Boston Trip 2011

In April, my whole family went to Boston, MA, to hang out and see what was there (we had never been there before). This was our Family Trip 2011! We go somewhere every year and that was the spot that was picked this year. We had a lot of fun and got to see a lot of things.

We spent the first day just walking around and kind of getting oriented. We had lunch at the Quincy Market. Even though it was very cold, there was a lot going on - - street performers, singers, and lots of people to sit and watch as they rushed by. I think that this spot is more for tourists than anything for locals (seems like the local spots were surrounding this place), but it was still fun to browse around and look.

That evening, we snuck into the little Italy section for dinner and dessert! The following day, we headed up to Salem to walk around, eat candy, and let the kids just run without worrying about them. It's nice that Salem is so close to downtown Boston. In downtown, we worried about the kids, but in Salem, it's so relaxed and kick back, we were able to just let them go!

We also stopped by the Make Way for Ducklings statues in the park - - more than once - - we even went one time in the rain! My mom reads the story to the kids all the time, so they just couldn't get enough of it.

And we saw this cool, little lighthouse. Mr. No-No proposed to me at the base of a lighthouse so if we go somewhere and see one, I usually try to get a good picture of it!

We also ate tons of awesome food, walked around at Fenway Park, went to the Sam Adams brewery (where we actually saw the two brewers featured in the Sam Adams commercials! and then drank FREE beer!), walked through the financial district, walked through Chinatown (the third largest in the US), and went to Cheers - twice. One night, we did "happy hour" in our hotel - cocktails and desserts from a bakery in Little Italy while the little ones ran their energy out and we all just talked and laughed about stuff. Overall, it was a cool trip. Downtown Boston is actually small enough that we were able to walk around most of the time and still get to see everything that we wanted to.

Can't wait for next year's trip!!

What's the best trip you have taken so far this year?
Do you have an upcoming vacation that you are looking forward to?

More later! :)

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Santa Barbara Weekend

We spent Saturday in Santa Barbara - it was a Girls' Weekend!! :) Me, my mom, Miss No-No, a few of my aunts and all of my girl cousins were up there for the day.

We went for lunch, a long walk, and shopping. We saw a concert in front of the Borders (wow! they should do that at MY Borders!!!), we looked at flowers, watched a wedding procession file out of a church, and ran in the rain. But, the highlight of the day, for the little ones at least, was this crazy park that has a castle structure with catwalks, hidden stairways, and secret hiding spots. We could have gone up there, gone to the park, played until Miss No-No couldn't take it anymore, and then driven all the way home and she would have loved it just the same - lol!!!

More later!!! :)

Vegas Trip 2010

Mr. NoNo and I went to Vegas over Labor Day Weekend! :)

Aaaaahhhhh! Rest and relaxation! Last year I spent most of his golfing day at the spa - doing yoga classes, soaking, and getting a massage.

I decided this year to do something different. We stayed at the Red Rock Hotel and Casino, in Summerlin, and they had a regular spa and an "adventure" spa. The adventure spa was just them setting you up to go either horseback riding, river rafting, kayaking, or rock climbing. ROCK CLIMBING?!?!?!?! I had some difficulty trying to decide between the river rafting or the rock climbing, but finally gave into the rock climbing (and you could do it for 1/2 the day and river rafting was the whole day).

I arranged to have a private guide take me out for 1/2 the day in the Red Rock Canyon and show me how to rock climb and then get me started doing a few runs.
It was very exciting!! I wish I would have been able to take my camera up to the top with me. However, I probably would have crushed part of it at some point on the way to the top. The view was unbelivable. I actually got up the first run and got on this ledge, crossed my legs into a lotus and then just sat and took it all in - - I could see sooo far and I was up high, so that I was more level with the mountains across the valley. It was very serene, very quiet, and very peaceful. I could have just stayed up there and done some deep breathing and looked around. It was magical! ....and I was a little bit afraid of the descent part... But, eventually, of course, I did get down (which was good because I am not sure how someone would have come up to get me if I wouldn't have been able to come down) - straight down the rock face and I almost hugged the guide when I got down the first time...I was so glad I made it all the way up and all the way back down without giving up or quitting. I did it a second time, too, but by the time I got back down, it was time for us to clean up and get ready to hike back out to the car.

Fortunately, the guide gave someone nearby my camera so that they could take pics of me going up and coming back down! I showed the pics around at dinner that night and everyone was interested. BS even got up and came around the table to see the pictures and Mr. No-No told everyone that it was kicka** that I had the guts to do that. hahahaha.... I'm thinking that I will definitely be going again for at least a 1/2 day and I may have other people to go with me after seeing the pics. Yay!
My forearms were so sore the next day that I could barely pick anything up - lol - but, it was so worth it!
I'm thinking I will be doing some indoor rock climbing later this month!

More later!  :)

Back Home

So we have been in the Falls for awhile and we just got back last week. We had tons of fun - took Miss M swimming (in an indoor pool while it was freezing outside), to the Buffalo Zoo, to the Falls to walk (and run!) around, and to the bowling alley. While we were there, we celebrated Easter with egg coloring, then an Easter egg hunt the next day with all of her little cousins. It was so nice Easter weekend that we stayed outside all day and just hung out and then in the evening, someone started a fire and we sat around that talking. Miss M had so much fun with her cousin T. that they were just about inseparable the whole time...too bad for Miss M that T. was still in school, but she still got to see her just about every day. M. even got to go "bowling" at Al's house with the new Wii. Very fun - we got to try it too, but not too much because the kids really wanted to play - lol.
It was nice to see everyone and hang out and everyone had a good time with Miss M - - especially once she warmed up to everyone. Grandma D. was very happy that Miss M was so taken with "her" room and she really seemed to love it - - she showed it to everyone and anyone who asked (and that made D. proudest of all). :)
While we were there we also got to celebrate SN's bday and Frank's as well - - lots of cake to go around. I felt like I gained about 10 pounds being there - - because just like always there was so much food, so many sweets, and so much wine! mmmm! hahahahha.
Glad to be home and back on our normal routine, but we miss everyone back there and that's the hardest part - knowing that it will be awhile before we are back again. Aunt Margie wants us to go back again in August (family reunion), but I think it will be Christmas before we get there again - at least we will get to go TWICE this year! Yeah! ..and nice for Miss M, especially.
Now that D. has her computer and skype working, we will be able to have Miss M. see everyone every weekend. Sunday, we did it for the first time and everyone was there - Grandma, Papa, Brenda, Al, Ronnie, Ron, Tori, Dave, Laurie, and Great Grandma. So funny - the whole time, M. hardly talked and then T. got on and she couldn't stop talking. :) D. had to get back on and ask her what the deal was - very funny. Then, T. and M. just made funny faces at each other for like 10 minutes. But, she loved it so we will try to make sure she gets to do it every weekend!

More later!
:)