June Chaos ... I mean... Fun!

This is more like a photo dump of things we did this summer that didn't involve a big summer trip!

Natalie took the SAT's down in Rhode Island the first weekend in June so I went for a little hike out to Rome Point to check out the oyster farms.

It was a beautiful morning and I had the beach all to myself! (Well, mostly!)

Meanwhile, across the state, Grant was running in the middle school state track meet! What!? He qualified in the 100 meter and the 4x400 relay! One of his teammates in the 4x400 relay couldn't be at the state meet and they won't let you substitute at the middle school level so he only ran the 100 meter - and he didn't come in last!

The day after the state track meet and SATs, we took the kids to Fenway Park for the FIRST time ever!

And this is why it was the first time ever!

Grant actually said the game was really fun! We did take him to a Portland Sea Dogs game a couple of years ago but we sat out on the outfield wall, away from other people!

Bailey's at Fenway Park!

I have been trying for years to get tickets to one of these games in the peanut-free section and have never been able to until this year. We would definitely love to do it again!

It wasn't looking good for the Red Sox, so Todd and I put our rally caps on!

And as a result, we all got on the jumbotron at Fenway!

Awww, miss you, Rem-Dawg!

We really had a great day at Fenway - the kids even got some Red Sox t-shirts!

My new favorite thing is my bird feeder that has a video camera attached to it so I can watch the birds alllll day! I'm literally obsessed.

Grant "graduated" from 8th grade and they had a little ceremony that he was NOT happy that he had to attend.

And of COURSE, we had the annual Bailey family party at our house!

It was well attended by much of the local Bailey family.

We always celebrate both Father's Day AND both Natalie and Warren's birthday, which are only five days apart.

Bean cutting into his birthday cake on his ACTUAL birthday!

Everyone hanging out having some cake - but what is Grant doing on the stairs!?

Nauni just doing Nauni things with Natalie!

In all the other photos, GoGo and Seth were right next to me and not in the picture - so here they are!

Hello there.

This is becoming sort of a tradition at this party.

After the party was over, Todd grabbed the basketball and we played a little family basketball.

And of course, we celebrated Father's Day by going to Stone's Public House for some dinner.

Todd being his usual weirdo self as he opened up his Father's Day presents. 

When school ended, Natalie and her friends drove into Boston and spent the day - this was when they were sitting in traffic.

My bestie, her daughter and her daughter's friend all came up to Boston to visit and to see Lana del Rey at Fenway Park.  They came up a day early so we could walk around and see some of the city. Would you believe this is the ONLY picture I took all day? 

The next day, before the concert, we all went to the New England Aquarium, which was even better than I remember!  This guy was Renna's favorite fish - Rocco!

Rocco was super funny because he looked like he had teeth!

They also have one of the biggest sea turtles I have EVER seen. This guy was ginormous!

He definitely knew he was on camera!

One of our favorite creatures of the deep was the octopus, who also appeared to know that (s)he had a crowd watching. The octopus was so billowy and fascinating!

After a fun few hours at the Aquarium, we went over to Legal Seafoods for some lunch! Time for a bestie selfie!

But the REAL reason everyone was here was the Lana del Rey concert!  Natalie already had tickets to go with her friends (they took the train into the city) but we were able to meet up with her for a bit to snap some cute pictures.

While you might look at this picture and think, "What a lovely evening for a concert!" - it was anything BUT that. It was for sure 9,000 degrees AND what you can't see above is the impending storm clouds coming in from the northwest.

We tried to stay in good spirits, even though everyone was disappointed that there was a VERY long lightning delay.

And because of the long lightning delay AND the noise ordinance around Fenway, Lana del Rey DID play but it was a very shortened show.  She only played for about 1 hour and 15 minutes but it was a jam packed show with special guests and plenty of dancing.

No kidding, the very day AFTER the Lana del Rey concert, the Bailey's took the train BACK into the city so we could celebrate the Celtics NBA World Championship win! (This phrase always kills me... World Champions of a sport that we don't allow teams from outside of North America!)  Maybe we could rename it "Continental Champions?"

There's always a lot of debauchery going on at these parades. No sooner had Todd taken this picture that a police officer showed up!

We took so many pictures and video, but Todd took his best ones and zipped them up into a couple of collages.

We love that Al Horford finally got his ring! 

And Natalie was thrilled to see both Porziņģis (in the photo above this one) and Deuce Tatum, Jayson Tatum's son who is a staple in the Celtics locker room. He's kind of like a little mascot.

Let's not forget that Natalie also turned 17 in June! On her actual birthday, she went to the concert, but I told her she could eat cake for breakfast on her birthday because we wouldn't be together in the evening.  And this is why you see her blowing out candles on a half eaten cake! Everyone dug in before we even got to this part!

And lastly, hydrangeas are having a BANNER SUMMER across New England!  This is my favorite flower so it makes me SO HAPPY!!!

And we're on to July!

Trip to Newport, Rhode Island

 Well, we were supposed to have three glorious days in Newport, but Natalie woke up Friday morning (the day we were leaving) with a sore throat.  Grant has an upcoming state track meet that he qualified for, so we didn't want to put the two of them in a room together and have him get sick - but we also didn't want to lose our money for the whole weekend! So Todd and I went down alone for just one night. We were able to get the money back for two nights, but not Friday night so we figured we might as well use it! 

I mean, if it's a European Hotel, I certainly don't want to miss out on this!

Definitely reminded us of a European hotel!  The website says, "Bellevue House was the first summer hotel that opened in Newport. The previous tall ship owners and traders sold their family mansion, and it was converted to guest accommodations in 1828. Bellevue House has hosted thousands of Newport visitors over its 187 years of service. While our roof beams are held together with wooden pegs, and most of our doors still have their colonial style latches, we have updated the important facilities, and all bedrooms are fully air conditioned."  The actual building was built in the 1700s and you can definitely tell - the floors and some of the doorframes/windows are super crooked!

I bet she was on the front of a ship at one point!

And very clearly, people from the 1700s and 1800s were not nearly as tall as he is because the stair railing barely made it to his knees. If he tripped, he would have gone right over this thing!

After checking in, we set off to find libations. We stopped at the Trinity School House, which was originally a school but was purchased in 1867 by the Shiloh Baptist Congregation, an African American Baptist church at a price of $2,000.

We strolled around the Brick Marketplace with it's colorful umbrellas overhead.

I was there, too!

Then we went to Busker's Pub for Happy Hour.  I have since learned that Glenmore (sign above my head) was very close to the Kennedy Family Homestead in County Kilkenny in Ireland - although the Kennedy's were from just across the River Barrow in County Wexford, about 10 minutes away.

Who did we spot at this delightful pub?  Mr. Tayto, of course!  He's the official mascot of the world's most delicious crisps... Taytos!

Sláinte!

Is it even a trip to a pub without this nonsense happening???

Ahhh yes, that's better. This pub really felt like an Irish pub to me!

Some people who were sitting by the window left, so we grabbed their table to enjoy the fresh air.

I think he's already pondering our next trip to Ireland.

We wanted to go down and check out the waterfront area before we had dinner, and we passed by Queen Ann Square and Trinity Church on our way.

Trinity Church was formed in 1698 as an Anglican congregation of the church of England (today it's a part of the Episcopal Church).  This physical church was built in 1726 after the congregation outgrew the first church they built.  Believe it or not, this square was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II herself in 1976 (aka: the year that the person in this picture was established!)

Oh man, we don't have too many of THESE in America!  Manhole covers of Newport are awesome!

By now you should know that I LOVE me some superlatives.  This one is the first street in the United States to be lighted with gas!

We strolled down to the Bannister's Wharf area which looked like it was right out of a movie!

We stopped for some Kilwins peanut butter fudge that we ate on the wharf down by the boats. YUM.

Just me and my boat at Bannister's Wharf. 

We stopped for a second happy hour at The Black Pearl where we sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather!

After happy hour number two, our window shopping continued at A Christmas to Remember or, as Todd said, "Look! It's Käthe Wohlfahrt!" He's so funny with his Germany jokes!

By this point, I was starving so thankfully we had reservations at Brick Alley Pub where we promptly tore up some apple and brie bruschetta.

After a lovely dinner, we headed back to the B&B, passing by this stunning building which was, believe it or not, condos!  The history of this building is this according to Sothebys: "Originally conceived as a lodge for Freemasons, it was designed in the late 1700s by Peter Harrison, known as “America’s first architect" and a designer of such notable buildings as the Redwood Library, the first lending library in America, and the Touro Synagogue, the first synagogue in the country. The impressive building on School Street, with some modifications to the original design, was finally built in 1803."  And, the observation platform/rooftop deck was blown off in the 1938 Hurricane and rebuilt!

We don't have the money for multi-million dollar condos but we are content with a yummy breakfast before heading out to Cliff Walk!  We were really lucky with the most beautiful weather for our 24 hours in Newport!

After breakfast and checkout, we walked through town toward Cliff Walk, passing the Newport Art Museum!  It has such a German vibe.  It's actually the John Griswold House and was built in 1864 in the American stick style.  So not quite a German half timber, but definitely along the same lines, architecturally.

Conveniently, across the street was Griswold's Tavern. Next time I'm in Newport, I'm going HERE! After all, I AM a Griswold!

Even though Memorial Boulevard is a busy road, they have a lovely tree lined sidewalk that leads you right to the northern Cliff Walk entrance.

He's ready to walk some cliffs.

Cliff Walk was developed by estate owners during Newport's Gilded Age from 1880-1920.  It was designation a national historic walking trail in 1976.

There are plenty of beach roses along Cliff Walk.

You can see Shore Drive and Tuckerman Avenue on the other side of Narragansett Bay from Cliff Walk.

I thought it was going to take us a long time to walk but we made it to the Forty Steps fairly quickly.

If the Forty Steps were this crowded in May, I'd hate to see it over the summertime.

The Forty Steps were originally built in the early 1800s but they were restored in the 1990s.  Each person who's name is on a step donated $3,000 for their step!

The views from the Forty Steps are so pretty though.

Some guy said, "Look! There's a waterfall here!" Um, no. Ha ha. Just stormwater management.

Todd wanted to go out on the cliffs and have his picture taken.  But this is as far as he would go! I don't blame him- I wouldn't even go that far!

Time to head back up the Forty Steps and back onto the Cliff Walk.

Salve Regina University sits right here among the Gilded Age mansions - in fact, Ochre Court used to be one of those very same mansions.

Ochre Court is the main administration building for Salve Regina University and houses the office of admissions.  It's one of the many buildings in this area designed by Richard Morris Hunt, who was a prominent architect in the late 1800s.  Real estate magnate Ogden Goelet used it as a summer home before his family donated the building to the Religious Sisters of Mercy in 1947.

You may have heard about Gargoyles and seen them on buildings in older American cities (or across Europe).  But have you heard of Grotesques?  Although they look very similar, Gargoyles are actually functional as they are used as downspouts from the roof to carry rainwater away from the building. Meanwhile, a Grotesque is purely decorative!  This appears to be a gargoyle since it seems to be attached to the gutter system on the building.

Who knew the water was so green up here in Rhode Island???  What is this, the Bahamas???

I have tickets to SEE the inside of this beautiful mansion - the most famous of all of the Gilded Age mansions in Newport.  Also designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the Breakers was the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and was constructed between 1893 and 1895.  Cornelius's great grandchildren summered here on the third floor all the way up until 2018!

This incredible building is the closest thing we have to European castles here in America.  We only didn't go inside to see it because we wanted to go with the kids.  Good thing those tickets never expire!

Well, we aren't Vanderbilts but I like having all of the adventures with this guy!

Anglesea is a mansion that sits on a point with some of the most beautiful views.  It was built in 1880 although it was expanded upon in the late 1990s.

Anglesea has this cute little glass enclosed gazebo that appears to still be in use!

Once you pass by Anglesea, you get a good view of Rosecliff and Marble House (with the Chinese Tea House down by the water).  Marble House is the other house I really wanted to visit.  It was built by William Vanderbilt as a 39th birthday gift for his wife.  I can't complain though. Todd once bought me a house for my 28th birthday! (True story!)

It was approaching lunch time so we decided to head back toward downtown Newport for some lunch.  We passed by the gates at The Breakers. I will be back!!!

And how pretty is the OTHER side of Salve Regina University's Ochre Court???

At some point, you're passing so many beautiful buildings, that you just take pictures and find out what they are later.  This is the Weld House, built in 1884.  Of course, today it's been converted to... you guessed it... condos!

On our way to O'Brien's Pub for some lunch, I made Todd take a picture with Grant Court!

And we took this picture for Grant too.  Cause he LOVES ketchup!

Speaking of ketchup, we had some great fish and chips and a burger at O'Brien's Pub!

On our way back to the car after lunch, we walked by the National Sailing Hall of Fame where there is a statue of Buddy Melges from the 1992 America's Cup winning team.  He also won gold in Munich in 1972 in the Soling event.

After seeing these cute little vehicles EVERYWHERE, we finally figured out that they rented these to people to drive around in Newport. These Scootcoupes are totally street legal but only get up to about 30 mph and actually are a type of motorcycle!  It has handlebars and brakes and not a steering wheel!

Everywhere you go in Newport, there are crazy old buildings. This is the Jonathan Gibbs house from 1771! The Newport Restoration Society has this to say about it: "181 Spring Street Built was built ca.1771 and is a small example of the popular 18th-century, two-room cottage with a gambrel roof. The house is sited end-to-the-street with the entry fronting on the side yard. There is a center chimney with fireplaces in each first-floor room and two more for the second-floor chambers. A very tight, twisting staircase rises against the chimney wall, allowing for entry hall."  I wish I could see inside!

Ahhh, here are those condos at the corner of School and Church Streets, but this time in the daylight!  They're even prettier in the daytime!

Finally, we got back to the Bellevue House and our car so we could head back home.  I really wish we could have spent all weekend here, but thankfully, it's only about an hour and a half from our house so we can go back again sometime soon!

Until next time, Newport!  And I really mean that!