BOSTON

OK- I'm determined!  So here goes!  We recently took a trip up to Massachusetts to see Jay's family.  And for me to meet most of them for the first time.  Needless to say I was nervous.  First of all- I hate flying.  Hate.  It.  Plus I was going to meet a lot of family and hoped they all liked me (no offense but it's not like it mattered anyway- we're married and he's stuck with me :)).  So we headed up... first flight went smooth... I actually worked up the nerve to gaze peek out the window of the plane and the trees were GORGEOUS!  I ♥ fall!  It's such a pretty time of year and to see it from WAY up there was amazing!  We landed in Philly- only to drop off some passengers and pick up others.  Luckily we didn't have to get off the plane.  The second flight was smooth as well.  We flew over New York City and the coast of Rhode Island.  AMAZING!  We finally landed in Providence and this is when the fun started... We picked up our luggage and headed to the car rental counter.  I handed the lady my DEBIT card and she said- "You know we put a $400 hold on the card and do a credit check, right?".  I said "DO WHAT?".  Yeah... I don't think so.  My credit is excellent and I wanted to be able to SPEND some money while we were there so this just wasn't going to fly.  She checked with the rental counter next to them and we were sent there- they don't do the hold or the credit check.  Well... they only had a $300 Mid Size rental, which was $100 more than we had planned to spend on a compact.  I felt myself getting upset.  I swallowed my stomach and basically said- can't you give me a deal?  I basically told her it wasn't my fault politely asked if we could get a mid sized car for the compact price since they didn't have a compact... she made a few calls and found a compact... well how about that.  So we signed on the dotted line and were off.  The shuttle drove us to the car lot and basically said- "the compacts are over there" and drove off.  What?  We had NO clue what to do.  So we went and found our car and stood around like lost puppies.  Finally a guy told us what to do and we left.  We started driving towards Taunton and traffic was a hot mess.  I guess I'm not used to the BIG city traffic.  It was crazy!  We finally made it to Jay's uncle's house where we would be staying and got settled in.  Friday we spent the day in Boston touring Fenway and visiting the Prudential Building.  It was great!  We had fun trying to navigate the 'T' and were exhausted by the time we got home.  Jay worked the Lakeville Haunted House with Glenn on Friday night while I went to dinner with Niki and went through the haunted house with Niki and Jay's sisters.  It was fun!  They were so scared!  Saturday we spent the day visiting Jay's grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins (driving around in Jay's Uncle Dave's Lexus!).  I met so many nice people!  I wish we all lived closer together.  Saturday night Jay's Aunt Nina and Uncle Dave took us to North End in Boston to eat at a yummy Italian Place called Cantina Italiana.  Then we took a cab back to the Prudential Building to visit the Top of the Hub for some drinks.  It was so much fun! First cab ride and everything!  Definitely a romantic place!  We hoped back in a cab and went to Mike's Pastries and picked up some yummy stuff.  That was a crazy experience.  Imagine 100 people crammed into a room big enough for 20 people all talking and trying to order and pick pastries out of a million delicious choices.  We left and I thought... what did we get exactly?  Anyway... after that we drove back to the house and found out that Nina and Dave's daughter had a dangerously high fever.  They ended up rushing her to the hospital and luckily we were there to stay with their other daughter while she slept.  She ended up being ok though, so we were relieved!
Sunday we went to breakfast and drove out to Plymouth to see the ocean and the sites... We saw the Mawflower replica and the Plymouth Rock (which by the way is not what you would expect.  It's so SMALL!  I was expecting a boulder!)  We did some shopping, met Glenn for lunch, Jay had some lobster then we headed back into town.  We visited with Jay's mom and sisters before heading back to pack up for our trip home.  The plane right home was not as much fun seeing as how I didn't get to sit with Jay on the first flight and the second flight was PACKED (word to the wise- check in online 24 hours in advance in you fly SouthWest)!  But we landed safely and got our luggage, came home, and then picked up our doggies.  We were very tired but couldn't have asked for a better trip!  Here are a few pics...