The Birthday Weekend
Sunday was David's 41st birthday, so we celebrated the entire weekend. Friday night after swimming, we had Wendy, Eric, Evan and Olivia over to celebrate. We had a simple dinner with a few balloons and candles thrown in for the kids. Evan gave us a pre-dinner magic show. David got some Halloween decorations for the house. It was a fun night.
Saturday we went to Rhode Island. I hadn't been there before (except Block Island) so I was anxious to check it out. We went to Newport first to see the mansions. This was one of the largest and most famous:
It was fun to see Newport, but when we would go by these houses, I just kept picturing the Lehman Brothers executives in my head, so the beauty of it all was lost on me. Wealth of that magnitude doesn't do much for me. I have a tendency to see corrupt power, fair or not.
Then we headed to Providence to see Waterfire. (http://www.waterfire.org/) I was so excited about this (probably more so than David) I'd read about it in several magazines and had been looking at the website for a few weeks now. I couldn't wait. The weather was PERFECT! It was clear and cool, but not cold.
This event is held every Saturday night during the warm months. This was the final night of the season. Each night hosts a different theme or work for a different charity. Saturday was a benefit for breast cancer awareness and all the proceeds went to the breast cancer society in the Providence area. There was pink EVERYWHERE! Pink lights lit statues and monuments, there were pink hats and feather boas, pink t-shirts and scarves and pink cake and pink drinks. Every booth was splashed in pink, a constant reminder of the reason for the night.
People would come early and sit on the steps with kids and blankets and picnic dinners, waiting anxiously for the show. It's the kind of thing I could see doing with mom and Marsha and her family. One family even had a fold out table with fixings for a feast - they were veterans of the event for sure. (That would have been us). The fire pits were already set up all along the river:
We walked around and saw everything there was to see. As we were heading back to get a spot to sit and watch, these two creatures passed us. We followed them desperately trying to get a decent photo. They were creeping along and when the kids would see them, they'd say "The Gargoyles! The Gargoyles!" We followed them from the sidewalk up to a monument where they perched on the ledge. For a dollar donation, you could go up and meet these little monsters. Kids and adults alike ventured up and waved, took photos and talked to the gargoyles. It was quite a sight. We stood there for several minutes and watched.
A couple was getting up when we were walking up, and we grabbed a PERFECT spot to see the lighting. There were planks between each pit and the performing artist walked between them with twirling ropes of fire as if he was walking on the water to light each one. The fire twirled and smell of smoke and burning wood filled the air. You could feel the warmth from the sidewalk. We tried to get good photos of this, but none came out to really show how it actually was:
After the lighting, we went to dinner at this great little Italian restaurant, Capriccios It was so mafia - we had to laugh. For starters, it was underground. You walked down a flight of stairs to get to the dining room. The waiters were all in tuxedos and all had a "mafia" look, complete with the accent and attitude. David ordered beef wellington. We'd both seen it countless times on tv, but never had ordered it. It was FABULOUS! I had a plate of lobster ravioli compete with lobster claws on top, and even still I was longing to have his plate. The flaky dough was laced with black truffle and the beef melted in your mouth. It was truly a "birthday" dinner.
Sunday we had breakfast at our old faithful place: Ken's. It's always good. And since the day was just as gorgeous as the day before (70 and not a cloud in the sky) we went out on the boat. It was so fun. Usually we go with other people, so I sit in the back and enjoy the sun and let the boys play with their toy. But this time it was just the two of us, so I got to sit up front and watch and learn. Quite a different experience all together. It was a great afternoon. We went out to the ocean and saw the sites to be seen. We stopped for a while and read on the front of the boat (I'm sure it has a technical name, but you know what I mean) and enjoyed the day. It was just perfect. Here's a few of the shots I took:
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