Friday, May 11, 2012

Spring Break (Day 2/Part 2)

After our long drive and great meal in Newport the first night Belle and I were slightly overwhelmed to discover a red-neck family reunion and a ton of cheerleaders were occupying our hotel with us.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a red-neck girl all the way, but this was a bit overwhelming.  I am not sure which was more annoying, the people with the crock pot cooking in the lobby (I'm not making this up) or the snotty cheerleaders.  Belle and I just wanted to sleep and it was rocking in the hotel that night.  It did settle down by 10, my cut off time before calling the front desk, but we didn't love the noise.  Over all we had a good room, and it was a nice night.

We got up in a rather leisurely fashion on Sunday morning.  Our plan was to do a little more sight seeing in Newport and then Peter Pan's sister had given us a great tip for prom dress shopping.  So we finally got up, got dressed, packed and checked out of our hotel.  We headed to Ma's Donuts for breakfast.  Ma's is a Newport classic and before you scold me I didn't go for the donuts, I love the bagels.  They make the most amazing fresh bagels.  I don't even want them toasted, just a plain bagel, all by itself.  No butter, no cream cheese.  They are amazingly crusty on the outside and so soft and tender on the inside.  My bagel was still warm when I got it.  Belle got bagels and donuts, oh to be young and athletic. 


When Moose was little and I was pregnant with Belle I would occasionally stop for a bagel and soda on my way to work to curb the morning sickness.  I would get Moose a donut.  We had stopped maybe 2 or 3 times when he started saying "donuts" everytime we drove down main street and past Ma's.  Peter Pan was convinced that I stopped every morning and we had a huge fight about it.  I couldn't convince him that Moose had learned to recognize the sign that quickly!  The power of donuts.

After breakfast Belle and I headed down to Thames street to do a little souvenir shopping.  We got a few items in the cheap souvenir store and happily headed to our next stop, 1st Beach.  We used to take the kids here all the time when they were little.  In the summer their was a carousel (well, that stays year round I guess), bumper boats and a little train ride.  They loved it.  We would sometimes go after work just to let Moose ride the bumper boats.  He once lost a Batman action figure on that beach and we spent hours looking for it.  He also got away from Peter Pan and I on that beach leading to possible the most terrifying few minutes of my life looking for him on a beach.  We spent a lot our time in Newport doing things at First Beach.  We even went to a halloween costume parade there one time.






It was really fun to be back there and even though it wasn't a really warm day there were a lot of people walking around, surfing, and hanging out.  There were a ton of shells on the beach and if you were really interested it would have been a great day for beach combing.  It was sort of breezy and cool, but Belle and I snapped some pictures and reflected on our past.  She of course really didn't remember it.






After that we headed over to Second Beach.  We also went there quite often.  It was a much more natural, less touristy sort of beach and I especially loved to take the kids there in the winter.  Once right after Peter Pan had knee surgery I managed to lock myself out of the car making it necessary for him to drive the jeep down and rescue us.  Second Beach was also part of the very first X-games ever and we were fortunate enough to be there. 




Belle and I just did a really brief visit to second beach as well and I snapped a few pictures of my grown up girl back at her old stomping grounds.  It is hard to believe this was where she was a baby.  It seems like a lifetime ago (of course for her it is).





After that we headed up to Fall River Massachusetts and Party Dress Express.  We were on a mission to find an amazing prom dress.  Thanks to the good advice of Aunt Gigi we did.  This store was like nothing I had ever seen.  They had every size and color of dress imaginable.  It was like a sale day at Kleinfeld's on Say Yes to the Dress.   I actually saw a mother cry when she saw her daughter in a prom dress.  Did we find "the dress?"  We did and after Prom I will post pictures.  We ended up spending about 3 hours shopping for the perfect dress so Belle and I were tired and hungry when we were finished.  We headed on toward Boston and looked for somewhere to eat.  I saw a sign for Papa Gino's which had always been a favorite for our family so we stopped and had pizza.







Then we headed on to our Boston hotel.  Once again Priceline totally came through.  We had the most amazing hotel and it was in a great location.  We got settled in and decided that since lunch was so late we really just wanted desert.  The concierge was kind enough to direct us to Finale, which as it turns out is one of the best desert spots in Boston.  They serve some light food, but it is a desert restaurant.  We were in heaven.  I started to get the sugar free mousse, but decided to live life on the wild side and had a Molten Chocolate Cake served with coffee gelato.  Belle had a peanut butter pie.  It was amazing and worth every bit of guilt!   Hey, we walked there and back and it was cold and I had no coat (extra calorie burning right?!)  This desert gluttony did us in and we called it a night.  I  think I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  Monday was destined for meeting coaches and visitng rinks and our wake up call was set for 5:30 AM (yep, even on Spring Break skaters get up early!)  All in all we had a fantastic Sunday.


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