Rico to the Rescue!

The last three weeks before I left Liberty Lake were brutal. Being a single parent during the whole process was probably the hardest part. My brother happened to call me at a weak moment and realized that me and the kids needed some Rico time so he came out Memorial Weekend.

Sadly he spent most of the time helping me take loads of stuff to the storage unit and do other lame moving tasks but I couldn't have done it without him. The kids also loved being able to spend some quality time with their tio before we moved so far away.

Camden learned how to do the monkey bars while Tio Rico was there.

We decided to play at Riverfront Park before taking Rico to the airport. I'm so glad I got to take the kids there one more time before we left...we made some great memories there over the years.

I know Rico had no idea what he was getting into when he got on that plane to visit me. He thought it was going to be a good time to visit before I moved clear across the country. I needed his help more than I even realized. He was heaven sent. He gave me a good reason to smile when all I wanted to do was cry...Thanks Rico! Te Amo Mucho xoxo

I Love My Sox...And Liz

I know I have professed my undying love for the Red Sox many times. It's been a long love affair. It takes a person of great compassion and a strong heart to be a fan. I was beyond excited to take in a game at Fenway with Aric...something I can now cross off my bucket list. The only thing that could have taken this experience over the top was to go with my AMAZING friend Liz and her husband Matt who now happens to be one of my amazing friends too:)

I do not even know how to describe this friendship and do it justice. Because truth be told, we found each other through blogging four and a half years ago. Over those four years we have both been through a lot we have found strength, support and laughs in each other that has bonded us forever. Strange as it sounds this dear friend and I had spent years communicating back and forth but had never met in person until this night. The stars were aligned and it was magical...

It was the perfect weather. You never know this time of year and in this part of the country but it was warm and lovely. 

We had the best time watching the game and chatting about everything under the sun. Aric and Matt made friends with a bunch of single ladies behind us.

No pictures of the ladies they were flirting with but Matt did get a picture of this special fan...

And I had to get the Green Monstah...isn't she a beauty.

 Aric and Matt were totally okay with me and Liz being on a date. They were awesome third and fourth wheels.

 I told you the stars were aligned because my precious Sox even won the game!

 This is what the subway looked like when we were trying to get on the train to get home. It was insanity!

Other than the crazy train ride home it was the best time. 

(we got stuck on a train with some drunk Celtic fans, Aric was very kind to them...I was not)

Matt took this ridiculous picture of me and Liz after the game on the way to the train and it captures our lovefest perfectly.

 It was such a bittersweet night, after all these years of being apart, I was so excited to finally be moving close to her (even if it was only going to be for a few months) but then fate would have it that she and Matt are moving to Utah and she left the week I got to Boston. It's heartbreaking but at least we get to enjoy Matt for a couple more months and maybe, just maybe we will be reunited this fall in Utah if all goes as we hope. 

Aric - Boston, Boston - Aric...The Official Meeting

One beautiful, perfectly sunny day at the end of March, Aric and I were sitting in Arizona chatting it up. We discussed the master bathroom suite remodel that we were in the middle of, we talked at length about the kids, we talked about our extended family and friends, we talked a lot about our rental property which was the reason we were down there to begin with, but mostly we were just enjoying the break from the stressful day to day life that we had become accustomed to now that he was in school and working full time. That weekend was the first time we had ever heard of PrepMD and it was the first time the thought ever crossed our minds that we could up and move to Boston. We mostly just laughed about it, because it would never happen.

This picture was taken five short weeks later as our friend Ryan dropped us off at the airport so Aric could start this new journey in Boston at PrepMD. (You know who your real friends are when you have a 6:00am departure time and you have to leave your house at 4:30am.) 

Look closely my friends...four of those five bags held all that Aric was going to live on for the next six weeks he even managed to pack a small flat screen tv!

We took this picture on the last leg of our trip to Boston. We had pulled an all nighter and we were so stinking tired!

My wonderful Aunt Carolyn picked us up at the airport. We hadn't seen each other in 14 years!!! But it was as if no time passed at all, she and her fiance Roscoe were gracious hosts.

The next morning we got up early because we had to get the keys to our new apartment. This was our first view of it...the outside. (We live on the 2nd floor)

And the inside...It is actually smaller than the first apartment we ever lived in.

One of the most annoying things about what we are doing is that we could only bring so much out with us which meant we had to leave so many things behind in storage. On top of that, we don't have the money to be buying stuff that we already have in storage! So when Aric went to the trash room on our floor and found this vacuum we were thrilled! It did need a good cleaning (bluuuuuugtch...that was me puking in my mouth because I'm the one that had to do it) but it works great so it was worth the nastyness.

Next up was furnishing our new digs. We had been selling stuff back home so we had somewhat of a budget. We hit Ikea first and loaded up Aunt Carolyn and Roscoe's car to the max! That is a KING sized mattress we scored for $120, a futon and a million other random things. I became a Craigslist junkie and we scored some other sweet goodies, like a table and four chairs held together with gorilla glue.

That first day we were busy acquiring things but the apt was still not in a good place to sleep in it so we stayed with AC and R again. This picture was taken early in the morning right before Aric's first experience in his new field of work. We walked to the T station and I made sure A got to the convention center (we had two train exchanges and a bus ride, that was a lot for a first timer) and then I went for an 8 mile run through the city. It was my last long run before the marathon. We definitely looked like the odd couple...

I love this picture! It's A's first subway ride ever...

This is me on my run. I got to run on part of the Boston Marathon route. So fun!

I passed these giant ships on my run...so cool!

After our productive morning, Aunt Carolyn took us around the city. We took this picture outside of her house.

We started at the North end...the buildings...THE BUILDINGS! I cannot get enough of the amazing buildings. I love how old they are, I love the character, I love the colors, I cannot get enough of them!

We had to visit Mike's Pastry and get some goodies. The place is always crazy busy so when it's your turn you have to be ready with your order. 

We took our time looking before we got in line so we could be ready...

This place is famous for it's cannolis but the other pastries were killing me! I couldn't stray from the cannoli so that's what we got.

After Mike's we went to Paul Revere's house.

Aunt Carolyn is the best tour guide ever!

Next up...Fanuiel Hall. Look how cool this street is!

The State House

I couldn't wait to get the cemetery. I have told Aric about how amazing the cemeteries were forever and now I got to show him.

An introduction to Boston would not be complete without a visit to the Boston Common to see the swan boats.

and the statue of George.

This is my favorite statue. I have always loved it. 

I could look at it for hours but it's too dang close to street.

Moving on to Beacon Hill...Amazing. 

The doors. The windows. The wrought iron....LOVE.

We found a lovely little bakery on Charles Street that served the yummiest almond croissants. 

We mosied on over to Newbury Street to "Ohh and Ahh" over the shops.

Some of the rooftops in the city...

And our last stop was Copley Square. My Copley. The time I spent there is precious to me and I finally got to share that special spot with Aric.

After a fun tour of the city Aric took a little cat nap before dinner.

It was so great to reunite with my cousins Tom and Neto after 14 years!

There were so many highlights on this trip but my perfect trip to the Red Sox game deserves its own post. So here is a little preview...

Another highlight was seeing my Tio Oscar. We had a nice dinner together at Quincy Market.

Mother's Day happened while we were there. It was not a highlight. It was sad, I cried and cried. Notice my Mother's Day brunch. We didn't have plates yet so a cutting board had to do.

We accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. I got through it pretending that we were on vacation and that I wasn't leaving Aric behind. The day came that I had to accept reality. It was the beginning of our new life, our new journey and now we had to be separated. Saying goodbye was hard.

I am so glad we got to be together that week before the crazy really began. We got to do some fun stuff and enjoy a little calm before another storm. Thank heavens those six weeks are over and I will never have to live them again. Things aren't easy now but at least we all get to be together. 

And that does it for Aric meeting Boston. I'm almost caught up on my back posting so I can start posting some of the good stuff that's going on right now. Yay.