MY NEW HARE

While washing dishes tonight, we found a hare in the backyard.  Steve only wishes it was the kind that grew on his head (Steve penned this).

My new little buddy is this eastern cottontail that chills in our backyard now & then. Unfortunately, he's not so fond of me.  

I'm starting to sound like Mom, but I really have fun spotting all the wildlife in our CT yard. Too bad our "baby Peter" sightings are short-lived.  Only two more months and we will most likely be viewing mainly traffic from our back window in Central Auckland. 

WADSWORTH MANSION

Steve and I traveled over to the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown to check out their grounds for an upcoming wedding this next week.  It should be a very beautiful location for the event.  The grounds were amazing!  I thought you might be interested in the landscape history, Lind:

"In 1900, three years after his marriage to Katharine Fearing Hubbard, Colonel Wadsworth began preparing plans for the site of their future country summer residence "Long Hill" in the rollings hills of western Middletown.  An authority on the emerging science of forestry and conservation, Colonel Wadsworth had a concern for the environment far ahead of his time. Working with the nationally renowned landscape architectural firm, The Olmsted Brothers, 500 acres of Long Hill were designed in the tradition of a working landscape.  They created an estate that evolved from the formal and classical near the Mansion, to varied, well-managed forests and pastures."

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN

My "dream" Celtics team (courtesy of manager Danny Ainge & coach Rivers) crushed the Lakers last night by 39 points.   It was a beautiful sight to behold.   Too bad Nash wasn't a part of the KG/Pierce/Allen combo.  :(

LAST COMIC STANDING

Dave, Steve, & I were faithful watchers of "Last Comic Standing" from Season 1 when we all lived in Logan together- "The Simpson's Era", as I like to call it.  Well, it's that time of year once again. So far, we really haven't been that impressed with the comics making it through the first round, but comedy is truly subjective, I guess.  

CELTICS PRIDE

I am happy to say that at least one of the basketball men I love made it to the Finals.  Go KG!!!!   Even though Steve & I were die-hard Jazz fans for the entire season, we have to give props to the Boston Celtics for smashing the Lakers in Game 1.

  

Here's a little eye candy for you too, Lind.  Mom's gonna love this post.  ;)

APPLE OF MY EYE

Saturday Steve & I stopped by Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, CT.  It's a beautiful farm with a market where they sell lots of good produce and other fun things.  After seeing that their Famous Apple Cider was $5.99 a gallon, I decided that Lindy should do the same this fall in Cache Valley after the apple harvest with her abundance of fruit.  She could even open up her own market like this one with all her wonderful garden goods!

LAZY DAY

Memorial Day Weekend was pretty uneventful in CT.  Deon had a sitting on Saturday in Elizabeth Park, and Steve did a good amount of NZ studying, sleeping, cleaning the house, and watching movies.  We did venture to Canton & Avon yesterday to do a little exploring.  This time of year in CT is so beautiful & green!  

Mom, I snapped a quick pic on all the Canadian geese after they crossed the road.  This family seriously rivals 101 Dalmatians! Obviously the geese were feeling patriotic yesterday, so they were crossing the street to get to the American flag stuck in the grass.  :)

Jeff & Kim's Trip to Mexico

In April we went to Rocky Point, Mexico with our kids and Jeff's business partner's family, Jeff Burningham. Here are some of the pics we took from the trip. We spent our time swimming at the pool, digging in the sand at the beach, riding the 'rhinos' on the beach, shopping at the local markets, and deep sea fishing.

ANIMATED ANNIVERSARY

Steve & I celebrated our #9 yesterday.  Due to our lack of planning, it didn't turn-out as exciting as we had hoped.  It started out on a great note when we went over together to Jaime's for VT.  Her son, Daniel, made us an amazing animated anniversary poster (pictured).  We were very impressed with his abilities!!!  We left Jaime's around 7:30 p.m. to go grab some dinner, but thanks to my stupidity, I had left my wallet at home and Steve only had his AMEX card with him.  The place we were at didn't take AMEX, so feeling defeated, we decided to hit up the local grocery store for some goods and go home.  We weren't in the mood to travel anywhere else.  Lind, we did actually buy a Greek salad for me and Jamaican Patties for Steve, as well as some Aussie Licorice, so we went as 'exotic' as we possibly could.

James

We got to go see little James on Sunday afternoon. He is so sweet and little. I got to hold him for almost an hour while Lindy and Kurt ate lunch. He is just perfect. I was able to take a few quick pictures of him. He really didn't want to show his cute chin and whenever I would pull down his romper to expose it he would snuggle back down into a little ball. Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen him yet at least you get an idea of his cuteness.


This picture is a little blurry but he had the cutest little smile on his face.

SWEET BABY JAMES

Lindy, Kurt, and Will had their new little baby boy yesterday in Logan.  I think they are naming him James, and I think he was 7 lbs. 14 oz. (just like Stephen James), but I'm yet to speak with Lindy about all the details.  Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!

THE DAFFODIL FESTIVAL

Every year a neighboring town in CT, Meriden, has a daffodil festival.  There are around 600,000 daffodils all in bloom for visitors to enjoy.  We didn't actually go to the festival, but I did make it over there post-event for a photo op.  I'll post additional pics on my photo blog.

SPEEDY DELIVERY

We are all getting anxious for a new nephew delivery within the next week or so . . .  BEST OF LUCK, LIND!!!

NEW ENGLAND'S RISING STAR

Today Steve & I traveled into the 'big city' of Hartford for a few minutes to run some errands . . .

Earlier this week, I shot a sitting down by Bushnell Park/The Russian Lady.  This will bring back sweet memories for Jeff & Kim-- :).

Steve's new office building at City Place-  Asylum Street--- Jeff's old stomping ground.

We parked by a car from Nevada . . . it made me miss home!

(Sorry about the bad quality of these pics; I shot all of them out of the car window with a little camera.)

Saturday afternoon, Steve & I traveled up to Mass. to discover the old, colonial town at Sturbridge Village.

COLONIAL COLORS

Stephen was in great awe of all the colorful spring beauty in the village :).

Our cow friend, giving a 'shout out' to big Matt D.

MAKING FRIENDS

Steve immediately started to make friends with the village people.

Although, he wasn't all that pleased with their plumbing facilities. 

We even watched a potter's demonstration.

Steve excelled at the art (j/k).

BARNYARD BABIES

Steve fell in love with this little runt.  If only they didn't grow up!

Jeff & Jason--- incarnate.

VILLAGE HOSPITALITY

The locals were extremely friendly as they went about their daily tasks. Steve truly fit right in.

DAD'S COMPETITION

I have a hunch that Dad's dental practice would grow tremendously in this particular village.

Nosh

We ended the day with a tasty dinner at a NY kosher deli in Vernon. This place was really good . . . now I regret not taking Mom there!