Burney is the black lab that lives next door to Grandma. He is being socialized until he is old enough to be trained as a companion dog. He is one good dog. We love Burney!
Going up the stairs! 
Perhaps this is not where I want to be...
Much better, being near the head of the dog is much nicer. 
Lots of pumpkins and everyone who had a wristband (proof of paid admission) got to take a sugar pie pumpkin home. Our three are now in Grandma's yard. 
I took home the pumpkin in the sweater!
We went on a hayride. I do not remember ever being on a hay ride before. How fun! It was long. They had all sorts of strange creatures on the pathways. Some were very well done, some were just plywood cut outs. It was eclectic. I liked it. Lon seemed to like it too. 
This is the inside of the scary barn. It was not scary, not even for Lon. 
The lights were pretty.
Lon and Grandma dance to the live music!
PIGLETS!! Lon loves piglets. His face lights up at the mention that there are piglets near by.
Lon studied the pumpkins and other assorted gourds. 
Lon and I took home some yummy cider too.
It was a beautiful day, fairly warm and dry. 
I like them, they are a bit weird. But they are not retouched. These are just the way they came out of the camera. 
Friday was Grandma's Birthday. It started out with a pink flamingo in the yard. Everyone knew it was her birthday! What a fun thing to do for a friend! We all went into DC with Mom to share her last day at the Capital. Grandmother spent the day at my sisters. Lon and I went all over the place with Grandma. 
There is a ton of paperwork involved in retirement. 
Lon enjoys himself where ever he is! It helps that most everyone likes him. The nice ladies took time to entertain him while Grandma filled out reams of paperwork. 
Lon reads the Hill. 
Grandma has a birthday cake, and best of all, it was chocolate. 
Lon learns about collating. He is not yet good at it.
Time to leave the office for the last time. Let's get this retirement thing started! WOOHOO!
Later on that evening, Lon had his first baby sitter. Oh my. I was feeling rather guilt ridden about it. Lon did very well. I think it was that he had some other children with him along with his new friends. The family went to Teatro Goldonis. The most wonderful restaurant in DC. We did not want to order, so my sister arranged to have a tour of the menu for us. The best food! 
I am sure I am going to spell some of these incorrectly I will fix it as soon as I find out it is wrong.
The menu tour started out with Frita Mista, a mixed platter of fried food. Scallops, calamari, shrimp, red pepper, and zucchini. Not a hint of grease, light crisp breading, with two different dipping sauces, a spicy red sauce and a garlic aoli.
Our next course, a perfect pan seared scallop, with a spicy ginger sauce. Next, came Fettucini Bolagnese. Following that was a ricotta gnocchi in a tomato basil sauce. The picture is of the next course, a beef purse with mushroom sauce, it is called a faboti. There is more! My brother in law's favorite came next, lobster risotto, with a sliced black truffle. We followed that with more fish, a swordfish with polenta that was so buttery it melted on the tongue. Not only the polenta but the fish too. Swordfish is so yummy. I had never had it before. Our last course before dessert was the bistecca. Beef, with potatoes and mushrooms. Dessert was amazing. It came to the table in a total of seven plates. Two tiers of three dishes and one large dish for the center of the table. Each dish had a different dessert. We all shared. A flourless chocolate cake, a cassatta, fruit and zabigolni, gelatos, (coffee, mango, lemon, raspberry, mint), a tiramisu and pistachio biscotti. We ended with coffee and lemoncello. Michelle, my mother's neighbor and friend wanted me make sure I blogged that she cleaned all of her plates. The meal was amazing. We even got a tour of the kitchen. It is such a tiny place for the amount of wonderful food they consistently make. Every time I go there I am so thankful that I was able to enjoy such wonderful food. Teatro Goldoni is on K street, Washington DC. I slept very well that night. Lon was happy to see me I think, even if he wasn't really all that awake when I came back.
Lon did VERY well on his drive up to Pittsburgh. I was very pleased. We took care of the family stuff we had to do. Lon got to meet his Cousin Joe, but we call him Uncle Joe. He is my Grandfather's nephew. I would have known he was somehow related to me, he has that wonderful Yetka face. I am glad we got to see him again. That was really special. We left Pittsburgh later than we had planned in the afternoon and made it as far as Hershey.
Where we stopped for the night. The next morning we went to ChocolateWorld. Lon had a wonderful time. The place smelled like chocolate. Lon really did not want to go! However, on we went. We made it into Flanders, CT that evening. It was a really pretty drive. The fall leaves were all at Peak. So nice. Lots of drive by shots of leaves along the highway. Pictures will be inserted soon. We saw Grandma Carolyn and Uncle Eric. We also saw Godfather, Uncle Jeffy and Uncle Tek. We got to see Grandpa too! It was just family all over the place! Lon was so happy. He was the star of the show! We spent four nights up in CT. It was alot of fun. 
We went to Mystic Seaport. As I always knew I would, I LOVED it. I am even willing to go back and spend more time around the old boats. They have made it into a whaling village type setting. Very nice. In the summer they even have actors to tell what life was like way back when. The museum of figureheads was so incredible. They had this giant Scotsman, and sisters and some very formidable looking women. There were a couple of cat's heads there too. (catshead were to cap the large timbers, near the anchor, hence the term everyone has heard of catting the anchor) I never heard that one before either. Those are cool. I really liked them. Lon wants one. (sure, it is Lon who wants one, it doesn't light up or make noise)
I can not believe we have only been out here for three days! I have some drive by DC to post, some really funky pictures of Lon through the car window. I will be adding lots more pictures and story line sometime later. All next week we are going to be on a driving tour. There will be alot to write!
