Weekend Trip to Rhode Island

The second weekend of March we headed out to Rhode Island for the first time. Tyler had a free hotel night with Marriott that was about to expire so we thought we'd put it to use! We planned to hang out in the coastal town of Newport and booked our hotel the closest one we could find to there, which ended up being about 25 minutes outside town. The weather looked promising for both day but ended up being a little rainy Friday afternoon and windy Saturday morning but the temperatures weren't too low and we had a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

We really didn't do much research or planning before this trip, we just knew we wanted to see the mansions in Newport. I started looking up "activities to do with kids" literally as we were driving there. We got to town in the afternoon on Friday and went to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. We didn't want to spend the money to go in the actual museum with our kids so we ended up just touring the grounds. It might have been a bit more enjoyable if it was warmer, but it was still fun. Then we checked out the Redwood Library which is the oldest continually operating library in the country. It was founded in 1747 and while it didn't have much to do for kids it was neat to see and it was basically like a free museum. After that we drove around the coast and did an outside tour of the mansions. It was beautiful but pretty windy so we stayed in the car the whole tour. But there was some beautiful views and it was fun to be by the ocean again, we hadn't seen it in a while :)

Pictures from the library and tennis

Silly Face Jackson after dinner

We were all pretty hungry so we got an early dinner at the Brick Alley Pub & Restaurant. Tyler had heard about it from the Cooks and it was a fun family friendly place. Jackson loved the Motorcycle hanging from the ceiling and the old truck parked next to the salad bar behind us. Tyler ordered the Chicken Saltimbocca which came 2 sides and an unlimited salad bar, bread and soup (that basically fed all of us). It was the weekend before St. Patricks Day so they had all these Irish specials I was tempted to get but I ended up getting one something cheaper and smaller since Tyler and I were sharing his. I went with a small pizza and it ended up being one of the best I've ever had! It was a fig & prosciutto (thank you spell check) with a balsamic glaze. Seriously was not really what my pregnant self had been craving but glad I got it! I even took the leftovers back to the hotel and had some for a late night snack and with breakfast the next morning.  Anyways, I would totally recommend that place!

After driving around town for a bit we headed to our hotel, a Residence Inn. We got the kids to bed pretty effortlessly and crashed. It was March 14th aka "Pi Day" so I had Tyler run to the store and pick us up some pie for dessert. But after that we both ended up falling asleep on the couch watching TV - go us.

The next morning we took full advantage of their complimentary breakfast and then started to head back to Newport. When we checked the Google map we realized there was crazy bad traffic driving into town because of the St. Patrick's Day Parade. We then started talking options and realized that the kids would not really have fun at the mansions anyways and it might not even be worth the drive and money. So we totally had a change of plans and drove up to the Providence Children Museum instead.

So glad we did! It was a little pricey, we normally get discount passes from our libraries before going to any museums but we spent our whole morning there and both kids loved it. It was probably one of my top museums I've been to with kids!

Construction Worker Abbie

While there we were trying to find a place to get some good sea food or clam chowder for lunch. We settled on a place in Warwick down right on the Bay. We went to Iggy's Doughboys and Chowder house. I got clam chowder, Tyler got a fish sandwhich and we got the kids fish and chips but told them it was chicken nuggets. Abbie didn't end up eating too much but Jackson had quite a bit of the "chicken nuggets" and at the end of the meal Tyler told him he ate fish, he just laughed luckily and thought it was cool. It was a fun casual place right on the beach and the chowder was good but not as good as the kind I got in Cape Cod!

 We played around on the park and rocks down by the beach but then decided to drive back to CT so Abbie could take a nap. Well she never fell asleep so we ended up stopping in Mystic, CT right on the coast also. The weather was great so we strolled around the little downtown shops. We got a slice from the famous Mystic Pizza and then shared an ice cream on the bridge.

Walking across the bridge

Silly Faces!

Abbie and I walking to Mystic

Now she's starting to get in on the silly faces!

Happy boys after eating their pizza!

Now at this point it was about 3 pm and Abbie was very overdue for a nap although she was still acting ok. But she luckily fell asleep quickly after that and slept the whole hour drive back to our house. It was totally unplanned and random but we loved our little 30 hour vacation :)