Part 3: Adventure New England

We spent the rest of our trip in and around Boston and Stayed at Alex's apartment.We took a walking tour of Harvard. This is Harvard yard.

What trip to Boston is complete without a walk down the freedom trail? I like that Paul Revere's headstone needs no more explanation than simply "Revere's Tomb"

Sam at one of the old churches along the freedom trail.

Firing the canons on the USS Constitution.

We spent all day Thursday in Newport Rhode Island.

This is Sam and Alex showing off the grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame

Walking along the coast in Newport.

We're considering this piece of property as a potential summer beach house. We should have extra guest space for visitors...

I insisted on taking this picture with the yachts.... and then immediately after we dropped the camera. Thus, I will be spending the rest of my day seeking out a camera repair shop.

Highlights post-camera-meltdown:

- Dinner and drinks at the top of Prudential Tower downtown Boston

- Sam and I had a date night at a Greek restraunt and walked to Fenway Ballpark.

- Toured the Samuel Adams Brewery (don't worry, I only sampled their water!)

- Saturday we drove out to the end of Cape Cod to Provincetown (where the pilgrims actually landed first) and enjoyed all the gay-capital of New England had to offer.

-We also went to see the movie Away We Go, which I thought was totally appropriate since the pregnant couple takes a trip and stops in places such as Montreal.

Part 2: Around New York

On the drive back from Canada we passed through the Adirondack mountains in New York which was beautiful. Sam tried out bobsledding near the US Olympic training center. On the way to Lake Placid we passed several Amish families in their horse and buggies but after some teasing from the boys about the Amish believing that photos 'steal their souls' I felt too guilty to take their picture

Overlooking mirror lake in Lake Placid, New York

I thought it was clever to sit in an Adirondack chair in the Adirondack Mountains.

We stayed the night at Ryan's apartment in New York City and stuck just around long enough in the City to have lunch in the park with my good friend Brittany Bean. Then, it was on the road and up to Boston.

Part 1- Expedition Canada

Ryan and Alex at the Boston Airport to pick us up.

As soon as we got off the plane (midnight Boston time) we hopped in the car drove about 6 hours across the border in to Montreal Quebec. We got into Montreal around 5:00 am and slept in the car on the side of the road. (Luckily, baby Lucy is a trooper under such cramped sleeping conditions)

We tried to make this a cost-effecient trip- so this is one of several sandwich on the street picnics.

A view of Montreal.

There are lots of festivals in Montreal and during the summer different countries compete in an international fireworks competition. So, we hiked up onto a bridge over the river to watch the 30 minute fireworks show. It was very cool.

To show off his French appreciation Sam bought a huge bag of chocolate croissants to eat in the hotel room. He bought them at a chain store called "Couche-Tard" but due to a lack of French training the boys kept pronouncing it in their most American accents 'Couch Tard' haha. .

Day 2 in Canada we drove to Ottawa to see Canada's capital. We thought Ottawa was beautiful and enjoyed all of the FREE tours!

We took a tour of the Canadian parlaiment buildings

Next time we're in Canada, I want to stay in ^this hotel.

The boys looking over the locks.

A view of parlaiment from the other side of the lake.

After a day of walking around Ottawa we stayed in an old prison that was converted into a youth hostel. Supposedly the prison was haunted- but no ghosts were sighted by our group.

I'm celebrating summer vacation!

I spent the last week in Mobile, Alabama with my friend Karol Anne. I had a blast finally seeing where she lived, hanging out on the beach and having girl time! The first full day I was there we drove down to Gulf Shores for some beach time and outlet mall shopping.

(I had a tough time carrying all of our beach 'necessities')

We decided we needed more time on the beach so Tuesday we drove down to Dauphin island for more. Just before this picture was taken we got hit on by a smooth high school kid who assumed that I was 15 and Karol Anne was 17. He was probably just lured in by the Capri Sun we were sipping- but I guess we can be glad we still got it with the high school fellas- baby bump and all! ha!

Karol Anne showed off her awesome monogramming sewing machine and we (mostly KA) made this cute burp cloth with Lucy's name on it. I love it!

My flight home was out of New Orleans so we spent the afternoon walking around the French Quarter and doing some shopping. We decided that New Orleans is not the sparkling vacation destination we had hoped for.

It was so fun and the week went by too quickly. But as always- I missed my Sammer and was so glad to see him waiting for me at the airport!

Sam's been hard at work...

This is Sam working on the shelf he's installing in the baby closet. In case you haven't heard- baby girl Swanson's name is Lucy. We only had one name on our list for girls so there was no debating. We think it's perfect. I'll post more someday as to why we came to the name Lucy.

And voila- Sam's major project as of late. Sam decided to stain our banister to match the dark wood flooring. I'll admit, I was skeptical at first but with the help of his old roommate Rob, I was very impressed with the 'almost' finished product when I returned from Alabama.