Adventures in Childhood

This past week my parents have been in town visiting and it has been a BUSY week of playing tourist.

They came into town last Thursday and we spent sometime in New Canaan and Darien going around to various shops.  Friday Bob and I took them to Mystic Seaport to explore the 19th century seaport village and we learned about boat making, the American naval history and tattoos (odd combination I know but one of the exhibits was about navy tattoos).

Saturday was a work day for Bob and I as he had to get stuff done for the homeless shelter and I had to prepare for Sunday.  But my dad kept himself busy by making 72 or so cinnamon rolls for Bethlehem to sell the next day at Georgetown Day.

After a FANTASTIC Pentecost worship service on Sunday morning which included the baptisms of two of our elementary age kids, most of the people of Bethlehem (including myself and my parents) spent all or at least part of the day at at Georgetown Day, the local neighborhood festival that grows each year.  This was my 3rd year participating and I enjoy it more and more each year.  Bethlehem has a bakesale booth with various bread, desserts and drinks for sale with the money going to Connecticut Food Bank.  I got to spend the day talking to folks, going around to the other booths and even danced a little with Bob to some of the great bands.

Monday was another workday for me, but I sent my parents off with the car and they pretty much ended up at the mall.  Oh well.

Tuesday we went to the Harriet Beecher Stowe House and the Mark Twain House both in Hartford, actually right next to each other as they were neighbors.  One of the good things about having family visit is the visit become a catalyst to go see some tourist things that you haven't seen yet and these two places were on that list.

Wednesday was back to Mystic Seaport, as we didn't get to see everything in one day, but we were only there in the morning.  The afternoon we spent at the shops at Olde Mystic Village and the evening we spent checking out all three locations of the Book Barn in Niantic.  Seriously if you haven't been here and you live anywhere near Connecticut you need to check this place out.  It is a used book store that is so large it has three locations but the original location is on a converted barn with plenty of cats wandering about, some goats to pet and various sheds that house books based on genre.  It is a book lovers dream.

Thursday Bob was able to take the day off and the four of us traveled to another place Bob and I have been meaning to get to and just haven't yet, Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge Mass.  I think we all like this place more than Mystic mainly because the staff dress in period costumes for the 1830's and work as farmers, blacksmiths, mill operators, etc and they are extremely knowledgeable and will answer questions about their craft and the time period.  I even learned how to tell if an egg is good by placing it in water. But caution, when we got there, a bunch of field trip groups were around and it was mass chaos. And as my Facebook status says from that day "Being somewhere with a bunch of 4th graders on a field trip = birth control."

Friday was Bob's and my 5th wedding anniversary.  We had a quiet morning and Bob gave me a wonderful gift of a little booklet of 5 love songs or poems that he translated from Akkadian with a little note about why he picked that poem for me.  He puts my gift of a little wall hanging cross to shame.

The afternoon we went to Barker's Comic and Collectible Museum, a place Bob and I went shortly after we first moved to Connecticut and have been meaning to get to with my parents in their two previous trips to CT and haven't been able to.  The place is crazy packed with a massive collections of lunch boxes, dolls, figurines, and just about anything else based on a cartoon or comic strip, plus more.

We then had dinner at Miya Sushi in New Haven.  That place was SOOOOOO good!  They have the largest selection of vegetarian sushi on the east coast and I FINALLY got to have vegetarian sushi that was more than a cucumber roll.  Bob and I split an appetizer of a steamed artichoke with an avocado sauce, and three rolls, one of which was called the Land of Milk and Honey and had dates, figs, brie, goat cheese, and cinnamon.

Today is another work day as I have been getting stuff done for tomorrow and catching up on work stuff that I have pushed off from earlier in this week.  And Bob is writing his newsletter.  Meanwhile my parents went to the Railway Museum in Danbury.

My parents leave on Tuesday morning, so I'm sure I'll have a few more adventures with them between now and then, but for now a time to rest.