Gordon's Birthday & Carousels

Gordon's birthday is December 8th - and we're very lucky in that my parents live close enough to us that they pretty much always babysit so we can celebrate birthdays and the like with a little adult time. This year his birthday happened to fall just after the weekend of the winter carousel day at my Mom's school. So we decided to take advantage of that by having Lily stay overnight at Grammy and Papa's on Saturday night and then attend the carousel day with them. Totally a win-win situation: Grammy gets to take Lily to the party and show her off to all of her friends and we get the WHOLE NIGHT to ourselves to act like adults.

Gordon still has Marriott points from all his years on the road as a software consultant. So we decided to stay at the Rennaisance in Providence - a pretty swanky hotel in a good location downtown. We went to Pot Au Feu, a French bistro style place. We feasted on french bread, foie gras and escargot for appetizers. Then Gordon had a great casoulet - not QUITE as good as the one he had in Paris - but still yummy. I had a duck plate that included both confit and a breast - far more than I could actually consume! We topped it off with a yummy pear tarte tartin. A very lovely meal - even if I am a little bitter that I didn't get to enjoy a nice glass of wine to go with it. I'm not what you'd call a big drinker - I get tipsy from 1/2 glass! - but I AM missing my occasional glass of wine with this pregnancy. At least I get to sip liberally from Gordon's glasses :)

After dinner we lamely went back to the hotel and found ourselves asleep by 10:30 - ha ha. But oh it was nice uninterrupted sleep in a really comfy bed. You just can't beat that! The next day we had time for another adults-only meal - brunch at the Cheesecake Factory in the Providence Place Mall. It's funny how much I miss going out to eat. I mean Lily is pretty well-behaved and all, but restaurant meals are just NOT the same. In general I prefer to take her to very low-key places or just eat at home. Anything that takes any time at all is not fun for any of the parties involved!

Finally we headed over to the Carousel at Battleship Cove to meet up with Lily and my parents. The carousel is actually pretty awesome. It was built in 1920 and was a permanent fixture at Lincoln Park, a local amusement park, for many years. I have lots of memories of visiting that park as a kid. The park closed in the 90's and the carousel was refurbished and brought to Battleship Cove, where it's been since. My Mom's school rented it out for the day on Sunday and had a little holiday festival there. It was pretty fun - Santa, snacks and all the carousel rides you wanted. Lily could have easily ridden all day and was none too happy when we told her it was time to leave. Here are some pics of her enjoying the ride.





Thanks Grammy and Papa for giving ALL of us such a great weekend!

Oh and I will leave you with an image of me and my new fashion-forward style. Check out the lovely belly band peeking out below the ill-fitting maternity shirt. Apparently I'm going for some kind of pudgy, not quite put-together look with this pregnancy. By the time I find a pair of pants that fit me the baby will be here and I'll be right back at pudgy (and exhausted) again. Oh well, at least my pants seem to be staying up!