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From New York to Boston—Vacation

September 6, 2012 by Laura Lohr 2 Comments

There are so many adventures I want to talk about. I have not even begin to scratch the surface of our trip to New York. At the same time, I cannot wait to talk about Boston! It was my first time to Beantown and I fell in love with the entire state of Massachussettes!

We left New York City and BlogHer behind after catching Mary Poppins on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre. It was as amazing as I always to imagine it to be. There is something magic about watching live theater in the oldest theater in New York City that is still running. It was built in 1903. If you have not taken in a Broadway show before, it is something you really should do at some time in your life. It is incredibly magical!

We took the Amtrack train from New York to Boston. We left out of Penn Station, which was a memorable adventure all on its own. As our train left the outer edge of the city, I took in the skyline of the city. Sometimes it was unbelieveable that we were actually doing and seeing these wonderful things.

The cityscape as we left New York City via Amtrak to Boston. It was a beautiful day. The previous two days there were thundershowers that grounded many planes. This day, however, the weather was perfect!

The train ride was beautiful. The train was comfortable. We rode in the “Quiet Car” and that was wonderful. Five hours of silence, with a six year old? Yes, please!

Allie was more than happy to watch several movies, including The Three Stoges, that Mr. Bear got her into while we were gone. She laughed out loud many times.

We arrived in Boston and to our vacation rental that was in the cutest little neighborhood in Dorchester. Dorchester is a little suburb of Boston. It has somewhat of a reputation of being a rough neighborhood, but where we stayed bordered Quincy and it was a perfect place to stay.

It was a very cute, old house, with original hardwood floors. It was a very quiet neighborhood and a great place to stay.

The first day, we had a full day of venturing through the city and eating great food. We ate gelato and took pictures along the Freedom Trail. We learned about Freedom Trail and Paul Revere. It takes your breath away to think of all the history that exists in the city. That evening, we took in a game at Fenway Park, with my good friend Jen. First, we met up at the Boston Commons and walked through the park. It was so beautiful. We went to see the Red Sox play against the Texas Rangers. I do not know who won, I soaked in the moment of sitting in the historic ballpark with my family and a good friend.

“I had a little horsey called, Paul Revere—Just me and my horsey and a quart of beer” Beastie Boys

We had a beverage with Jen before the game. Allie ordered a Shirley Temple, heavy on the cherries.

Allie took this photo. She has a love for photography, the same way I do! It was awesome to be in historic Fenway Park!

Jen suggested that we do the Duck Tour. Not only was this tour fun, it was informative too. There were two tour guides that alternated and they were equally entertaining and informative. The day was long, but phenomenal! We walked back across a bridge to meet Jen downtown at her work, where we were nearly killed in the crosswalk numerous times, even when we had the right of way. Did I mention that as much as I LOVE Massachussettes and Boston AND the people of Massachussettes, I love them much more when they are not driving. (You Bostonians are CRAZY drivers!) Jen was kind enough to offer to drive us to Target to get some mandatory supplies. Thank you, Jen for taking us to Target that night to get some groceries!

Beautiful Boston!

This is a rare treat! A family photo! Yea!

Quincy Market downtown.

Allie and Mommy on the Duck Tour

The USS Constitution. What a sight to see!

Another rare find—just the two of us!

While at Target, I ran over Allie’s big toe with the grocery cart (or buggy, as they say on the East Coast). Her toe started bleeding and she started screaming. Guess who wins Mom of the Year this year? Fortunately, she was fine. Later that night however, she woke up with such a bad ear ache that she had to be taken to the emergency room. Poor little girl!

After the emergency room, Allison got to feeling much better.

Boston was beautiful, incredible, and we fell in love with the city. This only covers the first two or three days of our trip. We have been talking about moving to the East Coast. We have so many friends that we got to visit with while we were out and there were plenty of friends we did not see. I have not even begin to discuss our visits with friends, Rockport, Cape Cod, or Plymouth Rock. Oh, it was fabulous!

Next up in the series, the rest of Massachusetts.

Previous items in this series:

BlogHer 2012—My Thoughts and Critiques

Before BlogHer New York 2012

BlogHer 2012—My Thoughts and Critiques

August 29, 2012 by Laura Lohr 3 Comments

We got back from our trip to BlogHer and our Tour d’East Coast two weeks ago now. It was an exciting adventure and like any fabulous vacation, I am glad to be home, sweet home, savoring the memories. The BlogHer conference was a letdown this year; I am very disappointed to say. It was disorganized. It was chaotic. It was crowded. It was stressful.

The Bad:

1. They had over 5,000 attendees and that was way too many! The New York City Hilton was completely unprepared and unable to accommodate this many people. I was at BlogHer two years ago, with 2,000 less attendees and the cracks were beginning to show back then. Thankfully, we did not stay at the Hilton. I understand there was a 15 minute wait (and more) for the elevators during peak times. Yikes!

2. There was a stampede of pushing and shoving at the Martha Stewart lunch the first day. People were stuck on the escalators and could not get off. There were so many people on the upper level, where the food was served. It did not feel safe at all. I nearly had an anxiety attack and I was not the only one. I did not talk to anyone that had a different experience that day.

Here is the only surviving photo of the Martha Stewart luncheon. Somehow, I managed to delete every single, last photo from my DSLR camera before it backed up to the Cloud or my computer. EVERY ONE!

But, THANKFULLY, my friend Danielle of SimmWorks Family Blog saved the day and sent me some of her. I am totally appreciative! Thank you! Thank you!

Here is Martha tweeting about us. 🙂

3. At the Katie Couric luncheon the following day, I was looking for a place to sit, but every single table I went to sit down at, one person was “reserving” the nine other chairs at the table. I finally sat down and held my ground at an EMPTY chair. I was tired of caring if people had saved seats for people that had not bothered to plan ahead to get a seat before I got there. I think saving a seat for one or two people is fine. More than two people? That really is unfair. This particular person I have been following on Twitter for some time now and she is a lovely, genuine, sweet person. I think the crowds brought out the worst in a lot of people. It was tense. Once her friends arrived, however, I felt like we left on good terms. (By the way, I still think this person is a very lovely person!)

I am maybe ten feet away from Katie Couric. I thought she was great! She has some serious arm muscles too! Man!

4. The expo was so disjointed. Rooms with brands here. Rooms with brands there. It was completely different from last year. It was difficult to locate the brands I wanted to connect with. There was not a flow. Also, from what I understand, there was some bad behavior from other bloggers that completely had some brands totally turned off. I found that some of the brands were a little more willing to give away swag than to discuss relationships. Last year seemed a lot easier to make connections.

The Good:

1. I got to hang out with some of my very favorite people and meet some new friends along the way! It was wonderful to spend time with some of my friends I had met years ago and we get to see each other once a year at the conference.

2. I went to a lot of really fun parties with a lot of fabulous people. It was so much fun! I have to blog about the Harley Davidson party, the Land’s End party, the California Dreaming party and The Odd Life of Timothy Green premiere that Allie and Mr. Bear went to. There were so many incredible experiences, they all deserve their own post!

3. New York City was fantastic, as always! The city was bustling and full of energy all day and night. It was awesome to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, just the three of us. Mr. Bear and Allie spent the two days I was at the conference roaming around the city. They went to a tour of the NBC studio, to the Empire State Building, to the Natural History Museum and wandered aimlessly through Central Park. Allie had a blast playing on the playground, while Mr. Bear had a leisure chat with the other dads with their kiddos. The last day in New York, we took in a Broadway show together. I have always wanted to do this! Mary Poppins was a great show. I have so many posts to write! We had a blast.

4. This was the first time Allie was in New York City with us, outside the womb. (See my post about this!) It was exciting to be in Times Square with her. She was so in awe of everything going on around her.

Allie and Crystal—This is the bear she convinced Mr. Bear she MUST have because all of her stuffed animals were at home. In her defense, Crystal went everywhere we did.

Before BlogHer New York 2012

August 20, 2012 by Laura Lohr 8 Comments

We arrived in New York City an hour and a half after our scheduled arrival time. We left the blue skies, sunshine, dry air and cool breezes of San Diego, in exchange for thunderstorms, rain, humidity (OH GAWD, the humidity!) and numerous flight delays to get to New York. We had all the ingredients for disaster along the way. We knew we had to get there to have the fun, however.

Sometimes, the adventure is in the journey, rather than the destination, right?

After two crying babies, seats that would not recline (while the seats in front of us reclined right into our belly buttons) and a plane that circled La Guardia for two solid hours before touching terra firma, I was ecstatic to have my two feet firmly planted on the ground. I was beyond thrilled to be in the Big Apple with the family.

Our Town Car was awaiting us at the airport. We had a deal through Living Social to $20 from La Guardia to Midtown and it worked out perfectly. Of course, there was an accident near La Guardia and the entire bridge was closed, nonetheless, our competent driver took us another route, over the Queensboro Bridge and through Queens.
….

We entered a neighborhood that I recognized. In an instant, I was overcome with gratitude. I was sitting next to Allison, driving through Queens, New York. The last time I was in Queens with Allison, she was in utero, in 2005 and we were in big trouble. Mr. Bear and I were on our way to Paris, France following a week-long stay in New York. While at JFK Airport and six months pregnant, I realized I was bleeding heavily. I was terrified I was losing my baby. The paramedics came and took me to Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York, in the middle of the night. After a thorough evaluation and a clean bill of health, the head of OB/GYN cleared us to have a great time in Paris and sent us with the cell phone, e-mail, and home address of two of his colleagues in France if we were to have trouble again.

It brought tears to my eyes to see my healthy, happy, beautiful daughter staring out the window at the same hospital I feared I would lose her at, nearly seven years later. Life is a beautiful thing. I felt so much appreciation for the beautiful moment. Seven years ago, the future was so uncertain. Today, I hold her tiny hand, recognizing how truly fortunate I am to know her—my little New York miracle—my heart outside my body. I presume it takes dramatic experiences in life to fully appreciate how precious life really is.

Me, in 2005, about 5 months pregnant

Mr. Bear and I in front of Radio City Music Hall in 2005. I was about 5 months pregnant

Me, in 2005, relaxing in Central Park. I was on modified bed rest, so I had to rest and relax every hour or so.
…
New York 2012

We arrived at our hotel in New York City after dark and enjoyed some appetizers at the bar downstairs. Mr. Bear and Allie were ticketed for the Empire State Building. Instead, they decided to push the adventure out a few days. I made my way to the Hilton, where I met up with a good friend and called it a night.

Thursday morning, we made the trek to Battery Park, with all the other tourists from all over the world, to take the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty and to Ellis Island. Although it was not the first time I had seen the Statue of Liberty, it was my first time at Liberty Island. Mr. Bear and I took the Circle Line tour back in 2005 and I caught my first visual of Lady Liberty. This time I was in awe of how incredible a sight she really is! Ellis Island got me emotional, as I attempted to comprehend what it must have been like to come through the port to be evaluated and to have someone determine your fate, depending on if you were fit to immigrate. The stories of families that were separated, potentially never to be reunited again, left me humbled, speechless, and grateful. I could not imagine what that must have been like for the thousands upon thousands of human beings that were processed like cattle through the station.

It was wonderful to spend the day with Mr. Bear and Allison. Allie was a trooper throughout the whole day. There was one moment of meltdown, where the humidity was getting to her. She was complaining and crabby, so I did what any parent would do and doused her with a bottle of water. She snapped out of it and we had no other complaints the rest of the day.

Allie at the Statue of Liberty

Allie and Mommy at the Statue of Liberty

Allie and Daddy at the Statue of Liberty

We had an amazing time and made some amazing memories. Stay tuned for the rest of the Lohr Vacation Extravaganza 2012!

The Summer I Became a Carny Part I

July 1, 2012 by Laura Lohr Leave a Comment

After graduation from high school, I had relatively little plans. I had aspirations to enroll in college the fall of 1991, however, during the summer I had nothing going on. Nothing. Nada. Up to no good. You know the saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” No statement could be truer than it was for me that summer. I got caught taking my dad’s truck to an ex-boyfriend’s house who was no good for me. My parents were disappointed in my behavior. Finding a summer job seemed an unlikely prospect in the small town I was from.

The morning following being caught at the forbidden ex-boyfriend’s house, my parents informed me that they were shipping me off to Paso Robles to get a job at the California Mid-State Fair. I was being given a one-way ticket to get my shit together. My grandmother picked me up the next day. My grandma, my cousin (who is one month younger than me), and I would be taking a road trip in Grandma’s motorhome to stay with my aunt and GET A DAMN JOB already! I was not happy, yet I did not have a choice.

When we arrived in Paso Robles, we got an early morning start to apply for jobs at the fairgrounds. My aunt had some “connections” and the three of us got jobs working at the Hot Dog on a Stick trailers. My cousin Gene and my grandma Freda were in one trailer, I, in another. We spent eleven days covered in the grease of footlong hot dogs and the sticky-sweet smells of freshly spun cotton candy. It did nothing for my nineteen year old oily complexion. We worked 12 hour shifts, with a lunch hour and a few “smoke breaks.”

The stories people tell of the carny life? Well, I can say they are all true—mostly. At least, that was my experience in the Hot Dog on a Stick trailer. I learned the sad, humble life of a 6’8 man that went by the name Stretch, that bore a homemade tattoo of a heart with a sword through it that said, “MOM” in big, bright reddish-pink letters and dawned a southern drawl that lisped through gaps in the spaces of his mouth where teeth should be. We were strictly forbidden by ourselves from the areas where the true carnys quarters were. To say there were shady characters would be understated.

Imagine your 70 year old grandmother leaving your grandfather to join the carny life. Surely, it was something of a scandal in my family to behold. Yet there she was, in all of her glory, schlepping hot dogs, pickles, cotton candy, and sodas. The scandal was heard through the pay phone when I called my parents. Grandpa was not assumed with her antics.

I heard the jokes about the “footlong hotdog” and it seemed every male that came to my window that summer swore theirs was bigger than ours, I remember I had to hire the Toronto window cleaning service because they will always stick their hands on my windows, I hated it. It was enough too much information, myth or legend that made my young brain explode. Thankfully, no one attempted to prove their claims. Thankfully, no one attempted to prove their claims to Freda, my grandma.

Freda, Gene and I slept in my grandmother’s motorhome. After a 12 hour shift at the greasy dog trailer, we fell into the foam bed of our temporary home sweet home, parked in the driveway of my aunt’s house.

At the tender age of 18, my uncle bought Gene and I beer whenever we wanted. In fact, even when we did not want. We met a friend of my uncle’s with a checkered past that won 6.3 million dollars on the California Lottery that owned a limo. He asked me to be his chauffeur because he wanted a blonde limo driver to cart him around. The family spent a few nights at a local lake, waterskiing by day and up to no good at night. I went to see the Nelson Twins play at the fairgrounds and spent my lunch hour perusing the halls of the fair. For 11 days, I was bound to my own devices and nothing more.

I should add that we followed the fair tour from mid-state California to Ventura, California, and to the L.A. County Fair. Follow along for part II to come later.

Island Christmas

December 22, 2011 by Laura Lohr Leave a Comment

This year, we did something we have promised each and every year we would do. We took a trip together, just we three, for our very own celebration. We decided on an island locale. We wanted to go to Hawaii. Who doesn’t, right? Instead, we booked a trip to Catalina Island; something we have wanted to do for some time.

The days leading up to the trip, Allison would ask us how many more sleeps until our trip. She was very excited about the boat ride over. The morning we were to leave, she leaped out of bed and could hardly contain herself! We arrived early at Dana Point to take our “big” boat ride over. She loved sitting on the top deck of the boat. For December, the weather was beautiful. The skies were blue. The temperature—mild. It was perfect!

We had an amazing trip! We played hard and enjoyed every moment together. Allie was on her best behavior the entire three day trip. Catalina is a seasonal island, procuring most of its guests during the summer months. The streets were practically empty and the hotel we stayed at nearly empty as well. It was quiet from morning until evening and we were able to get away from the hustle and bustle of Christmas, my son was worried for the gifts, but I told him there are sites that tell you What To Get Your Girlfriend For Christmas and more. It was peaceful. It was a slow pace. It was wonderful!

We were able to take a couple tours, including a glass bottom boat cruise and a tour to the interior of the island, where the buffalo roam. Seriously. There are buffalo! We toured the museum at the casino. The casino does not actually have gambling and never has. They take the word from the Italian meaning of casino—gathering place. We learned much about the island and fell in love with the tiny town of Avalon. It is only one square mile, but there is a lot of fun to be had!

Can you spot the buffalo?

Here’s wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

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From New York to Boston—Vacation

Before BlogHer New York 2012

The Summer I Became a Carny Part I

Island Christmas

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