Fantasy Football is here again!!! Taylor's helmet logo I made for his team - Get Tootha Choppa!

Weekend Update

This was such a fun weekend for us!!! Like I said in my last post about our date night, we had a lot of QT this weekend since Taylor doesn't have any tests this week! Whoop!

Friday
Friday morning didn't start off so hot. I got in my car to come to work and my "low air in tire" light came on. It was my front right tire, so I hopped out and checked it. Yep, it was low alright! Luckily it was only down to 24 psi. I texted Taylor and he said I should be ok to drive to work on it. So on the way to work I stopped at two gas stations to try and air it up a little bit. First gas station, no air machine...awesome. Second gas station, air machine but...there was a quarter stuck in it. I told the attendant and she let me know she couldn't fix it, they had to call the company to come unjam it. Awesome again. So I just drove to work. After an hour of worrying about it my boss let me go and air it up at another gas station. When I got back to work I was able to spot what was making my tire leak air.


Ain't she a beauty? ....not. Thank you large screw!

I checked on it at lunch and it was fine. I get off at 3 on Friday so I was able to get home pretty easily and all the air was intact. Taylor had plans Friday night and I HATE going anywhere that sells car parts/tires by myself so we decided we would just wait and take it in on Saturday morning. And by we, I mean Taylor took it in for me, such a sweetheart! But back to Friday.

Taylor is part of a group from dental school, his Great Expectations group. Taylor met this group on the first Thursday of classes out at the organizer's home in the hill country. I was able to go too and I even had my own group, the spouses! All the groups have about 10 first year dental students, 2 second year dental school students (mentors), and a mentor dentist from San Antonio. It is a really neat program they have set up. In order to best utilize the group, they meet together on occasion to catch up and talk dental school and/or questions they have. It is also a great time to just relax with fellow students. I tell you all of that because that is the group Taylor was meeting on Friday night. They met at the Flying Saucer which is really close to where we live! They had drinks and just hung out. One of Taylor's friend's wife joined after they had been there about an hour so I decided I would put my book down (something else I just have to blog about!) and join as well! I loved getting to meet more of Taylor's peers along with his lab partners! We had dinner there and it was delicious! I had the mac & cheese and Taylor had a soft pretzel, covered in cheese & beer bratwurst! After dinner we headed home. Taylor did my workout with me and then I read late into the night.

Saturday

Leah (due in November), Me, Raygen (due in September,
her shower) & Erin.

I slept in until 9 on Saturday (not exactly sleeping in for me), and then got ready for my friend's baby shower. She is due at the end of September with a baby boy, Colt. We had so much fun showering her with love and gifts. Taylor woke up early (which is the norm for him), took my car to have the tire patched, and was studying when I left. He had tutoring at 11 and then came home. I ate brunch at the shower, so he was lucky enough to score some cereal for lunch...oops bad wife moment. We spent the bulk of the afternoon in the guest room/office. Taylor was studying doing fantasy football research for his draft, I was reading/napping/reading. We count that as QT too. He would ask my opinion every now and then about fantasy football stuff, I mean, I am a pro. Taylor drafted at 5 and got a pretty stellar team for a 12 team league! He traded two picks so he got to pick 1st, 8th and then 40th. But TWO first rounders??? I was jealous for sure! After the draft we went to Tiff's Treats. For those of you who don't know, this is a cookie bakery that delivers! So if you're like me, and you'd prefer someone send you cookies over flowers...this is the place to go! HA! Taylor heard the location near our apartment was having a block party, which meant FREE ice cream sandwiches with their cookies!!!! AWESOME!

Tiff's!!!!

M&M Cookies with Vanilla Ice Cream - YES!

After the ice cream sandwiches we went to HEB to grab a couple of things for the week and for the cookout on Sunday night! After HEB is when we headed to our date night, had a detour and ended up back home. Like I said in my date night post, we watched stand up comedy on Netflix & ate dinner! I stayed up pretty late reading my book again but eventually my eyes shut down.

Sunday
We had class & church on Sunday morning. Both were great. This summer our class has taken turns teaching on Sunday mornings. Taylor has taught twice and I've loved his lessons both times. Our friend Ethan taught on Sunday and it was about priorities. That is a topic I could rant about for HOURS! Needless to say, we really enjoyed it! Worship was great as well, we really do love our preacher, Mark. After church we had lunch and headed home. I made sopapilla cheesecake (my go to for get togethers) and got ready to draft!!! I drafted my fantasy team at 3:00. I had 9th pick AGAIN!!! That was the pick I had last year so I wasn't happy. But I think it turned out ok! I got an A for my draft so that made me happy! Once we made it to the later rounds of the draft I cut up the veges for the cookout and as soon as I picked my kicker, we were out the door and headed to the cookout!

As I said earlier, Taylor was put into a group at the Great Expectations event, and so was I! I was able to meet other dental school spouses. We made a Facebook group and decided we needed to start hanging out! We had dinner together the night before the guys' first test and it was a blast! Since the guys don't have a test this week, Taylor & Garrett (the Myers) invited us over for a cookout at their apartment's pool. We had burgers, chips, salsa, potato salad, brownies, sopapilla cheesecake and drinks! It was awesome! I really am so happy to have this group of ladies for the next four years. It is also exciting to think about how many we will be able to add as people find love & get married! So far there are about 8 of us from all over (Texas and beyond), with different backgrounds, careers, some have babies & children, some don't, but we all have one thing in common, we are dental school wives who have husbands that are B-U-S-Y! It is and I can imagine will be so nice to have that support system as we go on this journey for the next four years. I also loved that the guys were able to just hang out, outside of school, and not study for ONE night. I think we all needed that break & bit of fun! I'm glad the Myers invited us!

We went home, relaxed a little more and then Taylor went to sleep, ready for another full week of school. I, on the other hand, rolled over and decided I would read my book some more before I went to sleep. At 11:27 my Kindle told me I only had 39 minutes left in the book. **Note, this isn't the first book I've read on my Kindle, it should know my reading speed by now.** Well at 12:10AM I checked my phone because I felt like I had been reading a while and it still said 22 minutes left... well I was almost done so I just said, whatever and I finished it. At 1AM I went to sleep, but I was so glad to know how the book ended! It was a trilogy! I just had to know!

Well, I did it again, wrote a very long post! I hope you stuck around for all of it! We had a great weekend! We are both excited for fantasy football season (AND COLLEGE FOOTBALL OF COURSE), new friends and date nights! Hope y'all had an awesome weekend too! Love you all!

-The Kauffman Krew

Date Night : Comedy Club

This week is the first week since tests have started that Taylor didn't have a test. So yes, the first week in two weeks :). We decided to get a little crazy and pull a 4+ hour date night card out of the date night jar. Taylor drew:

Comedy Club : Let's do something new & go to a comedy club. If it's a flop we'll go to Alamo Drafthouse for a comedy.

Well needless to say, I didn't do my research very well before making the date night jar.  A comedy club sounds like a blast, and then you look up the cost of tickets...approx. $25 each and then this comedy club requires you buy at least two food/drinks per person. That was starting to sound like a pretty expensive date, so we decided to draw again. We also realized we both had our fantasy football drafts this weekend so maybe we should just pick a yellow card. So he drew:

Halloween Night : Let's get our spooky on! Regardless of the time of year! Put on a costume, watch the least scary Halloween movie & carve something

So I started planning that. BUT then on Wednesday I passed by a restaurant close to our place and the sign said "Free Comedy Show 8PM Saturday". PERFECT! We would default back to the original date night card pulled and put the Halloween card back into the jar.

We had a great weekend, so I plan on writing a post about that, so I won't go into TOO many details other than we arrived at the restaurant with the free comedy show at 7:45PM and there were no more seats available...so we missed it. Who knew it would be such a hit on a hot summer night on the patio?? So then we had another decision to make. Taylor suggested we do the Halloween date, but I didn't feel prepared so I said we should stick to the comedy club date and just make it our own.

We went home, got on Netflix and looked through all the stand up comics routines available. We picked one, ate some dinner and watched! It really was a great time and WAY cheaper than the original route. We definitely didn't spend 4+ hours on the date, but we did get a LOT of QT in this weekend and that's all that matters! If you make these date night jars, I advice you do to some additional research and make sure none of your cards are going to bust the weekly budget. We love you all!!

-The Kauffman Krew

Date Night : Flip a Coin

Last Friday night Taylor & I adventured with another date night from the date night jar. He had a test today (Wednesday) so we knew it would be a green card (<90 minutes)! He drew:

Flip a Coin : Let fate decide where we eat! We'll get in the car & flip a coin every 30 seconds - heads: turn right, tails: turn left - after 15  minutes we will eat at the closest restaurant. Taylor chooses if it's a tie!

So we got in the car & Taylor flipped the coin & watched the timer as I drove. To say the first couple of flips were troublesome is an understatement. We ended up circling a small neighborhood... It was then that we decided maybe flipping every 30 seconds isn't the best idea when you live in a spot with a lot of neighborhoods. We opted to flip at every major intersection and after 15 minutes we would choose where to eat! This worked MUCH better. I would advise anyone going on this date to try this instead. Unless you live downtown, you'll end up in a neighborhood. I mapped out our adventure below! The 1 is a mess - that's where we did the circle.

So as you can see...we finally made it to our destination. There were a few places to choose from which was nice, but the best part was that we were RIGHT by a place that Taylor really wanted to try out! Problem was, we flipped a tails, and it was on the right...so we cheated & turned right :) No regrets!

We went to Dough Pizzeria!

 

Taylor's favorite food is PIZZA, his favorite channel is the Food Network, and his favorite show is Diners, Drive-in's & Dives and this place covered ALL three! Guy has visited this spot and that's how Taylor first discovered it! They even have a "Guy's Pizza", I was shocked when Taylor didn't order it. Their handmade pizzas are cooked in a wood burning brick oven and they are DELICIOUS! Taylor ordered the special that night & I had the Margherita : House-pulled mozzarella, tomato sauce, Parmigiano Reggiano, Bluebonnet Farms basil. The special was basically the margherita with pepperoni & pepper flakes! Want to see???
 



YUMMMMMMMMMMM Y'ALL!!!!

It really was great! And yes, we are both wearing our proud Texan shirts :) We had a great time on our adventure to find where we were eating, enjoyed dinner and loved the quality time of catching up on each other's week. You'd be surprised how much you forget to tell one another when one person is studying all the time haha. But that's what date night is for!

 

Thanks for reading! Go check out Dough if you live in SA! OR if you're ever visiting, I know Taylor wouldn't mind taking you there! Love you all!

 

-The Kauffman Krew

Date Night : Dollar Tree Hunt

Taylor has his first test of dental school TODAY! Can you believe it? It feels like they just started school...oh wait, they did. :) Because this was his first test (lab practical as well) we decided we should go with a green card date night. Taylor drew last week so we could plan accordingly! He drew:

Dollar Tree Hunt : Let's go to the Dollar Tree with $4/each with a mission : 1 - the worst gift 2 - the best gift 3 - the ugliest item 4 - best value - ALL in 15 minutes

Once Taylor was ready for date night to start on Saturday I set the timer for 90 minutes and said GO! He took a shower and got ready and we headed to the dollar tree, date night card in hand to remind us what we were looking for! Once we walked through the doors we both set our timers for 15 minutes (the date timer was at 1 hour on the dot so that was helpful!) and set off on our mission. 15 minutes later we met in the check out line, took our bags and left. We decided we wouldn't look at our purchases until we got home and could choose who won each category. We then went to Whataburger for dinner! We were so fortunate that in the first week of dental school we came across a total of FIVE BOGOs for meals! We know eating in is always cheapest, but it is so nice to eat out every now and then and a BOGO makes it even better! So we used our BOGO at Whataburger, and headed home! **Side Note - while I'm thinking about it, if you want a BOGO yourself, Chipotle is offering one now! All you have to do is take this quiz and they will text you a BOGO! So if you have two cells phone in your family, you can get two BOGOs! Awesome, right!?**

Here are our purchases - You judge and tell me who you think won each category!

The Worst Gift

 Taylor - Nacho Cheese Dip in a can :: Paige - Chicken Salad in a can (with crackers)

The Best Gift

Taylor - Cookies (like the ones that come in the blue tin) :: Paige - a magic Cinderella Washcloth 

 

The Ugliest Item

Paige - Dino Cap :: Taylor - Flamingo Cutout



The Best Value

Taylor - Earbuds w/ replacement covers :: Paige - 12-in-1 Screwdriver Set

Our choices for winners were

Worst - Taylor : Best - Taylor : Ugliest - Paige : Best Value - Paige

So overall, a tie! We had so much fun and we can't wait to pull a card this weekend!

Also - just so you can see just how horrible the dino cap is! Taylor has deemed it his new study cap!

Study, Study, Study

Date Night Jars

Before Taylor was accepted to dental school we had a lot of talks about what dental school would mean for our marriage. We knew that it was a great step in the direction of Taylor being happy in his work, successful in life and give him the ability to provide for our future family. We also knew that it was going to be a sacrifice of time; time together, time with friends, time with family, time with Aggie football - you get the gest. When we weighed out all that would come from dental school we decided it would be well worth it! We've made it four years together with crazy, wonky schedules & living arrangements, we could make it four years with limited time to spend on things that weren't school/studying.

That's when I started researching date nights. We were told in our pre-marriage classes and books that date night is essential to marriage. It keeps you accountable to spending quality time together that isn't doing the laundry or watching tv. In our first four years we have done a decent job at date night. We definitely go on dates, just not on a weekly basis. Because of the circumstances we've been in, we really did get a lot of quality time together. But back to the researching! I went to my favorite place to search the internet : PINTEREST! I searched "dental school wife" and wouldn't you know it, there were results!  That is when I came across this blog and found this post! I was inspired! What an awesome idea!



Our Date Night Jar - all dates in one jar

I made three different colored date night cards: Green for 90 minutes or less, Yellow for 2 to 4 hours & Red for 4+ hours! It was brilliant! Each week Taylor will have a different amount of time that he can devote to our date night and he can choose a card that correlates to that amount of time! On Kate's blog she used three different jars for the date cards, I opted for just one and will remind Taylor how much time each card allots. There are many more red than green as we I made enough cards for a date night every week through second year. I didn't make a full 104 though, since on birthday weekends, anniversaries, holidays, etc. that is date night! We are three weeks in and are just now pulling our first card! Why you ask?
Week 1 : 4th Wedding Anniversary - celebrated our anniversary downtown - definitely a 4+ red date
Week 2 : Welcome to the Profession Ceremony - celebrated Taylor's white coat with his family



Like I said, we just pulled a card for the end of week 3! It is a green card because Taylor has his FIRST test on Tuesday!!! I can't wait to blog about our dates and share the fun we have! I hope that if you have a husband that is restrained for time on date night that you will be inspired by Kate's awesome idea and make some of your own! I used a lot of her ideas, but I also added some that were specific to San Antonio, Taylor & things we like to do! Get creative! Even if you don't have a husband with time constraints, don't forget how important date night is! I know that ideas are hard to come up with but that is the beauty of Pinterest! AND I'm going to list our ideas below! Just don't tell Taylor as I'm trying to keep them a surprise as he pulls each week! STOP READING NOW Tay! :)

Date Night : Green : <90 minutes
Card Night	Let's play some card games - Uno, Speed, Phase 10 & Nertz
Basketball	Let's play a game (or two) of HORSE & grab Sonic drinks to cool off
Puzzle	Put on some music & let's do a good puzzle (it's ok if we don't finish)
Picnic in the Park	Let's pack a picnic basket & head to the park with Princess (our dog)! If the weather is gloomy we'll sub for our living room floor
Dos a Rita	Let's chill & make dos a ritas at home!
Big Food	Let's go to Lulu's & have a giant cinnamon roll or huge chicken fried steak
Thrifting	Let's go thrifting! We each get $5 to spend on each other
Dial a Friend	Let's go spend 60-90 minutes caling as many people as we can
Pudding Pictionary	Let's use our fingers to draw in pudding - who said you can't play with your food?
Paint Portraits	Let's try to paint (or sketch) portraits of each other
Video Game Marathon	Let's plug in the Wii & play some Mario Kart
Resolution	Let's work on one or two of our new year's resolutions & complete one if possible
Cookbook Dinner	Let's grab a cookbook & randomly select courses for a 4 course meal - then start cooking!
Coffee Date	Let's head to a coffee shop for some caffeine and conversation
Formal Night	Let's dress up in our finest attire & eat by candlelight at home
Wine Tasting	Let's pair our favorite wines with cheese & chocolate
Minute to Win It	Let's look up some Minute to Win It games & try them out! *must already have supplies*
Donation Time	Grab a bag & I will too! Take 30 minutes to clean out your closet/desk anything and fill the bag! When we're done we'll take it to Goodwill
Bucket List	Let's start planning the rest of our adventure
Restaurante Replicate	Let's replicate a meal from a restaurant - but make it EVEN better
Game Night	Let's play board game & pig out on pizza
Play at the Playground	Let's channel our inner child & swing, slide & monkey around!
Would you Rather	Let's get to know each other a bit better by playing Would you Rather?
YouTube Session	Let's LOL & swap showing funny/favorite YouTube videos
Indoor Camping	Let's build a tent, make s'mores & cuddle
Paige's Choice	Whatever Paige wants to do for 90 minutes or less
Taylor's Choice	Whatever Taylor wants to do for 90 minutes or less
Brinner in our PJs	Put on your PJs & let's have breakfast for dinner - complete with 90's cartoons
YouTube Dance Lessons	Let's learn something new! Swing? Tango? Crump? Dougie? Lean/Whip? Whatever the new craze is!
Paint by the Numbers	Try to stay in the lines
Tennis Match	Let's grab our rackets & hit the court - LOVE : LOVE
Family Tradition	Let's make a list of potential Family Traditions - then pick one and start it!
Ice Cream Sundaes	Let's make decadent sundaes that any fro-yo place would envy!
Cookie Cook Off	Let's see who can make the tastiest cookies!
Personality Tests	Let's take some online personality tests & see how compatible we are on paper
Dance Party	Let's put on the best tunes & dance it out!
Dollar Store Hunt	Let's go to the Dollar Tree with $4/each with a mission : 1 - the worst gift 2 - the best gift 3 - ugliest item 4 - best value - ALL in 15 minutes
Make a Princess Calendar	Let's grab our cute little pup & take photos of her for a Princess calendar
Dream Home	Let's draw/map out of dream home
Flip a Coin	Let fate decide where we eat! We'll get in the car & flip a coin every 30 seconds - heads: turn right - tails: turn left - after 15 minutes we will eat the closest restaurant. Taylor chooses if it's a tie!
ICE CREAM	Let's go to Amy's & sit outside and catch up like pre-dental school
Date Night : Yellow : 2-4 Hours
Pizza	Let's go have a giant pizza at Big Lou's - friends optional
1950's	Let's pretend it's the 50's! Dress up like Danny & I'll be Sandy! We'll have burgers & shakes and watch Grease!
Ice Skating	Let's find a rink & go
Viva Las Vegas	Let's go back to our Honeymoon! We'll dress up, watch Ocean's 11, eat M&Ms & play poker!
Invent a Board Game	Let's get creative & invent a board game that can be played by two people
Nickelodeon Night	Let's watch shows like Doug, Rugrats, Hey Arnold, etc & eat all ORANGE food
Driving Range	Let's see if you've taught me anything
Blast from the Past: Teens	Let's pretend we are teens again! Dress up, eat pizza & watch our favorites from Jr. High & HS
Scattergories Date	Let's roll a scattergories die & everything we do/eat must start with that letter (one free re-roll if needed)
Zoo	Let's go find the monkeys, elephants & FISH
Food Network Copycat	Let's watch a random Food Network show & copy what they're making
Italy	Let's go to Italy! We'll eat Italian food & watch a movie that reminds us of Italy
1990's	Let's party like it's 1999! Put on your best 90's garb & watch some Saved by the Bell
Paige's Choice	Let's see what Paige wants to do for 2-4 hours
France	Let's go to Paris! We'll eat French food & watch Anastasia (and sing "Paris holds the key to your heart!")
Mad Scientists	Let's look up a science experiment (you haven't done) & give it a go
NEW	Let's go eat somewhere close that we've never eaten before
Double Feature	Let's see two movies in a row at the theatre
Halloween Night	Let's get our spooky on! Regardless of the time of year! Put on a costume, watch the least scary Halloween movie & carve something
1980s	Let's pretend it's the 80s! Let's eat all microwavable food, dress the part and watch TMNT
Sports Night	Let's watch our favorite 2012 Aggie Football game & eat food from the concessions
Mexico	Let's pick up Alamo cafe to go & watch a movie that reminds us of Mexico
Western Days	Let's go partner! We'll dress & eat like cowboys! Then watch a movie about them
Dive Bar	Let's go to a dive bar & play billiards and/or darts! Oh & eat bar food!
Disney	Let's play a Disney game (or two) & watch your favorite Disney movie
Blast from the Past: Kids	Let's pretend we are kids again! Let's build a fort for two, dress up, eat kid foods & watch our favorite childhood movies
Taylor's Choice	Whatever Taylor wants to do for 2-4 hours
Play House	Let's go babysit for friends for a couple hours as a treat to them!
Mini-Golf	Let's go brush up on our putting game
Christmas in...	whenever you pull this! Christmas movies, ugly sweaters or Christmas jammies & Christmas cookies
Cake Decorating	Let's bake a cake & go all "Ace of Cakes" on it!
Bowling Night	Let's see how that hand/foot coordination is going for you!
Progressive Dinner	Let's go to the 3 restaurants tonight : Appetizer, entree & dessert
Date Night : Red : <90 minutes
You & Me, Texas	Let's go on a day trip to Paige, Texas & Taylor, Texas. & take lots of pictures!
Paige's Choice	Let's see what Paige wants to do for 4+ hours & do it!
Flea Market	Let's find a flea market & spend $10 on each other while there!
Mini Road Trip	Let's choose a place that's within 2 hours of San Antonio & go visit
Food Truck	Let's go to a food truck park & try foods from multiple trucks! *weather permitting*
Canoe/Kayaking	Let's go rent kayaks & take a ride down a river *weather permitting*
Boerne, Texas	Let's go to Boerne - Dodging Duck, Boerne Wine Company & maybe some antique shops
Gruene, Texas	Let's go to Gruene - eat the Gristmill & take a dance around the dance hall
Disney Marathon	Order pizza, pull out our Disney scrapbook & watch our top Disney movies
Salt Lick BBQ	Road Trip to Salt Lick & enjoy some BBQ
Taylor's Choice	Let's see what Taylor wants to do for 4+ hours & do it!
Go Rock Climbing	Or my version of it - Enchanted Rock for the day
TV Marathon	Let's get in our PJs, order delivery & watch at least 5 episode of a TV show we've been wanting to try
Six Flags/Seaworld	Let's go to a theme park & ride all the rides we can/see the shows we can!
Comedy Club	Let's do something new & go to a comedy club. If it's a flop we'll go to Alamo Drafthouse for a comedy
Top Golf	Let's go spend an afternoon or evening at Top Golf
Alamo/Downtown	Let's spend a night learning more about San Antonio
Brewery/Winery Tour	Your choice! Let's learn how beer/wine is made & then taste some!
Fredericksburg, Texas	Let's go explore Fredericksburg & go to the Nimitz!

I hope this list is helpful to all! If you want to read more about Kate & their dental school journey, she has moved her blog! I love it when I come across a dental school wife's blog, I feel like we are in the battle together! Thank you for reading!

Love you all!
-The Kauffman Krew

Dental School Moon : New England : Boston

This June Taylor & I went on a trip to New England that was a gifted trip from his stepdad & mom! We had our choice of destinations and we went with New England because we hadn't been there, and we felt like we could see the most in the 8 days we had! We decided we would name it our official
"Dental School Moon". Like a baby moon, just before dental school instead of before a baby. :) We went to Boston, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Portland (Maine), the White Mountains, Woodstock (Vermont) & Springfield. There were multiple stops along the way, as we decided to road trip once we landed in Boston! Our only rule was that we didn't have a schedule. If you know me you know that I live for planning and schedules, but it was a really nice break to not have one. We didn't rush anywhere, we stopped when we wanted to and stayed longer if we felt like it. I loved it!

Day One : Saturday : San Antonio to Boston
We got up early before the sun on Saturday morning (3:30AM), got ready and headed to the airport! We thought that since our flight was at 5:45AM that we shouldn't have any problem checking our bags, going through security, etc. - spoiler alert - we were wrong! I've never seen so many people awake at 4:45AM!!! We were SO lucky though because since Taylor's stepdad booked our flights we were able to enjoy HIS perks - going through the shortest line at the airport! YAY! The flight to Houston was a breeze, as was the flight to Boston! We landed in Boston at noon, picked up our rental car and set out on our dental school moon!



First stop was the Sam Adams Brewery. It was a quaint brewery with a short tour. At the end they let you sample three of their beers. I did my best but I just couldn't quite appreciate the taste. After the tour we drove through Boston (HORRIBLE IDEA for the record) to find a pizza place a friend told me about. Once we found the spot we started the next obstacle in Boston - parking. We finally found a garage and walked to Regina Pizzeria. It was delicious! We had a supreme and a four cheese, and just about finished both!



After pizza we went to the New England Aquarium. Taylor isn't pursuing marine science anymore but he still loves marine life/aquariums and so do I! Everywhere we go we are sure to find the aquarium and check it out! I think my favorite is still the Atlanta Aquarium. The aquarium was great and afterwards we were able to hang out on the pier behind the aquarium and enjoy the nice weather and view!

Boston Harbor

For dinner we drove about an hour south of Boston to eat at Wahlburgers in Hingham, MA. I hadn't heard of Wahlburgers until a couple weeks before our trip when we were flipping through the channels and saw the show about the Wahlburgs & their burger joint. It wasn't anything special, just burgers, fries & tots, but it was a goooood burger! We also had a FlufferNutter for dessert that was delicious! We stayed the night in Newton and prepared for Sunday which was going to be a FULL day!




Day Two : Sunday : Boston Freedom Trail
We woke up early on Sunday and headed into Boston. After paying over $50 for parking on Saturday I did some research and found out that you can park in the Post Office parking garage downtown for $9 ALL DAY on Saturday & Sunday. I was pretty proud of this as you can see!

Our plan was the Freedom Trail & lobster rolls along the way! I would say that we accomplished our goals for the day. We walked the entire Freedom Trail and had two lobster rolls for lunch! We walked a total of 10 miles!!! It really was nice not worrying about traffic all day! We made sure to start at the beginning of the Freedom Trail - Boston Common. I would really recommend this day trip to anyone going to Boston. It was so educational and really interesting! Even if you can't go you should check it out and see how much history Boston holds! www.thefreedomtrail.org

We hit every spot along the trail! The Granary Burying Ground was one of the most interesting stops for me. Multiple famous people from our history are buried there, but what I found so surprising was that they weren't given huge headstones or crypts when they died. They were important, but not treated as so at that time. As the years passed others put monuments/grander headstones where they were buried, but initially they were only mere headstones like the rest of the people buried there. Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Robert Trent Paine & the victims of the Boston Massacre were among those buried here.

The Barking Crab

James Hook & Co.

We saw 2 of the first churches in Boston, Park Street Church & King's Chapel along with King's Chapel burying ground. We visited the Boston Massacre site along with the Old State House and headed for lunch! We decided we would try two Lobster Roll places and have one at each! First stop was The Barking Crab! This was my favorite lobster roll of the trip. It may have been because it was my first, I don't know, I just know I loved it! Then we walked back over the bridge and had another at James Hook & Co. It was good as well, just a little too mayonnaise-y for me.

On the Trail!

After lunch we hit the trail again and headed towards Quincy Market where there were street performers galore! We decided we needed to try a cannoli from Mike's Pastry's in the North End (Boston's little Italy). They were great! Taylor had a caramel pecan crunch and I had peanut butter (naturally). We went to Paul Revere's house as we finished our cannoli's. Then we prepared for the longest part of our trek - all the way north on that map you'll see Bunker Hill - and that's where we were going! We saw the Old North Church, where the lanterns were hung "One if by land, two if by sea". We stopped at another burial ground and then headed over the bridge. For those who don't know, I HATE bridges! They terrify me! Yes, I know it's 2015 and we know how to construct bridges, but they still make me nervous. Well we got to walk RUN over that very long bridge - twice. Along the way to the Bunker Hill Monument we saw a parade for flag day in a small neighborhood. It was so fun to see, an added bonus to our tour! We sat on Bunker Hill for a while and rested/enjoyed the weather. We had tickets for the Boston Harbor Cruise that evening so we made our way back towards the docks.

The city of Boston from the harbor

The cruise was really nice. There was a tour guide who pointed out everything in the harbor and along the shore. Multiple planes flew right above us as the Boston airport is in the harbor. It did get quite cold on the cruise so we opted to sit inside for the ride back in. We knew we wanted to have dinner in the North End so we made our way towards there after docking. We found a couple Italian places that sounded good and each stood outside and waited for table at each. --Side note: that was the strangest part of the northeast for me, you don't put your name on a list for table, you just wait in line and they will come get you when a table is available.-- My place won so Taylor joined me and we had GREAT Italian food for dinner! The windows were open and the weather was awesome! I had lobster ravioli (a new favorite!) and Taylor had chicken parmesan! We walked back to our car and headed south to our hotel for the next couple of days in New Bedford! Two days down - Seven to Go!

The Boston Freedom Trail