Ah Connecticut

Last week (Saturday to Saturday) was our trip to Connecticut. It was a great trip! For anyone who isn't aware, I grew up in CT, and my parents, and a lot of other relatives, live out there, so we went to visit family, attend my Nana's service, and generally sight see.

My dad likes taking pictures. Mike and I like taking pictures. Between the three of us we took 570 pictures last week. I narrowed it down to 49 to put in this post. They're separated into categories. Hopefully it's not too boring. Take a break occasionally if you need to. Grab a snack. :) Turns out that blogging is a great activity for the day you return from a trip, because you feel like you're doing something, but don't have get off your keister, which is tired from traveling with a cranky 9-month old all day.

Fun At Meme & Pepe's
We're French, so there is no grandma and grandpa at my parents house. Nope, it's Meme and Pepe, and they're great ones! We brought our carseat and stroller, but didn't want to drag the pack and play the whole way, so we made a makeshift crib for Rachel: two couch cushions with a sheet on top in a corner of a room with boxes stacked around the other two sides. She actually slept pretty well, albeit not for as long in the morning as she usually does. Two other things that happened at Meme & Pepe's - Rachel's top teeth started coming through, and she had the biggest fall yet - Mike and I were in the bedroom that we were using, and had Rachel laying on the bed. I went to get something out of the suitcase and Mike also happened to be looking away, and Rachel suddenly rolled off the bed - onto the hardwood floor. I FREAKED OUT, but she only cried for a few minutes, and her bruise is already gone, so she's fine (probably better than I am).

Devin (Rachel's cousin) helping Meme make cookies. My brother Wayne and his wife Joni and son Devin drove up from North Carolina, which was GREAT because we hadn't seen them in forever, and had never actually met Devin.

Rachel snugglin' with Meme

Poking at the live lobsters who were awaiting their doom in the boiling water. Mike and I don't do seafood though, so we weren't the perpetrators.

Pepe and his grandkids

Pepe makes a good pillow

Rachel discovered a new wonderful toy - plastic bathroom cups. Oh the joy.

Meme & Pepe's bathtub was also fun - the drain had cool holes to poke her fingers into.

I wrote my dad a book of memories that I had published on a self-publishing website and gave it to him on the trip.


Seaside Service
Since my Nana (my mom's mom), who passed away a while ago, chose to be cremated, we were able to wait to hold her service until Wayne and I got out to CT. We sprinkled the ashes into the ocean by one of her favorite lighthouses and had a little service there. It was really good, but also very emotional. The weather held out for us mostly. It was chilly and threatening to rain, but stayed dry while we were doing our thing.

Wayne and Nana's son Gary down on the slippery rocks to sprinkle the ashes.

After the service at a nearby beach where Nana used to take me and Wayne all the time when we were kids to hunt for sea glass and seashells.

I found a few pieces of sea glass for old times' sake.

This was just a beach behind the restaurant where we all ate lunch after the service. Mike's running down the beach, just for fun.

Devin, Mike and I

Rachel getting her first touch of seawater.

And getting tossed around on the beach

Rachel with her great Pepe (my mom's dad) at the service

The day before, all the relatives gathered to go through a bunch of Nana's stuff to keep any mementos that were important to us. Nana has made Wayne and I several quilts over the years, which we both treasure so much. When she passed away, she had been working on one for Rachel. Her sister Ruth finished it and gave it to us. Rachel will always have it to know that her great Nana loved her, even though they never got a chance to meet.

Aunt Ruth, me and Rachel

Duck, Duck, Penguin!
On Tuesday we went down to Mystic, Connecticut to go to the aquarium and seaport. We thought the aquarium was a bit overpriced, but Rachel LOVED it. We need to take that girl to the zoo when it warms up a bit more. She loves animals.

They do a sea lion show where these big California sea lions do tricks. Pretty neat.

Checkin' out the fishies

Touching a starfish

The penguins were Rachel's favorite, she laughed and squealed whenever they swam past her.

Beluga whale

The High Seas
After the aquarium, the rain let up enough that we were able to go to Mystic Seaport. It's set up like an old seaside village with exhibits and tall ships you can walk around in. I remember going there as a kid. We had a lot of fun even though it was kind of cold.

Us on a big anchor. Yes, I'm stating the obvious.

Rachel was in dire need of a nap when we got there (she was in dire need of a nap the entire trip, actually). We managed to get her to sleep and wrap her up in her stroller.

My dad was the official stroller pusher. We'd go inside the buildings and he just stayed outside pushing her around. At one point a group of kids saw the stroller and said, "Aw, look, a baby carriage! And there's a doll in it!" My dad replied, "Actually, that's my granddaughter." Ha!

Captain Mike. We were a bit under dressed for how chilly it was, but luckily were able to use some of my parents' things - Mike is sporting a bright Nascar windbreaker and black and white knit beanie, complete with a big poofy ball on top. Stylin'.

Captain Mike again, but on a real ship this time. Apparently it's hard to steer.

This is me in front of the Charles W. Morgan, the last American wooden whaling ship in the world. It was built in 1841 and is still seaworthy, though they're currently doing some work on it so it's up out of the water. We got to walk around on it - it was really cool!

The Amistad (the ship used in the film of the same name)

Rachel did wake up as we walked around. Peek a boo!

Memory Lane
We got a chance to visit some places from when I was younger. These aren't all on the same day though.

Old covered bridge

Searching for good skipping rocks. Nana used to take Wayne and I down here and drop us off upstream with little inflatable air mattresses and we'd float down to the covered bridge where Nana would be waiting for us.

My old house! This is where I lived from age 5 to 14.

We took a walk down to the reservoir that you can get to by a little path at the end of my old street. I loved walking that path again and seeing the res, where I spent so much time as a kid. It was so great growing up there. Seeing it all again made my soul feel good. :) And yes, Wayne, the path is still there (Wayne and Joni had left to go back home already). And yes, my pants are tucked into my socks. I hate ticks. I did get one on my pants, so it's not an unfounded fear, I promise.

St. James Catholic Church, were we went for mass every Sunday when we lived there.

The inside.

We also went to visit my Meme (my dad's mom) in the hospital. She had broken a hip a few days ago, but she's doing good now.

Springfield, Massachusetts
What's in Springfield? The Basketball Hall of Fame, Six Flags New England, and a vacation within a vacation, where we stayed in a hotel and left Rachel with my mom for a day and a half! I actually missed her more than I thought I would - we've never spent a night without her before! We had fun hanging out just the two of us though.

Mike checking his vertical.

Hangin' out with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird.

I wanna be like Mike

Shooting hoops.

This was what the parking lot for Six Flags looked like. The park's only open on weekends (including Friday) at this time of year, and we got there right when it opened, for fear of rain later in the day. We walked on to every single roller coaster - never waited at all. On the first one we went on, we were the only ones on it. We also made a very important discovery: we're old (in roller coaster years). I think this will be our last amusement park until Rachel is old enough to want to go. We rode 5 roller coasters in an hour and a half and then just left because there was nothing else we wanted to do. It took me two hours to not feel nauseated anymore. Oh, and that first roller coaster we went on, it was wet when I sat down, which I didn't think much of because the whole park had puddles everywhere from rain the night before. But then I asked Mike after if his seat was wet, and he said no, and two kids had just gotten off the coaster before us. So there is a distinct possibility that I sat in some kid's pee and walked around looking like I peed my pants for the next two hours. I just keep hoping it was rain. Really really hoping.

Travelin' Baby
Rachel did pretty good on the plane, considering she was sleep deprived the entire vacation despite our best efforts. The last four hour flight from Detroit to SLC was a bit rough - she was so tired, and we were so ready to off the plane. She did figure out how to get the tray down and play with it though.

On one flight (not the 4 hour one), the seat next to us was free so she got her own seat!

Bye Connecticut, we'll miss you!