Vacation Yummy

When I was in Boston a week ago a waitress at "Legal Seafood" told us that we absolutely have to go to a place called "Mike's Pastry" up in the Italian District.

OH MY Gosh!..........I still have lots of Boston photos to post so I will for sure post the ones of this amazing bakery.

They had the most heavenly pastry they called an "Apple Twist". When I went up to Ivy's this past weekend I took all the stuff that we would need to make these. There is nothing I love more than re-creating a vacation yummy!

They turned out super yummy! Apple pie filling, raisins, slivered almonds, cinnamon and sprinkle sugar.

My Sweet Granbabies.......

Build-A-Bear! What a fun place to be!

Lukas had quite an adventure with his dad on the bow hunt. They didn't get a deer but he found his first hornytoad!

My Greatest Blessings

This past weekend I traveled north to spend a few days with my daughter Ivy and her family.
The guys went hunting and we girls went to the Mall and Build A Bear!



Our twins have gotten so big now. It is so much fun to watch them interact as they grow older. Jenny is the older twin and she is walking all the time now where as Claire is still crawling and doing only a little walking. Jenny has been the more aggressive twin.....thus far!

CUTEST MOMENT OF THE WEEKEND............

Claire took a toy away from Jenny and so......Jenny began to cry!

Claire crawled over and found Jenny's binky and put it in her mouth!

Are you even kidding me! How stinking cute is that?

Well school has started up North and when did these little darlings get so big?

Ok...now you can make the goofy faces!

Look Out Salem Here We Come

How cute are these shirts that my mom bought and surprised us with? This was the day that we were setting sail for Salem.

This is the Long Wharf at Boston Harbor. The great thing about getting to Salem from Boston by ferry is that it is only about a 45 minute trip! Yes......that way we can spend more time in wandering the sites of this mysterious village.

My sweet mama with her sister Jan who is also my Godmother.

This is what it looks like below the docks. Kinda cool and eerie looking huh?

Ok.......it got even creepier when I saw the giant rat come out beneath one of the stones and glance up at me!

YIKES AND ICKY

Hmmmmmm.. Do you think there has been a small fire here? I will bet that these million dollar yacht owners were a bit nervous to say the least.

This little boat was so stinkin cute! I soon decided that this must be where the marina caretaker lived. How do I get this job?

I would like to fill out the rental agreement pleeze!

Now with the Hurricane warning today and I am wondering how all of these beautiful boats will fare in the high winds coming.

Bon Voyage Boston Harbor.............

A most beautiful view of Boston from out in the Atlantic.

The House of Seven Gables

Visiting the House of Seven Gables in Salem was so much fun. It's funny how you can visit a place and then decide to read the book that has been a classic for years! I downloaded the book for free on my Kindle and read it the entire plane ride home!



The hidden staircase and the secret rooms were really worth the crouching and sliding along the small spaces.

Hawthorne lived here while he wrote the book and he was known to be quite reclusive.

Check out all of the beautiful hydrangea flowers! They were simply everywhere.

If you look past the gardens and over the roof..... well, that would be the Atlantic Ocean!

I especially loved seeing the little "cent- shop"?????

Here is the opener of Hawthorne's famous classic:

On one of the side streets of a New England town stands a seven-gabled house with an enormous elm tree before its door. It is the ancestral Pyncheon house, owned by a family with a long tradition. It was built on the site of the house of Matthew Maule. Envious of the fine location, Colonel Pyncheon had helped convict the house's owner of witchcraft and was instrumental in having him hanged. From the gallows, however, Matthew Maule cursed Colonel Pyncheon: "God will give him blood to drink!"

Salem Massachusetts

Upon getting off of the Ferry boat that takes you to Salem you exit at the pier and this is the street entrance. There were so many little quaint little New England style houses and you can smell the salt in the air of the Atlantic Ocean. It was a drizzly cloudy day and perfect for the setting of visiting all the Witch places that we had on our list.


I just love this photo. Beautiful old home but the power lines and phones lines! Seriously?

My mom and my Aunt Jan making friends!

Who is the fairest of them all?

Oh My Gosh! The food on the coast is oh so delicious! This fish and chips were out of this world and it was just in this little out of the way diner. And the coleslaw.............was out of this world.

BTW......It was pouring rain while we were eating. Perrrrfect.........

This stone and the following were taken in the Old Burying Point Cemetery off of Central Street. These stones date back to the 1600's. This hallowed ground had almost a sense of sadness and darkness. It was such a dark time here in Salem with all the Witch Trials. When you start to understand this time and really know the story it is ....oh so unbelievable.

This is the Captain William Bowditch grave, died in 1793. I thought it was very interesting that on most of these old graves it always said "here lies the body of".........

Hmmm......they believed even then that the soul would leave the body and that they were not one.

This is the memorial for Bridget Bishop, the first woman to be hanged for being a witch.
I never really knew all the details but I guess I thought there were a lot of people accused of being witches but it turns out there were only 20 that were put to death. 18 women and 2 men and one of the men was a poor old man of 80yrs.... who was pressed to death.

This is the Witch Trials Memorial that is next to the Old Burying Point Cemetery. Each of the stones you see has the name of these 20 accused and hanged persons.

Of course these persons could not be buried in a Christian Cemetery.

It's hard to imagine all this Witch Hysteria and It had alot to do with the coming of the Puritans.

The Witch Hysteria not only enveloped Salem, but all 34 towns and villages in Essex County. Hundreds of accused witches filled the jails awaiting trial. Some died in captivity. A Salem minister, accused by teenage girls of being the devil, was captured in Maine hanged here in Salem and had his head removed by another minister. Salem's leading merchant and his wife escaped the hangman, but returned a year later to plot revenge on the accusers and the lawman who tormented the victims.

Salem Massachusetts....

We were so excited to spend a day in Salem. It was just a short Ferry ride of about 45 minutes out of Boston Harbor.

Look at me already making friends!

I love this picture! When we first walked by here there was no ship and then 6 hours later it just appeared! It was like magic...........We did walk up to it and I guess you can go on board and then it sails for a short trip. It is called "Friends of Salem". There was not enough time but you can bet if I ever get back this way we will be sailing away.

Who doesn't love ice cream?

O.K.............This footprint brought us to just pure sillyness! Before I left on my trip someone had been telling me that Salem has been taken over by all these so called "wiccan people". I was like really? So..........we kept watch and never saw one wiccan! How disappointing for us but........every odd looking person or animal we would come across we would look at each other and say " that's a wiccan"!!!!

So........of course the footprint was that of a "wiccan"!

This is Marble Head Island and it was on the way on the trip over from Boston Harbor to Salem. Talk about some zillion dollar homes here.

This ship was huge and just sat out here all day. The guide on the ferry boat said it is an oil tanker. I had to look it up when I got home and this is what I found out:

Offshore loading and crude oil transport ships.

Knutsen OAS Shipping is a privately owned shipping company located in Haugesund, Norway. The company has a modern fleet purpose-built shuttle tankers, chemical carriers and product tankers world wide. Knutsen OAS delivers technical and end operating solutions to the main oil and petrochemical companies of the world. The fleet consists of 41 shuttle tankers, chemical carriers and product tankers. In 2009 the company had an onshore staff of 64 to handle projects and operation of the fleet, 430 administrative employees offshore and about 800 foreign employees.

This boat looks like it should be in a James Bond movie!