Lady Date

Last week was one of the hardest weeks as a SAHM simply for the fact that my little boy was sick.  And not only was he sick, but I was incredibly sick with a fever for a couple of those days.  Now when you are a SAHM and have a husband in the starts of tax season, you don't get a sick day where you are at home by yourself and can sleep all day and think about you.  You have someone else you need to look out for, feed, and entertain.  We made it through the week with a lot I MEAN A LOT of Ipad time for the little one.  He has gotten really good at puzzles I must say so it wasn't all garbage.  He mastered the easy level like it was no one's business and now is on to the second level.  Pretty awesome to watch!

By the end of the week I was feeling better and I texted Scott on Friday- "I need a day off".  I was just so exhausted.  Mentally and physically.  And it was if God knew that I would be getting to this point that my good friend Maika, who currently lives in London was going to be in town Saturday, and we would be hanging out.  I went about two hours earlier than our planned time just because she was at Village Pointe where we were going to be eating anyway and I only get to see her like once a year.  She was with her friend Julie and our friend Natalie was going to meet up with us after she got off work.  We walked around and went shopping around Village Pointe, had dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise (Maika needed her burger fix) and had time to continue to walk around to the different shops and look around.  It was a simple 5 hour lady date but it was the most fun I had had in awhile.  It was so nice to just get out with friends, not have anyone else to worry about, and just get to be with the girls.  I wish it could be a weekly occurrence, but I don't think she is able to fly back from England every week unfortunately.  We had such a great time catching up and talking about Maika's life over the ocean, her frequent travels for work to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Zurich, and an unfortunate incident in Egypt.  We got to look at Natalie's ultrasound pictures and talk about her upcoming bundle of joy.  Just fun girl talk and it was just what I needed.  I came home that evening just feeling so refreshed and energized.

And I can't finish this post without sharing a gift from Maika that she brought over from a little shop in the town she lives in.  I mean seriously, how cute are these?

 

It's My Birthday

My birthday was last Thursday and Nolan and I took a trip to a local bakery in our hometown.  I had never heard of this bakery, but I like supporting local businesses and why not give them a shot.  And they had cupcakes.  And I like cupcakes.  And I wanted some cupcakes for my birthday.  So Nolan and I went bright and early to pick out some cinnamon rolls for breakfast and some cupcakes for later when Scott got home.  The cinnamon rolls were not great.  Like, pretty terrible.  I expect cinnamon rolls to be rolling with icing and just plain gooey.  These were the opposite.  But, Nolan devoured his so we had a fun little breakfast together.

Later in the day I received some beautiful flowers from my son Nolan.  Now, we knew he was smart, but ordering flowers is just about over the top.  I will be researching colleges later today to discuss early enrollment.  They are gorgeous and have since bloomed quite beautifully.

When Scott got home, we made our way over to Huhot.  Just sounded really good.  And it was.  Nolan even ate some of it until he choked on some crab and threw it up on his plate.  Then he carried about his happy self until we were done eating as if nothing happened.  Don't worry, we looked around and no one saw this happen.
And finally we got home to our cupcakes.  And they were actually pretty good.  The frosting was fantastic.  Great end to a great day.

There is always some sort of expectation on our birthdays like this has to be the most perfect day.  I need to create a fun day for us.  But then the next day comes and it's over.  Just done with.  And then you have to wait a whole nother year for the next awesome birthday you are going to have.  I have never been a huge birthday person, but I do like to have a couple special things happen, like dinner and cupcakes.  Especially when I can enjoy them with my little family.  And in the end, we do have our perfect day.  I'm 27, and although that number is getting a little too close to 30 for me, I have a pretty great life and family and I can't thank God enough.

Lemi Shine

Got another product for you!  This is something we have been using for the past 4-5 months or so and it is SO great.  I'm sure some of you have been using it or have heard of it, but you all definitely need to try it.  Especially if you have hard water and your glasses get stained.

We were trying to save some money and instead of the normal Finish dish detergent we get we got some of the Cascade Action Pacs.  As soon as the load was done we looked at our dishes and they never looked so terrible.  White residue all over our nice stoneware and glasses.  We decided to give the Pacs away to family who have soft water and use them so they wouldn't go to waste and we went back to the Finish brand.  We were hoping that just switching back would get rid of the white stuff, but it didn't.  Handwashing didn't either.  It was annoying.  We were over at our friends house and her sister said they started using Lemi Shine and that it was a miracle worker.

We found some at Walmart and thought there was nothing to lose.  They suggest you do a load with no dishes and just the Lemi Shine first and I guarantee you will think you have a brand new dishwasher it is so shiny.  I would recommend not following the directions on the bottle of where it says to put it and the dish detergent.  For the best results we put both the Finish AND the Lemi Shine in the designated detergent box.  Just put the pac in and then dust the Lemi Shine around it.  After the first use, our white residue was completely gone.  Miracle!  So we have used it ever since for every load and our dishes have never looked better.  I got my sister Kim using it and she texted me saying how great it was and how nice her dishwasher looked after that first cycle, so I would highly recommend it!

Decorating for Christmas

Cue the Christmas music, the season is upon us!  I couldn't wait to get the decorations up for Christmas and the weekend after Thanksgiving seems to be the perfect time to do it.  Yesterday, we blasted the Christmas tunes and got to working getting the tree up, the nativity up, the stockings up by the chimney with care, and making some switches to the entry way.

But first and most importantly, this weekend we made a trip to Michael's.  Yes, Scott and Nolan came with me cause we were RIGHT THERE and it just worked out perfect.  Sorry boys, if I'm the only girl in the house, you will be forced to go to craft stores with me once in a blue moon.  We went to get some supplies for an idea I saw on Pinterest as well as a fun childhood pre-school memory of mine of playing with a felt Christmas tree.  I got the supplies that evening and started making everything after Nollie went to bed for the night.  The next morning, I got to making the ornaments and had him get started.  I have never seen him so excited to play with something.  He was so engaged and concentrated so hard on getting the felt pieces up.  He seriously could have played with it all day.  Besides coloring, I think this will give him some much needed creative time as well as time to think and organize.  Great great idea and I'm so glad it worked out to do this year.  It will be one that I hope to save for years to come.  The whole project was $8 and I have tons of leftover colored felt that can be used for another time.  Wise investment, I would say!

Now, on to the rest of the house.  We were a little unsure of how Nolan would react to the ornaments this year since he now has the ability to mess with the tree.  He did good at the beginning, but once he realized that he could take one off and get a reaction out of us, he was a madman.  Everyone he took off, we moved to a place he couldn't reach it and it became a game to him.  He would stare at the tree, find his next victim, tear it from the tree and sprint off.  This happened at least 10 times.  It was hilarious and exhausting at the same time and all of the ornaments are now on the top half of the tree and it looks ridiculous.  Actually, pretty hilarious.  You can't even tell really when the lights are on.  Which by the way, I wish I had Nolan's reaction on tape when we turned the lights on for the first time.  He kept doing it though, so one of these nights I will get it.  He just kept saying "Ooohhhh" with a huge surprised look on his face.  So cute.

With the new season upon us,  I of course was excited to Christmasify the entry table.  I used things we already had and just switched stuff out, and used some awesome items from the sale Pamida had last year after Christmas.  Like, the reindeer was seriously 75 cents.  The candle set, maybe a dollar, and all of those green and red ornaments were less than $1 each for three tubes of them.  Very inexpensive little project.  The little nativity was one I had from when I was a kid.  The vase with the things sticking out, I literally removed the yellow fall leaves and left the red and green decor.  Simple little switch.  Don't have to spend much to make a space the way you want it to look.

Hope everyone is having fun getting into the holiday spirit!  I absolutely love this time of year and was excited to see some snow outside today!

Breaking Dawn Part 2

There are a lot of movies out/coming out that I am really excited to see- Silver Linings Playbook, The Sessions, Argo, etc.  I usually wait until they come out on DVD to watch on Netflix, but there is one movie coming out today (well technically yesterday in some theaters) that I am dying to see.  Like a little too crazy obsessed ready to see.  I am actually discussing ways that I could go during the week day some day when Scott is home for a couple days for Thanksgiving.  But to celebrate the fifth and final movie of the Twilight Saga- Breaking Dawn Part 2, I have one of my favorite songs ever from the Breaking Dawn Part 1 soundtrack.

And if we need a refresher of the movie trailer, here she is:

Ugh, it gives me chills....  :)  Apparently the end is different from the book, so even dedicated readers will have a surprise.  Reviews are coming out from regular people I know and actual movie critics that it is awesome.  Eek can't wait! 

Excel Mark Identity Theft Protection Stamp

Scott and I have made it a habit to shred or tear up every piece of mail we get where our address is located.  This has become annoying and burdensome and the shredding pile in our office is out of control.  I would show you a picture, but it is too embarrassing at this time.  I saw this product on- I want to say the Today Show- and knew it would be perfect for us.  So, a couple of months ago, I searched for Identity Theft Stamps and found the Excel Mark Brand with the double sided ink to be the best.  A lot of the other stamp's reviews stated that the ink didn't stick well to magazine type material paper, but this one did.  We get a lot of slick type mail, so I wanted to make sure it worked on everything.  It came in the mail and I got to stamping a small pile.  And it was absolutely awesome.  You couldn't see our name or address if you tried.  We now either stamp our mail and toss it in the trash right away or sort the mail for things that need to be dealt with.  This stamp has greatly reduced our paper mounds in our office and on our counters in the kitchen.  Although, if you saw them now you wouldn't know cause it is all older stuff we haven't had a chance to get through.

I wouldn't be doing a whole post about a stamp if I didn't think everyone should get one.  Cause seriously, you should.  You will thank me for it!  And you get to stamp things!

Why Carving Pumpkins is Just About the Worst Thing in the World

Our backyard tree changing colors. :)

I had a plan.  I wanted to paint pumpkins this year.  I had some cool ideas, but the thought of painting pumpkins was horrendous to Scott.  You carve pumpkins, you don't paint them.  Ok, fine.  We will carve them.  And I have to say that I can't remember the last time I carved a pumpkin.  Maybe two other times in my life?   And after this experience, I know I haven't missed out on anything.

If someone would have told us, don't buy three large pumpkins and those awesome Sesame Street character carvings for them cause it isn't going to turn out well for you, I would have listened to them.  And kissed them on the mouth.  Because random people who predict things are always correct and never creepy.

It all started at Target where we found some large punkins and cute carvings and we were so excited.  Cause it was Nolan's first year of being able to interact with the situation and we thought he would just love them.  And he loves Elmo, so this was just going to be some special memories for all.  Just the best moments ever.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com

It took us awhile to actually do anything with the pumpkins so they sat in our entryway for over a week.  We returned home from eating dinner last Friday night and our house smelled like dead fish.  DEAD FISH.  We attributed the leftovers we brought home to this smell, went to bed and woke up to the smell again of DEAD FISH.  Why are there dead fish in every room of our house?  It was concerning.  We were getting ready to leave for our family pictures when I looked in our entryway to only describe a scene of pumpkin horror (cue Psycho shower scene audio).  There was about a 3ft. (in length) pool of orange liquid in our entryway and I asked Scott, uhhh did something spill over here?  Only to see that it was coming out of one of the pumpkins.  Scott immediately picked that (not carved) pumpkin up and it immediately fell apart.  He got it together and threw it out and cleaned up the nasty on the floor before Nolan could take advantage of this new-fangled fall swimming pool.  We learned our lesson and put the remaining two pumpkins outside for them to do their business. We sprayed some Febreeze and came back to our house after pictures and the smell was almost gone.  Thank goodness.  And Then There Were Two.

We finally decided to carve the pumpkins this past Sunday night, and I wanted to do it outside to create less of a mess inside but we were losing daylight as the Raiders game was coming to an end.  We went out and I immediately got one of the tops and guts carved out.  Our little carving tool broke halfway cutting the top off. Awesome.  So we had to get a knife.  Even us watching it and Nolan like hawks, Nolan still managed to grab it twice.  Sneaky little guy.  After our hearts started beating again and the wind picked up, we decided to move the operation inside where it would be a bit safer having to place to put all these dangerous tools and Scott got to work on the first carving of Big Bird.  It didn't go well.  We tried tracing it with a dark marker but still couldn't do it especially without our carving tool.  I suggested PAINTING THE FREAKING THING.  He again resisted, but I insisted.  The only paint that we had on hand was washable but I thought I would at least try it.  It couldn't have been more transparent.  It looked not great.  I said lets just put it out there, but Scott didn't see it fit to sit on our porch.  So in the garbage it went.  What a waste of a diseased looking Big Bird traced pumpkin.  And Then There Was One.

Screw the carving helpers.  Too detailed and and with our janky knifes, just not gonna happen.  Nolan doesn't care anyway, I certainly don't care at this point anymore, so we settled with your typical Jack- O- Lantern.  Scott quickly cut out the pumpkin and it was just beautiful.

I saw somewhere where you can put glow sticks in them so you don't have to use candles and I tried 6 glow sticks and it looked so stupid.  Cause you can see the glow sticks sitting at the bottom and they barely illuminated anything.  Well, we got one pumpkin carved and it looks pretty Halloweeny, so it wasn't a complete failure.  Maybe he will take my advice next year and just paint the pumpkins.  Actually, he will take my advice cause that is what is going to happen for the rest of our lives.  All I have to say is remember the Pumpkin Disaster of 2012 and that Nolan picked up a knife TWICE?  That's what I thought.

Happy Halloween.

My Green Onion Experiment

Did you know that if you trim off old green onions to their white root and put them in water, they grow new green onions?  Yeah, me neither.  If you did, then you just beat me in green onion trivia.  I just saw this recently and by golly, we had green onions in our fridge so I trimmed them down cause they were getting a bit old and threw them in a jar and thought I would give it a shot.  I gave it a nice window sill to look into for some sunlight and away we went. 

Where the white cuts off to the green is where I originally trimmed them.

I was a bit skeptical for the first couple of days, but look where we are at a week into it!  Green onions!  Sprouting like they never have before!  You essentially don't have to buy green onions ever again.  We rarely eat them, but hey, its just a fun experiment!  I'm just gonna keep letting them grow to see what happens.  I will draw the line if they start taking over the world.

After one week

Newport Trip: Day 4

And here we are at the fourth and final day of our Newport Trip.  It was a bittersweet day because we were having a lot of fun, but we were sure ready to get back to our little man.  We woke up and got everything packed up in the car and decided to walk around a bit before our reservations for The Mooring at noon. We looked in some shops we hadn't gone in yet, found some neat anchors :)  and got a closer look at St. Mary's Cathedral where JFK and Jackie O got married.

 

St. Mary's Parish

Lobster Store and Restaurant.  You could buy them from the tanks or eat them at their restaurant right inside.  We were told this was the best place to get a lobster roll.  Don't get much fresher than the catch that morning.

These little water bowls were on a lot of the outside store stands for the dogs.  Told you they were dog friendly.

 We still had a bit of time before The Mooring opened for the day so I took a picture of these pretty chairs overlooking the water.  How fun is that?

And ahhh, here we are at The Mooring.  Easily the best place we ate the entire trip.  It was a great way to end a fun weekend.  Click here for their website.

This Bag of Doughnuts appetizer was recommended to us by Megan.  She definitely did not steer us wrong.  Absolutely amazing.  They were sort of like fancy hush puppies with lobster, crab, and shrimp in the middle.

 I tried to open one up but it is kind of hard to see the lumps of lobster and crab meat.

This was our view from our table.  And no, I didn't zoom in.  We were right on the water and it was so beautiful.

I got the Atlantic Salmon.  It was piled on asparagus, tomatoes, and ricotta gnocchi.  I told Scott this was the best meal I have ever eaten in my life.  It was cooked to perfection.   I wish seafood was the main meat source in Nebraska as this is my kind of food. :)

And here we have Scott's bundle of joy- the Mooring Scampi.  It came with a full lobster tail, scallops, shrimp, and other fun goodies.  I think he was in heaven.  The scallops were so tender.  We were so unbelievably full by the end of it we could barely move.

Even though we were full, we decided to treat ourselves to some frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf and then went to go see the Museum of Newport History.  It was just a small little number in the upstairs portion of the Museum of Newport History store.  Pretty interesting I would say.

 After the museum, we decided to call it a day and head to the airport.  We went back over the Pell Bridge and back to Providence for our flights.  Anyone who has gotten a Pell Grant for college- this bridge was named after the same guy.

Our flights were on time and we got safely home around 11 PM.   What a great place to vacation and I hope it's not the last time I get to go there.  Definitely somewhere I would recommend for a family once your kids are old enough to walk on their own for a full day as they don't allow strollers in the mansions and such. We couldn't wait to get up in the morning to see our little boy and give him a big huge hug.  It was wonderful to get away just the two of us for a bit, but we were so happy to be all together again.

Newport Trip: Day 3

This was the day we were planning to go to Boston, but having to make up a day and weighing the drive and trying to fit a bunch of stuff into one day there made our decision easy to spread out what we wanted to do in Newport.  That way, we didn't have to rush through things and we could just enjoy this beautiful state and city.  We will go to Boston another time!

One of the things that Scott was told to do by "his sources" was to go to Allie's Donuts in North Kingstown, RI.  So, we woke up Saturday morning and drove 20 min back over the toll bridge for some donuts.  I know, I was just as skeptical as you are.  When we found it, it looked like something straight from a very tiny town in Nebraska.  It was a small, humble little place that looked a bit worn down.  But, the difference was that it had a line almost going out the door.  People were shouting their orders to the young ladies behind the counter and it was chaos.  Scott got two cinnamon roll donut things and I got two double chocolate donuts.  We figured we could eat the second ones the next morning for breakfast.  After we woke up from our blackout of chaos, we got to the car and realized the donuts that Scott got were bigger than his face and not something he could eat on the go.  Really wish we would have gotten a picture of those.  So, we went back to Katie's to eat them and then it was time for MANSION TOURS!!!

The mansion tours was the first thing on my list of things I wanted to do in Newport.  I hated that we had to wait til day three to see them, but I am so glad we reserved a full day for them.  It was only $7 more to see five mansions than it was to get the two-mansion package, so we justified getting the five mansion package cause if we went to three of them, we would still come out ahead.  We were able to get to four of them before we thought we were going to collapse and we were very satisfied with that.  The order in which we went to see the mansions were The Breakers, Marble House, Rosecliff, and The Elms.  Just typing the names of these makes me want to fly back out there.  I don't know what it is about the history of the people who lived in these enormous, beautiful homes or learning about what their lives were like back then that fascinates me so, but it really really does.  It was a good thing we started with the biggest and went down to the smallest cause our bodies were hurting by the end of it.

Our first stop was The Breakers.  

Front of The Breakers

The Breakers is the grandest of Newport's summer "cottages" and a symbol of the Vanderbilt family's social and financial preeminence in turn of the century America. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) established the family fortune in steamships and later in the New York Central Railroad, which was a pivotal development in the industrial growth of the nation during the late 19th century.   Source
Click here and here to find out even more about this mansion.

Side view of The Breakers

 And yes, you saw correctly- it was considered to be the Vanderbilt's summer cottage.  In fact, all of these mansions were considered summer cottages.  This 70-room, 130,000 sq. ft. mansion was their little get-away during the summers.  To put this into perspective, their dining room had more square feet in it than the first and second floors of our house combined.  It was just absolutely fabulous.  They have a beautiful grand staircase that goes into the center of the home where the children used to take baking pans and slide down them.  President Kennedy dined in this same area of the home.  During our audio tour, we learned of all of the guests that were there and you could just take your mind to that time period and see all of the people gathering together.  Some of the most famous people of their time were in that house.  They were one of the few homes that had plumbing and electricity in those days and those who lived there took several baths a day and would change their clothes up to 7 times a day. They had maids and butlers at their beck and call with just the push of a button.  That would be the life.  They talked about how the maids and butlers absolutely loved their jobs because they got to be a part of all of this.  The maids would do laundry all day long, changing sheets and towels after just one use and they were able to put their clothes and other laundry away without having to disrupt the Vanderbilt's as they had secret ways of stocking their closets so they didn't get in their way. 

Back of The Breakers

 If I could have taken pictures of the inside of it, I probably would have broken my camera.  But since we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, I was just able to take it all in and enjoy every minute.  This mansion took the longest since it was the biggest of them all.  Once we had gone through the whole house- the living spaces, the dining areas, the bedrooms, the fabulous library, the fantastic kitchen and butler's pantry, we walked along the grounds and got to see the amazing views of the ocean.  Just unbelievable.   The fact that anyone got to or gets to live like this is just unfathomable to me.   During this tour, I asked Scott if we could get a new house like this one.  He said he would think about it.  Fingers crossed!  I've already started planning the first ball we are going to have, so....

Their view from their back lawn to the Atlantic Ocean

The next house we went to was Marble House.
Marble House was built between 1888 and 1892 for Mr. and Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt. (Grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt) It was a summer house, or "cottage", as Newporters called them in remembrance of the modest houses of the early 19th century. But Marble House was much more; it was a social and architectural landmark that set the pace for Newport's subsequent transformation from a quiet summer colony of wooden houses to the legendary resort of opulent stone palaces. Source

Marble House

As one would assume, the entire house is made of marble from the floors to the walls.  This house was quite interesting because Mrs. Vanderbilt divorced her husband which was very rare to do back in those days, especially to someone of his status.  She ended up remarrying and living basically across the street at Belcourt Castle (which is famously haunted) and she used Marble House as a large closet for herself as Mr. Vanderbilt no longer lived there.

Backside of Marble House

We had lunch at the Chinese Tea House and it was really neat to be in there and have a quick little lunch by the ocean.  Perfect spot for our crazy day!  In 1912, Alva Vanderbilt Belmont commissioned the construction of a Chinese Tea House at the foot of the Marble House lawn. She celebrated its opening on July 25, 1914 with a lavish Chinese costume ball at Marble House. It also provided a backdrop for political rallies and teas to raise funds for the "Votes for Women" campaign.  Source

She was a major part for this campaign and actually had dishes made that said "Votes For Women" in her home. And they were for sale in the gift shop ;).

Chinese Tea House

Their view of the ocean

The next house we went and visited was Rosecliff.  
Commissioned by Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs in 1899, architect Stanford White modeled Rosecliff after the Grand Trianon, the garden retreat of French kings at Versailles. After the house was completed in 1902, at a reported cost of $2.5 million, Mrs. Oelrichs hosted fabulous entertainments here, including a fairy tale dinner and a party featuring famed magician Harry Houdini. Source

Rosecliff

Some movies that have been filmed at Rosecliff have been The Great Gatsby, True Lies, Amistad, and most recently 27 Dresses.  They said that women will favor this house over men and I would certainly say that it is true.  It is absolutely beautiful inside with florals, rose colored rooms, several dresses of the time, and a grand hall.  You could just picture the balls with fabulous gowns of the time.

Front right garden-like walk through

Backside of Rosecliff

Rosecliff's view of the ocean.  One of my favorites with the beautiful concrete fence line.

And finally, we visited The Elms.  This one is said to be favored by the men which I can totally see.  There is quite the manly decor full of rich dark woods.  
The Elms was the summer residence of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Julius Berwind of Philadelphia and New York. Mr. Berwind made his fortune in the Pennsylvania coal industry. In 1898, the Berwinds engaged Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer to design a house modeled after the mid-18th century French chateau d'Asnieres (c.1750) outside Paris. Source

My favorite part of this house was the conservatory.  I have heard of these on the boardgame Clue, but have never actually seen one.  It was very neat and what one might compare a large sun room with a lot of plants to be nowadays.  Quite understated, but you get the gist. They also had a hidden drive thru area where the workers would come to drop off whatever the house needed at the time such as ice or supplies so no one could see them.  They also said that every day there would be fresh cookies and milk for the children.  I think I could get used to that.

The Elms

 

Drive-thru covered in trees so no one could see people coming and going

The Elms Carriage House  (See the orb?  Yeah, I have a few other pictures with this same orb in it, so I'm pretty sure we had a ghostly follower while walking the grounds.  Or a refection from the sun.  Either way...)

Backside of The Elms

Part of the grounds of the Elms

I have to say that although The Elms did not have an ocean view in their backyard, they have quite an impressive property and grounds that were so fun to walk through.  It seemed there was more and more to find the further you walked.  Absolutely beautiful.  The Elms was actually going to be torn down, but they were able to preserve it just in the nick of time- one week before a wrecking ball was going to go through it.  Those who had bought some of the furniture from the home when it was going to be sold, actually brought some of it back because they were so excited it was going to be saved.

One thing to note about these houses was that they were not all the original homes as most burnt down or they just wanted something bigger.  They were mostly the second homes that were built to resist any chance of fire.  I can't even begin to explain to you the details in each of these homes.  For example in The Breakers, above one of the doors there are cherubs and if you look closely, you can see a train behind them and one of the angels pulling a lever (He made his fortune in the railroad business).  Every single room was thought of considerably.  In one home, there is an enormous painting on the ceiling that appears to be backwards but they did that on purpose so that the lady of the house could see it the correct way when it reflected off of the mirror in a separate room.  Just so much detail.  Each painting, each column with carvings, everything down to the bathtubs, meant something to them and was completely thought about.  Just beautiful.  You could spend an entire week in one of these homes and continuously find something new.  Can you tell I completely enjoyed this day?  Below is a column in front of The Breakers that gives you an indication of what is in every inch of these houses regarding the details-

We went back to the condo and took a little break to just sit down with some Dunkin Donuts coffee (which we had twice while we were there).  What is it with donut places?  We then searched for the best place to get pizza in town and found Nikolas Pizza which was actually just a few places down from Sardella's.  It was quite yummy.

We finished out the night at Tickets Bar having a couple drinks with Megan and Tim as we weren't going to get to see her the rest of the trip.  Had a wonderful time visiting and watching the closing ceremonies of The Olympics!

Phew!  Did reading that exhaust you too?  Coming up- a very less involved Day 4!