New Haven, CT: check!~

For those of you who have not yet experienced this flaw I'm about to share: consider yourselves lucky! For those who have, I am sorry. 

Hi, my name is Ginnie, and I am a bad gift giver.

It's very true.  I have such a hard time thinking of good, helpful, thoughtful, creative gifts for those I love.  For this past Valentine's, I "surprised" Nelson with one of his favorite meals. That's it. waah waah waaaaaah. Nelson however, gave me a cute "card" from  him and Auden, an {almost} 2 LB. box of chocolates, and, last but not least... a trip to New Haven, CT!!! As this may show, Nelson as a wonderful compliment to me, is an excellent give thinker-upper/giver.  It's a good thing I married him.  Or else I probably never would be invited to a birthday/wedding/celebration-that-requires-a-gift again.  Thanks, love. 

So, I have LOTS of pictures for you from our trip to New Haven.  Stay tuned!! Here are some pictures of Valentine's and a preview of our New Haven adventures.  To sum up: we had so much fun.  

his gifts:

my gift..... 

 

best gift: having this little boy with us for Love Day. 

{insert "aaaawwww" from audience} 

New Haven! 

(aka: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry)

this was me in the middle of telling Nelson to not look so awkward and come closer. it cracks me up how far away he is from us. That man. never fails at making me smile and laugh. 

 

Also....

Can you believe that this very sober boy who rarely smiles for cameras is going to be ONE in less than a week???? Oh my dear.... where has this year gone? I love you my little Auden. Sweet baby boy. You'll always be this baby in my eyes. love you.

weekend in Providence {day 2}

on day two of our Providence trip, we stayed more in downtown.  we walked along the river, went to the Museum of Art-- one of my favorite museums I've ever been to... a lot of it was due to my hilarious husband's commentary on some of the art, ate some really, REALLY great tacos ($0.99 each!! SCORE!), ate some really, really great burgers (note: not as good as those tacos), and last but not least, attended: WaterFire. 

one comment on packing lightly: did not really work for us.... it ended up raining on day two... so half the time we were in our garbage-sack-ponchos, which was fun, but if I hadn't packed lightly... probably would've been prepared for it.  just sayin'.... Auden was fine though. Remember, I did not pack very lightly for him. :) 

thanks, Providence! Hopefully we'll see you again soon!! 

We made a little "bed" in between the two beds for Auden.  The mattresses were too soft and I worried he'd roll over and not be able to breathe/etc. so we put a few blankets down and made this sleeping area for him.  It worked... but we'd find him half way under the beds sometimes because he'd back into the bottom of the bed. so cute, but a little sad at the same time. 

i look at this and think, "ok, I guess i understand why some people thing you're a girl....." our little pretty boy.

museum of art.

the fruits of my labors: making the boy laugh. the most delicious of fruits. 

photo creds: the husband

that's me lifting the boy up. #ripped #notreally

nelson set up this self-timer shot on top of our stroller. not bad, eh? 

the crowds gathered for the fires. 
photo cred: the husband.

WATERFIRE!!!

weekend in providence {day 1}

these photos are now old.... 

a couple weekends ago, Nelson said to pack my bags for an overnight date-night!  Adventure? Sign us up! So I packed two outfits-- for those who don't know me: I don't pack lightly. This was amazing for me-- and then a bunch of Auden's clothes, diapers, wipes, blankets, toys...... etc. etc.  Isn't it fun being a mom?? ;) 

On our way... Nelson spilled the beans and we were on our way to good little ol' Providence, RI!  We have to take advantage of the time here on the East coast, right? Everything is just so close and we might as well take the couple-hour drive to the Ocean State!  

Providence has been one of my favorite cities ever.  It's got somewhat of the big-city feel to it... but not at the same time.  I love the river that runs through the city (not pictured in this blog post, but the next one) and I loved Brown University.  It was so beautiful!!  Also, because school wasn't in session, it was pretty empty and deserted!  {sometimes we thought we were going to get mugged because we were the only people walking on the streets... then someone who was dressed regularly showed up and we felt better. ironically, I've never felt that here in Boston} Our first night we were around the Brown neighborhood and saw the sights there: 

like father like son-- one of my top photos from the trip

at Brown (left); our impersonation of their mascot, "the brown bear"

the details at the school were lovely

the State House.

downtown Providence

Auden is yanking on my hair and ear in this.. thanks, little buddy.