::our last day in RI::

(this is looooooong, with lots of photos)
After graduation Kris and I ran back to the house to do a bit more cleaning up while Max (the lucky dog) got to go back with Grandma & Grandpa and have a sleepover at their hotel.

I was EXhausted.

Then we went to stay with our dear friends here in RI that were putting us up for friday and saturday night. So so much nicer than having to stay in the empty, semi-dirty hot house. They even watched Sul for us all day friday. So awesome.

Anyway, we went over there and got a little sleep. But Sultan woke Kris up so so early. Like 5AM and he couldn't go back to sleep, so he just headed on over to the house and finished the cleaning. Then he came back and got me (best husband ever, right?) and we met the landlord, exchanged keys and deposit and were done with the house. Phew.

Then we were about to get busy having FUN for our last day when our car, all full of luggage and trip accoutrements, made a bad clunk. Then another bad clunk. I was about to die.
So we went to the hotel and called the Subaru dealership and luckily they squeezed us in right away. Even more luckily, Kris's parents had rented a car, so we weren't left high and dry. The dealership fixed our clunk by mid afternoon and did a once over on the car so we were comfortable taking it on the long haul.

After we dropped it off, we headed out to Newport to have some fun. We wanted to take the parents out to fly kites at the kite park as a last hurrah before we left.

It was hot in Newport, but the kite park was awesome as usual, with the coolish breeze coming in off the water. And boy were there kites there.

Isn't that snake amazing? Even Kris's dad who HATES snakes admitted that thing was cool. I have no idea how they get it up in the air. It looked like a real snake up there, slithering in the wind.
And there were lots of other colorful things blowing around up there.

We got three kites up in the air and had fun flying them.

There's just something about flying a kite, way way up there in the sky that feels good.




Eventually we got too hot, and so we left to have lunch at the Barking Crab, a yummy seafood place in downtown Newport. It was basically Kris's birthday dinner.
Their food is really good. I had a crabcake sandwich that was totally delicious.


After that we went back to the hotel, Kris picked up the car, Max swam with the grandparents and we watched the US lose in the World Cup.

For dinner we grabbed some fast food and went to one of Max's favorite parks--we call it the Scripture Scouts park because the playground reminds him of the Scripture Scouts' treehouse.


It's beautiful, on a rolling hill right by the water. We can always see lots of boats, and the trees on the coastline farther down. It's a neat place.

Sultan was really glad to join us for dinner. All the moving weirdness had him a little freaked out, so riding in the car and hanging at the park was just the remedy he needed.

We tried to get Max to actually eat, but it was a struggle. And who can blame him, with that treehouse calling his name the whole time.

Poor Kris gave himself a brainfreeze.

Sorry, but that picture cracks me up, he just looks like he's suffering, doesn't he?


It was so fun to get to spend time together. We're so glad Kris's parents could come out and spend our last fun day with us and help us out.

That was the end of our fun day. After that we had to make Max somehow fall asleep and then get ready for the big long drive.
Off we go into the wild wooly yonder!!

::uncle mike::

Yesterday my Uncle Mike (my mom's brother) came into town here for business. We're lucky because this is the second time he's visited us--he got to come to Kansas City a couple of years ago too.
So we got to hang out and chat a little bit in the afternoon, and then when Kris was home from work we headed out to give him a quick peek at some of our favorite sights.
We took him down to Newport.
The sun was setting and the wind was blowing and it was a beautiful evening! Newport is prettymuch always pretty, but it was extra nice last night.



I don't know what Count Rochambeau is pointing at, but he looks cool, so whatever.
The wind was making the waves break like crazy. Ocean Drive was beautiful. It was sad nobody was out flying kites though--I guess people have work and other things to do on tuesday afternoon/evening.

(Imagine how good it smelled. Mmmmmm the salty sea!)

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the blue boat. It's such a pretty color.

After the drive we went to eat at the Barking Crab restaurant. We've driven past it a zillion times and I've always thought it looked yummy but we've never had a chance to go.
Well, it was yummy. Good seafood and nice service (slightly unusual for RI, but it turned out our server was from CA, so it made sense.) The crab cakes were so yummy--though they didn't bark.

It was a really fun night with Uncle Mike. We're already trying to figure out how to make his company send him to where we'll be living next!

::even more kites::

We went to the kite park again! We just couldn't stay away. And this time the wind was amazing. It was so strong and perfect. Max and I got our little cheapo kites out of the packaging and they basically flew up out of our hands and into the air. It was very exciting.

And those kites wanted to go high too. They were way up there.

Just before our friends got there Max and I had a near tragedy. His kite string ran into mine. My kite nosedived (nosedove) into a grove of scrubby trees and Max's string broke. I had to chase his kite down. Kris dealt with the broken string and I got the fish kite most of the way out of the trees. Kris came and climbed a tree and teased it the rest of the way out. Phew. That would've been a sad and sudden end to our afternoon.
But it wasn't.
We flew

and flew

and flew

and ate

and ate

and played

and played

and it was FUN.
It was warmer than last time--still chilly but warmer.
And by the end we had kites attached to chairs and strollers flying all by themselves. That's the mark of a good kite flying day.

We're going to have to do it again very soon! Anybody else want to come this time?

::staycation activity #4--kite flying::

I don't know why it's taken me so long to post this! Maybe it's just the volume of photos, but that doesn't usually slow me down.
Anyway, here I am.
On Saturday we met some friends at a park in Newport to do some kite flying. We've been to this park a couple times before. There are always lots of kites flying and it's really fun.
It was nice nice weather that day, high 60s where we live. Unfortunately in Newport it was quite a bit cooler, but the sun was still out, so that was nice.


Lots of people had their kites high up in the air--the were eating lunch with their kites tethered to the ground next to them.
This made it a little bit embarrassing when we couldn't get ours up. We could get ours up about halfway to the others and then they would just crash. We're definitely no kite experts.



But we are experts at picnics, deserts and kids and dogs. So we were having fun anyway.


The kids chased each other around a whole bunch--Zach stood in for the little brother that Max doesn't have and tried to drive him crazy. It was very funny to watch.


There was also some lacrosse practice going on, as you can see in the background.

Then, finally when it was starting to get cold and the sun was going down, and we were in the midst of some potty emergencies, the kites finally went up. Well, ours never really did, but our friends' did, and they were awesome,


This particular kite looked like an army jet and was flown using two hands. It was super fun to fly. It felt like you were really controlling something strong up there.

Max kept wanting to fly it, but every time I gave it to him it would nosedive.

I think what happened is that finally when it was getting cold all the people cleared out and we got to use some of the "good air."
Here's our kite, finally sort of up.


Fun stuff.

It's such a pretty place. We're definitely hoping to go back again soon. Maybe it'll be warmer next time.