Rhode Island Mansions

PHew... this post took FOREVER!! Mid-July Lettie came up to me on a Sunday afternoon and asked if I would be interested in going a "girls" trip to DC and then to Rhode Island. I didn't even have to discuss it with Cheeto. He was cool with it. Marcos was awesome and agreed to watch the boys and another friend to kpt A1. We really wanted to take her but knew the traveling was a bit much for a 3 year old. No strollers allowed. A2 is still nursing and between Lettie and I we could pack her around in the "Peanut Shell" (a fabulous invention!). We left Thursday afternoon, got to DC around 10:30pm, went to bed around midnight, got up around 2 (well, some of us got up earlier than that... :) MOM!), left for the airport at 3am, got a 5:30am flight to RI, toured the Newport Mansions for the day, caught a 8pm flight back to DC, and got back home about 1:30am. It was crazy day of traveling. We spent Saturday with cousin Claudia in DC, went to Harry Potter, church on Sunday and then drove home. It was not a "sassy" trip. She will go with us next time! It was so much fun! Thanks to all those who made it so I could go. Cheeto you are the best! I was so grateful the kids were so good for him.

Gotta love Mom...proud to be crocheting at 5am.

Sissy, A2 and I at the airport bright and early only after 2.5 hours of sleep! We were still ready for a great day! I left A2 in her pj's in hopes of her believing it was still bed time. :) She did great on the plane. Slept the whole way on both planes.
We landed in Providence, got A2 dressed, got a rental car and headed toward Newport.
It was about a 30 minute drive.

We were starving by the time we got to Newport, RI. We wanted to go somewhere local. Mom was driving and saw a cop watching over some construction in the middle of the street. She pulled up right behind him and had to yell to get his attention. NICE! He said we couldn't go wrong with Gary's "HANDY Lunch." It was very local with the Northern draw and all. No y'alls up there! :)

Chateau Sur Mer
This house was our least favorite. I was glad we went there first. It was very dark and had a dungeon-like feeling to it. It was the smallest of all the mansions. We got our passes here that allowed us to visit 5 mansions. This was the beginning of a fabulous day!
This was a tree in front of Chateu Su Mer. It was imported from somewhere in Asia.
It has to be the neatest looking tree I have ever seen.

THE BREAKERS- owned by the Vanderbilts
This was my favorite! The view they had was magestic! It was one that ,considering it's size, still had a homey feel to it. It was hard to remember that all of these mansions were only considered summer "cottages". Their wife and children were mostly here entertaining guests while the husbands only spent days here every now and then throughout the summer months.

A little side house off to the side of the BREAKERS property.

Not sure what they used it for but it was cute.

THE ELMS- owned by the Vanderbilts

This is "The Elms" carriage house. They have made a mini restaurant. We had a quick sandwich here before finishing the rest of the tours. We expected it to be more like the carriage house at the Biltmore. NOPE- just a deli sandwich, fruit, or salad. It was food... who cared! It was right before this that I realized that A2 hadn't been fed since the 8:30am flight. It was about 2:30pm. We had to pause for her. She hadn't made a peep this entire time. She was literally along for the ride.

All of the mansions had some type of imported trees.
They were huge and great for climbing, says the mother of boys! :)

This is the "backyard" of the Elms. Ya think my boys would have enough room to play football?

More of their backyard

Mom and I got a big kick out of this water fountain. Lettie, on the other hand, said she had no part in us taking this picture. I swear this is what all nursing mothers feel like but to have it as a fountain/yard decor is seriously inappropriate. LOL!!

The hydrangia's were HUGE! Lettie bet that one was as big as A2's head. We had to compare of course. Yep- they were bigger than her head. Her face is so silly in this picture!

The "Marble" House
This mansion is seriously constructed of solid marble; the floors, walls, and ceilings. $11 millions dollars worth of marble! Alva Vanderbilt received it as a gift for her 39th birthday. She was not my favorite person. She decided one day to just leave her husband because she wanted to be a "pioneer" of women's rights.

Lettie was imitating the fountains below. Some said if the fountain from "The ELMS" was like nursing then these fountains were like morning sickness. :) I got a good laugh out of that one!

The back of the Marble House

This was just a little cazebo thing on the property of the Marble house. Very strange and looked out of place in my opinion. One of the weddings from the first of "27 Dresses" was filmed here.

The coastal view

A2 finally started to break down. The first of the day was at the very end of it.
It only lasted about a minute- if that!

The last house of the day... THE ROSECLIFF
This house has a crazy story. It was built in 4 years (1898-1902) for around $1.4 million. The owner died young and left it to his son, who also died pretty young. In the early 1940's the city of Newport put the house up for auction. A lady bought it for her 21 year old New York City actress daughter for $21,000. Seriously! She was a ditz because she partied it up for one summer, locked the door and left it for the winter without preparing anything. The pipes froze and ruptured. This caused ceilings to collapse and a frozen water fall to form over the staircase. She then sold it as is for $27,000 ( A PROFIT for a severely damaged house). The next owner fixed it up and lived in it for years. It has been location for many movies, ie... True Lies, The Great Gatspy, Amistad, and more recently 27 Dresses.

The last flight of the day! It was 11:30 pm at this point.

Mom and Cousin "C" were pretty wasted too! (by that I mean tired! :) )

At this point we had been awake 42 of 28 hours. We were pretty tired girls! It was so worth it! It looks like A2 is fighting us for the pillow! A2 was such a trooper. She was a great little companion to travel with. I sure missed my Sassy girl. She will get to go on the next one for sure!