While Mom and Dad Are Away...

The boys will play, and play, and PLAY!!!

While Mario and I visited the East Coast, the boys visited Memphis to hang out with their Meme and Papa, and their aunts, uncles, and cousins.  My oh my, they had a ball!  My mom was so sweet to plan so many fun activities for the kids.  I think they saw and did almost every kid-friendly thing to do around town!  Every picture my parents sent me was of them smiling and having fun--just what a mommy longs to see when she is away from her babies!  ;)

Here are just some snippets of the fun they had...Get ready for picture overload!!!

Let the fun (and craziness) begin...

excited to spend time with cousin James

these two were best buds all week

tricycles in the front driveway

racing with papa's tractor

(tractor rides with papa are something they look forward to every time they visit!)

chalk on the front porch

watching a special show with james and reese

in front of the mall--one of their first outings of the week

sweet, happy boys

playing in the backyard in the sprinkler

and, of course, what comes next other than digging in the mud created by the water of the sprinkler?!?

a special surprise...

uncle josh comes brings his skid steer by!!!

(love how excited anthony's face is!)

wow!  what a treat!  

thanks, uncle josh!

posing in front of the big truck

a few times a year, meme and papa get a big pile of gravel to fill in the driveway.  they kindly arranged for the gravel to be deposited the week the boys were coming so they could climb all over the rocks!

this plus the skid steer might just be the best part of the entire week!

a trip to the park...

racing down the slides

meme and papa have lots of great parks in the area

wheeeeeeeee!!!

whoa!  a trip to mcdonald's plus a happy meal!?!

they are in heaven!

playing on the playground in the mall

they love those cars

oh, and serving up some ice cream!!!

meme, aunt michelle, and aunt mandy planned an amazing outing downtown!

they went to the famous peabody hotel to watch the ducks ride down the elevator, march down a red carpet, and take a swim in the fountain!

having a little snack while waiting on the ducks

top of the peabody viewing the memphis skyline

all the cousins

here's where the ducks stay--

on top the peabody

and here is the fountain where the ducks do their daily swim

trolleys!!!

now i know why anthony keeps hoping to see one ever since he's been back!

they actually got to take a ride on one too!  

all over downtown memphis for about 30 minutes!

what a fun day!

everyone was cracking up at lucas...

he broke his sunglasses, but he kept wearing them like nothing was wrong

meme had to buy that poor baby some new ones!  haha!

over to aunt mandy's house for some play time in her backyard!

you know anthony LOVED digging in the sand with this truck!

i love sweet baby reese's adorable swimsuit!

popsicle break!!!

WAFFLE HOUSE!!!

apparently, this was one of their favorite places to eat...

they requested it twice, so you know their grandparents took them twice, of course!!!

haha!  love it!

still doesn't beat chickfila, though

one day they made a special trip to collierville's old town square to see some trains

walking along the tracks

i'm sure these boys didn't want to leave!

exploring is the best part!

spinning the wheel on one of the train cars

following in big brother's footsteps

they explored the inside of the trains too

then off to the local splash park to cool off

back at meme's house they got plenty of time to just be little boys--

they loved playing in the dirt in the backyard...

stirring up a "dirt" shake

digging holes

uncle josh joined in on the fun

picnic in the backyard

i love how the boys are all looking around, and reese is zoned in on her food!

riding meme's rocking horse before bedtime

what a fun part of getting to bed!

There were so many more great pictures, but I couldn't include them all!  Thank you so much, Meme and Papa, and all our Memphis family for taking such sweet care of our boys while we were away!  Not only did you make our trip possible, but you provided the boys with memories they will cherish.  They cannot wait to come back and visit soon!!!  We love you!

East Coast Trip -- Plymouth and Boston

Well, during the last 3 days of our trip, my camera was about to die, so we didn't take too many pictures.  Here are the highlights...

We woke up in the morning at Gilbert's Tree Farm B&B, and headed down to our home cooked breakfast. It was really neat, because Mario had found this particular B&B on a Christian lodging website.  Donald and Jeanne, our hosts, were both believers.  We ate breakfast with about 4 other couples, and one of the men asked for prayer for his mom since she was having surgery soon.  One of the guys suggested we pray for her right then and there, and so we all had an extended prayer and share time right there at breakfast!  It was so encouraging!  We left the house that morning feeling so refreshed.

Our first stop was the National Monument to the Forefathers in Plymouth--the same monument that was featured in the Kirk Cameron film "Monumental".  This was one the of the main sights we wanted to see on our trip, and we certainly were not disappointed!

It commemorates the Mayflower pilgrims and honors their ideals and values.

On the main pedestal stands "Faith" pointing toward heaven and clutching her Bible.  Seated under her are figures who represent the principles upon which the pilgrims founded their Commonwealth:  "Liberty", "Morality", "Law", and "Education".

While we were there observing and taking pictures, this man was teaching a group of tourists all about the monument.  We couldn't help but to overhear that he was teaching the truth about our country--that these men and women who came over on the Mayflower loved the Lord and strove to live their lives based on God's Word.  After his tour was over, Mario introduced himself and struck up a conversation.  We found out that he (Leo Martin)  and his wife are believers, and their business, the Jenney Grist Mill also serves as their ministry, as  they do everything they can to inject God's truths into their tours.  In addition to reaching out to residents of and tourists to Plymouth, they also reach out to schools, churches, and other organizations with education on the Biblical principles in the development of our country.  

We were so inspired by the work that they are doing here, that we decided to visit the Jenney Grist Mill so we could sign up for Leo's walking tour on Plymouth's history.  Their ministry just struck such a chord in our hearts.  They had so many stories to share with us about how God is providing for them daily to continue to do His work there in Plymouth.

We had some time to kill before our walking tour, so we drove over to a little recommended seafood restaurant for some clam chowder.  Wow!  It was the best we've ever tasted!!!  That bread bowl was scrumptious!!!  Too bad we got a parking ticket while we were here, because we forgot to put money in the parking meter!!! Ooops!

We didn't take many pictures on our walking tour since my camera battery was getting low, but of course I had to get a shot of Plymouth Rock.  It was so small!!!  Apparently, it was much larger in 1620, but erosion from wind and waves did a number on it, as did people chipping off small portions to keep as souvenirs.  Today it is sheltered by a pavilion built in 1921 and guarded by a rail as it rests on the sand of the shore.

Leo was an engaging tour guide, and we loved every minute of our walk throughout the city.  We gleaned so much great information from him--he was knowledgeable and hilarious!  This was our best day by far!

We finally made it to Boston later that evening!  We were starving, so we immediately went down to the area surrounding Harvard--because we knew things would still be happening down there late at night near the school!  As we were walking around, we struck up a conversation with some locals who, upon learning we were visiting from Texas, exclaimed, "You don't look like you live in Texas!"  Ummm, I guess we forgot our cowboy boots when we visited Boston!  Haha!  But anyway, this lady said we should go to Mr. Bartley's for a burger, and some young guy overhearing our conversation seconded her opinion....so to Mr. Bartley's we went!

It was crazy packed, but it was super yummy, so we were not disappointed!  What a quirky little college town burger joint!  It was so tiny, and there were tons of tables jammed in there!  There was memorabilia all over the walls, and each burger had it's own special name, including humorous topics, celebrities, politicians, tv shows, etc.  The sweet potato fries were great!

Do I look smarter?  

We strolled through the Harvard campus on our way back to our B&B.

The next day, we were severely disappointed with a walking tour of the Freedom Trail that we had purchased--so much so that we walked off the tour and went and got a refund of our money.  This guide was terrible!  He was boring; he was bashing Christianity, calling it a myth; he was jumping all over the place in the few historical facts he gave; and he really was doing more fable/storytelling than giving the actual history.  We had already been on two historical tours on our trip so far, so compared to those, this one really stunk!

We decided to buy a self guided tour book covering the Freedom Trail and go through it ourselves.  The trail is a 2.5 mile brick-lined route that leads you to 16 historical sites in the city.  Much of the trail has a red line painted right on the streets and sidewalks, so it's kindof fun to follow.  Doing it ourselves was a little tedious, but we were definitely getting more information than we did on the tour we left.  

This is Paul Revere's house, downtown Boston's oldest building.

We were a little over halfway through our tour when we stopped for lunch.  We headed over to the next site, Faneuil Hall for a bathroom break and quick rest.  We were sitting in some chairs on the lower level when a National Park Service Ranger walked up to a few others who were sitting around and said, "Well, did everyone get a little break?  Are you guys ready to go?"  We weren't quite sure where "we" were going, but we decided to join along and try to blend in!  Haha!  We got outside with the group and realized they were doing a freedom trail tour, and not only that--they were picking up exactly where we had left off doing it on our own!!!

We ended the tour at the Paul Revere Monument depicting his historic Midnight Ride as well as the Old North Church where the "one if by land, two if by sea" lanterns were hung.  Our tour guide was an endearing young man who had such a passion for the facts he was sharing.  Sometimes he would get into telling a story and just crack himself up!  He was just so funny in a lovingly naive sort of way.  We tried to tip him at the end because we didn't know if this was a paid tour or not, but he couldn't accept it.  Later we found out all the ranger tours are free, so that made us feel better.  We still would've tipped him if we could have though...he was great!

pretty pictures of the Boston coast

New England is so refreshing.

Unfortunately, we had gray skies the whole time we were in Boston, and we were constantly ducking out of the rain.

pretty arbor we ducked under. 

We didn't feel like we got a good feel for Boston because of the weather and because we just had such a short amount of time there--which was mostly focused on history.  It's a good excuse to make another trip back to see the city again!

With our last bit of free time, we went over to the Faneuil Hall Marketplace for some browsing, snacking, and shopping.  It was huge (and crowded since everyone else was trying to stay dry too).  There were a ton of shops and restaurants.  I had to get a picture in front of the Cheers restaurant since Mandy bought me a t-shirt from here on a cross country trip in college.  :)

The next morning we got up and headed back to the airport to fly home.  We said goodbye to our rental car and our fun adventures.  We really did have such a great and relaxing time.  It was so good to just be able to have some uninterrupted time to talk!  But, of course, we could not wait to get our arms around those boys again!!!  My parents were driving them back down to Texas, so we were counting down the minutes!!!

So long, vacation!  We're already planning our next one!!!  :)