New york - week 3, paht 1

Week 3 was AMAZING!!!  The best week by far!

Why you ask?

We went to Wahlburgers!!!!!  Oh where do I begin?!  It all started many years ago when a group of boys came together to make magical music... 20+ years later,  they are still magical.  Donnie will always have a special place in my heart (let it be known that I am very disappointed in his recent life decisions) and my Donnie barbie doll will always have a place on my craftroom shelf.  I was beyond excited to finally have a chance to eat my very own wahlburger.

We left early Friday morning on our three hour drive for a burger.  As soon as we arrived in Boston, we began practicing our Boston accents - pahk the cah, lobstah, rivah... any word that ended in "r" we said it ;-)

Wahlburgers is set up with two different sides.  One is self service (a faster option) where you order your food at the counter and then sit down to eat.  The other side (the bar side) is full service (a title to one of the NKOTB songs) where you are seated and a server takes your order and serves you.  I wanted to be there as long as possible, so we chose full service and sat outside.

But first, I took pictures.  Lots of pictures!  The host saw me taking pictures and asked where we were from.  They have a map on the wall and visitors from all around add their push pin to show how far people have travelled from to eat these burgers.  I made sure to ask him any question I could think of, not worrying if I looked like a dork.  This was my time.

According to the host (who has only worked there three weeks) he has never seen Donnie or Mark Wahlberg.  He has seen Paul Wahlberg - the third brother owner, who is the chef, a few times.   He also said that Paul spends a lot of his time between Wahlburgers and their mother's restaurant, Alma Nove which is just across the street.

So, I did not meet Donnie.  Bummer.

Perhaps the best picture of all was taken by Chad - in the men's bathroom!  He came out and said he peed where Donnie peed!  Gotta give Chad credit for thinking of taking that picture!!

They even have their own brewed beer, called a wahlbrewski!

We threw down some "W" signs.  We are tough like that.

I ordered the BBQ Bacon Burger (Donnie's choice) and it was delicious!  Bacon, cheese, bbq sauce and avocado!  Chad ordered the O.F.D. (Originally from Dorchester) burger which had cheese and sauteed mushrooms.  The kids had smahlburgers!

Olivia, my partner in crime, helped me steal a menu.  Or three ;-)

For some reason this picture keeps turning sideways when I add it... karma, perhaps?!

I had to buy a wahlburger t-shirt!  Chad and Caleb both bought hats and we also got two wahlburger pint glasses.  Thanks, Chad!!!

Chad is helping Ella add the pin to Round Rock, Texas.

We are the green pin!

I had to take a picture of my Wahlburgers purchases and my new Converse sneakahs!

Just across the street is their mother's restaurant.  Alma Nove.  Alma is her name.  Nove is for her nine children.  Next time we will eat lunch at wahlburgers and dinner at Alma Nove.  I have it all planned!

Both restaurants are located in the Hingham Shipyard.  It is a beautiful location.

Olivia stole Chad's hat and claims it is hers.

Caleb picked out a camo hat!

With our bellies full and our my heart full, we headed to our hotel.

Whenever we travel to Houston, we always stay at the Omni.  So, it made sense to stay in the Omni in Boston.  Boy, were we in for a surprise.  We booked a standard room.  We were then asked if we wanted to be upgraded to the Presidential Suite...  um, YES!

The Omni Parker Hotel is home of the Boston Creme Pie!

We were pretty bummed to have to stay in a room that was triple the size of our original room.  Not.  

The small kitchen area.  Caleb ran out of here all excited that they had gummy bears.  We both yelled NO!  and ran to stop him.  We had to explain to him that a mini bar is not free - and that cute little jar of gummy bears was $13!

Huge dining table.

Powder room.

Olivia looked just like him!

She also called this chaise her "best friend" and asked if we could take it home.  It was SO comfortable!

The view from one of the windows.

Master bathroom with a rainfall shower head.  Must get one of those!

The kids love two things in life.  1 - bar soap.  2 - pushing the elevator buttons.

After checking in, we walked down to the Boston Common and did a little sight seeing.

A balloon artist entertained us as he created the kids balloons.

The kids all wanted characters from Frozen - Olaf, Elsa and Anna.

We found a carousel to ride.

Walked around some more.

Chad ordered lobstah for dinner.  An entire lobster!   The kids were a bit weirded out by the lobster looking at them, but he sure was tasty!

After dinner, we walked around some more.

And ended our night with a horse carriage ride - a must for the kids.  The driver offered to take our picture and I think he did a pretty good job.  If you squint your eyes and tilt your head you can clearly see all of us ;-)

The girls were dreaming of taking baths and trying on the hotel robes.  Olivia was excited by the milk and cookies let for the kids.  Ella was just plain exhausted.  What a day!

Next up - how we spent the rest of our weekend in Boston!