Our Boston Brigade

The trip I have been counting down for close to 3 years now, finally came! We took a family trip out to Massachusetts and spent a full week being tourists. Ryan served his mission out there and lived out there for a summer working and still has quite a few connections out there.

Ryan went out 5 days before us because of a conference for school. Hailey and I came out the last day of it and hit the ground running as soon as Ryan picked us up from the airport. I think in 7 days we went to at least 6 or 7 (probably more to be honest) different cities. My trip started off with Ryan surprising me with a coxinha (cosh-e-ha) aka fried cone shaped deliciousness with a surprise center of chicken and cream cheese. Even cooled down it was so good! ~I should go ahead and tell you now that this post is going to be mainly about the food. Other than the amazing people I met, it was the best part of our trip!~ Since Ryan served in Boston and Cambridge, he knew his way around everywhere and took us to the good places :) After the airport, we drove around a bit and walked around Harvard and Harvard square. That's when we decided to get something to eat and headed for the famous Mr. Bartley's Burgers.

Oh... My... Heck... SO GOOD! This burger joint deserves its own paragraph. I heard about it from the food network (I think from Man vs. Food) and have wanted to go ever since then. Let me just say that those burgers where certainly TV worthy. I got the Mayor Mumbles Menino and Ryan got the Skip Gates. The burger... so big... so juicy... with the best bacon I have ever had... are you drooling yet? I am all over again! They were seriously so dang good. But just for the fun of it you should read the menu. The names and descriptions of the burgers are really funny. http://www.mrbartley.com/mrbartleys-menu.html but seriously, it is worth your time. And on top of all of that, it was a PERFECT day in Boston. No humidity, perfect temperature. Just simply a perfect day. But enough about that. I have MUCH more to recap.

After Mr. Bartley's we went to Richard and Cherise's place in Quincy and stayed. It was so nice to finally meet Richard's lovely bride and see them interact with each other... oh to be young and in love :) Just kidding, I still am! But they really were fun to be around. We got to hang out watching the Olympics and talk and just get to know one another. It was really fun.

The next morning Ryan and I decided that we would do a tour of Boston. Other than it being a blistering hot and humid day, it was a great day to go sight seeing. *side note* no one and I mean NO ONE has central air, in what I figure, all of Massachusetts. Seriously... except Richard and Cherise... anyway back to Boston. We started the day off by going to the Public Gardens and seeing all the duck ponds with tons of big, beautiful ducks and swans. Those gardens truly are a sight to see. I LOVED it there. But we had a busy day ahead of us so we didn't stay long. After we were off to a little pond? I guess you would call it... splash area? I don't know. This little water place that tons of kids and parents were splashing and swimming around in. It was really cute and fun to put our feet in. We even met another Haley!

After the splash pond area we started our main day's expedition and did the freedom trail. History truly does come alive in that city! I learned so much and had a blast doing it! The freedom trail really is a red brick trail going through all of Boston taking you to all of the historical spots. It was great. We got to take a tour of Old North Church and learned about how Paul Revere came up with the idea of lighting the lanterns up in the bell tour. We learned that only MIT students ring the bells now because it is so complicated... They have to memorize literally over 1,000 bell combinations. Yikes! And then we went down into the church's Crypt. Not really creepy at all to be honest. It was really a cool experience though. We ended the freedom trail at the U.S.S Constitution, which I learned is the oldest Naval boat still in commission, and toured around it for a bit. It truly is a beautiful ship. We also learned that people in the navy actually get stationed there. They don't hire people to work it. I thought that was pretty cool.

Next on our agenda was the North end of Boston. The part I had been waiting for. Italian time!!! We walked all around and saw what there was to see then headed in for some dinner. We picked a little Italian restaurant that was just perfect for us. So quaint and decorated to the max! I'm sad I didn't get a picture of it. The food was a amazing, the atmosphere perfect and the staff was so friendly. I loved it. Then it was time. Time to indulge in the #1 reason why I couldn't wait to get to Boston. Cannolis!! Apparently the north end of Boston is home to one of, if not THE best pastry shop in the U.S. Everything in that shop is worthy of eating. The place was PACKED. I sent Ryan in to do the dirty work of fighting his way to the counter and bringing home the gold... or at least the golden shelled cannolis. In one day, we ate 2.5 cannolis. And they were massive. Seriously as long as my hand, and I have big hands! We got a chocolate mousse, an oreo filled, and a florentine. I died. They were so good. I can't do them justice. Just go. Go as soon as work, school, or funds allow you to, but go. Go to Mike's Pastry and get one. Any one. Just get one. Ok. I'm done. I can't talk about them anymore or Ryan is going to come home from basketball to a note that says "Went to Boston. Cannolis called."

They next day we drove around Littleton and Groton, two places that Ryan lived and served his mission and killed time before heading over to stay with the Lachmann's for a couple of nights. Amazing family. I can think of no other way to describe them. I instantly fell in love with the whole family. The nicest, most loving, amazing people I have ever met. They opened their home and hearts to us (Hailey and I, they already had to Ryan) instantly. Bator is a Thai women who married a Hebrew man, Tal. I hope I spelled his name right... and they have 3 beautiful, fun, incredibly smart children. We stayed up and talked for awhile but it had been a long day of travel for them (they literally had just gotten back to the state from a month trip to Thailand that evening!) so we all headed to bed. The next morning after breakfast we kicked the day off right by grabbing some lunch and then Kimball's homemade ice cream. Wow it was good! Then we continued our journey through living history to see the Old North Bridge in Concord and explored the visitor's center there. Then we went to Lexington to see the Battle Green (literally a green grassy area, that's it) where the first shot in the Revolutionary War was fired or better known as "the shot heard 'round the world." Then we drove over to Waldon pond, which was HUGE, to see the beauty of Massachusetts there. Unfortunately the rain decided to see it too because we were there only five minutes before it caught up to us :( So we took our journey back to the Lachmann's where we ate the BEST Thai food I have ever put into my stomach. Everyone laughed at how much I ate, but I couldn't stop! It was so good. The conversation was even better though. Tal and Bator told us there hilarious story of how they met and fell for each other. And then we told ours where we all decided I was a crazy, desperate stalker :) But hey! It won me my man! And then Bator showered me with a night of trying on her custom designed jewelry and giving me two sets of earrings and a necklace. Did I mention she was the sweetest lady ever?!? Unfortunately we had to leave really early the next morning to head to Cape Cod so we had to end our night. The next morning we got pictures, said our good byes, and headed for the Cape to meet up with Richard and Cherise and go on over to Martha's Vineyard. It was another muggy, super hot day but that didn't stop us one bit. We ate at the restaurant that Ryan worked at the summer after his mission, The Seafood Shanty. So good! We then walked around Edgar Town and got some really good fudge and headed for Oak Bluffs. We saw the oldest carousel The Flying Horses there.... super creepy.... and saw the Ginger Bread Houses. The craziest little houses I have ever seen! They were all sorts of colors and seriously looked like ginger bread haha. It was pretty cool. We saw the famous bridge that Jaws saw under in the movie and went sight seeing. Literally, all the mansions were a sight to see! I seriously couldn't believe how big and pretty they were.

Now for a funny story. The island is really small. We kept seeing the same people we came over on the ferry with throughout the different towns. One family I kept seeing was a little Indian family that had commented of how cute Hailey was when we first arrived at Martha's Vineyard. Right as we were loading up in the car to call it a day, the daughter called out to the family saying "Hey, there's that cute baby again." This is not an exaggeration of the story at all. The mom, dad, son and daughter all gathered around Hailey oohing and awing at how cute she was. The dad then turned to me and asked me if he could get a picture of her. I was so caught off guard I started stuttering "uhhh, ummm, yeah, I guess..." and then proceeded to look at Ryan really confused haha. The dad then starts taking picture of his daughter with mine, shoving his son in a picture with her (not joking, he shoved him in haha) and just clicking away while mom is asking me her name, how to spell it, and her age. They thanked me and told me again how cute she was and started to leave. They the daughter (I'm guessing early teens) asked me if I put her in beauty pageants. I quickly say no, because her daddy would kill me. She laughed and off they were. SO FUNNY! You would have sworn that I had made their day from that. I can't wait to tell Hailey about that one day.

Back to our travels. We said our good byes to Rich and Cherise for the last time and headed our separate ways. We went to the Dimavich's (I know I butchered that one but I tried) to stay. The next morning was Sunday and we had church bright and early. Let me start by saying the church is true no matter where you go, but it isn't always the same size... Smallest. Branch. EVER. Not only was it small but it wasn't even in a church building. It's so small that they hold church in a store front that is converted into the meeting house. It was so nuts! I wanted to giggle every time they called the room we were in the chapel because it was so different to me. There are only about 3-4 families in the branch, a set of missionaries and a few others (mainly summer vacationers) that make up the branch. We actually met someone who came to Bloomington to go to Indiana University for school 13 years ago which is were he joined the church. Small world! The Boston temple president? or a counselor, I can't remember, and his wife were the speakers for both sacrament and Sunday school. From what I hear and the parts I actually heard, it was a wonderful meeting (I was on Hailey duty, in and out feeding and changing her.)

After church we went over to the Pertili's where we sent time with Barb. As Ryan describes her she is a spaz with a heart of gold. He couldn't have been more spot on. She LOVED little Hailey and fed us lots of organic apples :) I had a lot of fun getting to know her and hearing about how much she loved Ryan when he was serving out there. She was an investigator that Ryan taught that wanted to join the church but wasn't able to due to family conflict. It was fun to put a face to the name finally. Next we drove around the island and headed towards Menemsha. Menemsha is known for its breath taking sunsets. The beach fills up with people who sit and wait to watch it go down and when the sun disappears over the horizon, everyone claps. Unfortunately for us, Hailey was hitting her limit and we had to leave before the sun went down. But we did get to see everyone setting up for the big show. One day when we go back I'll see it :)

The next day was beach day. We headed to State Beach in Oak Bluffs around 11 and didn't leave until 3 or 3:30. Hailey was an angel the whole day. We got to play in the ocean with her which was really fun and of course I took a million pictures of her that day. *side note* don't change a diaper on the beach if you can help it, and definitely don't do it if you forgot the wipes....Sand gets everywhere! And if you do change it, recruit an extra pair of hands to help. But we had a ton of fun at the beach and actually got some color on our pasty white Indiana skin. Ryan got A LOT of sun. Aka he turned into a Martha's Vineyard lobster :) I got the smallest of burns but I was in the shade a lot with Hailey so I wasn't out nearly as long as he was. After the beach we headed over to the Polley's for dinner where they cooked us some BBQ. Again, we couldn't stay too long because we had to get Hailey in bed and we had told the Dimevich's we would have dessert with them. The Polley's were so sweet though. They had some awesome Ryan as a missionary stories and gave me the dirt on him :) They own a duplex where they live on one side and the missionaries used to live on the other. Ryan was one of them so they all spent a lot of time together. Dessert at the Dimevich's was fun where I got to know them a bit better. Brenda (the mom) was so sweet and her husband Lou was really funny. I really enjoyed the time we spent there.

The next morning, Tuesday, was our last day there and also the day we were coming home. We kicked the morning off with a Belly Bomb. Holy heaven of donut deliciousness! The biggest, baddest, best donut ever! It was massive! It was a Boston creme filled donut with chocolate frosting on top that I had been waiting the whole trip for. Yum... so good. I took a picture and posted it on Facebook and a couple people thought they were steaks! haha nope. Just huge donuts. We caught a ferry back to Cape Cod and then headed to Plymouth to check out Plimoth Plantation (no, I didn't spell it wrong. That's the way they spell it.) Ryan has 18 relatives that came over on the Mayflower so we wanted to check it out. It's a living museum. It's all set up to be 7 years (1927) after the Mayflower landed at Plymouth. Each person is really a person that lived back then and they talk and act like they are really them. They never come out of character. It was pretty cool. Ryan met some "relatives" and talked to them a bit. It was smaller than we thought it was going to be and there weren't many people around. A lot of the houses were empty. It sounded like we came of a day were a lot of the men were out fishing for dinner. Then we headed over to the Mayflower II (a replica of the Mayflower). Ryan explored it while I waited in the car with our sleepy little Hailey. He took pictures of it and of Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock...What a let down! The rock is just that... a rock. Nothing special or grand about it. Just about a five foot long rock.

After Plymouth we headed to the airport to end our trip. Because of Hailey (our little meal ticket!) we cruised right to the front of the mile long security line. And just like that our Boston trip was over. It seemed to fly by but we packed every minute of it with tons of fun and learning. I would do it all over again and actually hope to again some day. At 5 months old, Hailey is already a very well traveled and cultured little girl. Ryan was right at home and loved every minute of being there. I gained about 5 pounds and don't even care! Hallelujah for the world's best baby that made it possible to see and do everything we wanted to on our jam packed trip. We couldn't have asked anymore out of her and she exceeded our expectations. It was a perfect vacation to end our summer :)

-I'll post pictures tomorrow morning of all our fun. It's too late tonight.