Week Seventeen

Although it is colder we are still getting some beautiful sun shining days! 

Wednesday Bren and I drove an hour north of New Hampshire to Portsmouth for lunch. Much quieter than when we visited in Summer! We had a really nice afternoon wandering around and a great lunch at Gas Light Grill.

This week we also got a taste of Halloween in America - candy, costumes and pumpkins, so much fun! 

The Pirate and Flapper Girl knocking back some Rum before Ingrid and Seans Halloween Party...

 Wilson was Ingrid and Ingrid was Wilson...

Chef Bren

For 'the Kiwi's' benefit we also indulged in some American Halloween games...

Bobbing for Apples and Donuts on Strings!

Carving Pumpkins. Well attempting to...

 Very funny night! Halloween is so much fun! :D 

Sunday Aunt Lynn and I did a 4 mile walk for Breast Cancer and returned home to join the boys for Sunday afternoon football and chicken wings! 

Monday I sat in on Aunt Lynn's classroom and met her students. As much as I would love to go on about each one of them and the hilarious things they said and did I am not sure it would be right to have them published on a blog :D But at 5 years old, they are just all too cute and curious!   

Most of the leaves have now dropped! Pretty New Hampshire Autumn...

Week Fifteen & Sixteen

As we continue to chase Summer we met up with Dan and Renee on the warm west coast! Taking a week off from the autumn weather on the east coast of America and locating ourselves on the beaches of Los Angeles and by the pools in Vegas. 

Flying into LA...

Reuniting in LA! 

It was so exciting to see them both and be together in California! The first night we had an amazing dinner together at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Orange County LA, enjoyed a few drinks and motored through each of our happenings over the last 3 months.  

The next morning we picked up our rental car and made our way to check out some California beaches. Our first stop being Newport Beach. It is beautiful! White sand stretching for miles and miles,crystal clear water and a nice surrounding area. Although I personally did not manage to get into the water, the boys said it was amazing - the clearest water they had swam in!

After a couple hours at Newport Beach we carried on to Laguna Beach. Stopping on our way at Fashion Island - a very pretty outdoor shopping area - we each made a few purchases then continued on our journey. 

Dan found pumpkins bigger than his head...

Laguna Beach is another must see beach! With amazing views from above looking down over the beach it really is a pretty place to visit. 

 

We had an early dinner in Laguna (conveniently aligning with Happy Hour) at a Mexican restaurant called Las Brisas. Recommended to us by my aunty it has thee most beautiful views overlooking Laguna and of course fantastic food!

Each day we considered driving back to Newport for an afternoon swim and a couple hours on the beach but never made it as it was always at the time of peak traffic - and traffic in Los Angeles is BAD! 

Friday we drove to Hollywood to check out the Walk of Fame and Hollywood Sign. In all honesty, Hollywood was not what we expected, but we checked it off our to do list!

So we continued on to yet another beautiful beach - Santa Monica.

Friday night we went to Fullerton and had dinner at 'Chomp' - a really fun, loud Sushi Restaurant!

After our delicious dinner we followed a few recommendations from our Waiter and checked out a few bars.

Vegas Roadtrip! 

It was an awesome and very easy drive from LA to Vegas, mountains and desert for miles! For the keen shoppers such as ourselves it is definitely worth taking a pit stop and checking out the outlets on the way into Vegas also!

We checked in at the Cosmopolitan that afternoon and made our way to the last pool party of the season at Marquee.

Looking down on the Bellagio fountains and Las Vegas Boulevard from our amazing room...

Taking a walk along the strip before venturing into the clubs.

Soaking up the rays and relaxing by the pool...

The perfect 'day after' remedy after our nights out in Vegas.

 Wandering the strip and exploring some of the amazing Hotels...

The Venetian

Paris

The Bellagio

The 3 level Chandelier Bar in the Cosmopolitan

Caesars Palace

Just as the last 3 months has flown by so did our week with Dan and Renee on the east coast! We had the most amazing time and we thank you both so much for making the long trip over. See you guys at home!

 

For the conclusion of week Sixteen we were back in New Hampshire. On our return from Vegas, the following day Bren proceeded to get up at 5am to go climb Mount Lafayette.

Beginning the hike at 8am the boys hiked for 8 hours through snow and intense winds to reach the top!

Bren - Starting of early (5.30am) we made a trip to Poor Boys cafe for a quick fix of bacon and eggs. From there we drove 1.5 hours until we arrived at our mountain. Our task was simple - complete an 8 mile hike and summit a peak of 5260 feet! 

Halfway into the hike the conditions changed, the winds increased, and snow began to fall. This made reaching the summit that much harder and moved out our completion time. Upon arrival of the summit a couple of photo's were taken followed by a few high fives. Our visibility up top was unfortunately restricted due to the low cloud and falling snow. However during our trip back down the mountain the skies cleared revealing spectacular views. We finished the hike around 4pm, concluding our big 8 hour hike!

Below is a friendly chipmunk eating one of Bren's Almonds - Too cute.

The following day we took a day of recovery and lay low.
Picking out Pumpkins at Macks with Wilson...

Excited to be in America for Halloween! 

To conclude week sixteen (cannot believe how fast time has gone!) Jeff, Grant, Bren and I took a trip down to Boston to the TD Garden to watch the Boston Celtics play the Brooklyn Nets...

Before the boys moved to their courtside seats...

Now in their courtside seats at the Celtics...

Awesome night - Awesome two weeks - Can't believe we have just come to the end of week SIXTEEN!