Connecticut Visit...

Sunday morning, Mike and I woke up as quietly as possible, as not to wake our bed neighbors (Hillers & Michelle) and hit the road toward Danbury, Connecticut. Even though our gps advised us to go from Frederick, Maryland (our starting location) through Harrisburg, PA - Mike and I had other ideas. We headed towards Philly, and at about 9am had the breakfast of champions - Pat's Cheesesteaks!!! Surprised to say, we weren't the only ones in line even at the early hour. We ate quickly, hit up a Dunkin Donuts for some iced fuel (i.e. delicious iced coffee) and continued on. Can I just ask - why does the GW Bridge toll ticket, and all tickets like it, have to be so confusing? Who came up with them? $19 in tolls later we arrived to Janine and Ryan's (new) home. Patty, Mike, Lauren, Sharon, Carol, and Butch were waiting for us (not) to get the party started. I could tell when I arrived and saw the array of food on the counter it would not be a week of dieting, or even eating healthy for that matter. As the afternoon went on more family showed up...in total about 25 people enjoyed the barbecue and pool. I personally enjoyed the sun, pool and my new book (yes, you read that correctly). It was my heaven (well, maybe minus the chatter). As the evening approached the pool emptied out and the chiminea was lit. Before I knew it we were all gathered around, roasting marshmallows and laughing - good times. 11pm came quick, and we were all exhausted. Jean and Joe headed back to NY. Patty, Mike and Lauren headed to the Pink's for the night. And we were lucky enough to stay in Ryan and Janine's guest room. I slept great. For those of you who don't know...up in CT, and other NE states many people do not have central air. So we cracked the windows, got under the covers and ----were amazed at the silence we heard (or rather - noise we didn't hear). We're so not used to that being as our bedroom is on King Street. It was amazing....I could have stayed forever.

Monday the men - Mike, "Michael" - as he's known by the fam, Ryan and Butch headed out for a round of golf. The ladies - Carol, Patty, Sharon, Janine, Emma, Lauren and I headed to Target. Now, I know...there are targets in VA, but this was a special trip because we were helping Janine pick out Emma's dance clothes for her new ballet classes. After that we introduced Patty to a Home Goods store, where I think she fell in love. We found a small table she was in need of and she found a couple of other items. For lunch we met up with Jean, Joe and Carolyn at Chili's and waited for the guys to finish up. The rest of the day was spent much like the first - eating a lot - but this time it was the family recipe tomato sauce with meatballs, spaghetti and italian bread. For dessert we had ice cream sundaes. I felt like I was going into a food coma...but managed to wake up enough to play Blurt with the cousins. I'm not so good at that game....so I was glad when we headed "home" at about 11.

Tuesday was there before we knew it and, of course, it was raining. So we ate breakfast and headed to the Brookfield Bowling Alley. Crazy. We had two lanes - Butch, Carol, Mike and Patty versus Michael, Lauren and I. Check out the pics and videos - pretty much sums it up.

After we crushed them - we headed to Loew's Movie Theater to see Public Enemies - AMAZING!! We had all the popcorn and diet coke we could consume - and more.....you know, cause we hadn't eaten in like 2 hours. We finished up the movie at about the same time Sharon, Ryan and Janine were getting off work. After everyone had freshened up, we headed to Bruno's for a delicious New York style pizza supper. Huge pizzas, so many toppings...Mikey was in heaven. A fierce game of smarty party ensued, until about 11, then it was time for bed again. But, before leaving we said our goodbyes to Mike's parents, aunt Carol and uncle Butch, cause we were headed back to VA the next morning.

This morning, we said our goodbyes to Ryan, Janine and Emma as they headed off to work and daycare. We hit the road around 10am, looking forward to more tolls. We made it back to VA around 3pm in time to pick up Emmie from the vet.

It was an amazing time and I really enjoyed seeing all of the family again. Can't wait to go back!!
Thank you Ryan, Janine, Butch, Carol, Sharon, Joe and Jean for taking time off work , feeding us and entertaining us. We love you and miss you already!!! Here are some pictures of Ryan and Janine's new house...we loved it and can't wait to see it after they've done all of the renovations they have planned!