Traveling

Will and I have made several trips lately and although they have been great, I am glad to be home. Today has been one of the best days yet. Sadly it is because my entire house is clean. We have been gone so much lately that I haven't gotten to clean my house. My allergies have been horrible lately and I think part of the problem is that my house was probably full of mildew and dust. So finally today was the day and I just always feel better when the house is clean. Will's parents are on their way over to celebrate Darwin's 60th birthday (this past Thursday). We are going to eat a very yummy dinner and then open presents.

Anyway, about our trips...we went to Boston at the end of September. Will had about 10 appointments and me and his parents tagged along for fun. It was a great trip with lots of clam chowder and finding our way around the city. We flew into Hartford, CT and then drove to somewhere (I can't remember the city) for the first night. He had 2 appts. that morning and then we went to Hyannis and Wellfleet and up the coast of Cape Cod. We at some point ended up in Rhode Island which was beautiful. I never thought it would have much to offer, but oh my word, I've found my retirement state! We ate at this tiny little restaurant called Annie's and I had Crab & Corn Chowder which was my favorite meal the entire trip. (I'm not big into Clam Chowder) Maybe by the second or third day we finally ended up in Boston and checked in. We did lots of touristy things like visit the Old State House (site of the Boston Massacre and where the Declaration was read), Quincy Market (an old marketplace with a smoothie to die for), Paul Revere's house, JFK's childhood home (very interesting), Boston Commons, the Public Gardens, the old Trinity Church, Union Oyster House (oldest restaurant in the country), the Old North Church (where the candles were placed in the window to warn that the British were coming), a tour of Fenway Park (I actually loved this-Darwin and Will went to a game later that day) and several other things. You'll have to ask me about the pews at the Old North Church. Glad ours aren't like that... Probably the best thing that we did was take a duck tour. It is a large Jeep like vehicle that also goes into the water. They take you around the city and show you the hot spots and then towards the end, you just drive off into the water. Pretty neat. Jo Anne got to drive the boat! The last day we were there we were kind of done with Boston so we drove through New Hampshire to see the sites. We ended up at an apple orchard where we ate delicious Honey Crisp apples and got to walk through the orchard. We actually had a lot of fun there. We also went to the Budweiser brewery and looked at the Clydesdale horses, beautiful!! That was the end of our trip so we drove back to the airport in Hartford where we had a connecting flight in Maryland. I think we figured it up and we were in 7 states in 6 days or something crazy like that. It was a wonderful trip but it was also nice to be home with some southern hospitality. Not everyone is so friendly up there. I had a really hard time with that!

Okay, next (almost over; I have a lot to make up for) we had a week at home to get ready for our beach trip with my mom (Momma Sheila), brother (Shannon), sister-in-law (Shannon), and their 2 girls, Alexis and Faith. We left a week after Boston on a Saturday morning for Destin to stay until Wednesday. Alexis, the oldest had a fall break so we planned the trip around that back in May. We stayed at a really nice condo at Hidden Dunes (our favorite vacation get away) which is right across the street from the Outlet Malls (convenient). We had a great week probably all getting a little too much sun the first few days. We ate a lot, played putt putt, swam, ate a little more, shopped, and played cards. It was a great trip. The girls were wonderful. Will and Alexis (9) boogey boarded a lot and Faith (4 months) was absolutely wonderful. She is rarely upset and if she is they always seem to know what is wrong. She is all about smiling! I've got some great pictures. The last day we were there we didn't get in the water because we're smart. We saw about 20 sharks that morning during a 3-4 hour span. It could have been the same 5 or so swimming back and forth but they were extremely close to the beach. Some small, some about 6 or 7 feet long. They never even put up a purple flag (dangerous marine life). We just had yellow all day. There was one brave surfer who stayed out there with them, but not us. We value our life a little more than that! All in all, we had a great trip, but once again it is always nice to be home. I'll try to post some pictures later if I figure out how to do that. Sorry for the extremely long post, but I owed you one (as do a lot of my other blogging friends)!!