Christmas Tree

Saturday night we decorated our Christmas tree. As tradition once Andrew got out his Star Trek ships he flew them around the apartment with the Star Trek music theme playing in the background. Andrew also insisted that the ships could be a part of the nativity scene because they could have time traveled and been there when Jesus was born. I moved them later. We are excited to come home in a couple of weeks! I want to see some snow. Now that I know that I won't get snow often I miss it. We've had lots of rain and thunderstorms.

Christmas Tree Hunting

Today we went and got our Christmas tree. Down here in the south they don't call them Christmas Tree Farms but Christmas Tree Plantations. It was a pretty area where we got it, about 30 mins from our apartment. We drove by some cotton fields on the way. It was wonderful weather for picking one out, in the upper 60s so we enjoyed just being outside and walking around. It took a couple hours to find the perfect one. We had a hard time choosing between the beautiful brown one and the green one. I was hoping we could get the brown one for free but we ended up choosing the green one. It is a White Pine and I like it because it doesn't poke me as much as our Scotch did. They don't have any Scotch Pines around here. We cut it down and strapped it to the top of our car. Now we need to decorate it. I'll post more pics once we get it all decorated.

The mouse Trap

A few days ago I thought I saw a blur of something run across our kitchen floor during dinner, so we pulled out the stove to look under it and didn't find anything. But I kept thought I was seeing something move out of the corner of my eye at different times. Now Andrew and I weren't sure if I was just crazy and hallucinating or actually seeing something. Well, last night while watching TV Andrew finally saw something move in the kitchen and it was a mouse. So we decided to build a mousetrap to catch it. So, we took our mop and laid it across the counters in the kitchen. Then we took the bathroom trashcan and flipped it upside down and ran floss over the mop handle and down the sides of the trashcan and tied it in the middle to a soda cracker. The trash can was held up about a couple inches from the floor by the floss and the soda cracker. We put some peanut butter on the soda cracker to entice the mouse. About a half hour later we heard the trash can hit the floor. The mouse had eaten the cracker which caused the tension in the floss to come loose and the trash can to fall on it. We had caught our new friend Nibbles and decided to set him free. Well Andrew decided to set up the mouse trap again in case their was another mouse, and there was. But this time when the trash can fell it must of bounced a little and he got out. We have named this mouse Darth Cheddar because the force is strong with him. We have a feeling he is going to be harder to catch and faster. We will battle him again tonight and see who wins. Here are some pictures of our mouse trap. We were pretty proud of ourselves for coming up with it and it actually working. Also here are some pictures of the posters that Andrew got from the Kennedy Space Center that we hung in the dining room. He likes to take a moment to stare at them every time that he walks by.

Monte Sano State Park

We finally went hiking this weekend. We had weather in the 70s so it was a perfect day to go. They have lots of different trails in the state park and in other areas around Huntsville so we are excited to explore them some more. Hopefully we'll still have some nice weather for a while.

Huntsville, AL

Hello, here are some pictures of our new home in Huntsville Alabama. Our apartment is next to a lake so I took some pictures of the lake too. Our apartment is the one on ground level. The lake has a 2.4 mile trail that goes around it so it has been really nice to walk or run around. It is stocked with fish so there are always people fishing, so bring your fishing poles if you come to visit. There are two blue herons on the lake that are fun to watch. It is a really nice area. We enjoy it. Andrew has been busy with school work and I have been trying to keep busy while looking for a job. I'm hoping that we can go hiking next weekend at Monte Sano State Park so I will post pictures if the weather works out and Andrew doesn't have too much homework.

Boston

This weekend we went to Boston again. Our last weekend in Massachusetts, strange. Time has gone by fast. It seems like we were just arriving here. Our friends Katie, Stacy, and Becky came to visit. On Saturday we walked the freedom trail and then ate at the Cheers bar that night. The bar where the show Cheers was filmed. On Sunday we went to the New England Aquarium. It was not that impressive so I would not recommend it if you are ever in Boston. We then ate at Legal Seafood where they had some very tasty shrimp. Later that afternoon we went to Revere Beach where they had a sand sculpture competition. It was pretty neat. Well, that is all the blogging I will be doing for awhile. We leave next weekend and then pack up our apartment in Lawrence, move to Huntsville, and then vacation in Florida for a week with family.

Maine

The Bush's estate.

Maine

Maine

On Saturday we drove to Maine. The first place we went was called Bug Light Park in South Newport. The park used to be a navy shipyard during WWII where they built 274 ships to carry supplies for the war. We saw the Portland Breakwater Lighthouse there and Spring Point ledge lighthouse in the distance. The next place we went was Portland Head Lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth. It was Maine's first lighthouse built in 1791 as commissioned by George Washington. The area surrounding the lighthouse was a park that used to be an army base. It protected the shoreline during WWII with artillery. We walked around and saw what was left of the structures where the guns were stationed. The next place we went was Kennenbunkport and drove along the coast. We drove by President Bush's summer estate. The last place we visited was York where we saw Cape Neddick "Nubble" Lighthouse. It was very cold and windy there so we didn't stay too long. Well the blog isn't letting me post pictures right now so i will try again later. This coming weekend some friends of ours are coming to visit and we are going to go into Boston again. We will then be leaving the next weekend. The time has gone by fast, it seems like we just got here and now we are going to be leaving. But it has been a great opportunity!

Vermont

On Sunday we went to Vermont. We took the Molly Stark Scenic Byway which drives from the east side to the west side of Vermont. We stopped in Wilmington to look at the view and then drove to Harmon Hill to hike up the mountain. It was a 3.4 mile hike and we gained 1000 feet, so it was a pretty good workout. We had a great view from the top and we could see the town of Bennington below us. It was a perfect day for a hike.

Our New Home

We visited Newport, Rhode Island on Saturday and liked the area so much that we decided to buy our first house there. As you can see from the pictures it is a fixer upper and definitely a starter home but we think we'll like it. It is in a bit of rough neighborhood so we may have to invest in a fighting poodle and a trained squadron of attack sea gulls. Our friends and family are welcome to visit anytime as we should have plenty of guest rooms available. Our bulters, maids, chefs, etc. should be able to take care of whatever you have need of. And even though there isn't much of a yard as the house sits on a tiny lot, we should be able to find something to do around there
(yard darts, hula hoops, shooting empty beer cans with a bb gun, etc.). We think this is a good move and have decided not to continue school or get jobs because we'll be spending all our time getting this dump fixed up so it's presentable. It'll be a hard job but worth it in the long run. Hopefully, our new neighbors will see the improvement and be inspired to do the same. There's more information in the next post about the neighborhood where our new house is located.