Autumn in New England

My mom came out to visit us in Boston last week and it was awesome! It was her first time visiting us out here, but not her first time in the city, so we tried to limit the museum/freedom trail stuff and venture out further to things she hadn't already done. To start off, we went to Salem, MA.  In October, that place is a huge money trap since it is halloween, so they have tons of witchy stuff going on there. I'd done the witch museum before and thought it was kind of lame, so we avoided all that weirdness, and went to The House of Seven Gables, which is an actual mansion.  Nathaniel Hawthorne's book of the same name was based on that home, which was his cousins.  My mom read the book on her plane ride here to be all prepared for it. In the early 1900's whoever owned the home had additions made like a room/secret passage way for the fictional characters in the book. We also went to the art museum in Salem. That night we went to Nico, a North End Italian restaurant and to Modern Pastry, since my mom had already had Mike's and needed to experience the competition.

With our Modern Pastries box

The next day we drove up through New Hampshire to Vermont (apparently with the rest of New England based on traffic). It was my first time ever in the state of Vermont and it didn't disappoint. It was the perfect time to see all the fall colors at their peak Joseph Smith's Birth Home in Sharon, VT, a cheese and Maple farm (yum, lots of free samples), the King Arthur Flour store and the Vermont Country Store. It is a huge store with knick knacks, candy by the pound, fudge/cheese from Vermont, clothes, games, and everything else you can imagine. It was a long day, but really fun.

At a pretty pond in a NH park

Sunset from a lookout we hiked to in New Hampshire

Me and Mom playing some checkers on the porch

I normally can't stand kissing pictures, but feel it is ok when standing on THE kissing bridge.

On Columbus day we went on the duck tour, which, when I first moved here everyone was raving about it and I thought it was a tour to look at the ducks in Boston, kind of like a whale watching tour.  I thought they were all crazy, who'd pay money to look at ducks? I quickly learned from seeing these strange contraptions driving through Boston with lots of people on them that say Duck Tours on the side, that it is a sight seeing tour in an amphibious former military vehicle that goes on land and in water.  They took us all over Boston starting at Copley Square and then went into the Charles River to show us Cambridge also.  That same day we went to the Meet the Mormons movie, which we all really liked, then we went to the Legal Sea Foods on Long Wharf to finish the night off with some tasty food and some Boston Cream Pie.  It was so fun to see my mom and have her visit.

Our duck from the tour

Some other stuff that's been going on is I had 15 girls/women over here for a young women's sleepover. In Boston getting 15 people into any home is a real feat, so finding a place for them all to sleep was a little difficult, sorry to the one girl who ended up sleeping on the hardwood floor! It was crazy but awesome.  We had a dance party and played the Wii dancing game (I don't even know what it is called, and certainly didn't participate, but it was pretty entertaining to watch), made pizza and brownies, watched Grease, and stayed up way too late.  

Also it's peach season, and since peaches are my favorite fruit, it's amazing. This is a peach/strawberry pie I made. Just one of the many forms by which to consume this delicious food, although my favorite is simply by slicing it right off the pit and putting it in my mouth, peel and all.

Nate had his birthday a month ago.  His big gift from me was concert tickets to one of his favorite bands from High School/College- Jimmy Eat World.  They did a throwback concert to Futures, their album from like 10 years ago.  We went to it last night in Providence, RI and it was a blast... from the past <Nate Note: Kathryn is really proud of that pun>.  For his actual birthday, we just went out to eat, and I'm still working on making him a birthday cake.  He requested Molten Lava Cake and we've been eating so much junk lately and traveling so it just hasn't happened.  Sorry Nate!

Jimmy Eat World, all I could think of was that guy looks
like my math teacher, seriously though, he really does.

My two little cuties