Thursday, August 30, 2012

17 Weeks

Baby update!  We went to the doctor this week for a 17 week check up and QUAD test.

Size of Baby: Sweet potato (5.5in, 5oz)

Total Weight Gain: Gained my 2lbs back

Continuing Symptoms: Not sleeping well, frequent urination, some nausea

New Symptoms This Week:  Legs are a little stiff when I wake up at night - taking extra calcium to try to reduce that

Maternity Clothes: Haven't bought any new clothes but pants are finally getting tighter

Sleep: Still exhausted and in bed by 8:30PM but I wake up so often to go to the bathroom at night and hear the dog moving that I'm sometimes unable to get back to sleep.

What I'm Eating: This week I've been eating Chef Boyardee ravioli's and goldfish.  I think I have the appetite of a 5-year-old.  But at least most things aren't making me sick to my stomach.

Cravings: Goldfish crackers, ravioli's

Movement: not sure if I'm feeling movement or gas movement

Labor Signs: Nada

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Last day in Boston

On our last day in Beantown we headed out to Havard to check out the college.  It was impressive.  There was a lot of history on that campus dating back to the 1600s.  We walked around campus for an hour or so until we found the Havard Museum of Natural History.  There was so much in that building that we could not see it all.



[caption id="attachment_2328" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Founder of Havard[/caption]

Once we left Havard, we went to the North End for lunch and a walk around the Italian neighborhood.



 



We had lunch at Trattoria Il Panino.  The food was great and it was so nice to sit outside and people watch.  This weekend was also the Festival of St. Anthony so it was crazy.  We found the first Catholic church founded by Italian immigrants.

It was very pretty.  Then we found part of the freedom trail that involved Paul Revere.





We walked past Paul Revere's house and on to the Old North Church where he put his lanterns in the window during his famous ride.

[caption id="attachment_2332" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Inside Old North Church[/caption]

And with that we found our car and headed to the airport.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Bewitching Day & BoSox

Salem, Massachusetts was our last destination place to go before we left town.  We arrived around 11 and headed to the visitor's center to get our maps of the town.  They actually have a witch trail painted in red all around town so you can walk and stop in to the must see spots or you can ride the trolley.  We walked it.  The whole trail was about a mile or so long and had plenty to see.



We first went to the Salem Witch Museum and listened to the story of the witch trials.   Afterwards we walked around town to historic houses from 1692 and the Memorial to the victims of the witch trials.



We stopped for lunch a small restaurant called the Lobster Shanty.  Up until this point in our trip we hadn't really had lobster.  There was some in my pasta in Plymouth but I didn't eat much.  So this was our chance to try it and see what we thought.  We decided to ask what was the most popular and go from there.  Scott had the traditional lobster roll and I had the lobster mac & cheese.  We came to the conclusion that we do not like lobster.  Thankfully I was able to pick out my lobster and eat most of the mac & cheese, Scott wasn't so lucky but he did manage to eat a lot of it.





After lunch we decided to see the House of 7 Gables and some of the Nathaniel Hawethorne's history.

[caption id="attachment_2320" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Salem, MA[/caption]

We found the coast and that Salem is known for it's maritime history as well as the witch stories.

[caption id="attachment_2319" align="aligncenter" width="225"] The Witch Trail[/caption]

We headed back to the hotel for a little rest before we ventured back into Boston to catch the Red Sox game at Fenway.  After a very confusing drive into Boston and paying crazy amounts to park we finally made it into Fenway.  I couldn't believe I was actually there and the stadium was so small.  We were able to stand right behind the visiting bullpen and watch the players warm up for a bit.

[caption id="attachment_2324" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Fenway Park[/caption]

Then we found our seats, they weren't that high up but they were covered.  We couldn't see the main screen with the replays and lineups but they gave us a great shot down the first base line.

[caption id="attachment_2325" align="aligncenter" width="300"] View from our seats[/caption]

The Royals put up a fight and we got to hear the infamous Red Sox fans booing their team.  They haven't been great all season and half are at odds with the coach, Bobby Valentine.  It was entertaining enough.  Overall the park was dirty and we randomly had some liquid dripping on us from above.  We never figured it out, there were no a/c vents above so that let the mind wander.

Friday, August 24, 2012

The Maine Event

Cheesy title I know but Maine was the one place on the trip that I was really excited to see. I never thought I would ever go there so I made sure that was a stop this trip. Since Augusta, Maine was 3 hours North of Boston we got up a little early and hit the road. The whole trip was a little different to drive through. I'm used to being able to see past the highway and see the towns that were built up around the highway or at least see farmland. We saw trees and lots of the them lining the highway from Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. It was a little weird for everything to be so green (the drought this year turned STL brown).

Once we got through New Hampshire



 



and into Maine we stopped at the visitor's center and enjoyed the fresh Maine air. Then it was back in the car all the way to Augusta and a whole lot of toll booths. Once we got to Augusta we headed to the Capital building. While driving through the town it felt more like a suburb of a major city than a capital of a state. We first visited the State Museum and took a tour and learned about Maine granite and jobs of early Mainenites (?). After the museum we walked over to the Capital building.



We took the tour of the building and found out that Maine has 3 Indian Territories within the state, the people are represented but the representatives do not get an actual vote. Not sure that's fair. We took the tour with an elderly woman whose father was a Speaker of the House for the state of Maine in the 60s. It was interesting to see her father's picture on the wall.

[caption id="attachment_2270" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Abe Lincoln Maine House of Reps[/caption]

We needed a quick bit to eat before heading out-of-town to explore a little more of Maine. We headed to the small town of Hallowell for lunch. It was a very cute main street with shops, businesses and restaurants. We had a quick-lunch at The Liberal Cup. The food wasn't too bad. We then walked down the street to a bakery for a cookie and coffee.

[caption id="attachment_2313" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Small town Maine[/caption]

We headed South towards Freeport, Maine. A small town that is the home to the flagship store of L.L. Bean. My parents always got the L.L. Bean catalog while growing up and I've used many of their products, so why not stop in.

[caption id="attachment_2314" align="aligncenter" width="300"] L.L. Bean[/caption]

The store was huge, I would compare it to a Cabela's or Bass Pro shop. We walked along the street and checked out a couple other outlet stores. This town reminded me of a small beach town, like Gulf Shores, AL before everyone. It was a fun stop on our way back to Boston.

Overall, we were not that impressed with the Maine capital. For a building that had been around since 1830s it looked very modern and the town of Augusta wasn't impressive either. The state was pretty, wish we had a little more time to check out the beaches.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Hello Rhode Island



On the Wednesday of our trip we drove down to Rhode Island.  We arrived at the capital building and found a tour group.  The tour was very interesting.  The dome in this capital is the fourth largest dome in the world behind St. Peter's Basilica, the state Capital Building in Minnesota, and the Taj Mahal.



We saw the original painting that has the face of George Washington that is on the one dollar bill, that was in the room where the governor gives press conferences.



We also saw the original state constitution for Rhode Island and learned that each of the original 13 colonies received an original copy of the Bill of Rights.  The one for Rhode Island was located at the State Archives, more on that trip later.

After the seeing the third capital building in as many days, we were hungry.  We were looking for a place for lunch.  The first place we tried was closed and we scored on the second attempt.  Thanks to Yelp we found The Abbey about a 10 minute drive from the Capital.  This place had so many different types of burgers to pick.  Scott ended up with the Mama Mia and I, creatively, went for the Classic.

[caption id="attachment_2252" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mama Mia![/caption]

They were amazing and huge.  I was impressed with how much I ate.  After lunch we walked across the street to La Salle's for a quick brownie.

Then it was on to downtown Providence to look for the State Archives office.  We quickly found the building and asked to see the original copy of the Bill of Rights.  After a little help from the librarian and co-worker, we were able to see the original through the glass frame.  This was the best random find on our trip.

[caption id="attachment_2246" align="aligncenter" width="280"] Rhode Island's copy of the Bill of Rights[/caption]

We decided to check out Brown University for a bit while we were in town.  The campus was very busy.



We stopped in at the bookstore and got a couple of shirts and decided it was time to leave Rhode Island and head to Plymouth.

We arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts and found the Mayflower II.  A full-sized replica of the actual Mayflower.  The Mayflower II even recreated the trip from England.



[caption id="attachment_2303" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mayflower II kitchen[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2302" align="aligncenter" width="300"] On the Mayflower II[/caption]

After touring the boat we checked out the gift shops and then walked along the coast.  It was beautiful to see the fishing and sailboats out there.  We kept walking until we found the Plymouth Rock.  I wasn't sure what I was expecting to see but a gated  enclosure with a boulder that had 1690 engraved on it wasn't it.  But at least we knocked out some extra history with that stop.

[caption id="attachment_2304" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Plymouth Rock[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2305" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Keeping the Rock safe[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_2337" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Plymouth, MA[/caption]

Since I was starving, I always am now, I wanted to find some place to eat dinner before we left Plymouth.  I knew it was only 4pm but when a pregnant lady needs to eat, you don't argue.  Since our first choice was closed we went down the street to Isaac's for dinner.

[caption id="attachment_2256" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Dinner with a view in Plymouth[/caption]

The restaurant was a little fancier than we thought, but again, I was hungry.  For dinner we finally got our chowdah.



It was amazingly good and made me really happy that I bought a New England cookbook.  Of course since we had the chowdah, we weren't too hungry for our actual meal.  I really wished our hotel had a refrigerator or microwave so we could have brought that home.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a very relaxing evening.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Boston

I think our day in downtown Boston was one of our busiest days on this trip.  We took our time getting ready and driving downtown.  That turned out to be somewhat of a mistake.  We missed out on all the cheap early bird parking deals.  Instead we forked over $40 to a parking garage for 6 hours!  Sadly, that was the cheapest rate we found while driving around for 30 minutes.

Once we parked and walked out of the building we saw a historical building and decided that we should head there first.  It was the site of the Boston massacre.



[caption id="attachment_2272" align="aligncenter" width="225"] List of those killed at Boston Massacre site[/caption]

We decided to pay for the building tour and listened to information about the actual fight.  While outside I got over heated and needed a bit of water before I could continue on.  After checking out the history we decided that I needed more water and went to Starbucks (saw way more of them than we thought we would in Boston).  After that we decided to start walking the Freedom Trail.  While on the trail we found a few graveyards, first was King's Chapel Burying Ground.





We finally made it to the State Capital Building of Massachusetts.  We arrived just in time to catch up with a tour group.  We also just missed a press conference that was wrapping up as we entered the main entry way.  It is the oldest state capital building still in use today.  Also, the land that it sits on was once owned by John Hancock.





When we left the capital we walked across the street to Boston Common, a nice park that had tons of activity.





We then continued on the Freedom Trail to Park Street Church.  A church where "My Country tis of Thee" was first sung and the Boston division of the NAACP meets.



Just up the block is the Granary Burying Grounds, this is where many famous Americans are buried.  For example, Samuel Adams, Ben Franklin's family, John Hancock, and Paul Revere.  We found Boston's old City Hall and then walked down to the harbor to relax a bit before heading back to the car.







[caption id="attachment_2296" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Boston Harbor[/caption]

On our walk back to the car we walked over a block and found Quincy Market and did a little shopping.  What a great market to walk through.  On the other side of the Market was Faneuil Hall.

[caption id="attachment_2298" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Inside Faneuil Hall[/caption]

This was the place of many speeches in our nation's history from Samuel Adams and James Otis to state why we should be free from Great Britain.  The guide from the Parks Department gave a wonderful speech about the Great Hall and why we should vote based on what our forefathers fought for.



After that, we found our car and headed back to the hotel for naps and dinner.