rhode island

Vacation?

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So this is vacation with an infant. It’s great to be away but let me tell you it has been a challenge for everyone around here. First off Neil isn’t really on vacation but rather working remotely which makes this vacation not really a vacation for either of us.  Yesterday Neil worked in the morning and evening so we could spend the day together which was amazing and it actually felt like a vacation because I had my partner to help me; don’t get me wrong it’s nice being with my parents but it’s nothing like having your baby’s daddy there to help out.

The second thing is that I think E and I both are thrown a little off because we haven’t been able to keep our normal schedule and we both are adjusting to being in a new place.  I have been feeling a little overwhelmed because E must be going through a growth spurt or something so I haven’t had much down time to relax and then just like normal she gets gassy and fussy at night (I guess we could officially call this colic?) so Neil and I spend our evenings trying to soothe E to sleep and by the time we are done that I have to make dinner and then I’m about ready for bed (so much for down time at night).

There are a number of things I would do differently next time which include making sure that Neil can take a week off rather than work remotely <– huge mistake on our part.  What I am glad we did however was rent a place with my parents so that we could have a real house to stay in with a kitchen, laundry and a comfortable place to relax, oh and a bonus, it is on the ocean! I am glad I have been able to eat well because we have been cooking most of our meals at the house, nothing to exciting though and I have been too tired by the end of the night to even think about photographing our meals. I also have made an effort to get out for a walk everyday usually with E in a carrier of some sort which certainly makes things more challenging.  Yesterday our big fitness adventure was heading to Newport to do part of the Cliff Walk. It was hot, beautiful and a perfect way to get our fitness on as a family.

Today E and I are hanging out at the house just relaxing while Neil works away. I am hoping that E with cooperate tonight so that we can get out and do something after Neil is done working. We are at the house until Saturday so Neil suggested that we get a hotel in Providence or Boston for Saturday night so that we could have one full day as a family without him having to work.  I checked on Hotwire (love love love love love Hotwire) and found a good deal on a hotel in downtown Providence so we are going to extend our vacation by one night which I am really looking forward to.

I’ll do more of a full update of things we did while we were here next week and tell you all about the yummy places that we have gone to eat while visiting Rhode Island.

Also just wanted to say THANK YOU for all of your feedback on the survey and please keep it coming!

We’re On Vacation…well kinda.

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Last Wednesday I was talking with my parents about their upcoming vacation, asking where they were going and what their plans were.  At the time all they knew for sure is that they would be heading to Rhode Island/Massachusetts on Friday and after that they thought they might go to Maine for the week, however they weren’t sure because they couldn’t seem to find any where to stay at a reasonable price.  We got to talking and I suggested they try another area maybe western New York (Ithaca area).  All this vacation talk got me wishing that we could get away and then my mom said “well it’s too bad that Neil couldn’t word remotely and then we could rent a place for a week.”…that got me thinking well what if he COULD work remotely or take a few vacation days? I immediately called Neil and asked him if could work remotely.  He said he couldn’t see why not but he would check with his boss and let me know.

Well Neil got the okay and that is when we started our search for a place to rent, which proved to be a challenge considering we were looking for a place to rent starting Saturday and it was oh Thursday when we started our search.  Well our first thought was to head towards Ithaca but after searching for awhile we found that there really weren’t many places available to rent so we decided to expand our search to basically all of New England (VT excluded).  We looked at coastal Maine, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, and  parts of New Hampshire and Connecticut.  We found a few places in Maine but weren’t completely sold on them because of the internet access for Neil to work remotely and because of the distance (because of the bebe). Well finally my mom received a call from a property owner in Rhode Island.  We checked out the space online and decided to take it.

On Saturday we headed out first to breakfast with friends, then to visit my Grandma (her first time meeting Edie) and then finally we made the trek to Rhode Island.  It wasn’t so bad either- Edie fussed for the first 10 minutes and then three more when wanted to eat.  A trip that should have taken around 4 hours and 45 minutes took approximately 7 hours which included one coffee stop, one gas stop and three stops to nurse- not so bad if I do say so myself! Once we arrived I was so happy to see this:

Our bed for the week.

Today we are all feeling pretty tired out after a busy Saturday but I am hoping that after a (hopefully) good nights sleep we will all be more rested and have a great week. Now I will leave you with a tour of our accommodations for the week.

Also any suggestions for things to do, sites to see and vegan friendly places to eat?

 

oh and just for fun here is Edie upon our arrival to Rhode Island:

 

 

 

Anniversary Getaway Day 2: Providence

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After our morning at the best bakery ever the Hubz and I continued on our way to Providence. After a few bad turns and a round about way we finally made it into downtown Providence where we first got our shop on and then hit the pavement to explore the city. When I was planning our trip I asked the twitterverse what I should do/see in Providence and many people replied with the Waterfire Providence. Unfortunately we were only in the Providence for the day but we did get to see them setting up for it and it looks like it would have been really nice to see. Oh well, something for next time.

After strolling around the downtown streets visiting with lions and turtles we finally found somewhere to eat.  We stopped in at AS220 a place I had read about during my planning sesh.  AS220 has a gallery, a bar and a cafe and they also host a number of other events.  When I saw the menu I was all about ordering the vegan Bahn Mi but of course just my luck they were out.  Instead I ordered the vegan mac and cheese and the Hubz got the marinated tofu and kale sandwich.  We also ordered the “spicy” black eyed pea fritters.

My mac and cheese was really delicious and Neil (who waited inside to get the food) said they made it all fresh right there. I loved the addition of the broccoli and crispy bread crumbs to my mac and cheese- so good. The Hubz sandwich was really delicious too; we both loved the pickled onions that they put on it- so good. Now as for the “spicy” black eyed pea fritters …..well they were um gross. They had a weird smell, consistency and taste and they were by no means spicy. The vegan sour cream that they came with also tasted really awful. Well I guess two out of three isn’t bad- can’t win them all! Overall we really like the food at AS220, would we go back? Possibly but there are other vegan options around so we would probably try something new first or just eat all our meals at the best bakery ever.

Anniversary Getaway Day 1 Part 3 & Day 2 Part 1

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After dinner the Hubz and I headed back to the Aloft for a drink (or two) at the hotel bar. Unlike most hotel bars the prices weren’t ridiculous and the best part was the beautifully lit patio, the fun seating areas and of course the pool table. The Hubz and I had a drink and had a mini photo shoot on the patio while we waited for the pool table to free up.

We played a few (okay like 5) rounds of pool before calling it a night and heading back to our comfy giant bed. It is always nice to sleep in a king bed and it makes me miss having one (serious who down sizes from a king to a double-not recommended).

After a night of dinner, drinks, pool and of course elevator dancing we were in need of a gym sesh.  So we headed to the hotel gym and I got in a run and the Hubz used the elliptical.  After that we showered and hit the road to the most amazing bakery I have ever been to.

WE CAME TO DANCE DANCE DANCE

C25K Week 5 Day 2

We spent a hungry hour in the car making our way to Wildflour Vegan Bakery what I am now claiming to be the most amazing bakery I have ever been to in my life.  I could honestly eat here everyday (and would if it wasn’t 4 hours away). We walked in and were overwhelmed by the vast selection of baked goods as well as other tasty items such as kale chips, fresh juices and smoothies.  To help us decide we took advantage of the free samples of basil lemonade, peanut butter brownie and raw chocolate brownie.

As you can see there were so many options to choose from but in the end the Hubz and I decided that the scones looked most appealing for breakfast.  After a heated debated over which ones we would get we decided on the granola scone and the spinach and mushroom scone.  Along with the scones I got a green juice and the hubz an avocolada smoothie.

Everything was amazing and we obviously ordered too much so we ended up taking the granola scone with us and snacked on it throughout the day. The scones were absolutely amazing and flakey; I have never experienced anything so good.