A Halloween Adventure in Salem, MA

Our week started out with a "simple" trip to the grocery store. We learned a long time ago that in Boston if you can walk somewhere you should NEVER drive! It did give us the opportunity to walk through Copley Square, the home of the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church. Here is Kenzie before heading out. Do you think that she was excited?

Trinity deserves a paragraph all to itself. The congregation was established back in 1733 but unfortunately the original church burned in the Boston Fire of 1872. The current structure replaced the original and now has a congregation of about 3,000. It is regarded as "one of the 10 most architecturally significant buildings" in the United States. Below you can see why.....

Shaw's is our new "go to" grocery store. They have everything you could ever need! Here's Jen and Kenzie outside after shopping. Notice our portable cart-you can't live in the city without one!

Kenzie is enjoying experimenting with lots of new foods. Jennifer recently acquired a food processor designed specifically for babies. Kenzie has been eating fresh bananas, peas, and carrots daily. See below.

Friday after work we headed out to Salem, MA for the weekend. Fall is in full swing in New England and the foliage is beautiful!

All dressed and ready to go!

A picture from the drive up....

Another picture of the foliage

Salem is a popular destination in October and hotel rooms must be booked a year in advance! We had to stay in an adjacent town called Peabody. Except it's not called Peabody....it's pronounced "Peabity" as someone quickly pointed out to us! We started of the evening with dinner at the "Sea Witch" a fresh market seafood restaurant. It was just our style, casual atmosphere with fantastic food. Here is Jen enjoying fresh lobster, cole slaw, and butternut squash......

After dinner, it was time for dessert. Kenzie is looking longingly at Jen's sundae...

The following morning we were up early to head to Salem. Salem was founded in 1626 and served as a major shipping port early in its history. Salem is most known for the infamous Witch Trials of 1692. The entire month of October is devoted to "Haunted Happenings", a series of festivals, parades, and tours.

Here are some great shots from Salem.....

The harbor at low tide...

A local school pumpkin decorating competition...

The "Friendship"....

A decorated downtown store...

Ok all right already, I know that you want to see Kenzie in her outfit right? We originally intended for Kenzie to be a bumblebee for Halloween. She outgrew her costume! Kenzie decided that she wanted to be an elephant instead. Could this be her subtle way of supporting the Republicans before the elections next Tuesday??

Jennifer as a very feminine Harry Potter...

Here are a few more shots of Salem...

A very serious Halloween decorator

A unique restaurant....

Nathanial Hawthorne was born in Salem, MA. He wrote works including The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. The actual House of the Seven Gables is in Salem still....

House of the Seven Gables

Simplistic but great decorations...

Some folks take this a little more seriously than others!

Things started to get a little wild in Salem (understatement) so we decided to go shopping. While walking in a local mall we happened upon a New England Patriot linebacker, #59 Gary Guyton. He took a picture with Kenzie and Jen and signed a picture for my residency buddy Scott Davis who is a die hard Patriots fan.

We were all exhausted after a busy day so we headed back to the hotel. Kenzie was still all smiles before bedtime....

Halloween morning, we got up early and left our hotel. We decided to travel to Acton, MA to spend Halloween at a local farm and apple orchard. They had a huge variety of apples that we got to pick ourselves. You can see some of them below.

Here are some more pictures of our fun day...

We also got to pick out a pumpkin....

that later became Kenzie's first pumpkin carving experience.....not too bad but I left all my precision carving instruments in storage in Tupelo!

Now Kenzie gets to eat fresh pumpkin and homemade applesauce all week!!

On a more serious note I would like to ask everyone for thoughts and prayers for my brother Larry as he starts Army Ranger school today. It is one of the toughest training courses in the entire military. As we were walking around enjoying ourselves this weekend, I could not help but reflect on how truly blessed we are. The simple things that we take for granted....like picking apples, are really not so simple at all. It is because of men and women like my brother Larry that Kenzie can grow up in a country that is free. So with that said I say thank you Brother and thanks to all of the men and women who make sacrifices and put themselves in harms way so that my family can be safe and free.

Kenzie sure is proud of her Uncles Larry and Danny....

Can life really get any better than this?

Have a great week all,

Ashley

Another Week Gone

It is amazing how time flies by so fast, especially when having fun. We had such a great time with Honey and Pops this week and it was over far too quickly. Here's another great picture of Kenzie with Honey....

Sunday we walked to Faneuil Hall and ate at a restaurant called Durgin Park. They are well known for their prime rib and baked beans. As you can see below, Pops was in heaven.....

Mom is amazed at the size of that prime rib!!

I had the seafood platter (fried of course) and it was excellent.

Kenzie had.........well you know what!

While walking around the shopping area, we came across this group performing Inca music. It was fantastic and Pops picked up one of their CDs.

For my birthday, Jen got me and mom tickets to see Wicked. We were lucky enough to get to go to the last showing in Boston. Here you can see us before the show.

Earlier in the day we noticed the trailer for packing up the show.

All around the show was amazing! I highly recommend anyone that gets the chance to see it should go.
Here's Jen and Kenzie getting ready to go out for some coffee. We've upgraded to New England style hats!

How about some more pics of Honey, Pops, and Kenzie (I'm sure that's what everyone wants to see anyway!)

I am very excited to report that my brother Danny recently found out that he has been accepted to medical school. Thinking back to the days of med school is a mixture of some good memories and nausea mixed with the smell of formaldehyde! Below you can see a picture of what Danny has to look forward to- lots of studying and muscle spasms. Jen was sweet enough to take this picture of me one day before a big test! Notice the heating pad......

I have the great joy of being on hospital service this weekend so no great adventures to discuss. Next week we will travel to Salem, MA for the weekend so we should have lots of great stuff to talk about.

One more pic of Kenzie looking extra cute before bed!

Take care,
Ashley