A Devilish Halloween

We had a great time trick or treating today. Went to the old neighborhood and did what we've done every year. It was so nice to catch with Laurie and Julia. I'm sorry we missed Toni. Halloween continues to be one our best family traditions. I love that the children enjoy it as much as I do.

Leah put together a beautiful devil ensemble. She carried it well.









Trick or Treating in the same neighborhood that her dad grew up in. There is one house that has a huge collection of handmade wood cutouts. All sides of the large lawn are decorated and set up for photo opportunities.













We collected an obscene amount of candy. Leah donated some to a local charity collecting candy to send to soldiers overseas. And we still have a lot left over.

Playing Catch Up

I've been attempting to catch up on the blog updates and our photo books. Finally got around to completely our photo book of our camping trip last year.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

Sleepover with Abuela

This weekend Leah spent the night with my mom, Abuela, in the Bronx. They had a great time together. Went out to dinner, stayed up late watching a movie, spent the next day getting haircuts & having their hair done, went shopping. All the things any girl would love to do, especially Leah.

My mom took her to the salon & after her haircut Leah got her first professional blow out. What a big girl!

She also bought some new clothes. Very cute pair of boats and sweater Leah is in love with.

New England Road Trip - Day Three - Salem, MA

After breakfast we packed up for our day trip out to Salem. It was an overcast, rainy day which seemed fitting for the locale. Salem is busy with Halloween activities, one of its busiest times of the year. I was looking forward to it, as was Leah.

Our first stop (after locating some parking outside of the village) was The House of Seven Gables. You may think that this is not the kind of thing kids would want to take part in, touring an old home and property but it turned out that Leah really enjoyed it.

The tour of this house on the property is not for the faint of heart. There is a point where you have to walk up a very slim, tightly built staircase. Just a wee bit claustrophobic. A few of the people on the tour with us didn't know what to make of us with the three kids but I think we managed surprisingly well with a one year old, newborn and 7 year old.

After the tour we headed towards Salem Village. We stopped at the stores along the way. We stopped at one point so Leah could switch her earrings. Matt bought her a pair of spider earrings at the gift shop at the House of the Seven Gables.

Based on the faces each of them is making you would think there was some torture involved.

We stopped to view the ship Friendship at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

We visited the Salem Witch Museum.

The Salem Witch Museum brings you there, back to Salem 1692. Visitors are given a dramatic history lesson using stage sets with life-size figures, lighting and a narration - an overview of the Witch Trials of 1692.

This was a bit more difficult with Gabriel and Louis. Gabriel was fussy and wasn't crazy about sitting through the presentation. Louis was antsy and just wanted to run around. Rather than inconvenience everyone I hung out outside with the boys for most of the tour. I've seen it a dozen times so it was fine by me. Leah enjoyed the show.

Afterward we walked around Salem, had some lunch, visited the shops, and stopped at various activities around town. We stopped at one of the local cemeteries as well.

The plan was to stay in Salem until nightfall and visit some more of the attractions but the boys were tired so we headed back to the hotel. Overall it was a nice way to spend the day.

New England Road Trip - Day Two - Boston, MA

Boston or Bust!

Our second day was spent in Boston. The weather was out of its nasty rainy funk and it was beautiful out. Perfect day for doing the tourist thing in the City of Boston. Our hotel was about 40 minutes away and I was again stressing about Gabriel and the car. Overall this leg of the trip went well. We didn't hit any traffic and were able to get to our parking garage without much of a problem.

The parking garage was right next to Faneuil Hall. We went in and walked around the museum. Leah enjoyed looking at the uniforms from the American Revolutionary War and other memorabilia from their collection.  

 

 

We walked from Faneuil Hall to the New England Aquarium.  Leah was looking forward to seeing the variety of penguins.

We also saw one of the 3D movies, Sharks 3D at the IMAX Theater. Louis tolerated the movie for about 20 minutes or so and I left with him to play outsid while Leah enjoyed it in its entirety.

We grabbed a quick snack and headed back to the Faneuil Hall Marketplace to start off our journey on the Freedom Trail. 

The Rings Fountain is a lot of fun. I hope we can be back in Boston during the Summer and fully enjoy it. 

 Didn't stop Leah from running through it, or me for that matter. She lucked out and didn't get wet. I was soaked.

 Matt running through with Louis

 

 They made it without a single drop on them

 We stopped to watch a street performer outside Faneuil Hall.

We followed the Freedom trail towards Boston Common and the Public Garden. I'd say right around this point we were all losing a bit of steam and on the verge of crankiness.

 I wasn't kidding when I've said our Graco stroller is a work horse. We spent the entire day and part of the evening in Boston. We had everything we could possibly need for the kids with us. We also had our umbrella stroller for Louis.

 Nothing like a stop at the playground in Boston Common (America's first park) let the kids out to get everyone back on track.

 At the Public Garden (First public botanical garden) at the Make Way for Ducklings bronze sculpture. The book Make Way for Ducklings is the official children's book for Massachusetts. It takes place in Boston Common.

We left the Public Garden and instead of heading back the way we came I decided we'd back a different way. I wanted to head through Chinatown and then walk back. I should have known better. Chinatown- no matter is what city? ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS gets me turned around. It's happened in NYC (not anymore after years of learning the ins & outs), San Francisco (not even going to get into that fiasco), Portland, Houston, Toronto, Vancouver and Detroit. Clearly I need to learn to read Chinese. Any dialect will do.

We had no shortage of maps but the streets split a few times and follow the same names in 3 different directions. 20 minutes of wandering around I finally figured out where we were and how to get back. Weren't out of sorts for long but it was enough to put everyone into a cranky mood. We were hungry mostly and tired.

Needless to say we were all happy to get back to Faneuil Hall and to visit the food stalls at the Quincy Market. There are so many choices it was hard to decide. I ended up with an absolutely delicious bowl of New Englad Clam Chowder (typical I know) and Leah & Matt got some of the best tasting mac n cheese. Leah had chicken and I think Matt had buffalo chicken. They had a lobster mac n cheese I am STILL thinking about. Definite must have. I also had a Sam Adams on tap which hit the spot.

Overall I'd say we had a great time in Boston. We managed to see a lot of the sites and the kids had a great time. We were all ready to crash when we made it back to the hotel.