Letter Boxing with Nana & Papa

We're hooked on letter boxing.
My folks spent the weekend with us so we could go to a wedding on Saturday.

Before they headed back to Boston we all went exploring for a letter box. Off of 295 is a great bike/walking trail. We recently took our bikes on there and really enjoyed the route and all that it offered.

There along the trail a treasure is hidden. With the help of everyone we were able to find this cool hand made stamp that looked just like the bike path it was hidden along.

Here's a few pix from today's hunt!

The Corcorama Cycling Team

Here we are enjoying a nice afternoon on our bikes.

The community that we were in was very quiet and perfect for biking. We cruised down to the coastal road and check out the waves and breeze.

Elle has been learning a lot these past few weeks at school about the Olympics. She has really enjoyed watching them with us and was amazed as we were over the opening ceremony! She even knows bits & pieces about China... I guess I could have taught her about Rickshaw's the day we went out biking.

Branford, CT vacation home

Now that I have internet access I'm going to try and finish off blogging our week's stay in Branford CT . Alas our vacation is over.

Here's a few pics of the house. The of the water is from our bedroom balcony. We had these doors open everyday and even through the night. Being this close to the water was a treat and we enjoyed the fresh air and smells (not low tide) while in our slumber. Those small things to us are big parts of our vacation. Where we are and what's around us no just the stuff around us to do.

I didn't take many shots in the house but here's one of the spiral staircase. It took a bit of getting used too but once you got the hang of it it was actually pretty fun!
We stayed on the second floor which had 2 baths, an office and 2 bedrooms. In between the bedrooms was this very unique common area with couches and chairs.

Nancy and Maurie had the 3rd floor.
A very pretty room that had it's own bathroom up there as well. The place was stocked with bathrooms!

The yard was a lush garden with many healthy rose bushes and even a small pond. Hidden under a massive grape vine was a sitting room. It looked right out of Pottery Barn but knowing what I know about grape vines.... this places was crawling with spiders. I stored the bikes in there thank you very much!

Put yer Paw's up!

Sweet. J came home from work today with Paw Sox tickets.
A nice Tuesday evening to take in a Sox game, some beers and some hot dogs.

The game was sold out since they were playing the Yankee's farm team. BOOOO!

It's a great park, very affordable and they do a ton for the fans. It's a total family vibe and the staff who work there couldn't be happier to help.

We took in the first few inning's standing up in the beer pavilion out in left field. Which worked out great cuz we got a chance to hang out with the mascot's girlfriend who Ellie loves!
She danced with Elle and did some air guitar too.

Around the 4rth or 5th inning we headed towards our seats which were on the first base line.
We had great seats and got loads of pix with J's new camera.

We stayed as long as we could before Elle got a little over tired. The Sox tied it up in the 7th inning at 2. Then we split. Leaving on a good note is always good!

Monday Sunset

After our hodge podge of dinner last night we decided to walk it off by strolling down the street to see the sun set.

A common animal that we've been seeing around is an egret. Sure enough there were 2 wading along the shore. I managed to snap a few shots before they decided that we had disturbed them.

While we took in the sunset Elle took to raking the sand. She had a whole Zen garden to create. If only I could harness that energy and creativity and get her to work in the yard at home.

3 people + 5 wheels = FUN!

2 Posts in one day!

Well, I'm trying to catch up with all the stuff we're doing. Up to date reporting.

J is so sweet she let me sleep til 9:00... Way too late for me and that will be last day that happens. I don't like it. I feel sleepy all day. While I slept & Elle explored looking for an elusive local beach.

When they returned we had a lazy morning with everyone and we decided to get on the bikes again.... This time Elle was joining us. We picked up a trailer bike that I attached to the back of my bike before we left for vaca.

She did great! Her first time on a big girl bike. She held on tight with her helmet and elbow pads.... I mean her Princess themed helmet and elbow pads... She looked adorable. J, Elle & I rode around and had a blast. Elle loved going down the hills.... I hated going up the hills.... She digs doing "big girl" things so we'll keep up this habit of biking.

The 3 of us had lunch here at the house and then headed out to Gilford. Well, Elle fell fast asleep in the car. We've been working her like a dog..... Yea right! I did all the peddling!
We've been filling our days and she is still in day care mode so we decided to cruise the area and check out Gilford anyway an let her sleep.



While checking out Gilford harbor we saw this interesting street sign on our way out... Your guess is as good as mine. We did see a very interesting condominium that we guess looks a lot like a UFO to people.... So maybe this is the Area 51 of the east coast.

When we got to a local farm/store Elle woke up. And guess what they had??? Lamas! She perked right up when she learned that. We feed the lamas and then drove down the rode to an artisan shoppe. It's so much cooler using shoppe instead of shop isn't it? Ha!



So we're back at the house chill'in before dinner in. M&N just got back from their day out and about.

I hope I gave the wine we bought today enough time to get chilled...

Nice Eyes..... Nice Ears

Sunday morning started with Elle and I waking up while Mommy was out for an early morning walk. It was a beautiful morning and J took advantage of it. The area we're in is very walkable and not traveled by many cars. The homes in the area are gorgeous.

While J was out walking/exploring she brought her new toy... her camera.
She took some great shots. I've included one here of this old washed up ship.... Looks Like Gilligan and the crew may have used it long ago.



All of us headed out early to take a 45 minute cruise of the Thimble Islands. A collection of natural and man made islands that now house amazing mansions and homes. We had wonderful weather for the cruise and picture taking! Some of these homes were incredible. We saw one that had 25 solar panels and on the island was a basketball and tennis court..... Must be nice to own an island. Elle noticed the cruise boat had treasure maps for sale and since Eagle Eye Elle is a treasure hunter she had to have one.



After the cruise we strolled the harbor area and picked up a snack of baked goods an sat to take a break. There we plotted our course onto the Potato & Corn Festival. An annual festival the town puts on. I appreciate that it's local and found it more enjoyable than just a festival or carnival. This had local meaning and that's special. We were each given a free baked potato or roasted piece of corn-on-the-cob. I got the corn..... man it was good!

https://www.nbrecreation.com/potato/index.html



While we ate our potato's and corn Johanna took Elle to have her face painted. One of Ellie's favorite thing's to do! We should hire a face painter to baby sit her. She got the tiara design. Next was the kiddie rides and prizes. Elle rode a few rides and won a magic wand. She and I then took a whirl on the carousel. She picked the white horse with pink & purple designs (her favorite colors).



After that we met up with Nancy and Maurie and we checked out the craft vendors. Elle & I got bored so we got some ice cream and watched some Kettle Corn get pop. The whole festival was great but it was nearing noon and we needed to head home for a break.

At the house Elle took a break with Grampa and watched some TV... she was tired. J & I took a spin in our quiet neighborhood on our bikes that we brought with us. AWESOME! We are hooked on the whole bike thing. We rode all over the area which is quite a bit but the best way to see it is on bike.

We got back to the house to get cleaned up for dinner to go to a local seafood restaurant in a harbor just down the road. It was a lovely dinner where we all got seafood.... Elle with her clam chowder and amazingly got grilled salmon! I wish I got it... on man it was good! o dessert there instead we went to down to main street to check out the live music on the green and get some local ice cream at Ashley's. 2 blocks down is a Ben & Jerry's... C'mon! It's vacation you get the local stuff Baby! J got the lemon soft serve.... she loved it.

Across the street on the green we set up to listen to 2 guys play acoustic guitars cover popular tunes. It was relaxing and a fun way to enjoy ice cream. As soon as Elle wolfed down her chocolate ice cream she got up and started to dance. She soon ran over to a brother & sister and played with them. Our little girl used to be so shy... now... forget it. She takes after Mom and I love it!

We had a full day filled with lots of local fun!

Branford, CT

Good Evening,

We arrived in Branford here yesterday afternoon and grabbed some lunch on Main Street at a bagel sandwich shop. Half way through lunch the sky grew grey and storm was settling over us. In moments the rain flooded the streets. It was nice to be inside and dry and filling our bellies.

I went to bring the car closer while the rest finished lunch. On my way back from parking the car I ran into a local. Henry, and older gentleman that took his time while he walked and frequently attended to his pipe and tobacco. He saw my Red Sox hat shielding me from the rain as he took for cover outside the bagel show. He put out his hand and asked firmly "You like the Red Sox?"
In Connecticut there's a lot more Yankee logo's than Boston B's. He and I chatted a bit about the Sox.

From lunch we headed out int the now sprinkling rain to see what Main street had to offer us for the week. Further down Main we saw a paint your own pottery studio. A perfect place to kill a rainy hour before meeting our renters at 3:00. J, Elle, Nancy and Maurie all painted... I took pictures with J's new digital camera. Ellie painted a Lion mug, a shell dish and M&N shared the duties of painting a sunflower dish. We enjoyed the owner of the shop who was super friendly and even told us as we were leaving to stop by during the week if we had any questions about the area... Cool!

We arrived at the house to meet Audrey who showed us the wonderful house we'd be spending the week at. After the tour and getting settled in , Ellie and I walked down the street to the community beach. We spent some time throwing rocks into the water and J found shells. As we were getting ready to move on a red bearded man entered the beach with a Branford Parks t-shirt on. Thinking he was official and some sort of a park ranger I started to speak to him (Steve). Turns out he's a local and we started talking a bunch. As we started to move on our way he asked if I liked mussels..... Ah Yea, sure do! So he invited me to join him to harvest some mussels from the seaweed drenched shore. He showed me what to do and I took about 8 home to steam and share with Maurie as our appetizer. They weren't bad at all! It was such a treat and to be invited on our first day here was welcoming and a wonderful start to our week as neighbors!

For the rest of the day we unpacked, took it easy and grilled steak tips and hamburgers on the charcoal grill.

J and I are now sharing photo duty's now that she has her own camera. So I'll be uploading her pix soon.

FYI. We don't seem to have consistent web access here so I'm currently using a weak open wireless network in the neighborhood.... sshhhhh don't tell. So I'll post updates when I can.

G'Nite