Rhode Island visit

There is so much to update, that I figured the best way to do it was start with the most recent and work backwards. Last weekend we flew to Rhode Island for the weekend.  I've been flying into Providence to go to a client in MA since June.  Neither Adam nor I had ever been to RI before, so thought we would make a weekend of it. 

We were up early on Saturday morning (4 am) and almost missed our 7 am flight due to insane crowds at check in and security.  It was a quick 45 min flight to Providence, and we were at the William Rogers zoo in Providence when it opened at 9 am.  It is really a beautiful, open zoo.  We really enjoyed it and Jackson seemed to as well. 

After the zoo, we headed to the Carousel.  This was Jackson's second time on a carousel and frankly, I'm sure he would be fine if it was his last.  He's not a big fan.  He did, however, love the little rides there which we had to pull him off of kicking and screaming. 

We then headed to the hotel in downtown Providence, which was right across from the Capitol and is also an old Masonic Temple.  It was beautiful and in a great location.  We walked down the street to have some lunch at a brewery and then went back to the hotel for an afternoon nap.  When we woke up, we jumped in the car to explore Providence a bit and ended up seeing most of it, as it's not a very big city.  We hit a great ice cream shop and drove by the local baseball stadium.  There wasn't enough time to stop though - we had to get back downtown for Waterfire. 

Waterfire is once a month downtown Providence and is very popular.  It was the best date night that we didn't have to get a babysitter for.  We basically strolled up and down the river, listening to music, eating food, watching the fires and sipping on some beverages while Jackson chilled (most of the time) in the stroller.  We even listened to the Providence Philharmonic for a bit before walking back to the hotel.

The next morning we were up early and in the car headed down to Newport, which is on the ocean.  We had breakfast downtown Newport, but the one highchair was in use so Jackson sat next to mommy like a big boy (until he was naughty and daddy had to take him outside).

Then, we walked, and walked and walked some more, thinking we could get ourselves to the ocean.  We finally ditched that idea, jumped in the car and hit the first beach of the day. Jackson had a blast running in the water and on the beach.  This was his first time on a beach since Aruba in February, so we were happy to see he was a bit less afraid.

We then walked up to the Cliff walk which overlooks the beach we were just at and contains multi-million dollar homes, including the Vanderbilt's Breakers.  When you are on the walk it is impossible to see the houses, so we took a drive through and they are all amazing! 

From Newport, we headed south along the shore to Westerly, a more family-friendly beach town.  All we had was a beach towel and our suits, but it was enough for an hour's worth of fun in the sun before we packed up and headed back to Providence.

More pictures from the weekend here!