the first city post.

i am here...

with these guys...

and loving it!

eiffel.

dug this one up while going through pictures from the summer
location: eiffel tower, paris, france

on my mind.

seeing that one of my favorite summers was spent on the upper west side manhattan, i'm thinking a repeat wouldn't be a bad idea. summer 09 in NYC? sounds like my plan.

expectations exceeded.

while in mexico, we: ate a lot of tacos from the same taco stand, built a septic tank, carried wet cement up a large hill in a wheelbarrow (and fell), laid cinder block for a new nursery, played with these little ones pictured above, took them to the pool, went to the beach, gave them presents and some much needed love and attention. so so fun. i loved it. learn more at the foundation's website.

oh mexico.

As our good friend james taylor would put it, "ohhhh mexico, it sounds so simple I just got to go." I'm off to mexico for the next week. I'll be doing a humanitarian project in an orphanage with some friends. I'm so lucky and excited. See you all next week!

boston red sox.

game 1: cole and dad venture to fenway for the first time. my mom and i decided shopping sounded better than the whole "let's go to the park and get some scalper tickets to the yankees series opener." dad gets a seat behind a pole while cole sits alone in his zone refusing to do anything but sport is perma-smile.

game 2: all 4 of us head to fenway after a possible rain-out scare (tickets previously purchased) and walk to our seats directly behind home plate. the night turned out to be perfect... and the red sox beat the yankees. win win.

game 3: cole, dad and i sit in the box across from the green monster and enjoy fenway franks and peanuts. the sox lost, but we loved every minute.

province town.

cape cod was my favorite part of our boston adventure. bike riding, great food, lighthouses, ferry rides, and quaint little shops. not to mention a lot of diversity that we were not prepared for... all in all, there is nothing better than a family vacation. especially with a family like mine. next time, it will be even better with these two.

boston, mass.

boston, mass.

i'm off.

monterossa, italy
to boston for the week... i'm thinking that cape cod might look a little something like this... wishful thinking?

bookstore in paris.

it was a shame that we found this bookstore in the morning, because it made me want to read all day. it brought me back to those times where my mom would come down and find me reading under the covers with a flashlight. wouldn't it be nice to sit around and read a book all day? someday...

paris.

just a few highlights from my day in paris... which is my new favorite vacation spot.

best soft serve ice cream i've ever encountered... and i've been around the block when it comes to soft serve

we had to search for orangina in a glass bottle- everyone knows it tastes better in the glass bottle. we finally found it on a little narrow street near the moulin rouge

loved the flower pots in the windows

yes, i did ride a carousel in paris and yes, i did enjoy every minute of it

love love love

scotland.

it would be fair to say that i love scotland. we spend two days in the capital, edinburgh. we mostly hiked, explored the city, took warm showers in our hostel (for a change) and ate at a few interesting pubs... i'm proud to say that i am of scottish descent!

view on our hike, on the ascend to arthur's seat

these men tried to get us to go on a ghost tour... there are some interesting scottish men in edinburgh.

beautiful church. my favorite so far.


gotta love the kilt- i wonder if he's a macdonald...

edinburgh... beautiful sky

us on top of arthur's seat. the wind was blowing so hard so it is not the best picture but it was beautiful.