Mystic Seaport Getaway

Rather than sitting around twiddling our thumbs for Baby Escalante to debut, we decided to take a trip to Mystic, CT for an overnight get away.  Mystic Seaport is notable both for its collection of sailing ships and boats, and for the recreation of an entire 19th century seafaring village.  The seaport was one of the first living history museums in the U.S., with a collection of buildings and craftsmen to show how work was done during this era.  We arrived in the afternoon yesterday and toured, thoroughly enjoying the mid-50's and sunny weather.  Here are a few of the things we saw~

This tree trunk is huge!!  All of this tree's branches were used to help rebuild the Charles W. Morgan Whaleship (more details below)

The Shipyard where people were working to rebuild ships

One of the docks at the Seaport

Cool Boat

Cool Sky

I heart Michael

There were a lot of really cool colored buildings, so we took lots of random pictures.

40 weeks minus 3 days

The Shipyard

Loosely twisted fibers of tarred hemp (called oakum) are driven into the seams between planks with special wedge-shaped irons and long headed mallets.  This process, called caulking, locks the whole structure together into a rigid, watertight form that can better withstand the strains of seagoing.

I was not very good at it, but we watched a video of a professional doing it and it was amazing to see how fast and efficient he was!

The sky was very cooperative for photo taking

Michael on board the Charles W. Morgan whaleship.
Ships of this kind usually harvested the blubber of whales for whale oil, which was commonly used in lamps.  The ship's first voyage was in 1841.   She sailed as a whaleship for about 80 years before retiring and becoming part of the seaport's museum.  This ship is the only surviving wooden whaleship from the 19th century American fleet.  It is currently being repaired with hopes that it will set sail again in 2013.

View from below the main deck

Bunk beds where the crew would sleep.  You can see that they weren't very long beds.  They weren't very wide either.

This is where the crew would bring the whales to cut out the blubber.  The ceiling was very low because they were usually on their knees cutting the whale apart.

The sky continued to be amazing.

The Charles W. Morgan hoisted up for its repairs.

The Seaport in general was very picturesque

Life saving device: A rescue boat carrying these small vessels would arrive at a boat in distress and have as many crew members as would fit, tuck inside this vessel.  It was then reeled back to the rescuing ship and sent back and forth bringing crew members to safety.  It may be hard to tell from the picture, but this vessel was not very big.

Almost 40 weeks pregnant (short 3 days)

The anchors carried by these ships were ridiculously large.

The baby's first ride on a big machine

After leaving the seaport, we checked into our hotel and headed to check out the town.  We had a fantastic seafood dinner at a place called S and P Oyster Company.  The restaurant is right on the bay and had a very pretty ambiance inside and out.

After dinner we walked down the main street stopping in most of the little shops.  My favorite was a gallery with some beautiful artwork.  Although it was already closed, we were able to peek through the windows.  Sitting in the window was a Christmas tree decorated with beautiful hand made glass ornaments.  This picture doesn't do them justice.

The next day we woke up and went swimming in the hotel's pool before heading back to the Seaport to resume our exploration.  Here are some pictures from Friday.

Can you find Michael?

How about me?

Exploring the town made to resemble a 1800's fishing village

40 weeks minus 2 days

The Church

Taken for Deb-this was as close as we came to canoeing on the ocean

This anchor weighed 7,000 lbs.  It was discovered off the coast of Boston and believed to be from a british ship used during the revolutionary war.  AMAZING!

Dolphins-my favorite

These were all used on the fronts of ships.  Which is your favorite?

A bicycle from the 1800's.  Michael was so smitten.

We stopped by a blacksmith's shop and were fascinated with these harpoons.

We were thinking we should decorate our Christmas tree like this next year!

We stopped for some clam chowder and a salmon sandwich for lunch before driving home.

This piece of art was hanging in "Go Fish"--I loved the bright colors!

We had a great trip to Mystic and felt like we barely scratched the surface.  We'll have to go back!

Celebrating the Season and a Masquerade ball

After returning from Utah I found myself busy unpacking, doing lots of laundry, grocery shopping, etc.  and Michael found himself thrust back into the rigors of an Ivy League MBA.

Some friends asked if I could take their pictures for Christmas cards, so below are a few of my favorites (plus-this will help you put faces with names).

The Grange Family: Trevor (in Michael's program), Audra, and their son Andrew, who turned 1 in October.  They are both originally from Utah.  She is an accountant and he worked at Hill Air Force base as an Engineer prior to business school.  They live just down the street from us, so Audra and I spend a lot of time together while our husbands are busy with school.

The Ramos Family: Daniel, Valerie, and their 2 month old daughter Ella.   Valerie and Audra hosted a baby shower for me this past week--It was so sweet of them.  Daniel will graduate as a PA (physician's assistant) on Tuesday and they are looking for employment in either Arizona or Florida.  We will be sad to see them go.   They are a charming and charismatic couple whom we adore.

Last Thursday (12.1.11) Audra, Andrew and I went to a fun event at the town's green.  As far as I understand it, many cities in New England have what is called a town green or commons.  It literally is a beautiful green area situated in the downtown of most New England communities.  The conception of a town green dates back to the colonial days as a meeting place for good conversation, as well as events, festivals and public ceremonies.  Many times the overall look of the town green includes surrounding historic churches, buildings, and/or homes.

This is the New Haven Green-It is divided into upper (northwest) and lower (southeast) halves. The upper half features three historic early 19th century churches erected on the east side of the Green between 1812 and 1816: Center Church and United Church (outstanding examples of the Federal Style) and Trinity Church (one of the first large Gothic Revival structures in America). While in the lower half of the green, the Bennett Memorial Fountain (built in 1907 and inspired by the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens) and the flagpole with granite World War I memorial are maintained.
(http://www.cityprofile.com/connecticut/new-haven-green.html)

ANYWAYS---Audra, Andrew and I went to New Haven's annual tree lighting event last Thursday.  We had a lot of fun.  We rode a carousel, took a horse carriage ride and drank yummy cider.  And we got to count down and see the MASSIVE tree light up in the middle of the "Green".

Not to mention-Audra and Andrew got to ride this cool mechanical reindeer.

This is my pal Eva whom we happened to bump into.  She recently became a member of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  She is so sweet.  She and her husband just had a beautiful baby girl about 2 months ago.  Oh yea, did I mention there was a petting zoo-hence the Camel in the background.  They also had llamas and goats.

Baby and I enjoying the Carousel

Our friend Julia with her baby girl Bonica riding the carousel.  They met up with us for a short bit before returning home to bundle up more so they could return later with her husband (who is also in Michael's program)!

The horse carriage ride.  When I was young, my grandpa would always take us grandkids on a wagon ride-usually he would pull us with his tractor though, and sometimes he would go in fast circles and try to make us fall off (imagine crack the whip!)

I've tried and tried to make this picture rotate, but it's apparently got a mind of it's own.   The flash definitely spooked the horse (see it's leg high in the air) and that spooked me.  Do you see the size of those things-they aren't your average size horse-they are the BIG ones!

I thought there was no way Andrew would ride in this car without his mama-but he proved me wrong and he loved it.

The Big Tree.  I believe the announcer said there were over 30,000 lights on this tree.  Can you imagine being the one to hang them up/take them down?!?!

...But boy was it pretty.

Because I was in Utah for my birthday, Michael and I didn't celebrate until Friday (12.2.11).  We went out to dinner and enjoyed some delicious sushi with the Granges and then went to a formal masquerade ball hosted by Yale SOM (School of Management AKA-the business school).  We didn't realize it was a masquerade party until we showed up---fortunately they provided extra masks for people like us! :)

This picture is taken with other SOM students (everyone in this picture is a SOM student except for me and the gal next to me.)

We had a great time dancing the night away-I did pretty well in my high heels, but by the end of the night I had to take them off!  It was an enjoyable evening and a great way to celebrate my birthday.

As for this past week, Michael has been working ferociously on group projects (by "group" I mean 2 out of 4 people in his group contribute, and Michael ends up picking up a lot of the slack).  Gratefully, all of his group projects/papers are done for this semester, and he is left with 4 daunting finals.  He will spend 9am-noon for the next 4 days taking 4 different finals.  Keep him in your prayers!

Most of the last week has been pretty low key for me.  As I said earlier - some friends threw me a baby shower on Wednesday.  It was tons of fun and they served chocolate fondue which was a hit!  I feel so grateful for everyone's generosity in helping us acquire the things we need for our new baby.  I am so appreciative to those that made us gifts.  I love having the product of someone's amazing talents!!

I also got to hang out with some of the other SOM mama's this week because Julia (see her picture above) had us all over for lunch and taught us how to make delicious chinese dumplings (ie gyoza).  That was a lot of fun.  They are cute gals and are eager for me to have the baby!  They have been very kind and have offered to help with anything they can when the baby comes.  I am grateful to have good friends here and for the support of our church in helping us through this major change in our lives while having NO Family that lives nearby.

With exactly 2 weeks to go until my due date (and Christmas mind you), we are eager for Michael to finish his finals so we can have a little together time before the baby arrives.

We'll keep you all posted if anything happens before Christmas!

XOXO