A trip to see the Grandparents!

Happy Saturday to all :) 

Well, it rained ALL day today in Mass. It was the first day that it has rained since we have been here. Actually, that's a lie. There was a thunderstorm one night last week but it didn't effect the day at all so I am not counting it. :) Plus, the lightning was pretty cool. 

So, I didn't blog yesterday so I will fill you in on what we have been up to! I had an interview in Norwell, MA yesterday which is south east of Boston. We are staying on the north side of Boston so we had a pretty hefty drive in front of us. However, it was nothing that we couldn't handle since of course, we drove across the country and all. It took about an hour or so to get to Norwell from Danvers. My interview was at 10:15 so we left the house around 9. The interview was for this kids gym called "My Gym." It's a gym that is located nationwide (even one in Portland) and seems to be very successful. 

We arrived on time despite some of the traffic we encountered while driving through Boston. I met with this very nice man probably in his early 30's at the gym. He was by far the nicest guy I had interviewed with thus far. Apparently someone told him that he should have been one of the Wiggles. haha... Yeah, he definitely had that kind of personality.

So, let me tell you a little about the gym. Their focus is mainly geared toward toddlers to about 5 years old. It is a kids fitness gym but I would obviously not be training the way that I would like to be because well, the kids are little and that would be unsafe and unnecessary. Anyway, a certain age group of children would come into the gym and participate in an hour session. During that session, instructors (this would be my job) would teach the kids both very basic physical skills and social skills. I was watching one of the classes and all the teacher did was teach the kids how to skip and presented a small puppet show with the group. The kids were about 3 years old at best and seemed to love every second of it. With that said, I can see how the job would be very rewarding. They do different activities and learn new skills every session. In order to do that the instructors use a very structured manuel that walks them through exactly how to do everything. So, if I did work there I wouldn't have to come up with any curriculum because it would be all there for you. If hired, I would do a 60 day trial period where I would watch the other instructors teach and learn how instruct. At the end of 60 days I would be evaluated and if they liked me enough, then I could teach in front of the class. The only downside of the job that I could find is that I would have to work EVERY Saturday, which I don't particularly want to do and the location is kind of out of the way.

Anyway, The man who interviewed me was really nice. He seemed really interested in me and asked me a lot about my background with kids (which I have a lot of) as well as many other questions. He told me that he was very interested in hiring me but didn't want me to have to commute an hour to work everyday. I told him I would think about it and let him know in the next week or so. Personally, I liked the environment and the people and the overall layout of the job but I decided that I really just want to train somewhere. That is where my heart is right now and I think that's what I need to be doing. As nice as he was, I think I probably won't take that job. However, nothing is certain until I hear from the other gyms first. 

After the interview, we were on our way to New Bedford, MA to visit my grandparents. However, Teej insisted that we stop in Plymouth first to look at the historical rock. We also saw this pretty cool ship that was interpreting the Mayflower. He hadn't ever seen it before and felt the need to see where the Pilgrims landed in 1620. We stopped there for about 15 minutes to look at the rock. Apparently it is a lot smaller that it was when they first arrived due to the weather causing it to erode over the years, so we found that to be very interesting.  It wasn't as exciting as it sounds (or maybe it doesn't sound that exciting haha) so we literally just looked at it and went back to the car. 

By the time we got to New Bedford it was almost 1pm. We felt bad because we had originally thought that we would arrive at my grandparents house by lunch time but my interview took a lot longer then I thought. My grandparents were so gracious and didn't mind what time we got there. They were just happy to see us. Teej had never met either of them and I hadn't seen them in over 5 years so the visit was long overdue. We walked into their cute little home that not only my dad and aunt grew up in but my grandpa lived in when he was growing up. He had lived there since he was 5 years old. If that doesn't tell you how old the house is then I don't know what does. 

It was really fun to see them. They are getting older now but both looked the same as they had 5 years ago when I last saw them. We walked in and sat on their couch that they have had forever and chatted about our trip across country, both my sister and my wedding, my dad and mom, and much more. We showed them wedding photos and my dad and my dance from the wedding. They both loved that. They weren't able to make it to the weddings so I think they were very happy to see the photos. There were so many photos that by the time I had shown them all Grandma said "boy, I felt like I was there." haha..  I was happy about that. 

They wanted to take us downtown so we could see the historic district and walk around a bit before lunch. Downtown New Bedford is pretty cute and VERY small. It has a lot of really old historic buildings along with some great cobblestone roads that made us feel like we were in Europe. They took us into The Whaling Museum, which is pretty much their main and ONLY attraction to see in New Bedford. My grandparents are members there so they had free tickets that we could use to get in for free. How sweet! However, before really getting past the front door we lost grandpa. We thought he went into the bathroom but we couldn't find him. Teej and I looked all over the museum and by the time we came back he was sitting there with grandma. Teej went and looked in the bathroom and said he wasn't there but who really knows. haha.. It's a mystery I guess. I'm just glad that we found him. :) 

I think both Teej and my favorite part of the museum was the replica Mayflower ship that they had built to take up this incredibly large room. It was really cool and we took lots of pictures of that. 

We headed to lunch after that at this place the grandparents really like called "Davy's Locker." Apparently my grandparents would take my dad and aunt a lot when they were growing up so it was fun to go somewhere that had a lot of memories. It was also an awesome place to go eat seafood. I ordered lobster mac n' cheese! It is a very popular dish on the east coast right now so I figured that my first lobster experience should be with some mac n' cheese. It was pretty amazing though minus the fact that it was so rich and very dense. I ate about half of it and couldn't handle take another bite. Teej had shrimp and pasta which was a little lighter and tasted very good. 

After we ate, Grandma thought it would be fun to drive along the ocean so we could see it. We parked in this parking lot and got out and took some photos. It was pretty dang cold though so we didn't stay long. The view was beautiful but I think it would have been slightly more enjoyable if it were a little warmer. Maybe we'll go back in the summer! 

We headed back to their house for a little bit to chat before heading back to Danvers. Overall, we had a really nice visit. I think they had fun too! Grandma even commented on how she thought Teej was such a safe driver, which I think he really appreciated. :) Oh, we also stopped and got some linguica at the local store before heading out. It's a meat that looks like a sausage but doesn't really taste like one. Teej had never had it before we we had to buy it for him to try this week sometime.

Great day! Oh, I haven't heard from Latitude yet but I am hoping to in the next couple days. Also, I had a follow up interview at GISFW today and they had me do a workout for them. They also wanted to hire me but they understand that Teej and I are not settled anywhere and have other interviews to do so they said that they would be more than willing to wait and see what I decide. So nice! I am so blessed by all the opportunities to work places. God is so good and really does provide. 

Tomorrow? I think we are going to try out a church in Danvers and then we might go into Boston with Eva depending on the weather. :) It's supposed to rain so we'll see what happens. 

Love to all! 

Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all! Romans 12:16

Salem, MASS and a round of interviews

Welcome back to the blog. It has been a couple days and a few things have happened that I figure I would share with the world... or at least those individuals that read this blog of mine! 

The last couple of days have been pretty uneventful because they have been full of interviews. Kinda boring but hey, at least we have been blessed to know that people want to meet with us! I think that you all heard about my first experience with the gym called "WOW" and how much I disliked being there. Well, I sent them an email today telling them that it wasn't going to be a good fit for me so I think I'm in the clear on that one. 

Yesterday Teej and I both went on an interview. His was in the morning at this sports marketing firm in a little town called Woburn. (apparently pronounced woo-burn) Anyway, his was at noon and lasted about 20 minutes. I wasn't sure if I should be surprised he came out so quickly or worried. He told me that it went well and that specific interview was more informational. You know, making sure that you are not a crazy person trying to come in and get hired somewhere. Apparently they liked him enough to desire to bring him back for a second one. He said that the next one would be a little longer (approx. 2 hours) and it would be more of a shadowing type interview where he would watch the people work and see if that would be something he is interested in. Unfortunately, he has called twice now to schedule a time to do that and they haven't answered or called back either time so we're not really sure how to take that. Regardless, it seems like a job Teej could be interested in. 

My interview was at 4 that afternoon so I came back and prepared a little bit before heading over to Latitude sports club. We had driven by it on the way to my first interview so I had an idea of where it was. As we were driving by the first time I was immediately impressed of the overall size of the facility. From the outside it looked brand new with big glass windows and several different floors. Needless to say, I was excited to see what this gym was all about. The guy I had been talking with over email named Rusty seemed like a much more legitimate and professional individual so I had high hopes. I walked into the facility and I was amazed at how beautiful and modern it looked. Rusty immediately came down and met me. He was so nice right off the bat (very different then WOW) and started the interview with a tour of their facility. There are 4 floors to the gym with a ton of open space, which is something I LOVE. They had amenities up the wazoo. There were 4 racquetball courts, a big pool at the top floor, 3-4 workout studios for classes, a big track to run around, 4-5 tennis courts, a giant rock wall, a juice bar, 2 saunas, a hot tub, a women's only area, and much more. I was blown away by how great the facility was. I told him that even if I didn't get a job here I just wanted to join because it looked so awesome. 

The interview went well. He asked me SEVERAL questions regarding fitness, which I appreciated. He took an interest in me and what I was about as well as told me a little about himself and how he liked to run the gym. Training seemed like a great fit for me at this specific area. At the end of the interview he told me he was interested and wanted to have me come back for a "workout" interview. This meant that I would come up with a series of exercises and take him through a workout. This would include showing him how to do the exercise correctly, modifications for it, safety, positioning, etc. I was nervous to do that but excited to FINALLY be able to show off some of my skills that I have from NPTI (National Personal Trainer Institute). 

So, I think that brings you up to date prior to today. This morning I had an interview out in Wilmington, MA for this small studio gym called "Get In Shape For Women. (GISFW)" I had never heard of it before but apparently it is VERY popular out here on the east coast. The manager called me yesterday and wanted me to come in and talk with him. GISFW is much different then Latitude in that it is located in a small section of a strip mall. The whole facility is in 1 room and their focus is training 4 people at a time. The nice thing about that job would be that I would be doing group training, which can be fun and I would get designated hours to which I would come in and train. If the clients who signed up for the time slot didn't come in to workout, I would still get paid. That wouldn't be the case at the big gym. GISFW's philosophy is to do 30 minutes of resistance training (weights and things) and then 25 minutes of cardio and that's it. It's all very much the same every time you come in (kind of reminded me of curves) but it's a little more intense then that. The owners were very nice. It was a married couple who owned it and they just had a baby so they were in serious need of some trainers. They told me all about the company and pretty much said, in so many words, that they were desperate for trainers. They had 90 clients coming in a week and only 2 trainers. I was interested by the end so I told them I would come in on Saturday morning and go through how they do a workout, shadow a couple sessions, and then perform my own workout on them to see how I do. It would last a total of 3 hours. The only thing I didn't like was the size of the facility. Latitude was much more up my alley in terms of what they had to offer there (more opportunities and things) but this gym could offer me guaranteed pay and guaranteed hours off the bat. So, at this point I was very conflicted. 

With all that said, I had a lot to think about but not a lot of time. Right after my first interview at GISFW I went straight to my "workout" interview at Latitude. I had put together a circuit for Rusty to do. He wanted me to get his heart rate up but add some weights in there. I came up with 5 exercises to do and was going to have him do that 3 times. The "workout" part went really well. He asked me in the middle of my explanations if I had taught or trained before because I was very good at explaining and hit all the elements I needed to hit. I told him I hadn't and I think he was impressed. He then asked me how to do a basic squat so I showed him how and then I did a modified version that he had never seen before. He took interest in that and said he was going to start doing that with his clients. I felt cool that I showed him how to do something. It was really fun! At the end of the interview, he told me he had to take a look at one more girl tomorrow and would try and let me know by the end of tomorrow what he had decided. Apparently the other girl just went through NPTI as well so she might be doing the same stuff I did. Who knows? Anyway, I think it went well. By the end of the session I was really pumped up and felt like this is where I REALLY wanted to work. I guess we'll wait and see what the Lord has planned for me. I am just grateful for the opportunities to try! 

After the interviews, Teej and I decided to go on a trip to Salem, MASSACHUSETTS. Not Salem, Oregon people! I will admit, it was weird being in Mass and not in Oregon. Teej said he felt like he should know where he is going because he was in Salem but he obviously didn't. We went to this cute little park called Salem Willows Park, which was about 25 minutes away from Danvers. It took us a while to get there though because the Massachusetts road system isn't very good. It seems like it's all one way traffic so it takes longer to get anywhere. We didn't really care though because we weren't on any sort of time crunch. The park was very cute and overlooked the ocean, which is a big reason why we went. There were some old arcades and casinos near the park that we walked by before we decided to check out the park. It was a beautiful walk along the water. 

As we reached the end of the park, there was a neighborhood that you could walk in. Teej loves looking at houses so we decided to walk through that area and look at all the neat homes. We decided they all looked so unique and had their own fun flare to them. We said that we wouldn't mind living in one of those someday. Maybe not in Salem, though! 

As we headed back toward the park we stopped and got some homemade ice cream from this stand near the shops. IT. WAS. PHENOMENAL. I think you can really tell a difference between homemade and not homemade.... and this was definitely homemade. We both got blackraspberry and I got it with vanilla. It was so rich and creamy and FILLING haha... oh yeah, and not very good for you, but whatever! 

We went back to the car after that and decided to drive into downtown Salem to see if we could find the place where the Salem Witch Trials took place. The town itself wasn't very large and so we parked at this small parking garage and walked around a bit seeing what we could find. We found the salem witch trials museum but didn't want to pay to go in so we just took a picture from the outside. Plus, it looked kinda creepy so I figured it was best to stay outside the museum. I think I would have just freaked myself out if I went in. 

Anyway, we walked all around the area and didn't see much at all. The only cool things I saw were a Harry Potter store, a sweet trolley, the graveyard of the people of Salem in the 1600's, and a beautiful old church that they turned into a Boys and Girls Club. Overall, Salem was ok. We didn't love it but we were glad we went.

 

Tomorrow? Off to another interview in Norwell, MA. This is for a kids gym this time which might be kind of cool. Then, off to see the grandparents in New Bedford. Oh, but before that Teej really wants to see Plymouth Rock so I think we will take a detour to see that first before seeing the grandparents. Should be a fun day! 

Sorry for such a long post! Thanks for reading! 

Love to all....

Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth - a stranger, not your own lips. Prov. 27:2

Boston and an Interview

Hello, Hello!!!! 

Today was a really great and very interesting day! We, of course, slept in again because, well... we have no jobs or any commitments so we figure, why not catch up on sleep right? :) Anyway, I felt the need to do a workout this morning due to the fact that we ate at Woodman's last night. I went downstairs to the basement and picked a spot in between the couches and the wii console. I borrowed Aunt Michele's weights and created my own workout. I felt really out of shape by the end of it but it was a really great workout. You know, lots of sweating and feeling the need for water every ten seconds. It. was. awesome! 

Our plan today was to head downtown to Boston for my interview at this gym. The interview was at 2 and we had arranged to take the T train from the Oak Grove Station to the Downtown Crossing Station located on the orange line. We left with enough time to spare before the interview. Good thing we did because it took us a lot longer to get to Oak Grove then we thought. It took us about 25 minutes driving to just get to the silly little train station. As we arrived, the lot looked incredibly full so we were nervous that we might not even get a spot. Upon seeing the parking area we drove right past the entrance (for some reason) and got very confused how to even enter the lot. We tried to go in several entrances but all of them had that dreadful red and white sign that said do not enter. It was ridiculous. Teej finally decided that he should drop me off at the main gate to see if I could go talk to someone about where to enter the parking lot haha... Without thinking, I ran up the stairs to the area where you buy tickets to the train and saw no one in sight. So, I ran back down again and saw a cab driver to my left. I asked him where to enter the lot and he said it was ALL the way at the end of the lot. So, thinking he knew what he was talking about we drove ALL the way to end of the lot and saw no entrance sign. By this point we were frustrated because we were slowly running out of time to get there and still had no idea where to enter. Finally, we decided to drive around the station again and saw that we had originally driven past the entrance upon getting there. WE FELT SO DUMB!!! There was a guy standing at the window waiting for our money the whole time. I have no idea how we didn't see him. Anyway, after that fun adventure we paid our $5.50 for parking and found a spot in the lot. 

We walked up the stairs to buy tickets and yet again got confused. This time, however, it wasn't where the lot was. It was because we didn't know how to buy tickets. How touristy could we be, right? We had to have a man that worked there help us and then we were on our way to the train. We made it down the stairs and into the train right as it was about to leave. Good timing after all, huh? The train ride was surprisingly fast and only took us 20 minutes to get to downtown. It was pretty empty until the last few stops. The worst part about it was the smell. It had some weird people funk that I couldn't explain. Teej said it was way better than the New York subway, which I'm sure he was pretty accurate about.

Teej and I arrived in Boston with a half hour to spare before my interview. He grabbed some lunch and we walked around a bit before I went into the interview. Now, the interview was something else. It was called WOW (work out world) but owned by this company called "Blast Fitness." I had seen it online and it didn't look awful. It looked like a chain gym that was all over Massachusetts and was located in the heart of downtown. How bad could it be right? Well, I walk downstairs into the gym and met with the manager there. He was a younger guy, probably in his mid twenties and dressed very casual. I sat down with him at his office and we began the interview. The first and ONLY question he asked me was "What do you think a personal trainer is?" I told him that I thought it was someone who could support and encourage their client while they try and meet their personal fitness goals. His response was this. "The real answer to that question is simple. Personal Trainers are here to make money. From that moment, I knew this was going to be a very interesting interview. 

The manager began the interview by showing me how his company is run. He showed me how much I would get paid based on how many hours I'd work and how many clients I should be getting. It wasn't good pay at all. He showed me a lot of personal information about the staff that he has there which I didn't think was very professional. Some of that included how many clients each one had as well as what their income goals were for the month. Not ok dude. 

He proceeded to tell me about his staff that worked there. WOW fitness felt that it wasn't necessary to hire someone that had any sort of degree. He took my resume and crossed off the first part that had all my education on it. It looked good on paper apparently but if you can't sell then you are nothing. I was a little alarmed at this point. He told me that the staff he had was great. One guy only had a GED from high school and was training clients. Another girl previously worked at the criminal justice building. Oh, and one guy was a former hockey player. I asked him what training those people had to be personal trainers. You know what he said? They are athletes. They know how to keep people from getting hurt and how to make them get results. I WAS MORTIFIED. What we had been taught at school was completely opposite to all he had been telling me. He told me that some of training is common sense. If your back is hurting, what do you do? I said, don't do back exercises? He said, exactly. AHHHHHH... We were taught in school that if someone has a bad back you try and help them correct it by finding the source of the issue. Not doing back exercises is not helping the clients at all. It actually made me concerned for the clients that they were training. 

The kicker to all kickers was that he was cursing and throwing things at his staff while the interview was going on. Real professional, man. As you can probably tell it wasn't my cup of tea in terms of the work environment or anything it stood for. 

As we ended the interview (after him talking about himself and how great he and his gym was for an hour) he asked me to work for him. He said I could get some of his clients to train and be on a 2 week probation period to see how I do. It would be unpaid because they wouldn't be my clients, (having clients is the only way I'd get paid) so it would be more training to see if I am good fit. I wanted to say "HECK NO" but I was polite and told him I'd think about it and get back to him. I went out and told Teej all about the interview and he was mortified too. I just can't believe that people like that are out there. You know, those people who are so self absorbed and all they care about is getting money. It makes me sick. 

The rest of the afternoon was much more fun. Teej and I got a bite to eat at this fun healthy sandwich place that was attached to this yogurt bar and sat and talked for a while. Then, since we were so close to the "Commons Park" that we decided to do the Freedom Trail walk. It was so awesome. We followed this very well marked red line throughout the entire walk which helped us keep from getting lost. We started at the state house with the big gold dome on the top and ended at this bridge near the TD garden (where the Celtics play). We got to see some really great history on our walk today as well as some beautiful architecture of the old buildings in the area. I think some of my favorite places today were the cemetery where Ben Franklin's parents and Paul Revere were buried as well as the King's Chapel church and the area where the Boston Massacre happened. I felt like all the history I had learned in middle school was coming to life right in front of me. It was pretty cool! Teej and I really enjoyed our 2 hour adventure along the epic freedom trail. Here are some pictures we took along the way. 

state house

cemetery of ben franklin, his parents and revere

where the boston massacre happened 

We took the T train back to the Oak Grove station at rush hour. BAD IDEA! haha... But we made it safely back to Danvers. Eva, my other cousin came home tonight and we all had dinner together. It was fun getting to see her and catch up with her a bit. It had been probably 10 years since I had seen her so it was a fun reunion. 

Tomorrow? More interviews. Teej has one in Woburn and I have one in Peabody. Hopefully these go better then mine went today. We'll see! 

Love to all,

The humble will see their God at work and be glad. Let all who seek God's help be encouraged. Psalm 69:32

A Day In The Life: Danvers, MA

Well... I guess we are no longer counting days (even though technically it would be day 13) because we have safely arrived in Boston, which is our final destination point.  However, I still wanted to blog to keep you all updated on what Teej and I are doing while we are here!

The last few days we have been fortunate enough to stay at my wonderful aunt and uncles house in Danvers, MA. They have been so hospitable and gave us the entire 4th floor to ourselves. We have our own very own bedroom and bathroom. There is also an extra office room on the floor that I used yesterday morning as my workout area. It is a great setup and we are so grateful that we know someone here to stay with until we get jobs and are able to settle somewhere else. 

Yesterday was great. It was a very relaxing day where Teej and I did a total of 0 driving. Aunt Michele, Teej, my cousin Charlie (who is living there because he is home for the summer from college) and myself took a drive around the Danvers area. Aunt Michele wanted to show us the town and all it had to offer. We drove by some really cute colonial homes as well as a great park and farmers markets. On our way there, Aunt Michele wanted to show us this house that was covered in metal armor but as she was showing us she started to swerve into the other lane. Charlie was in the front and yelled "Mom, get in your lane." It was quite comical merely because of how Charlie talked to her. We all laughed about it and continued on our way. Michele proceeded to tell us that this is why my uncle Clint doesn't like her to drive much haha.. I think she is a fine driver though! The other semi comical thing that happened was when we went to the farmers market to pick up some corn on the cob for dinner. Charlie was apparently "fondling" the fruit too much so the boss came over and talked to Charlie and asked him to please not touch the fruit unless he was going to buy it. Charlie kind of stared him down and didn't say anything until he walked away. Too funny! Teej and I really enjoyed our time in the car with them. 

The rest of the day consisted of catching up on my blog and relaxing before dinner. We had a bbq that night and got to talk with my uncle Clint before heading off to bed. Again, great family to hang out with! 

Today, on the other hand was a little more eventful. We again, woke up late and took our time getting ready in the morning. It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside (high 70's) so Teej and I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. We walked 2 miles round trip to this park by a middle school. As we were walking we were noticing how different the houses were in New England versus those in Portland. First of all, they are massive here in New England. They seem to take up corners of blocks. Now, I know that there are massive houses in Portland too but these were different. I think it was because they were also a lot older then any home in Portland. We noticed that on some of the houses we walked by there were some plaques posted on the side of the house. They usually said who owned them and what year they were built. We saw some that were built in the 1700's. CRAZY!! The walk led us to a middle school that was so big that it looked like it had previously been a high school. Michele told us later that it looked so nice because they had just done a huge remodel on it. No wonder, huh? 

The afternoon was really fun. Michele, Clint, Charlie, Teej, and I all piled in their van and headed out for what they called a "North Shore" tour. They took us all around Cape Anne starting from Danvers and ending at Gloucester. We drove all along the Atlantic Ocean which was great because Teej had never really seen or step foot in that body of water. It was a whole new experience for him. We stopped at a beach called Harbor Beach and walked along the shoreline for a while. It was a gorgeous day so putting our feet in the ocean was no big deal. The water was even kind of WARM! Clint couldn't get over how warm the water was in May. Too funny. 

We also stopped at a loading dock that wasn't attached to the ocean. There were a lot of beautiful sailing ships in the distance and also those that were tied down at the dock. We took some fun pictures there. 

We ended our journey at a place called "Woodman's." Aunt Michele and Uncle Clint had been raving about this place all day so were really excited to try the food. It was a dinner place that served fish, fish, and more fish. It was all local (except the shrimp) and at a fairly decent price. The only problem is, (well if you find this a problem) is that the food was all fried. I normally don't eat fried food very much but I figured I just had to try the infamous Woodman's fried fish. Teej and I were both glad we did because it was AWESOME! We got a big platter of all different kinds of fish and french fries. It was also a great first experience of clams and scallops, which neither of us had ever had. We were thankful that they took us there to enjoy some New England traditions. 

After the meal we all felt pretty stuffed so we headed home and watched the Boston Celtics game. They played the Miami Heat in their first game of the series and lost pretty bad. It was nice to relax and watch the game with them, however. 

Tomorrow? Off to downtown Boston! I am going to talk with someone from Blast Fitness right in the heart of downtown. Wish me luck! I am not sure if it is a proper interview but he did want me to come in and talk with him so I am taking that as a good sign! 

Thanks for reading and more tomorrow! Love to all....

There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. John 15:13

Our Final Destination

Well...... After driving 3500 miles in the course of 11 days, WE FINALLY MADE IT TO BOSTON! Danvers, actually but it's close enough. Plus, we drove through Boston to get here so that totally counts. Anyway, more on the arrival in a bit. Let's start from the beginning of the day.

As usual, we woke up in a different household then we were in the night before. This time, it was in the lovely home of Chris Larson and his family. We had slept on the pull out sofa from the couch in the living room. It was very comfy and we slept like rocks the entire night. Now, usually when you sleep in the living room of someone's house you typically get woken up by someone coming downstairs to have breakfast or whatever. OH NO! Not this time. The whole family slept in until at least 9 which was so awesome and much appreciated by us because we got to sleep in a little longer. :) 

They were so kind to us that morning and Chris went out and bought bagels and cream cheese for the whole family for breakfast. It was a pretty slow moving morning for us because we didn't get out the door until almost 11. It was ok though because we weren't planning on getting to our final destination until late that night anyway, so leaving later worked out just fine for us. Anyway, we said our final goodbyes to the Larson's but first, we had to take a picture. So, I drug them all outside in front of their yard (even the dog) and snapped a couple photos before we were on our way. They were all very sweet and definitely want to go back and visit in the near future. Fun Family! 

We were so excited because it was our LAST big driving day before making it to Boston. With that said, in my opinion, it took forever to get there. My GPS said it was only going to take about 7 hours to get to Boston but I think it took longer then that. However, it might have taken longer because we seemed to stop at almost every rest plaza there was between Rochester NY and Boston, MA. Don't ask me why we did that because I really couldn't tell you. The only thing that I can think of is that we figured that since it was such a short trip (you know with it only being 7 hours haha) that we could take our time and switch drivers every hour or something! It turned out being fine and we got there safely. 

We decided to stop for lunch in Albany, NY. With it being the capital and all we were assuming there would be a variety of food options to choose from so we didn't try and use the internet on my phone to find anything. It was the weirdest thing. There were hardly ANY food places. We drove around and around and couldn't find anything..... until Subway. I really didn't want to go to Subway because I felt like we had gone there the past 3 days (which we had) and was sick of it but because we couldn't find anything else decent and affordable, we decided to go there. 

Albany in itself is a beautiful town because it has so many historic buildings and of course, the state capital of New York. I took a lot of pictures on the way into town but we weren't very happy with them after not being able to find food that I decided to not take very many on the way out. haha...

When we finally arrived in the state of Massachusetts it was heading toward the late afternoon hour. I, of course, took a picture with the sign (my last one- state #12) at the rest plaza and we continued on our way. Right before we got there Teej had this brilliant idea to check and see if there was a Red Sox game that night. There was a game vs. the Tampa Bay Ray's and it started at 7:15. By the way we were driving there was a possibility that we could make it if we could get tickets. So, Teej decided to call the ticket office and see if there were even tickets available. At this point it was an hour and a half before game time so we didn't have high hopes. The ticket office said that they had 2 available at a very reasonable price so we jumped on them and were told to pick them up at will call once we arrived. WE WERE STOKED! However, we were still about an hour away from the city. 

We were moving pretty quickly on the highway until the dreadful BOSTON TOLL BOOTH came along. The line was so backed up that we couldn't even see the front of the line. At this point, my impatient nature took over and I was ready to get out of the car. The right lane was moving A LOT faster then the one we were in so I pressured Teej to get over to that lane. He listened and we slowly edged our way over into the other lane. We felt like legit people on the east coast because we totally eased our way into the lane. The line started to move much more quickly after that and we were out of the toll booth and on our way to Boston in no time. 

Once we arrived in Boston, we immediately hit traffic. Not only was the Red Sox game going on but the Boston Celtics Game 7 Playoff was going on so there was double the amount of traffic as normal. Thankfully, Fenway Park is pretty close to the interstate so it didn't take us much time to get there. However, the roads are very narrow and weird in Boston so I got confused of where my GPS was telling me to go so we made a few wrong turns before arriving. We finally parked and had to pay a god awful amount for parking but we figured it was worth it since it was the FREAKING RED SOX! It was Teej's first Red Sox Game and my first EVER professional baseball game so this was a big deal for both of us. 

It was so hot and humid when we got there. I packed a little cardigan to wear if it got cold but it never did so that thing just stayed in the bag the whole night. The stadium was so awesome. We both loved how old and historical it looked. The strip that we walked down to get in the stadium was so festive with all the banners hung from the years that they won the championships, etc. Traditional hot dog vendors roamed the streets along with the fans who were all decked out in Red Sox gear. The sun was starting to go down and so I was quickly trying to take photos before it got dark and I had to use the stupid flash on my camera. 

We immediately went up to will call and got our tickets that were waiting there for us. Our tickets said that we were seated in section 9 so we walked out and around the building to find our seats. The atmosphere of the entire stadium was just so cool. It has been a hundred years since the stadium opened so we felt so honored to be sitting in such historic seats. As the game started we noticed how many of the people there were so incredibly into the game itself. In a way it reminded me of a timbers game back in Portland except 100x more intense and there isn't any singing. People were clapping when something minor happened such as a basic out to second or when someone got to walk to first base. I will say this: Red Sox fans are loyal! They were losing 2-1 at the bottom of the 9th inning and the sox came back and won it with a walk off homerun. There was a guy on first and the next batter up hit a homerun to win the game. It was such a fun experience to see how excited and happy the fans were. It almost felt like they had won the World Series or something by the way they were acting.

Teej and I stuck around after the game and walked down to the dugout to take photos. We wanted to spend more time there but the security people started kicking everyone out so we figured we'd better go. It was ok though because if we decide that we want to stay in Boston I'm sure we will go back to more games in the future. 

Well, the Celtics also won their series and are on to play the Miami Heat next. Good luck, I say. Overall, it was a great night for Boston sports. With that said, we knew that there was going to be a lot of game traffic from both games so we decided to find somewhere around the area to eat. We picked this steakhouse called Longhorn's. The food was great and very reasonable. By the time we left there was no traffic and we were able to get to my aunt Michele's house in Danvers by midnight. I felt so bad that we arrived there so late but Michele didn't seem to mind, thankfully. We sat up talking for a bit and then headed off to bed. We were exhausted by that point. 

It was a great way to end the trip and begin our time here in Boston. I mean what better way to say Hello to Boston by going to a Red Sox Game and experiencing them winning in the bottom of the 9th. I hope that is a good indication of how our time here will be; unexpected and exciting. 

So far, today has been pretty low key. We have been visiting a lot with my aunt Michele and cousin Charlie. It's been nice and relaxing. More to come later. 

I think I will continue to write posts while we are here in Boston if you all are interested. :) So, I guess I will see you all again soon. 

Love to all! 

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:5