Getaway to Boston

First of all, John has successfully completed his first year, plus a spring semester of his second year!! He now has a summer break, to rest, relax, and hang out with me! To start off our summer together, we went to Crystal Beach with a bunch of friends, Crystal beach is in Canada, it was such a surprise to see the beach, it looked like an ocean beach without the waves.
It was a beautiful day, perfect weather, white sand, cool water, and great friends and food to enjoy! It was a great way to celebrate school is out for the summer. John enjoyed jumping from the pier and playing with other couples children. We will be making more trips out there this summer for sure.

The next morning our fun vacation together started. A few months ago we came across some cheap flights to Boston, and thought why not, I had four days off in a row, and John would have just finished school so we jumped on it! Since then, we got a great hotel (thanks to Briste, for the hook up), and have looked into fun things to do in Boston. If you don't know me very well, I will let you in on a little secret about me, I love to plan things(parties, vacations, etc), make iteneraries, and not to mention plan way too much. So I had a huge long list of "to do" things in Boston, from food places, to tours, to buildings, and parks. We only had three days to squeeze in all we wanted to do, but nothing was standing in our way, John and I in the big city, we were all over the place. (I will try to summarize the trip below)


Saturday we arrived in Boston at 830am, and dropped off our luggage at our hotel. The hotel was so nice, a highlight was a free breakfast each morning, and not your typical continental breakfast of fruit and bagels, but we are talking a nice buffet. Every morning before our trip out to the city we were able to enjoy eggs, hash browns, sausage, waffles, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt and granola, muffins, bagels, donuts, juice etc. It was nice, not to mention yummy and free! (can't you tell we are students, who love the word free!)
Before long we were off to the city, we took a train into the city, since our hotel was a few miles outside of Boston. When we arrived, with map in hand, we went to the museum of science to purchase tickets for a duck tour, I am sure you have heard of them if you have been to Boston. (I will talk more about them later). The next tour opening was 430 that afternoon. So we went down to Quiency Market and Fennial Hall Marketplace, which are historical buildings that offer great eats, great shopping, and is a great place to people watch.
Sam Adams in front of Fennial Hall.
An example of some street performers. There were magic shows, break dancers etc.
Can you find John standing in front of Quincy market.
It was at the heart of the city, tons of poeple, lots of street performers, live music etc.
We took a walk down to Boston Common, the oldest public park, it was so beautiful. We would come here for lunch to relax, and enjoy the shade under a huge tree.
The Duck Tour, is a tour of the city in a World War II vechicle, it could travel on land and water. Take a look at the pics, we got a nice tour of the city, and would just drive straight into the water. It was definately a highlight of the trip!! We learned and traveled by numerous hot spots in boston, including: Cheers, Boston common/public garden, the site of Boston Massacre, the holocaust memorial, Fennial Hall, Little Italy, USS Consitution, the old state hall, numerous historical statutes, and graveyards, and tons more! When we drove right into the water, John was lucky enough to get behind the wheel of the Duckie and drive it!! It was nice to learn all about the city and recieve lots of tips along the way. Our favorite tip was that there is 94 Dunkin Donuts stores in a 5 mile radius and I believe it, they were everywhere! Our duck guide was a John Lennon look alike, see for yourself!



We enjoyed the tour so much we decided to tattoo oursleves with the duck tour symbol!
Following our tour, we enjoyed some yummy pizza, the kind where the slices are huge, the cheese and oil drips off, and that tastes so so yummy!! We had such an awesome day. We were tired from walking everywhere, we came home and crashed. Oh by the way, Boston is known as the walking city and that is what we did. We walked everywhere, I swear, like 4-5 miles a day!!

Sunday morning we woke up, anxious to start our day. It was Fathers day today, John's day, he could do whatever he wanted. We woke up and before we left for the city we had a nice testimony meeting together, I love it when we share our testimonies with each other. A great way to start our sabbath. We were off to the city and our destination was Fenway park, the green monster. There was a game scheduled later that day, so we were interested in buying tickets. The trick was, we did not want to spend a ton of money!! Today was a little hotter and more humid than yesterday was, so walking around was a little more hard, getting very "moist" as John calls it. We were unsuccessfull at getting tickets, the scalpers were selling their cheapest ticket (stand up ticket) for $100 each, so two hundred dollars for us to go and stand up in the humid hot weather for 3 hours, Not worth it! So, we walked down Newbury street, which is a very upscale street, lined with hundreds of nice restarants, salons, and fancy stores.(Armani, Coach, Banana Republic, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, etc.) We saw Lamborghini's, Rolls Royce, and Mercedes lining the streets. Boy, did we feel out of place. But it was fun to see all the shops. Newbury street led us right into Boston Public Garden. We rested, we laid down under a shade tree, had some lunch, and people watched. John also opened a few Father's day gifts at the gardens, he got a book and a CD. Happy Fathers day to him (not quite a father but someday).In the Gardens, not only are there beautiful flowers and plants, but they have a swan lake, yes the famous swan boats were out, along with real swans along the lake. It was so nice. We enjoyed our time to rest in the park.


Then we were off, we were going to start walking the freedom trail, and started, but within a few minutes we decided it was getting kinda late, and we wanted to take an audio tour to learn more about the things we were looking at, so we decided to post pone that until tomorrow. We walked down to Fennial hall, got some postcards for our family, and mailed those out, then we walked to a pier nearby. We had gotten a number of reccomendations for a seafood place called Legal Seafoods, so we decided to give it a try, afterall, we were in Boston, we had to have some seafood. And boy was it delicious! We brought a change of clothes with us, so we looked more presentable at this restaruant.( we changed in the bathroom, at the restaurant, people probably thought, wait a minute, you were wearing something else??) It had a beautiful view overlooking the water. The food was amazing, we had some coconut shrimp, and tried some swordfish, which was surprisingly so good. And of course we had to have a piece of Boston Cream Pie, and WOW, so yummy. We devored that so fast! I want some right now! Us at Legal Seafood. Yummy!
So after dinner, we realized that we had to be back to the train station to catch a ride home in like twenty minutes, so we rushed to the subway station, waited forever for the right subway, (meanwhile, thinking are we going to make it?!), Finally the subway comes, we hop on, the next stop we jump off, thinking it was the right stop for us. . . . WRONG. So at this point, we are rushing, and panicing that we will miss our train. So, we grab a taxi, tell them to go to North Station fast!! Our train leaves in 1 minute! We get there, we are running down the street, down stairs to north station, ( now I have on 3 inch heels, that I changed into for dinner!), and surprise! We had just missed it! Now what, we were so frustrated. We tried and rushed to make it, but had just missed it. So we were all sweaty, and no way home.
Showing how mad we are, John kicking the pole, and making our angry faces!

Our option was a taxi for like $50! Good thing John was thinking and thought of a great idea! From the airport we had taken a bus out to our hotel, so that is what we did, we took a subway out to the airport, then caught the bus home! We had finally made it. A little later and a little more money than we planned. But that was okay. When we made it back, we were bummed that we missed the jacuzzi, we had made it back too late!! Another great day in the city, tomorrow would be our last!

Monday morning we got all of our things together and packed up, we would bring our luggage to the city, store it at another Marriot hotel, to pick it up before we went to the airport. I am sure we looked a little odd carrying luggage through the city, but we dropped it off, and were free for the day. We had quite a long day ahead of us. We went out to Fenway Park again, this time for a tour. We were so glad we did this, it was awesome. We got to walk all around it, learn a whole bunch of different facts about the stadium and the Red Sox, and their traditions.


After the tour we went out to lunch at the Oldest Tavern "Bell In Hand' Open since 1795, the food was great and we sat right outside to enjoy the nice weather, (not hot and humid like yesterday, it was just right).
After lunch, we made our way back to Boston commons to start the tour of the freedom trail. The freedom trail is a red-brick lined walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally significant historic sites. Preserved and dedicated by the citizens of Boston in 1958, when the wrecking ball threatened, the Freedom Trail today is a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond. We got a headset that would tell us about each of the stops of the freedom trail, which was alot more helpful and enjoyable then just looking.
Me showing off our headset!
Paul Revere's House.
The famous statue, of Paul Revere's midright ride!
Battle of Bunker Hill Monument.
We had tons of fun learning about the history of boston and seeing some amazing sights. By the time we were finished, it was getting late, we picked up our luggage, walked it back to Fennial hall, had some dinner, bought a few souviners, and then made our way to the airport. Our trip was over. I love going on vacations and hate when they end. John and I had so much fun!
We took over 80 pictures, and I am not posting all of them, but here are a few!!
Us in front of Cheers!
A few examples of some interesting people inBoston. Yes, feeding a dog with a spoon, this dog has his own cup of ice cream in which the women is feeding. Also, we have pigeon man, covered in pigeons, what is funny about this one, is that one minute after this picture was taken where he is loving and liking the pigeons, all of a sudden he began swatting them off, feathers flying everywhere!

John and I relaxin' in the City!!
THe Holocust Memorial.
John in front of one of the 94 Dunkin Donuts!! Yummy!
Me running up a flight of stairs, carrying our luggage through the city, while John watched!!

Sorry for the Long update!! We loved Boston!

Life after vacation!

Back to Reality! I guess our vacation is over and its back to work and school. The trip was so nice and very needed to realx and enjoy time without the stresses of life out here,but now we are back! I have been very busy with work!!
Here is the hospital!!
Women's and Childre's Hospital of Buffalo
I have to catch up since I had six days off. I have been in charge a few days, meaning I was charge nurse, I make the assignments, am in charge of admissions and discharges, did staffing, and a few other responsibilities. I am feeling more and more comfortable at work, and enjoy it!! The census has been super low, we even closed our floor for a few days, I worked on the 10th floor instead, but now it is up and running again. It's good to know that maybe kids were not getting sick. When not at work, I have plenty to do to keep busy here in Buffalo! Here are few updates of our past week!!



First, of all. Car News! You may wonder why there is a police car and a tow truck picture. Let's just say we were involved with both of those late last Thursday night! The maxima has had its check engine light on for awhile, but being sneaky, or just flat out dumb, I just kinda ignored it. Driving home from work last week, the brake light, the gas light, and the ABS light, or just about every light possible on the dash was on! Kinda scary, I was thinking the car was going to blow up or something. Anyway, to make a long story short. The next day, I thought I could run to the store real quick to get some groceries. Well, after loading the groceries in my trunk, being like 80 degrees, and humid out, I was anxious to get in the car and home. Well, not so fast. The maxima was dead. All by myself, John in school, and groceries in trunk. What do I do?? Good thing I have great friends here. Erica came and rescued me and my groceries! Thanks so much. Now the Maxima is stuck in the parking lot. Later that night, like 945pm, John and I go see what the deal is?! We jump it, and what!! It starts, exciting, Right!! So, off we go back to our house. The smart girl that I am, I have John in the maxima and I am in the civic!! The maxima turns out on the main road, makes it a few hundred feet, then dies( at least john pulled into a lot), so we jumped it again, just hoping that it would make it home! Well, around another corner and it died, so one more time, we jump it, it starts, and again on a main road and it dies!! This time on the road!! So, flashers are on, its 10:30 at night, I am so frustrated!! Good thing a cop passes us, turns around, and helps us. We tell him the situation, and we try to start it once more, this time it won't even start!! So the police man calls a towing company and away goes the maxima!! Sorry, I did not get a picture of us, the police car, and the tow truck! But I am sure you can just picture it!! Well, here we are sharing the civic, a $135 towing bill, plus waiting for the maxima to get fixed!! WOW!!
Would it be so bad, to buy brand new cars, that don't brake down on you??!!

Second, I have another Blog! I am a part of a new dental wives food blog! Myself, along with several other wives out here in buffalo with our husbands in dental school put together a blog where we can share recipes! (Thanks Kristen!) We always get together and have food, so this gives us a chance to share our recipes. It's so fun! Take a look, and all the recieps are delicious!! It's called SweetTeeth!!

Third, Baby shower and Texas Roadhouse
A lady from our ward, and fellow wife of a dental student is having her third baby, her first boy, so the ward through her a surprise shower!! She was surprised, and in labor too!! She had been having contractions all day, and they were getting worse, we made it short and sweet, and let her go!! She ended up having the baby the next day!! Congrats Katie!!

After her shower, John and I met up with friends, Erica and Dick (Ella), Dave and Briste and Kristen for some yummy Texas Roadhouse.

Like always, yummy!! My new goal is to try more restaurants that are not your typical chains, like Texas Roadhouse, but the restaurants that are unique to Buffalo!! We'll see how that goes?

Fourth, the Diaper Cake. My friend Rachel is having a baby boy!! So a great reason for us girls to get together, Right?! Unfortunately, I had to work last Saturday when all the grils gathered together for a yummy pancake breakfast shower!! I am sure it was fun, and since I was not able to join the crowd, I made a fun diaper cake, that looks cute and is so practical!! Pull off a diaper and use!! I am so excited for another baby in the group!!


Fourth, Battle of the Sexes night!!
A night of guys vs. girls could be dangerous!! But all were in good spirits, for the most part, and all couples left together, happily!?! Anyway, we gathered over at Erica and Dicks for some yummy food and desserts, and a game of battle of the sexes. I had never played before, but it pretty much was a series of boy questions for the girls, and girl questions for the guys!! We had tons of laughing and eating! When in doubt the boys would always resort to "feminine products" as their final answer. It was great fun to see what the guys knew about clothes, shoes, make up, curtains, bras, and desparate housewives!! Unfortately, the guys pulled ahead with the W, but it was a great game!!
The game board!!
The guys celebrating!! Sure looking like champions??
All the girls! Yes, I came straight from work, I do not wear scrubs for fun!
Representing our Loser status after the game!! I guess the guys need to win at something. . . .

Rafting down the Snake River

The story begins at Christmas Time, as John and I received a gift from my Grandma. A trip to the snake river to go white water rafting. How could you pass up a trip like that, let alone when it is a generous gift to you.

So John and I left for this anticipated trip last Friday. Thinking all would go well, and we would arrive safely, things turned around!! First, before we even got through security the brand new bottles of sunscreen, after sun lotion, and tanning spray that we had just bought for the trip had to be discarded, I know I should have known better, but I didn't, and we did not check our luggage, so we had to dump them there. Second, Our flight schedule was to go from Buffalo to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Salt Lake city and then from Salt Lake city to Lewiston Idaho our final desination. As we arrived in Atlanta, besides it being like the biggest airport ever, we realized that our flight would be delayed an hour!! Bad News!! We thought we would still make it, because our layover in SLC was 1 hour and 20 minutes, so we would have to hurry but would still make it or so we thought. We had to catch it because we had a family trip to attend!! Well, you can probably guess what happened, we did not leave Atlanta until an hour and a half later, and in the air we had to take a detour to avoid some rough weather. We finally safely landed in Salt Lake, the same time we should have arrived in Idaho! So to say the least I was so sad, mad, disappointed, and frustrated, as you can imagine, so John had to go and speak with someone from Delta. Of course there was no flights at 10:30 at night! So to make a long story short, we ended up staying the night in SLC with my sister, Jessika. She was unable to go on the trip so that was a positive aspect of the delay, we were able to see her and her beautiful boys!!


This is Caden and us, He is her oldest, so cute. Sorry no pictures of Jackson, we forgot, but if you look close you can see his foot!
The next morning, as the raft crew left for the river we boarded our flight to Boise Idaho. So we flew into Boise, caught a ride to the dam on the river, and met up with the crew! Everyone was glad to see we made it, and we were glad to finally be on our vacation!!

This is John and I so happy to finally be on the river, we are on our way to meet up with everyone else. One of the guides stayed behind for us, and caught us up with the rest of the family!!
The company we went with was called OARS, there were 8 guides and 17 of us. My Grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, my parents and us!! The group was private in that it was only our family!

My mom and dad, with me!

The Boys!! Nick (my brother in law), my dad, John and Jordan (johns little brother)! Hanging out on our lunch break!
The snake river runs along the border of Oregon and Idaho, so throughout the trip one side of the river would be Idaho and the other would be Oregon! The Snake river runs in a canyon called Hells Canyon, it is the largest gorge in North America, yes, even deeper than the Grand Canyon! It was so beautiful, to be out in the middle of a river, away from the city, out in nature was so realxing. To give you an idea of how the environment was like I can say one word, LOST! If you have seen it, that is what it was like, I would think that constantly. The trees, the large fields of grass, the sandy beaches, even one of our guides looked like Charlie!!

Doesn't that look like LOST! We took a nice hike, and I felt like I was Kate, and John was Sawyer or Jack trying to find the others!!
I would like to apologize for not having any pictures of the rapids, as you can guess, I was on the water, holding on for dear life, and taking a picture as water is splashing and we are rushing back and forth would not have been too smart! There were a few different types of boats/rafts that we took, we had a few dories ( wood or aluminum boats) that the guide would oar and the passengars would relax, and enjoy the ride, we had a paddle boat, which was a big raft, that everyone had to paddle, and two kayaks, a single and a double, plus a few equipment rafts. Everyone was able to ride in all of them. The water was pretty chilly, but the weather was beautiful, so the sunshine, and crisp, hot air would feel so good. We could clock about 20 miles a day on the river, it seems like a lot, but blazing through class 4 rapids made the time fly by. While we were not on the river we would be at camp. We would each have our own tent and sleeping bags, the guides would set up the kitchen and bathroom (or bucket behind a tree), and we would spend our time talking and catching up with our family. John had not met a number of my cousins and family so it was nice for them to get to know each other. We would play bocce ball, horseshoes, football, go kayaking, fishing, and hiking.

John and I at the top of suicide point, a nice hike up to a point where you have a beautiful view of the river!

John fishing! He was successful, a few nice small mouth bass!!
There was so much to do. The food was so yummy as well. It was great to go with guides, who spoil you with a nice camp, and make awesome food. Just to give you an idea, we are talking blueberry pancakes, fruit, eggs, sausage, orange juice. For lunch, some amazing salads, like taco salad, and pasta salad, with yummy chips and dips. Dinner was vegetable lasanga, salmon and steaks. Okay enough about the food, its making me hungry.
The last thing you are wondering is did anyone fall off, get hurt, flip over?? Of Course! We were white water rafting on some class four rapids!! Myself, however did not fall or flip the whole time! The kayaks or "duckies", would flip the easiest, I was not brave enough to get in one of those in the class four rapids, but John was. John only flipped once, and made it through several rapids without swimming. The guides said that our group enjoyed swimming a lot, or in other words we enjoyed flipping, or we were not good rafters because we fell off quite a bit. The most memorable flip was on the big paddle raft. Six people were on it (including grandma) , plus a guide, I had already gone through the rapid on a dory, and was looking back just in time to see, the paddle boat, ride up a huge rapid, and instead of coming down, it turned and flipped, people were flying, and continued through the rapids with no boat. Everyone was worried about Grandma, it took a few minutes to see heads come up. Luckily, everyone was okay. Grandma was pulled up to safety, and all wanted to get back on and ride again!!
The trip was awesome as you can imagine. Thanks Grandma Barton! Enjoy the pictures!

Here is the whole group!!

Our guides! They were all awesome, so fun and knowledgeable!!

John and I in the morning, they had hot chocolate, coffee, and tea call at 6:30-7:00 in the morning!!

John and I with our life jackets, and helmets, ready for a big day of rapids!

On the kayak, having fun!

We were able to see lots of animals. They were very comfortable, and would get pretty close to us, and our camp! Big horned sheep, white tailed deer, otters, and plenty of bugs!

Speaking of bugs! John and I woke up to this one morning! Yes, that is a black widow. We did some serious camping, we were not at a HIlton. Out in the wild, bugs and all!!