Hi from Boston!!

Actually I am not in Boston anymore. I woke up in Boston this morning, but currently I am sitting on a runway in Chicago waiting for other planes to de-ice and leave the gates so we can deplane. This is after we had to wait on the runway in Boston for an hour because of snow in Philly and consequently missed our original connection to Chicago. First world problems, I know. But the thought of getting home at 10:30 pm was much more enticing than 2 am. Bleh.

I will do a quick recap of our trip to Boston. Basically, it was a crazy whirlwind. Crazy because I am quite pregnant and because we didn’t actually decide to go for sure and buy tickets until Tuesday. Tuesday! As in, the day before we left!! The reason it was so hurried was that Alex received an invitation for a revisit to one of the hospitals he interviewed at and we decided it would also be good for me to see the city. We also thought it made sense to do it before I go into labor rather than after (or during…) So we rearranged everything in our lives and made it work. 

Alex enjoyed his extra visit to the hospital and meeting with lots of people. I enjoyed seeing some of the city and surrounding areas. Overall my impression was very good except for one thing: cost of living. We haven’t decided where we want to go yet but it was very good to see and get a feel for the city. I was able to visit the temple for an entire morning, see some historic sites at Concord and Lexington and downtown Boston, meet some very nice people from the two hospitals Alex is considering in the area, and see some old friends. 

We also had what I think was the best pizza we have ever tasted (Alex agrees). Alex went to grab his first piece and all the toppings slipped off and stayed on the pan. Silly Alex, I thought, then proceeded to do the same thing. Despite the topping slipperiness, it was a really great pizza. I would recommend Santarpio's to anyone in Boston. 

I had a lot of a day to myself while Alex was at the hospital and I was able to see some sites around Concord and Lexington. 

This is Old North Bridge in Concord where the first orders were given to the patriots to fire on the British regulars in April 1775, a couple months before the battle of Bunker Hill. This was the culmination of Paul Revere’s famous ride to warn that the British were coming (from Boston to raid the military stockpile at Concord). Minute man statue in the background, designed by Daniel Chester French who also designed the Lincoln Memorial in D.C.

Selfie in front of the Orchard House where Louisa May Alcott and her family lived. I need to work on my selfies. 

Me talking to Alex finding out how his visit went. I am at the Sleepy Hollow cemetery in front of the Melvin Memorial "Mourning Victory" also done by Daniel Chester French.  

We got to see the Petersons! I have strategically cropped this picture because I look HUMONGOUS. (Camera angle, I am sure). 

Mike’s Pastry shop in downtown Boston. Apparently there is a local dispute of which pastry shop is better between Mike’s and Modern (down the street a bit). We tried to go to Modern but it was too crowded and the pregnant lady said she couldn’t wait any longer for her cannoli. This cannoli was awesome (wish you could have been there, Tony!)

Some historic site in Boston. We saw too many to keep straight. Note the awesome unicorn upper right.

In Salem, Mass. So cold. 

And the best part of all… we got to drive a mały Fiat!! 

Addendum: We made it off the plane, got our car, and proceeded to drive right into a white out blizzard. Cars off the road every 100 yards, gusts of wind and snow so blinding you couldn't see the road, and a prayer of thanks when we finally came to an exit that had lodging signs. Of course, by that time there was no room in the inn but a kind Samaritan who had managed to snag two rooms for himself and the church youth group he was with offered us one of his. I was never so grateful to spend a night in a hotel. Our car didn't start the next morning but thankfully another good Samaritan gave us a jump and we got her going. 

This is a picture the next day (this morning) on the way home (again). I am wondering if this is the bus I observed idling at the gas station we were at before we made our way to the hotel. 

The State Police were very busy last night. 

Blogging on Monday morning, aka The Big Freeze

This will not be news to my Midwest friends, and frankly will not impress my friends that live in Canada and Alaska, but today in Champaign-Urbana it is a cold day. Case in point:

It is currently -12 which I guess is as warm as I can hope for today.

Church was cancelled yesterday, and I am not expected at work today, which is the only reason I would blog at 10 am on a Monday morning.

Alex, being the good man that he is, is currently shoveling our driveway, which is fairly long as far as driveways go. After he is done there, he will go shovel our backyard neighbor's driveway, which is longer than ours.

I offered to help but he kindly reminded me that my abdominal muscles are not functioning at peak performance lately. Besides the fact that we only have one snow shovel. Then he said that the only way he would let his pregnant wife shovel is if he had a broken hip, and even then he would call someone else to help me. I will note that I have in the past shoveled both our driveway and our neighbor's. It is not beneath me. Granted, I have never done it while it is -12 degrees outside. 

I decided to give the furnace a break today and keep the house at 60 degrees, that is, until Alex comes back in from shoveling snow and is freezing. The furnace is already on most of the time as it is.

When I was on my mission I spent my only winter in Warsaw. I had these lovely sheepskin boots that fit great without heavy socks but once I put on my thick wool socks they cut off circulation somewhat and my toes ached after a time in the cold. There was a period where my toes ached for days. I seem to remember people telling me that was the coldest winter in 3 decades (as a missionary you don't read the newspaper or listen to the news so you only know what people tell you) and I believed it I was so cold all the time. I just looked up historic temperatures from the time I was there and there were a couple weeks when the lows got down to the negative teens (cold if you are outside all the time which you are as a missionary!) but it doesn't look like it broke any records.

I am just glad I don't have to go outside today. And grateful for a warm house and plenty of hot chocolate on demand.