The Birthday Girl
Brandon and I flew into Hartford on Thursday afternoon, and my parents and brother (who had flown in two hours earlier) picked us up in the Cadillac Escalade!! Mom and Dad had to be sure to rent a big enough car to tote everyone around.
After arriving at my grandmother's retirement village in Chester, CT, we took our bags inside, caught up with Grandma a little, and then decided we wanted to get out and enjoy the GORGEOUS weather. So, we headed to the Ferry and took it over to Gillette's Castle. Even though it was just a ferry, it was so nice to be on water!! Brandon even asked me when we were going to own our own boat!! Wow, hadn't even thought about owning one - wouldn't know the first thing about upkeep, but it would be fun :) Gillette's Castle was really neat - Mr. Gillette was an actor whose major role back in the early 1900's was playing Sherlock Holmes.
Dinner Thurs night was at this really neat restaurant - picnic tables outside, gourmet food and on the water!! We got there early, but when we left, the place was packed! You order inside off of a black board, and then take a seat at a brightly colored picnic table. It is BYOB, but we didn't know, so we just enjoyed the selection of soft drinks and juices. People were arriving to eat with their coolers and bottles of wine. It was really cool. When it came time to choose one of their awesome desserts, I opted for a Diet Cream Soda instead (trying to do my best on Weight Watchers, but it was so hard!!), so I at least took a few bites of everyone else's dessert for just a taste ;) Sailboats were being loaded into the water for the season while we were eating, so that was really fun to see, as the restaurant was right by the loading dock.
On Friday, Brandon, Andrew and I headed out for a long walk - Andrew was really good about pushing me along and motivating me - as he said, "No Pain, No Gain!" - how about "No Pain, No Weight Loss! - come on now, I don't want to "Gain" ;) After showers and relaxing, we headed to the Essex Yacht Club for lunch and to walk around downtown Essex. My lobster salad was amazing, and I always love walking around Essex - such a quaint town.
Friday night was dinner at Chester Village West - where my grandmother's "boyfriend" John joined us. He isn't the same since his strokes, but was still good to see him. He is such a great companion and friend to my grandmother.
My aunt, uncle and younger cousin arrived around 9:30pm from Maine, and then my older cousin and her boyfriend arrived about 10pm from Boston. I can assure you the quiet halls of Chester Village were awakened by all our "squeals" and greetings ;) We have been pretty lucky to see this side of the family about every two years - but we still get super excited with our initial greetings. And my mom and her sister are known for their "squealing"!!
Saturday morning some of us headed to breakfast in Deep River where I avoided the temptation of stuffed French Toast and opted for the Omelet instead. Then it was off to play Golf! It was a Par 3 course, and not that nice of one, but we still had fun. I was the official score keeper and picture taker, and Brandon, Andrew, Nicki, Adam and Uncle Kyle showed off their puttin' skills. The funniest thing was the check-in for the golf course was at the Yarn Shop :) That tells you how fancy of a place it was.
Then it was back to Chester Village to change and get ready for the party. Cocktails downstairs at 5pm with more family that drove in, and 11 of my grandmother's close friends at the Retirement home (people John and her have cocktails with every night before dinner) - a total of about 28 people. Then dinner at 6pm where we toasted my grandmother and enjoyed her favorite meal cooked by the fabulous head chef at Chester Village.
Mom, Grandma and Aunt Diane
Andrew, Ginny, Brandon, Nicki, Adam and Amanda
After dinner we headed back up to Grandma's apartment so she could open presents. My aunt's family and ours chipped in and bought my grandmother one of those digital frames in which my mom collected and loaded about 600 pictures chronologically started with my great-grandparents all the way through to the first of this year. It took 45 minutes to watch. Brandon sat away from us, and said the best part was watching all of our faces as we watched the slide show together. My brother helped my mom make copies of the pictures and slide show so we all had a copy to bring home and enjoy. My mom put a lot of work into it by scanning all of my grandpa's old slides - he had reels and reels of them!!
Me and Mom
We had an early afternoon flight home on Sunday, so we said our goodbyes that morning and hopped in the Escalade and headed to the airport. Hope it won't be too too long before we can all be together again!!
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