Video of Noelle driving the Duck tour vehicle

While taking a Duck Tour of Boston, our driver/tour guide let us drive the boat portion for a bit so that we could get pictures. I took this video of Noelle driving our tour. It was so much fun!

Weekend with Noelle

This weekend, while Patrick was in Dallas for Brian’s wedding, Noelle came to visit me in Boston. She flew in on Saturday morning at 10:30… so the first thing we did was go to the outlets in Wrentham. We went to all the stores we wanted to see and I got some new jeans, a few tops, and other goodies. It was fun. We went back home with our goodies and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out. We did stop at Old Navy but that was about it. I made us dinner at home and we talked and watched a movie until Noe was tired and we went to bed.

Sunday… we got up to do some sightseeing but it was impossible to get around town (Sundays are awful when it comes to public transportation and there was no parking anywhere!). So instead of sight-seeing, we decided to go to Burlington Mall to check out the new Nordstroms and check out Crate and Barrel. We went to Nordstroms and nearly died at the prices of a flimsy t-shirt ($65!!!!!). We also walked around the mall and went to Crate and Barrel. Noelle had never been there before and I think she enjoyed herself. :)

After the mall, we went back home and I made us dinner… and that is when the fun started. Noelle and I busted out the Dance Dance Revolution game and we busted our moves on the mat. It was hilarious. We did the Hyper Master Mode and it was funny. I can’t remember how far we got but it was pretty good! Noelle got a video and I got a few pictures of the DDR master. After dinner, we went grocery shopping for the week (I wanted to get it done before we went to pick Patrick up)… and then at around midnight, we went to the airport to pick up the hubby. Noe really wanted to meet him so she stayed up late so that she could hang out with him for an hour and talk.

Monday… we got up early and Noelle and Patrick got to talk a bit more before Patrick went to work. She then packed and got ready for the day and we went out to sight-see… I checked the weather before leaving and Pete Bouchard said no rain until the afternoon… well, it was 10:30 when we got downtown and it was raining. BOO. But that’s ok. We got to go up on the Skywalk of the Prudential Center to see everything from atop. It was great. Too bad the weather was ugly, but I still got some somewhat decent pictures. After the Skywalk, we went on a Duck Tour. Our driver/tour guide was awesome. He let everyone “drive” the duck and took pictures. It was a lot of fun. Noelle even honked the horn!

After the tour, we ran out of time because we had to go back home to eat and then I had to drive Noe to the airport so we got a pizza and ate a home until she had to go. It was a great visit. I had such a great time cooking, shopping, eating, hanging out, talking, sight-seeing. I told her that she should come back during the summer… she says that she’d have to bring her family. I guess I can handle that. :) I didn’t realize how much I missed her!

So she’s now on the plane back to Virginia and her babies. I bet she’s glad to be rid of me! To see pictures of our escapes, click here.

Pictures and a post from Patrick about the Dallas wedding will come soon… I’ll force him if I have to! Also, if you read this and you have pictures, could you please let me know. Patrick didn’t take many and I’d like to see what it was really like at the wedding and reception!!

Another busy weekend

This weekend is going to be another busy weekend. Yesterday, I drove Patrick to the airport at 5:30am so that he can fly to Dallas for Brian’s wedding. I’m sad that I couldn’t be there since Brian was in our wedding and I really like him and Marcy… but sadly, we’re poor and couldn’t afford to fly both of us there. Patrick is in the wedding and I bought him a camera so that he will take many pictures. I’ll be sure to post those once he gets back (I pick him up Sunday night at 11:30pm from the airport).

As for me, I’m going to keep myself busy with a high school friend. Noelle is coming in town this morning at 10:30am. I’m picking her up and we’re going to do some shopping, some sight-seeing… We’re even going to have afternoon tea at the Four Seasons. Remind me not to drink champagne. If you guys read my last blog, you might remember what happened at the afternoon tea that I had at the old Ritz. It wasn’t pretty.

So I’ve prepared dinner for tonight (boneless pork ribs in a fabulous tomato sauce Patrick found in a cookbook I got him), cleaned the house, done all the laundry, made the bed. Now I’m out of things to do until it’s time to pick Noe up. I guess maybe I could watch TV. I’m not leaving til her flight is just about to arrive because I know that I’ll be circling the airport 20 times if I go early.

I’ll also be taking pictures so be sure to watch out for that once Noe leaves (Monday afternoon at 3pm). I like that I finally have a reason to take pictures. It has been quite a while. I guess winter is just an awful photo season because I had no desire to pick up my camera and there was nothing to even photograph.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention at another time. Audrey is coming to Boston for Christmas this year. She booked her flight so it’s official! She’ll be here from December 24 to January 4. We’ll finally have a Christmas at home and get to make lots of food (Patrick’s excited about trying new recipes on her). We’ll also do First Night (Boston’s New Year celebration downtown) for the first (and last) time. It should be an interesting holiday. Audrey is allergic to cats so I hope it’s not too bad with our idiot minous. We’ll have to vacuum a lot. She’s also super lucky that she’ll get to see how Noumi (biggest idiot) deals with the Christmas tree. Last year, we didn’t have one because he was always running around everywhere being a nutcase. We’ll see what happens this year….

Well, that’s all for me. I guess the TV is calling my name for another hour or so. Peace out til Monday.

Mateo plays the violin!

Mateo is learning to play the violin so we were lucky enough to get a concert this past weekend. I took some pictures and a video… Here’s a portion of what we heard.

Videos from the Philadelphia Zoo

Tigers playing together

Otters chasing after Mateo’s red baseball cap

Easter in Philly part 2

Ok… Here’s the whole story of our trip to Philly this past weekend for Easter…

We left Boston at 5:45am on Saturday so that we could be in Philly in time to go to the Bunny Hop at the zoo. There was no traffic or anything crazy like that so we were in Philadelphia around 12:30 (we also picked up the shoulder of lamb from the butcher before arriving). We went to the zoo soon after getting to the house and that was fun. The kids got to do some arts and crafts, play in the “Treehouse” and do an easter egg hunt. It was fun. I got lots of pictures (Click here to see the pictures from the zoo).

After the zoo, we went down to South Street to walk around and see all the people and the shops. It was really nice outside so it was great to walk around. I didn’t take any pictures but that’s ok. It was just a little stroll down the street anyway. We had dinner soon after at Geno’s Steaks. Geno’s is one of the famous steak houses in Philadelphia. They are directly across the street from Pat’s Steaks but we didn’t do like on TV and get 2 subs to compare them. I thought it was really good! I think Patrick agreed but I probably loved it more because it’s my kind of food (bad for your health but really yummy).

Sunday… we got up, had breakfast, played with the kids for a while and then decided to go to the Mutter Museum. Patrick and I saw something about the museum on the travel channel over a year ago. We had sent Dominique an email about it but she never went… so we decided to go and check it out. It’s a museum about all sorts of medical anomalies (click here for their website). It was really gross and weird but fun anyway. We left the museum feeling a bit sick but it was lunch time so we went to eat Chinese food anyway. We had to be back at the house around 2pm so that we could start preparing dinner so we went home after lunch and prepared the shoulder of lamb. Patrick got the recipe from Jamie Oliver and I have to say… it was really good!

After their nap, the kids had an Easter egg hunt. They each had some eggs decorated with a sticker that was assigned to them (chick, bunny, or flower) and they hunted. The hunt didn’t last very long… but then again, it probably lasted forever to the kids. They then opened up all their eggs to see what kind of loot they had instead. They were really excited and cute. :) Later that afternoon, Jose, Dominique, and the kids went to mass (in Spanish, I think!!) and we stayed at the house to prepare the food. I made scalloped potatoes (thanks Emerill for your recipe) and Patrick prepared the lamb (which was basically just cooking in the oven). We also had snow peas on the side and we made a mint sauce as a side. Once dinner was served, we all ate like fat pigs and it was great. I loved the recipe for the scalloped potatoes (I added prosciutto because I love it and it was a great addition). Patrick’s lamb was falling off the bone and fabulous. Everything was great. We had a pie from Russo’s as dessert but I didn’t think it was that great. I was a bit disappointed (but that’s ok because their cupcakes are great…)

After dinner, the kids went to bed and we stayed up late making lamb stock and talking. It was nice to talk to Jose and Dominique.

Monday, we got up later than usual (9:30am) and had breakfast… we played with the kids and had lunch with the whole family before leaving. We left around 1:45 when it was nap time for them. We drove home and stopped for some Chikfil-A for dinner (I forgot how good it was!). We got home around 9-ish and we were exhausted. All we wanted to do was go to sleep.

So we come into the house and the cats are nowhere to be found… they locked themselves into the bathroom (Noumi likes to jump on doors and close them… why? We have no idea). They were screeching and acting all insane so we obviously let them out. We have no idea when they locked themselves in… poor cats. We didn’t notice until this morning, but the doorknob is all scratched up from where they tried to turn the doorknob to open the door back up. Poor cats!! So all last night, they didn’t sleep. They just acted like crazy beasts and kept us up all night. How lovely of them.

So that is the scoop on our trip to Philadelphia for Easter.

Coming soon… Patrick will be in Brian’s wedding next weekend… and although I will be here in Boston, Noelle is coming to visit me and we’re going shopping and sight-seeing around town. Should be fun! Pictures will come next weekend, I’m sure!

To see pictures from the Easter weekend (not including the zoo), click on the image below.

Sick, sick, sick

It turns out that the three kids in Philly were recently sick, and, after a few days of hanging out with them, I am too.  We got home later than expected last night, and all I wanted to do was get some sleep.  Our cats, however, were really annoying.  I took the day off of work because I have a wedding to go to this weekend, and the last thing I want is to be sick/sneezing/coughing as a groomsman.  While it is no fun being sick, I do enjoy the fact that I get to watch the first baseball game of the season this morning (they are playing in Japan).

Easter weekend – Part one

We went to the Philly Zoo yesterday with Dominique, Jose, and the kids. Click on the picture below to see the pictures. More pictures of the Easter celebration will come later.

Easter in Philadelphia

As some of you know, my aunt Dominique and her familia live in Philly. So we’ll be going this weekend to visit her and the kiddies for Easter. I’m pretty excited. I made some Easter eggs last weekend and they are waiting to go on vacation in my belly… :)

We are also going to the bunny hop at the Philly Zoo on Saturday. How exciting is that??? I will finally have a reason to take out my camera and get some pictures of the kiddies and the animals at the zoo. That will be great. Click here to see the website for the Philly Zoo. They have a red panda! You bet I’ll be taking pictures of that!

Patrick and I are also going to be preparing Easter dinner on Sunday. Patrick ordered a lamb shoulder from a butcher near my aunt’s house so that we can have a fresh shoulder and we’re going shopping tonight for all the extras. Should be fun! We both love cooking so it’ll be fun to do.  We’re having lamb shoulder (braised), scalloped potatoes, some veggie that Patrick will choose (and I probably won’t eat), a baguette, and probably some light dessert in addition to our fabulous Easter eggs.

Well,  that’s my update for now. Next week, I’ll be posting pictures to watch out for that.

Also, I hear that Cindy bought a house… HOORAY for you, Cindy!!

Testing

I’m just testing the abilities of this blog and photo sharing.

Photos from Washington DC