Newport

We went to Newport this weekend to celebrate a "late" Valentine's Day. Unfortunately we drove out to Newport on Friday afternoon during a blizzard, so it took us 4 hours to get there, but it was worth it!

We got to watch the St.Patty's day parade in the freezing cold... even my toes went numb. We stayed at the very nice and cozy Newport Blues Inn on Fri & Sat, and came home to our snow filled driveway in Boston on Sunday.

Was it Bad Luck or Good Luck today?

Well, today started off very badly.... at 6:30AM!!!!!! Our usual routine is to get up in the morning and Felix moves his car out of the driveway since it blocks my car that is in the garage, and he doesnt like to park his car in the garage.

This morning I decided to let him sleep in and moved the car for him. I started up my car first so it would heat up and as I was parking his car on the side of the road, in the back mirror, I see MY CAR slam against a pole across the street. Apparently it had flown out of the garage, down the driveway, across the road and slammed right into a pole.....bumping OFF the pole, and hitting it once again.

There was an older woman on the sidewalk with her dog- she wasn't hurt, but she was close to the incident when it happened. So of course, the FIRST thing I did was run right over to her and asked if she was ok. She just stared at me, so I asked again, still- no answer. So I just walked over to my car, checked the damage, and went to get in. At that point the woman began to yell at me. I apologized several times, and she just kept yelling. I felt so horrible, but again, extremely lucky that everything happened as it did- can you imagine if it hit a house, or a person, or anything!!!!!!!!!!

Surprisingly, not much damage happened to the car, and yes, the parking break was on, so I don't know how this happened.

You can just barely see the dent across the 57M on the license plate, and directly above that at the top of the trunk there is a small little round dent. The 2nd pix is the path the car took (obviously the volvo wasnt in the driveway at the time)- see the pole across the street...

Right after this happened I ran upstairs to tell Felix, tried to calm down, I got sick... then I went back downstairs to leave- sat in the drivers seat, shut the door... and sure enough, the trunk popped open! I had to slam it shut a few times before it would stick.

Then- I got to the gym- and couldnt get the trunk open to get my gym bag out!!! Anyways, to top it all off, when I was leaving the gym and walking back out to my car, out of nowhere, my gym bag fell right off my shoulder and onto the parking lot. The strap broke. At this point, I really felt like it was a bad idea to get back into that car again!!!

notice the strap only attached on ONE side...

Felix's "Birthday" Camping Trip

I know these posts are a bit old and out of order, but I wanted to put them on anyways! I planned a great camping trip for Felix's birthday in July of last year- unfortunately, he hates to camp! I promised him we would have a good time and I would do all the dirty work- I even got us a campground that had bathrooms and showers. However I didnt do such a great job researching, because while we had a "water" site on the river, we were also surrounded on all 3 sides not by trees, but big RV's. It was not secluded at all, and there was no privacy from site to site.

One of the highlights of our trip was renting a canoe and paddling down the river. It was fun in the beginning..... but then while we were taking a nice quiet break on a little island in the river, we saw a woman get pulled into the strong rapids and get thrown out of her kayak. She was trying to save the kayak but the waters were too strong. My superhero lifeguard Felix took off across the mini island, launched into the water and grabbed hold of the kayak. The rapids were so strong they almost pulled the kayak down the river, got a strong hold of Felix's shorts..... and even knocked him over! Eventually he was able to flip the kayak over and return it safely to the woman. The whole adventure was extremely exhausting. However, I managed to leave Matti safely in our canoe and snap some pictures of my little hero! Who knew he would be mad that I was taking pictures instead of rushing over to help!

here is Felix trying to save the kayak. the waters were so strong they actually knocked him over!



just incase little Matti fell out of the canoe- we took all safety precautions and suited him up with his very own life jacket.

Well, by this time Felix was just about ready to be done with the whole canoeing thing! As you all know, I am not the most skilled athlete around and I kept getting us stuck on the rocks with my fabulous paddling skills.

But would you believe that after all this, he is still willing to try camping again!???!!!! I promised him a quiet, private, secluded site for the next time.

Momma Mercado Visits Boston

Felix's mom Carmen came to visit in January for the weekend. We had a great time! We gave the famous Z-Center tour at MIT to show her where Felix coaches, then came back home to relax and watch the National Geographic show I had recorded "multiples in the womb". Needless to say, everyone fell asleep.

When we woke up we got subs for lunch and anxiously waited until it was time for dinner at Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse- the neighborhood family restaurant with a talking moose head mounted on the wall. If you go there on your birthday, you even get to kiss the moose. Finally, we came back home for a very competitive game of scrabble. I won due to a lucky, yet very strategic move!

The next morning we had breakfast at the best Diner in boston- tiny, but the best! We walked around the Charles for a bit until we got frost bite and then headed to the airport. Time flew by but we had a great time and are looking forward to the next visit!

More pictures

We had a mini pumkin carving party this halloween. Can you tell what we made??? Mine is a witch on a broomstick and Felix made a water polo player.

A Few of Our Favorite Pictures

Felix coaching. Of course- there are many shots we have of him yelling at the ref's, but these would be just a select few.

Our Wedding Bands!!!!

They are here!!! We can't wait to be able to wear them.

Felix's ring is made of tungsten... apparently the same material that is used to make drill bits, so there should be no possibility of any damage!

As for mine- it matches my engagement ring, and is therefore, very delicate.... and sparkly!!!

Taking a Snoozy

Felix and Matti were resting together after a LONG day of water polo. You can just see the love!

Hello from Boston!

Well, this is the first entry of our blog and Felix doesn't even know he has one!! We are looking forward to sharing the exciting moments and memories that are coming up in our lives with all of our family and friends that are near and far across the country. So, bookmark this page to visit often!!! We love you! Jill, Felix, & Matti Watkins