Visiting Friends & Snowy Retreats

Our All Church Retreat as of Saturday afternoon. The power went out on Saturday and by Sunday morning we had over 16 inches of snow on the ground.

 

Cruella de Vil

Tetris costumes at the church costume party Saturday night.

October was such a busy but fun month here in Boston.  We had the Lentzs over from Seattle, the All Church Retreat up in New Hampshire, and a great month of sunny fall weather in Boston, minus the one day that there as a snowy thunderstorm.  In the middle of the month, Steven and Stephanie decided to take a break from all the excitement that is Enumclaw and come on out to Beantown for four days to see us. The last time we'd seen each other we were too busy celebrating Jeremy finally coming out as straight.  (honestly, those sweater-vests had us guessing for a while there ; )  Anyways, they arrived early on a Saturday morning and decided to not take naps, which is pretty impressive considering the red-eye they just took. Instead we had a huge breakfast frittata which Chad made. After gorging ourselves on an amazing breakfast we took the B line downtown to do the Freedom Trail, which is pretty much the staple of anyone's first day in Boston. We got cannollis in the North End, strolled into the Old North Church, walked through Beacon Hill and Newbury street, and eventually made it back to our place in Allston for some lunch.  Our afternoon was more low-key just playing games at our place but we had a yummy dinner out in Harvard square. Steven and Chad ended up beating Halo:Reach on the hardest setting while they were here - who's surprised there?  Sunday they came to Highrock with us and after Soulfood we headed out to Cape Anne to see Rockport and Ipswich.  We strolled around Rockport and got some hot chocolate before heading out to my favorite eatery in New England, the Clam Box in Ipswich!  You may remember it from a previous blog post, but suffice it to say that we waited 45 minutes in line and Steven said it was worth it for the fried clams and calamari, so there you go.  We stopped by a local orchard farm store for cider donuts (only a 30 second wait here!), fresh picked apples, and a fruit wine tasting. It was such a nice little farm store - it was so cute! Whitney's favorite part of the day was just driving around - the trees were in their height of fall colors and it was just such a gorgeous day for driving around the countryside. Monday Chad took half the day off and Whitney the entire day, and we met up for a picnic lunch in the South End before heading on over to Harpoon Brewery for the 2 o'clock tasting.  The Lentzs aren't actually beer drinkers, but you better believe we tried to change that this weekend! The great thing about Harpoon is that they have 12 taps which include a cider and a raspberry flavored beer so there is something for everyone. Manly man Steven's favorite beer was the Raspberry UFO!  After Harpoon we headed over to Doyle's Cafe in JP for an appetizer and more drinks. We stopped by the Arnold Arboretum for a quick walk up Peter's Hill before heading to Ben and Jerry's for some badly needed ice cream and then finally home to collapse on the couch in a beer/ice cream induced coma ; ) Not really though - we had veggie burgers and played games of course! Tuesday morning Whitney spent studying at a cafe while Stephanie and Steven entertained themselves. We picked up Chad and headed over to the Samuel Adams brewery tour. They have a delicious pumpkin ale that we have never tried before. We then headed back again to Doyles so that we could get a free Samuel Adams full size glass. All in all it was a fabulous visit. We love having guests and we love the Lentzs! It was fun showing them this side of us and letting them see our 'Boston' life since so far they only know us within the context of Seattle.

The next weekend (last weekend) we headed off to New Hampshire for the annual Highrock Church Retreat. The speaker for the weekend was Reverend Michael Carrion from the South Bronx. Boy was he a bit different then the usual guest speaker! He was pretty much exactly what you're imagining when you hear South Bronx and he was absolutely phenomenal. His messages were very challenging and cut straight to the heart of our church. The services were definitely the highlight of the weekend for many of us. We drove up and shared a room with our good friends Kim and Lloyd. We played Cattan the first night but the second night was cut a bit short when the power went out! Saturday day was service in the morning, young vs. old football game in the afternoon, and halloween costume party and service in the evening. Now Friday and Saturday was super cold - majorly chilly and at about 3 pm it started to snow. By 6 pm there was a good 6" of snow on the ground. When we woke up Sunday morning there was a good 18" on the ground. IN OCTOBER!! Steven and Stephanie will attest to the fact that the week before it was over 60 degrees. Crazy business if you ask me. All the young boys shoveled off all the cars and luckily the roads were all plowed and we made it back to Boston safely. We came home to pitiful patches of snow here and there - not even a solid covering. The weekend was an adventure but it was fun. We enjoyed the time away from home to be spiritually nourished and be challenged a little bit.

Now it's back to work and school. Nothing big planned until we spend Thanksgiving with the Weber clan - which we are very much looking forward to!

We purchased our Christmas tickets out to Seattle! We'll be arriving December 23rd and leaving January 1st!  Can't wait to see everyone from home : )

Love to you all,
Whitney & Chad