My Birthday!

Earlier this week I turned 36. It’s so hard for me to believe I’m actually that old! LOL I still sometimes look at my kids and think there’s no way I’m old enough to be their Mom and yet, I am!

I distinctly remember my Mom turning 36 when I was a kid … so it feels so weird to actually be here myself now! I wonder if my kids will think the same thing when THEY turn 36?

Anyway, we planned to have a beach day and then come home and cook out on the grill, but when we got up it was a little chilly for the beach so we decided on Plan B which was to go to Newport, Rhode Island for the day. Newport is sorta like a little Hollywood of the East coast … well maybe not quite, but it’s filled with gorgeous gated mansions, cobblestone streets, fantastic shops and restaurants and surrounded by water and enormous yachts – so to me, it seems a bit glamorous!

I was so happy to have brought my camera along because we got some great pictures that day. It takes us over an hour to get there, so we started the day with breakfast sandwiches and coffee from Dunkin Donuts.

Once there we parked and began to walk to the Cliff Walk. It’s a 7 mile long path that goes right along the cliffs over the ocean – all along the way are these gorgeous mansions that overlook the water. Some are hundreds of years old and you can actually tour them, others are newer.

This was the first house we passed, definitely a newer one, or at least it’s been updated recently.

And this was this pretty sunroom/gazebo type thing that was on their property just sitting right above the ocean … we all tried to picture sitting in there and enjoying the stars at night or for me I pictured sitting in there with my morning coffee! Unfortunately with the Cliff Walk right there you wouldn’t have much privacy – and I’d bet that the rich people that own it will barely use it anyway!

Some parts of the Cliff Walk are paved, other parts are a bit rocky …

Stopping to take some pictures …

I call this house the Asian palace, it’s so neat and has a tunnel that goes underground under it.

I’m 36!! Woohooo!! I love my life!!

And I love this man … I’ve known him since I was 17 years old and could NOT imagine life without him!

Love my sweet girlies too!

On our way back to the car … this is the entrance gate to that first house I showed you … WOW!

Then we went to the Red Parrot for lunch, it’s always a favorite when we’re in Newport. I had a DELISH salad with grilled chicken and fresh fruits on it. And I also had a Peach Sangria that was so yummy!

After lunch we walked around town a bit. There are a lot of neat things to see but most of the shops are quite expensive … so we just looked around but didn’t buy anything.

 

Then as we walked back to our car we decided to get a treat before heading home … Ben and Jerry’s is always a good choice and we sat on the docks to enjoy it …

Sitting on the docks we were right next to these HUGE, gorgeous yachts … it’s hard to imagine what people do for a living to afford such luxury! This one had all kinds of workers on it doing various things … and can you imagine what their house looks like?!

After another hour+ drive home we made a spontaneous decision to camp in the backyard that night. MUCH easier than packing it all up to take to a campground! So we got home and set up the tent and blankets and all that stuff.

The girls went in the pool for a bit while hubby cooked us an awesome dinner … and I just relaxed {so nice to be the birthday girl!}

We had grilled steaks, baked potatoes and corn on the cob for dinner. My hubs is a GREAT cook!

After dinner we had a campfire … the girls lit up some sparklers and set off some small fireworks … then when it got pretty late we climbed in the tent and went to bed.

It was a fantastic birthday spent with my 3 favorite people! I am ONE BLESSED GIRL!!!