Visiting family in Connecticut

(Pictures from this trip are available here.)

On Wednesday, 17 April, we piled the girls (and their vast amounts of stuff) into a rented minivan and hit the road north, heading to Connecticut to introduce Fiona to more of the family. The drive was a breeze, and the girls were super easy. We hit virtually no traffic, which is nothing short of a miracle. The added bonus - Fiona pooped before we left and Rory pooped during our lunch stop. Woo hoo!

We stayed with Gramps (Laura's dad) and Uncle Pat (Laura's brother), and we appreciate their hospitality. Rory loves her Uncle, in particular, because he crawls around on the floor with her.

On Thursday, 18 April, Rory got to meet her Nantucket cousins - Jenny and Delly Garneau. Jenny is Laura's first cousin, and is a fantastic person. Funny, smart, pretty, and then some. The poor thing broke her leg later in the weekend, but more on that later. Delly is 14, in 8th grade, and is a pip. She is very into music, and loves introducing people to new bands. Rory loved the women, and Fiona seemed impressed, too, as far as we can tell.

While they were visiting, Gramps' house lost power and we played a highly competitive game of "Apples to Apples" by the light of battery-operated lanterns. Delly eventually overtook us old people, kicking our butts with such cards as "Awkward," "Fragrant," "Desperate," and "Offensive." It was a scream!

On Friday afternoon, Fiona met Laura's other first cousin Delphine Cyr (sister of Jenny), and her husband, Don. They live in Glastonbury, and we set Rory loose to run around on their property with the boys (Craig, Pat, and Don), while the girls (the rest of us) kept Fiona out of the sunshine (no sunscreen allowed on babies). Del is a professional potter, and Laura bought two gorgeous ceramic vases with candles inside.

On Friday night, Laura's half-sister, Denise, and her beautiful daughter, Aryana, came over to Gramps' for a visit. We feasted on Chinese food, and introduced them to Apples to Apples (the game is highly addictive, trust me). Denise gave Fiona a gorgeous, crocheted blanked she made; we know Fi will love luxuriating on the blanket's softness.

On Saturday morning, we drove the girls to see Laura's grandmother, Grandma Del, who is 93 and lives in Chester, CT. Gram was very excited to see everyone, and Rory had a ball with her. She also had a ball climbing all over Gram's walker - hah! Fiona warmed up to Gram right away, and they had a smiling contest. I am not sure who won; they were pretty sweet on each other. Gram gave Rory a new winter hat, which Rory pulled on and off her head about 40 times during the trip back to Glastonbury.

On Saturday night, we had dinner at Mary Gallagher/Pat's house. Mary's fiancee, Dave, made a delicious dinner, and we were joined by some family friends, Inge and Harry Packman. It was a fun night, despite us having to leave by 7:45 to get Rory to bed. Pat has a giant frog at the house, and Rory went through the roof when she saw it, dragging it all over the house. It was big enough for her ride on, mind you, and ride it she did. She loves frogs!

On Sunday morning, it was time for us to make the drive back to Virginia. We hope to be living in New England soon, so maybe there won't be too many more of these endless trips in our future! For the record, the girls were great all the way home, too - for all seven hours of the drive. Talk about lucky!

JENNY'S LEG: On Friday night, Jenny and Delly went out dancing. Jenny went over to say something to one of the bend members, and when she turned around to leave, she tripped over a piece of his equipment. She fell on her knee, and broke her tibia (the shin bone) in three places, all up near the knee. She had surgery on Sunday, and now has plates and pins in her reconstructed leg bone. We wish her a speedy recovery, and good pain meds. =)