Drivebys, Castles, Ferrys and New Cars.

Today we were busy!

We went for a drive in the countryside.

Getting the crane in the photo was a pure acorn shot.

Cool house.

Gillette's Castle. This is a house built by a man named Gillette who played Sherlock Holmes at the turn of the last century. It has nothing to do with razor blades. We did not have time to go in today, perhaps tomorrow.
There are some interesting details in the architecture. Like this cat on top of the railway station. They had a railroad on the property, it is not running on the property anymore.

The Connecticut River from the Castle

The Chester Ferry at Hadlyme. Looks remarkably like the airport ferry in Ketchikan.

Grandmalyn and Lon
Lon and the steam locomotive.

After dropping off Grandmalyn and Uncle Eric we went to have ice cream with Grandpa and Grandma Maureen. We went to a place called Olivias. It was pretty good. Lots of homemade ice cream flavors.

Grandma Maureen brought Lon a great present. It is a very large rattle. Lon loves it.

We went over to their house, this is the view from their back yard.

Grandpa and Lon at the pond.

Grandpa, Lon and Grandma Maureen.

We pulled into the driveway at Grandmalyn's just as she was pulling in in her NEW car! The Frank Sinatra CD still in the player.

We had dinner at Grandmalyn's. We had stopped by a place called Pasta Vita, and bought a bunch of wonderful stuff. Tonight we had the parmesan night, eggplant parmesan and chicken paremsan. Both were wonderful. Salad and bread, too. Lon had pasta and cheese. Then he ran around like the little crazy man he is! He napped on the way from Grandpa's to Grandmalyns, and then slept even more at her house. He finally fell back asleep at 11pm. I hope he does not sleep too late in the morning. More things to do and see tomorrow!

Delivering the Dunkin Donuts

We love Dunkin Donuts. Today was a Dunkin Day! We got some munchkins for Lon when I got some coffee and an apple donuts. Then we went to the Clinton Antique Center. One of my favorite places to find fun old stuff. (Apple labels from Washington! --no we did not buy those) I did get some panel grape Westmoreland, a Christmas present for Mark and an old cookbook (1906). Lon spied a white tonka truck from 1965. I know the date, as I have the red one given to me by Grandpa Yetka when I was born. Then Lon spied the Dunkin Donuts delivery truck! OHMY! The coolest! Grammalyn got that for him. After that it was lunch time and we went to Lena's Pizza in Westbrook. Very yummy. Lon ate two pieces of his cheese pizza, Daddy had clams, I had the Gyro platter, Grammalyn had shrimp. It was all very good.

We drove around and looked at scenery, no pictures. sorry.

We had dinner plans with Godfather and Holly. Very nice.

Godfather on his new Japanese bridge. It is solid granite. Carved out of one piece of granite. The foo dogs are cool.

Lon picking pears out of Godfather's garden. He had to take them home in his pockets. (I will fix the red eye as soon as I can)

Lon brought his own hot dogs to dinner and ate TWO Hebrew National hot dogs and ice cream. I am impressed! We had a wonderful shrimp curry. After dinner, Lon wanted to do something and I told him he was spoiled, he said yea. I asked him who spoils him, the usual answer, Mommy, and why do I spoil you, the usual answer is because you love me. Tonight's answer was because you are a great mommy. Sometimes I think my child is going to be an

attorney.

Dunkin Donuts delivering sweet dreams.

A Surprise Visit!

Late Saturday afternoon, Mom and Andy drove Gigi up to see Lon! They had just finished a cruise that let them off in New York, so it really was not that far a trip to come up and see Lon. Gigi got to play on the beach with Lon. Lon showed her all the fun measuring cups and spoons he had for the beach.

We spent as much time as we could with Gigi and Grandma Phys and Grandpa Andy.

Night night time for the ends of the family spectrum. Lon had fun with Gigi, Grandma Phys and Grandpa Andy, even if it was just for a short time. Thank you for the great surprise.

Sunday at McCooks

Sunday morning was a little slow. We ended up back again at the Niantic Diner for breakfast/lunch. I promised we would find something else for dinner. Even if it was just grocery store take out! When we got back to the hotel, Godfather was waiting for us, Uncle Jeffy arrived a few minutes later. Grammalyn, who had just bought a new car, was there to come with us to the playground and beach at McCooks.

Lon loved the swings today!

Daddy and Godfather learn the details about climbing the wooden ladder.

After a little while at the playground we were off to the beach! Godfather was having lots of fun playing with Lon and Lon loved playing with Godfather.

Finding just the right rocks.

Watching the outgoing tide to see when the best time is to throw the rocks.

Good Shot!

After a good time playing at the beach, we got on new pants and shoes to replace the sand caked ones and went to dinner at Gridlock cafe. It was okay. I had the pasta with shrimp (3), chicken, peppers, sun dried tomatoes and onions. Mark did not have lobster, he said his veal parmesan was not so great either. Lon wanted chocolate cake from the moment he saw it in the case by the door. I told him he had to eat something from his menu first. He chose the cheese pizza, which he did eat about half. He waited, not so patiently for us to finish out dinner. Then he got his chocolate cake. He ate most of that. Except the whipped cream, he told me tonight he did not like whipped cream.

Chocolate cake is super yummy. He looks like he has a pencil moustache!

Niantic Book Barn!

It is always a wonderful day when I can go to the Book Barn! It is a used book store that is big, and very fun. One of the best parts is that they have goats. They have corn to feed them. Anyone who reads the blog knows I love goats.

Lon likes goats too, but he did not want to feed them.

Lon and Grammalyn looking at book titles. Lon thought that the trailer was pretty cool.

While Mommy looked at mystery books in the haunted barn, and kids books in the main barn, Lon and Daddy played.

Inside the playhouse, they had a motorhome, and a kitchen. Lon was having a great time!

Up high in the tower.

After a very fun time at the Niantic Book Barn, then we went to the Dockside for lunch. It was also very yummy. Lon had cob on the corn and a hot dog. I had fried shrimp and Mark had clams. Grammalyn had a scallop roll, Uncle Eric had a fish sandwich. Lon was still having a good time.

Looking out over the water toward the bridge and railroad tracks.

After lunch we dropped Uncle Eric off at home and Daddy off at the hotel to get naps. Lon, Grammalyn and I went shopping. We thought Wal*mart would have everything we needed, so we went there. They no longer had beach buckets or shovels. I had to get something! We found this nice bucket, a set of measuring cups and spoons that work just great at the beach!

Daddy was with us when we went back to McCooks to play. Since the VFW dinner did not start until 6:30 and Lon was really getting hungry at 5:45 we went back to the Niantic Diner. Lon had pasta and cheese, I have veal parmigiana and Mark had prime rib! It was all good. Perhaps tomorrow or Monday we will get more pizza! It was a good day. Lon had fun, we all had fun.

First 24 hours in Connecticut

On Thursday morning we left our lovely house in the care of a house sitter and we went to visit Grammalyn! Our flight into JFK was uneventful, they have games you can play with little players in the headrest of the seat in front of you. The trivia game, played for bragging rights, with other players on board. It was fun. Lon and Mark slept on and off. Our connection to Connecticut was late. An hour. I ran with Lon, I ran the umbrella stroller up and down and all around the airport near our gate. The Starbucks was closing as we got there and we had run out of milk. They do not supply milk on airplanes. The ladies at the Starbucks were wonderful and gave me a cup of whole milk for Lon! Lon was very happy. Once we were finally getting on board I heard one of the other gate attendants saw, can we get this guy on board he missed his flight to Providence and this will at least get him closer to his house. I looked to see who it was, an exhausted man in BDUs. We landed about 25 minutes later, Mark ran to get the car before the car rental counter closed. I saw the same guy looking exhausted and lost. I asked him where he was going, he told me the name of the town. It really meant nothing to me, I had no clue on where it was but I told him we would give him a ride. Heck, it could not be too far, this was Connecticut after all! Mark came back with the car and said no problem it was on our way! The man was a sailor on his way back home after 9 months in Afghanistan. I am glad we could get him to his front door.
We did not get in to our hotel till about 2am, so we slept in a little bit! In the morning we had a some breakfast, met up with Grammalyn and went to the Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut. According to Lon this is the very best place EVER.

The boat, inside.

The Mexican Restaurant

More on our developing story later...



I had Lon pose in front of this mural, because I have a photo of him last year in front of this same mural.

Playing with dinosaurs. Very fun.

I know some of this photos need edited, I will do that once I get home.

Friday was so nice we could play outside, something that did not happen last year! Lon is blowing bubbles!

Making music with Dad.

Bing Bong

Digging up Dino bones.

After we left the museum, we went to lunch at the Niantic Diner. Nice place. I had fried clams and the Gyro plate! Lon had some nibbles of his grilled cheese. Mark had more clams. It was a very nice lunch. During lunch, Uncle Jeffy joined us.

We went to McCooks after lunch. Played in the park for a while until Lon decided that the beach looked even better!

BEACH!

Sand is fun, but something is missing.

A stick, a stick will work!

Even though sticks are fun, I think we will look for something else tomorrow.

After we got some Ilianos pizza for dinner. Ilianos is my favorite pizza. Lon and Daddy went swimming. Mommy got into the pool for a few minutes too, but it was a really hot room, with a really cold pool. It was a good first day in Connecticut!

Soccer!

We went to our soccer class on Wednesday!

We have all sorts of fun drills, this one involves having Mommy chase you while being a cat/dog/chicken/etc and Lon keeping the ball in motion.

We are trying hard to learn to wait. Once Lon is done with a drill, he is learning to sit on his ball. To wait for Coach Bonnie to tell him what the next thing is going to be.

The best reward is playing after class. They have a playground next to the field. It is such a huge distraction to all the little ones. But after class we play at the playground. Lon and Ty love to play together.

Ty just got a new scooter! Lon and Ty rode scooters for a little while, but it is hard! Soccer is still fun for Lon, and we will sign up again in the spring. I think he is getting better at moving the ball around. He now knows not to touch the ball with his hands.

Fashion Show!

I have been busy working on some new clothes for Lon. I have a two more things cut out, but those will have to wait for a while.

The Patriots shirt! He had to have one of those!

Fishing ads, with trout buttons even!

Falling leaves with snoopy and big leaf buttons! Lon likes this one the best of his new shirts.

Rooby-Roo Jammies! I found this great scooby-doo fabric at a garage sale, just enough to make the jammies with paw print buttons.

I am big on getting the right fun buttons. I am still searching for pirate chest buttons, ships, something pirate-y, and lobsters.