about vacationing in before, but it turned out to be a gold mind.  It was off season so we were able to afford a lovely hotel right on the beach.  Ironically the hotel was shaped like a cruise ship.  It had a lovely pool, private beach, restaurants and below shows the view from our room.  Not too shabby!

Our first night we were all pretty drained so went to dinner and ordered dessert first, it was the best idea; I recommend this plan to anyone having an especially difficult day.  We then sat by the pool and just relaxed to the sounds of the ocean waves as we chatted and laughed about our day.

Two of the days were spent on the beach, swimming in the warm perfect ocean water, drinking pina coladas, chatting and reading our kindles.  It was basically perfect.

We got all gussied up a couple of nights for a lovely dinner.  We had wonderful food everywhere we went.  

We took the trolly around town one day to do some shopping, get a massage and do some more eating.

This was our pool, then our beach, then the ocean.  This was right out of my dreams and I loved living it!

These girls don't love the son as much as I do, so we got them a little bit of shade and I hung out in front of them soaking in as much sun as possible.  I really love being on the beach.  

This beach had the perfect smooth sand and warm clear blue water, it was similar to being on a tropical island I imagine.

We rented a car the last day we were in Florida to visit the Everglades and go on an airboat tour.  Who knew the Everglades were so gorgeous!?  The Airboat tour was wonderful and were able to see lots of wildlife.  Yes, the alligators came right up to our boats, a little too close for comfort, but absolutely fascinating.

Our tour guide Lt. Dan was wonderful.  He kept us entertained the entire trip.

We even got to hold a baby alligator; isn't she the cutest?

We saw an alligator show as well, this is apparently where Gator Boys is filmed, I assume this is a show on Animal Planet, but I don't have cable so I have no idea.  It was pretty flippin' amazing!

Our last night we went to the beach to try to see some of the baby sea turtle nests hatch as this is the time of year that they hatch.  Since there was a full bright moon the week were there, many nest were hatching.  Julia and I stayed out until 2 a.m and saw three next hatch.  It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever witnessed.  Each nest held 50-85 baby turtles that we got to count and make sure made it into the ocean.  We couldn't take any pictures because any light confuses them and they wont go toward the ocean, but we were there and it was an experience we wont forget.

Here is a video of the baby turtles, so you can get a sense of what we saw.

It was a very memorable trip filled with lots of laughing, inside jokes, sweating, fun and deep conversation.  I love these girls so much and am so lucky to have them in my life. 

Bahamas cruise will be happening, just not until March 2015.