There's no place like home

Ever since I have had a cell phone, an entry in my contacts has been labeled "Home." It has always been the number to my parents' house. During the brief couple of years where I actually had a home phone, it was labeled as "My Home." When I found out that my parents weren't going to get a home phone in Connecticut, I got really sad! Thankfully, their Comcast plan was cheaper with a land line than without, so now they have a home phone again. And my contacts list is complete.

Mikey and I just got back from our trip to visit them. Connecticut is absolutely gorgeous, but the best part by far was just being around my family. I thought this trip would make it easier to have them so far away because I would have a better sense of what their lives are like. It has kind of had the opposite effect, in that I am even more sad now. I do think a part of that has to do with the pregnancy hormones running rampant through my body. But I really do adore my family, and I wish they could be here for all the big and little things happening in our lives and theirs. I don't doubt that they made the right decision to move out there, but that doesn't make it any easier.

And for those who are interested in what we did in Connecticut...the flight was delayed on Friday night, so we didn't get to Boston until around 11:30 pm, which meant we didn't get to their house until after 2am. We got the grand tour and ate some fresh chocolate chip cookies, then went to bed.



The next morning, we all awoke a little slowly. Mom and Neil went to the farmer's market, and then we all got up the motivation to get dressed and visit Gillette Castle. It's a castle-like home that was built by the man who played Sherlock Holmes on stage. He actually came up with the hat, pipe, cape, etc. He was mighty eccentric, but the castle is extremely interesting.





We took the trip in Mom's convertible, and I could not stop laughing because they decided that I should get shotgun with Mom driving. That meant Neil, Michael and Mikey had to sit in the TINY back seat. Too funny. We stopped for ice cream at the Old Lyme Ice Cream Shoppe (very tasty, but not as good as Blue Bell). For dinner, my mom made her specialty, parmesan chicken (not to be confused with chicken parmesan), and we watched a whole lot of the Olympics.

By Sunday, everyone had mostly recovered from the late night on Friday. After a spectacular breakfast of homemade blueberry muffins (with berries from the farmer's market) and cinnamon and sugar donuts, we headed out to Mystic Seaport, which is an old whaling town that has been restored as a museum.



We took a ride on a steamboat and walked more than I have walked since I've been pregnant! I am glad we went, but I was exhausted afterward. Neil cooked out that night, and the Olympic extravaganza continued.


Monday was Michael's 14th birthday. He declared "a day of chill." Mikey and I happily complied with that order! I didn't get out of my PJ's until after noon.



The boys played a little basketball, and then the whole family was off to play miniature golf. The hotly contested game was won by Mikey, but the main headline is that Mom beat Michael! He was utterly appalled, as any normal 14-year-old would be. I did the right thing and let the birthday boy win - right. I was the only one with a hole in one though, so that's a slight victory in a pretty pitiful game. We had pizza, cake and ice cream that night. Everyone headed to bed a little earlier that night because the vacation was sadly pretty much over.



We got up way too early this morning to make the 2+ hour drive to Boston. Michael stayed back to play his new video games, and Mom went to work, so Neil was the lucky chauffeur. We had a seamless travel day and are oh-so-eagerly anticipating the return to work tomorrow. At least it's a 3-day week for us!