How to leave us comments!

Before it starts sounding like we're fishing for compliments, quite a few of you have mentioned that you haven't been able to leave us comments on the blog. Well a few setting changes later, and everyone should now be able to tell us what's on their mind. If you played "Oregon Trail" in elementary school, or had any computer lab for that matter, this is the end of the blog for you. If you're still wondering what a computer is, read on for a short tutorial.

Step 1. Find the comment link at the bottom of the individual blog post you are reading. (Not just the bottom of the page when you can scroll no further. Each entry has a comment link)

Step 2. Type your comment in the box where it says "Leave your comment".

Step 3. If you do not have a Google/Blogger ID or are associated with one of the other affiliated sites you can choose the Name/URL option. Type your name or website into the box. If you want to be sneaky you can also choose the Anonymous option.

Step 4. You're ready to publish your post! If you would like to take a second look at it you can click the blue "Preview" button or if you're good to go just click the orange "Publish" button.

Once you hit the orange "Publish" button your comment will appear on the left of the screen.

Now you can see that the number of comments has changed on the comment link. Congrats!

Happy commenting everyone!

Boston Part 2

Continued...

The next few days in Boston consisted of visiting all of the places we had seen on our DUCK tour in detail. We went all over the city and even took a morning trip out to Concord so Melanie could take a tour of Lousia May Alcott's "Little Women" house. The weather, though a bit cloudy, was not too bad the rest of the week. The foliage, however, was still very much in "winter mode" (see below).

A city shot near Government Center...wait, what's that?

Looking at the city through the gates of the graveyard where Paul Revere, John Hancock and some other "big names" from the Founding Father community are buried.

Melanie trying to replicate a famous Little Family picture.

The sadness of dead trees in Spring. Near the Christian Science compound.

But wait! There's hope yet. One lone blossoming tree in front of PF Changs. Must be a sign.

Stay tuned for great pictures from our dinner at Top of the Hub, a wicked BoSox game, and NYC (with no Wicked)!

Boston Part 1

We're back from our 10 day tour of the Northeast. I'm not sure how, but we left Spring in Phoenix arrived in Winter in Boston, hit a combination of the two in New York and returned home with Summer in full swing. We had a great time catching up with friends and exploring two fun cities. I'll be posting stories and pictures in segments over the next week or so, so check back often!

We'll start with the first half of our time in Boston. Like I mentioned, the weather was quite cold. Maybe not to a Bostonian but for us ill prepared desert rats (Mel especially) the 40 degree + wind chill and drizzle was a shocker for April. We got in Friday night and ate pizza in Harvard Square with our good friend and root beer entrepreneur Stephen.

Saturday started with the first half of a two part Harvard campus tour. We headed across the Charles River to the athletic area and checked out the basketball pavilion and the football field.


We crossed back over and walked along the river by many of the upper class houses including Eliot House where Ryan lived for 3 years. We ran into a few people who were surprised to see Ryan...and his wife(?)...and were invited to enjoy lunch in the Eliot dining hall. (Mel's theory is as long as we're still paying Harvard we should still have dining privileges.) :)

After lunch we headed into the city for the famous Boston Duck Tour. We had a bit of time between when we arrived in the city and when our tour started and decided to enjoy the massage chairs at Sharper Image. Something we would do again later in the week after walking ALL OVER Boston. A "Duck" is a renovated World War II amphibious landing vehicle that gives you a great tour of the city by land and water. While the sun had come out for a bit it didn't seem to have any effect on the temperature.

(Ryan's duck face on the Duck Tour)

The tour ended right at dinner time so we headed up to the North End for a great Italian meal which ended with dessert at the famous Mike's Pastry. (Which we would also visit again during the week.)

The madness behind us at Mike's.

The remnants of our desserts and cappucino.

More to come...

And so it Begins

The fishing season is officially open. We spent Saturday on gorgeous Lake Roosevelt spending most of our time enjoying the scenery rather than catching fish. Much to Ryan's dismay. It was a day of quality over quantity. I caught my biggest fish ever (2.5lbs 18in.) and Ron caught a whopping 5.9 pounder that was much too long for any ruler we had. There were a couple of other dinks that made it in the boat but the big guy definitely made the day. I also caught my first sunburn of the season. It was such a beautiful day, low 70's, breezy; I didn't even notice I was becoming a true red neck. Thank God for aloe vera.

One of the best parts of every trip to Roosevelt is going to Boston's Lake House Grill at the end of the day for one of their AMAZING hamburgers. If you're in Arizona, I would argue that these are some of, if not the, best in the state. It's not much to look at as it's connected to a gas station and has a trailer park behind it, but their burgers and fries can't be beat. Our favorite is the Green Monster; guacamole, swiss, bacon, all the regular burger toppings, and a heart attack on the side. If you're ever near Globe you must stop. It's about 15 minutes out of town heading towards Lake Roosevelt. Mmmm. So good.

Here are a few pics of the day. I promise not to blog every time we go fishing. That would get old.

On another note, we leave this Friday for Boston and NYC (!!!) so there may not be any updates for a while, but it will be worth the wait as there are sure to be some great stories and pictures lying ahead.

Until then.
mel

Meet Hank.

His happy place.

The Whopper!

Free Hank! (Not quite as dramatic as Free Willy, but close.)

Burned and ready for a Boston's burger.