Three Year Anniversary Trip

We had our three year anniversary on this month!!! Isn't that crazy? It's hard to believe that time has gone that fast but at the same time I can hardly remember life without Steve. I love this guy so much and I'm so incredibly grateful that he is my husband forever. We've spent every one of our anniversaries living in a different state. We spent our first year anniversary in Arizona, second year in Massachusetts, and third in Connecticut- And next year we will likely be in a new state... Crazy! For this anniversary, Steve planned a surprise weekend getaway to the Adirondack region of New York. We've been dying to get up to these mountains since we've lived here but haven't really had a chance, so I was really excited he picked to go here. We spent three days and two nights up there.... Here are the details....

The first day/night we were there we stayed at a resort that had a private lake and we had our own little private tupa (aka cabin). It was a cute little place! We didn't get there until early evening on Friday, so we went for a little bike ride down to the lake and went for a canoe ride. That night, we decided to make our own fancy dinner instead of going out. Steve grilled us delicious new york strip steaks, corn and pineapple, with watermelon on the side. For dessert we had lava cakes with vanilla ice cream! Yes- it was a delicious meal :)

Saturday morning, we woke up and headed to the lake to do some swimming, paddle-boating and sunbathing. It was such a fun afternoon. There was only 3-4 other people on the lake so it almost felt like we had it completely to ourselves. What more can you ask for on your anniversary weekend?

Our little 'tupa'

We decided to only spend one night at this resort to save money and then find a campground somewhere near the Lake Placid region. We just assumed that we would be able to find a campground because there is like 250 in this region, so we didn't make advanced reservations. Well it turns out that during the fourth of July weekend EVERY SINGLE campground gets booked full. Except, we found one with availability called Rainbow Pines. We were so excited to find vacancy we called immediately to ask if there was vacancy. The lady told Steve that there was always room for a tent. Then he asked if we could reserve it, and she said they didn't take reservations but they would hold it for us.... At this point we were about thirty seconds from hopping in the car and driving there... Just as we were packing up I noticed a banner scrolling across the bottom of their website that said "This campground is men only". Weird huh? Well after a couple of seconds of searching we found out that Rainbow Pines is New York's premier Gay campground... bahahahahaha!!!!!!!! We laughed for like ten minutes! I wonder what they would have done if we would had showed up- They would have rejected me and invited Steve to join in all the fun!

Our next resort was to start looking for cheap hotels- we eventually found one with vacancy in our price range! We reserved it and began the drive to Lake Placid.Hooray! We checked in to the hotel, found a restaurant to go and had a lovely pizza dinner. When we got back to the hotel, we were going to put a movie on, so I turned the covers down- much to my surprise I found a whole pile of mouse droppings right on the pillows, as well as chewed up sheets and pillowcases. I could have puked! At this point we were worried that we weren't going to be able to find another hotel (plus it was like 11 pm), so we did some google searching- found another hotel with vacancy- got our money back and got out of there as FAST as we could. Ew, I feel gross just remembering this... The next hotel we went to was perfect and we were finally able to get a good night's sleep :)

The next day was the fourth of July! We decided to drive to the top of Whiteface mountain, which is a really tall mountain there, it boasts views of Vermont, Canada, and on really clear days, New Hampshire. We got to the top and discovered that a lot of other people had decided to do the very same thing :) It was really touristy but also really pretty.

This is a view of the ski resort that two Olympic games have been held at- pretty huh?

Aerial view of Lake Placid from the top of Whiteface

An observatory on top of Whiteface plus a lot of tourists :)

We were going to try to do some biking this day but I was not feeling very well. It was super hot and I was feeling pretty dizzy, so I didn't think that biking would be a very good activity for me... bummer because I bet there was a lot of pretty trails. Instead of biking, we drove for a little while, stopped at a beautiful river and then headed in to the city of Lake Placid to do some exploring.

We walked around the city for a while, got some Ben and Jerry's ice cream and decided to see Toy Story 3 to get out of the ridiculous heat. It was cute and a good activity for me since I was not feeling well! After the movie, it had cooled down significantly so we busted out the bikes and went to go see Lake Placid but there weren't any trails around it and you really had to have a boat to see it, so we just kept riding our bikes around town. The town of Lake Placid actually surrounds Mirror Lake- so we rode around that lake for a while and decided we better stake out a spot to watch the fireworks. We ended up RIGHT by the lake- we could have put our feet in if we wanted. It was a perfect spot :) We ate our dinner of peanut butter and honey sandwiches and played cribbage while we watched the sun set over Mirror Lake. It was perfect :)

The town of Lake Placid at dusk- beautiful.

After the sun set, the fireworks started. We ended up right next to the spot they were lighting the fireworks. It was cool to be so close because the fireworks literally filled our whole sky and it was so loud and fun. Steve found a fireworks setting on our camera and got some pretty cool shots of the fireworks. After the fireworks we decided to take just head home so we didn't have to pay for another night in a hotel, and so we didn't have to fight the terrible traffic that would be inevitable on Monday. We got home at like 4 am exhausted but happy after a super fun and memorable weekend!

A heart shaped firework- the perfect way to end a romantic anniversary weekend!

Welcome to a happy place :)

Acadia National Park, Maine

Over Memorial Day weekend, Steve and I drove to Mount Desert Island, Maine and enjoyed a four day stay at one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. I loved Acadia and want to go back there (right now!). We had a lovely weekend filled with perfect weather, bike rides, hiking, good food, lots of exploring and spending good quality time together after a long and grueling semester.

These pictures were taken from the top of Cadillac Mountain- the highest peak in Maine (or on the Atlantic Coast... I can't remember... but it's some kind of high peak :) It was beautiful at the top. It looked out into the beautiful blue ocean and you could see all of the little islands that surround the coast. You can even see the coast of Nova Scotia from the top of this mountain!

I love this picture! What a good lookin' guy!

The only sandy beach in the whole park- unfortunately the day we went there it was about 65 degrees and the water was probably about 45-50 degrees- needless to say Steve only dipped his feet in and I didn't get in at all! I was sitting on the sunny rocks with my jacket zipped all the way to the top!

One of the most awesome features of Acadia is that there are miles and miles of carriage roads. John Rockefeller built this amazing system of carriage roads so he didn't have to compete with automobiles. He built them to near beautiful lakes and over rivers and streams. There stone bridges like the one above all over the place. They are so beautiful and we were always excited to see one.

The really great thing about the carriage roads is- only bikes, horses and hikers are allowed- hardly anyone used them and it was the perfect type of biking for me-- meaning we were in a beautiful place, on a road (not a scary mountain bike trail) and it was relatively challenging without being to intense. We biked miles and miles of carriage roads and saw beautiful places on them. We both felt like this was the best way to explore this park because you could see so much more than if we tried to hike them all. I'm not sure if you've figured it out already but I L.O.V.E.D. the carriage roads :)

A vista overlooking Eagle lake

On one of the gorgeous stone bridges, taking a break after a long uphill climb

One of the days we spent hiking a trail that overlooks Somes Sound- It is the only fjord on the Atlantic coast and it was really beautiful. For a while we were right near the water and saw some lobster boats come check their cages. Then, the hike took us into the forest where hiked to the top of one of the mountains and then back down.

A working lighthouse near Acadia- it wasn't the most beautiful but we had to stop and see it anyways! I don't know if any of you have seen the Disney movie Pete's Dragon but the whole time we were there I couldn't stop singing "I'll be your candle on the water" and other songs from that movie. In fact, Pete's Dragon is the next movie to come in our netflix queue and I can't wait to make Steve watch it!

After our hike in Somes Sound we drove in to Bar Harbor, Maine and got a seafood dinner- Steve got a lobster and I got fish n' chips. We went a saw a movie that night. I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of the town because it was cute- but oh well :)

On another carriage road ride...

This Jordan pond- isn't it lovely? There is a restaurant that sits right on the water and serves famous English popovers- we went to get some for a snack and there was a 45 minute wait! What???? So instead of eating popovers overlooking this lake- we ate nature valley granola bars and then headed out for another bike ride

This is a gate house to the carriage roads- it was pretty cool but you couldn't explore it because it was a private residence... It was cool but I don't think I'd want to live there :)
That was the last picture we took- So there you have it- Acadia National Park. One of the best vacations I've ever had. I hope we get to go back before we move too far away.

Remember me?

Hello blog world... it's me Kalli. I'm not sure if anyone remembers me because I have been absent since February-- but I'm back-- for now at least! So much has been going on lately that I haven't had a chance to even think about blogging. Okay well I think about it all the time but never actually get a chance to catch up. I should let you all know that I wasn't chronically ill or abducted since my last post, but I had a really hard semester and I was constantly working or sleeping. I'm happy that the Spring semester is over but I am already beginning the summer term. I am in denial of that though. Overall my semester was rewarding. I had my first clinical experiences with two preschool children. They were so awesome. Those little kids stole my heart and I feel more confident in my ability to learn all of the things that I'll need to know someday to be a competent speech-language pathologist. Before I get too far into the here and now I wanted to give you all a quick recap of the last 3 months....

February:

One word: Olympics!

We were lucky enough to be able to go to Canada and see the Olympics. We saw a hockey game, the mens snowboarding half-pipe competition,the ski jump long hill and a lot of Steve's family. We ditched school and our responsibilities for the week (don't worry we paid for it the moment we returned) and had a blast hanging out in Vancouver. Here are a couple of highlights, in no particular order...





















The rest of February was quite uneventful and full of Steve and I paying for the week we took off by having to do tons of work to catch up.

March: not much noteworthy here- We both had Spring breaks which did not match up so I spent my spring break home working and Steve spent his pretty much home and working-- Oh the exciting of life of graduate students- I know you all just really jealous of our lives by that description of spring break- Woo!

This March was the second rainiest month on record EVER. The first rainiest month happened when THREE HURRICANES passed through new england. Yup three of them. There was major flooding all over the state. Luckily only a little bit of water got in our basement and nothing was ruined. It seriously rained ALL THE TIME! And not just a pitter patter- I am talking like 3-4 days of constant downpour. It was crazy like nothing I've ever seen before in my whole life. Needless to say we were happy for the rain to stop!

We had our first 'visitors'. My cousin-in-law and her daughter were here for a conference and one day we were able to meet up and go to the new england aquarium and they were kind enough to take us out to dinner in the North End (little Italy). It was so fun to see family in Boston! *hint hint*

April:

This month also passed with very little exciting. We had so much work this whole month. However the weather improved and we were able to get outside and ride our bikes a lot. That has become our favorite form of recreation here.

Beginning of May:

I finished my semester in the first week of May. The day after my last final I flew to Austin to see my whole family!!! It was so exciting. I can't even tell you. I hadn't seen my parents or Mhari and James or Megan in a year. That is a super long time. It was also very exciting because we got to meet our new little nephew Andrew Keenan. Steve flew out a couple of days after I did and skipped school to stay for a couple of extra days. It was such a fun vacation. I wish I had pictures but I didn't have my camera and am waiting to get the pictures from that weekend. Soon you will see my little man Andrew!

RIGHT NOW:

Well I decided to move to Connecticut with Steve and commute to Boston for classes for the summer. I also have a clinical placement here- but it's on the days I have classes so I think it will work out okay. Here's to hoping anyways. So we found a subletter for our apartment for the summer and also have found an apartment in Middletown. We spent the day today packing our apartment and will be moving next Tuesday-- but not before we take an epic camping trip to Acadia national park in Maine. We leave for that tomorrow afternoon and will return Monday morning. After we get home, we'll pack up the truck and head out the next morning. Crazy, yes. Exciting, yes. I think although this sounds really crazy commuting back and forth to Boston that I'll be happier being with Steve and having a crummy commute than being by myself with an easy commute. And believe it or not, we'll be saving loads of money doing it this way. Yes- our rent is that high, its sad really.

Well I better get back to it but I just wanted you all to know We're alive!