Back From Hiatus

Well I took a brief vacation from blogging the past few weeks. Part of that is due to the fact that we were actually on vacation. Then we returned from vacation and I was sick for about a week so I wasn't up for much of anything. After that, I guess it took me a while to get back into the swing for things, but I'm back in full force. So here is what we've been up to the past few weeks:

On Friday January 23 we got on a plane and flew to Washington DC. We were there Friday through Monday and of course packed all that we could into the short visit. We did get to see a lot of friends and spend time with Andrew's family, which was the goal. Here are a few pictures from our weekend in DC with some explanation.

I ran into these guys in the airport.

Have to have a picture of me and Aubrey every time we go back.

Andrew, his brother Brian, and their other friend Andrew, aka Whitey, being weird.

Shopping in Georgetown with my friend Michael. It was cold. But fun to see him!

Dinner at my most favorite restaurant Hana Tokyo!! It was so good!!

The morning we left to head to Connecticut, Andrew and I with his mom and brother.

Kincaids

On Monday the 26th we rented a car and drove to Connecticut to visit my family. We had not been to Connecticut since Christmas of last year, so the trip was long overdue. My parents have been to Austin to visit during the past year and my dad was here for a few days in September so we had at least seen them. We hadn't seen either of my sisters, brother in law, or niece and nephew in over a year and the kids have grown a lot! Wednesday was the day we had planned to go up to my sister's house for the day and take the kids to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. Mother Nature had another plan and decided to send the snow I was hoping to see. We barely made it to my sisters house and once we were there, we didn't dream of leaving for a while, so we ordered pizza in and watched Cars. We had a fun afternoon with the kids.

Driving on the highway to my sister's house!! Lots of snow!

My parent's house in Cheshire

My parents front yard, full of snow.

Logan is such a smiley kid! He also has A TON of hair!!

Samantha is so grown up now!!

Logan is a little wobbly when he walks but his big sister loves to lead him around and he loves to follow her!




Logan had fun playing with Uncle Andrew! Samantha was not a big fan of Uncle Andrew when she was this age!!

Andrew and I at my parent's house

During the visit we stopped by the new Cabela's that recently opened in East Hartford. We aren't really the outdoors man type, but we enjoyed shooting at stuff in the laser shooting range. Watch out for Load em Up Lois, she's pretty fast with a rifle!!

On Thursday that week we drove to Boston to spend time with some of my best friends in the world. We ate lunch on Thursday with my friend Bethany who I haven't seen in almost two years! She was my maid of honor in my wedding, and even though we hadn't seen each other in a long time, it was like nothing had changed. Seeing her made me miss her even more. We spent a few hours that afternoon just hanging out in the area where her and her husband live, seeing their neighborhood, workplaces, etc. Later in the evening we met up with Bethany, Steven, and my great friend Steve Holt to eat dinner at an awesome Boston seafood joint called "No Name." We had a great time all together, but wished Chrissy could have joined us! After dinner I had to say goodbye to Bethany and Steven and we headed home with Steve. Chrissy had a great dessert waiting for us by the time we got back to the house.


By this point in time, I had developed a pretty bad chest cold and had been coughing quite a bit. It had been coming on for several days but was really starting to hit in full force. I also was close to losing my voice, but when you are seeing friends you rarely get to see, you can't really help but talk. We stayed up way later than we should have, chatting and visiting with Steve and Chrissy. That night I was up coughing a lot and didn't sleep very well. I could barely talk in the morning but we had a few places left we had to visit before we left Boston. My parents lived in Boston in the late 70s through early 80s, and I was actually born there but only lived there for the first year of my life. My dad has a favorite pizza place in the North End that he always goes to whenever he is in Boston. We ate there once several years ago but the last time we were in Boston (August 07) we weren't able to because they have very limited hours, but were determined to eat there on this visit. Disclaimer: the next two pictures were taken a year and a half ago.


Chrissy took the day off from work so we could hang out for a few hours before we had to head home to Connecticut. We ate the most delicious pizza at Galleria Umberto for lunch. We weren't the only ones with that idea, since the line was backed up from the counter to the door. This isn't the kind of pizza place you would ever know about if you didn't already know its there, but the locals know its one of the best. And as if that wasn't already enough, its practically across the street from Mike's Pastry, a famous Boston spot where you feel like you died and went to dessert heaven as soon as you walk in the door. We got dessert to bring home to Connecticut, and a few things for us to enjoy. They have amazing cannolis there, the likes of which could never be imitated by a non Italian. Steve and Chrissy are always great hosts and so flexible with our visits, even when we show up in the middle of the week. We really enjoy the time we get to spend with them.

So Friday afternoon after lunch we drove back to Connecticut with me hacking up my lungs the whole two hour drive back. As soon as we got back to Cheshire, we went to a walk in clinic so I could see a doctor. He told me I had bronchitis and gave me a prescription for an antibiotic which I was very glad to accept. This was to be our last night before we were heading home to Austin, and I was really starting to look forward to my own bed again. Being sick and not being at home is kind of miserable. We had a nice dinner with the ENTIRE family which was some kind of miracle that we all were there at the same time. Again, I couldn't talk too much because my voice was close to non existent, but I made the best of it. Here is a picture with almost all of us, Leigh Anne had not arrived yet and by the time she did there was no way the kids were going to sit still for another picture.


We got home Saturday afternoon and I was feeling pretty miserable. I had so much congestion in my head, nose and chest and no medicine seemed like it could help. My ears were so plugged up and I was in a lot of pain after the flight because I could not pop my ears. It was also kind of scary because it really impaired my hearing for several hours and that was an uneasy feeling. It took about 12 hours before my ears finally opened up and I was feeling pretty lousy for a while there. I'm really glad we came back Saturday afternoon because I had a day and a half to recover before I had to go back to work. I still didn't feel great on Monday, but I felt much better than I had a few days ago.

Well I've probably given more details than you really cared to hear but in case any of you were dying to know everything about our trip, now you know! I will get back to house stuff on here soon enough. We have lots going on coming up soon so check back!