Southerns visit New England

ParkAna spent their labor day weekend in New England. Here is a summary of the trip:

We arrived Wednesday night (Thanks Gav for getting us from the airport). Parker went to bed (Gustav made this a busy weekend for our natural gas man) and I stayed up with GavLan to watch Bill and Joe at the DNC.

Thursday, Parker worked in the morning and then we went for a day trip to the North Shore. Gav found a great hiking trail called "Halibut Point." We did a bit of hiking (see pictures on next posts) and then headed out for some lunch. The Boston Globe recently rated a series of places to get fried clams and "the clam shack" came up a winner. We stood in line for about 30 minutes for fried everything (shrimp, clams, scallops, french fries, onion rings) as a strange lady walked up and down the line asking people if they were there because of the Globe article.

After the binge, we got to see the Peabody Essex Museum (Gav practically runs the place) and walk around Salem (tons of weird witch touristy stuff). Next we met up with GavLan's friends and their two adorable sons. We enjoyed beers and sandwiches on the beach. ParkAna played with the kids (I ran into the ocean wearing my "Seinfeld sneakers" to catch a football--don't worry the shoes are still bright white). The day ended with a Barack Obama speech that was amazing!

Friday, Parker worked in the morning (are we seeing a pattern here). Gav and I went to the most amazing craft store ever (Paper Source) to get supplies for ErOdi (Eric and Jodi)'s anniversary present. After nearly two hours in the store, we finally bottled our overflowing creativity up and got the supplies we needed.

Starving, we had lunch at Pico's (amazing ice cream--I had nectarine, Gav had cinnamon) and then went for some late afternoon shopping at Anthropologie (parker napped and worked the whole day, Lance had a friend in town). After shopping (which went way longer than it was supposed to), we headed for the BoSox's game and I picked up my Jacoby Ellsbury shirt! The game was awesome--we won!

On Saturday Gavin and I managed to cover a box in decorative paper for the anniversary gift--this was way more difficult than expected, but it was a success. We then headed off to New Hampshire. The traffic was horrible, but this forced us to take the scenic route. Saturday night we enjoyed a little surf n turf in celebration of Parker's pending 30th B-day. Eric cooked us quite the feast---cowboy steaks (literally three inches thick), lobster, salad, corn, potatoes, and my favorite part of a lobster feast--hot dogs (this is a new england tradition I just don't get, but love nonetheless). The evening was topped off with chocolate "binge" cake and ice cream. Parker got some great books to read and a wonderful gag gift.....

Sunday was a flurry of secretive activity. Lance, Jon and I prepared a super brunch for everyone in honor of 40 years of marriage for ErOdi. While we were doing this, operation memory box was in full swing. Each person wrote nice little notes and memories for ErOdi and we put them in the GavAna-crafted box complete with fun family photos. Brunch was a success--Lance's world-famous french toast, Jon's watermelon salad, and my fritatta were rounded off with sausage, hand-picked (thanks Rose and Jodi) blueberries, and no less than six bottles of syrup! After brunch, we "performed" a song for ErOdi (there is video, hopefully it has been destroyed!). The rest of the afternoon was spend hanging out, meeting Baby ABC, massages (for GavAna) and a delightful outdoor dinner watching Blue eat at least three ears of corn. We reluctantly left New Hampshire that night to catch an early morning flight on Monday.

Thanks to all who helped make this a fantastic trip home!