Fall Colors in New England

There is nothing more gorgeous than seeing the fall colors in New England. 

 With Kimber finishing her 2 year contract, and my 8 years on the school board coming to a close,

we decided that we deserved a little trip to "celebrate." 

 Although, we have both enjoyed working and serving in our "jobs"
our responsibilities have been challenging and demanding at times.

(Mine is not really a job, but for all intense purposes feels like one sometimes.) 

We have leaned on each other and would often talk about doing something fun together

 to reward ourselves for hanging in there, finishing something that we started,
having a positive attitude, and completing the task. 

We decided that taking a drive from NYC to Boston, seeing the fall leaves,

and taking in the sites and activities of the season was the perfect reward.

  Now Allie didn't want to miss out on the fun and I guess she was sort of "celebrating" getting engaged. 

I wish Dad and all the kids could have joined us. 

I'm already planning another fall trip to New England and hopefully,

more of the family can come next time.

The Duck Tour in Boston

This is a fun way to see Boston, on land and on sea. 
Our tour guide was dressed up as Paul Revere and was very knowledgeable and funny!

Allie got to drive the boat and I'm happy to report that she did a very fine job.

Harvard Square

After the Duck Tour, we walked around the Harvard campus.

We walked and talked and stopped a few pictures...OK, we took a lot of pictures. 

It's hard not to go crazy when you have Kimber with you,

 who takes incredible pictures, and you want to capture every little thing on camera

so that you can go back and relieve it again and again.

Sorry, but I did include quite a few pictures but it was such a gorgeous evening

with the most amazing sunset over the Charles River.

Thank you, Kimber for capturing the beauty!  You are amazing!

The Harvard crew team were out on the river at sunset, which made for a gorgeous picture.

We walked back at Faneuil Hall to enjoy the sites at night
and then off to the North End...

to enjoy a yummy dinner a Dolce Vita...

and then we took a cheesy picture by the mannequin outside the restaurant.  
Thanks girls, for being such good sports!

Apple Picking

The next morning we headed out to do some apple picking 
at the Lyman Orchards in Middletown, Connecticut.   
We drove through a wild thunderstorm on the way
and wondered whether we would be doing any apple picking that day. 
I was the one driving through the horrific downpour
and was very doubtful but Kimber, our weather girl, checked the internet 
and assured us that it was going to clear 
just in time for us to enjoy some apple picking...and she was right. 
Just as we pulled up to the orchard, the rain stopped,  
the sky cleared and the sun begin to shine. 
It was crisp and cool...perfect weather for a fall apple picking day!  

We enjoyed a yummy lunch at the Orchard's Market 
and topped it off with some delicious apple desserts.

The Jack-O-Lantern Blaze

Next stop was the Van Cortlandt Manor near the Hudson Valley

to see the Great Jack-o-lantern Blaze. 

It was truly amazing to see over 4,000 hand carved 
and illuminating jack-o-lanterns set in this 18th century landscape. 

The display included a grave yard, slithering snakes,

a gigantic spiderweb, pirates, dinosaurs and ghosts made out of jack-o-lanterns.

I would highly recommend seeing this enormous display of halloween fun,

but make sure you get your tickets early because it does sell out quickly!

We drove back to the city that night around 10 pm

 and met up with Brett for dinner at  Max Brenner's.  

 The streets were crowded and place was packed.

You would have thought it was 6 or 7 pm on a Saturday night.

New York City is such a crazy place like that.

Allie had never been to Max's so we were excited to take her there.

Dinner was incredible and dessert was insanely amazing!
Don't worry...we took pictures at Max's...I just can't locate them on my memory card...go figure?!

Allie left the next day but I had another day to play in the city with Kimber.

It was wonderful to spend time with the girls.