The Carriage House Inn

First things first. We never set up that link in the previous post with all the awesome photos from our voyages between CT and North Carolina.

VIEW THEM PUPPIES HERE! (There are some AWESOME pics here)

Now we can move on. 20 days since the last post - and plenty has happened.

This post was titled "The Carriage House Inn" as, you may have noticed, we have yet to be visitor-less for more than a few day since we moved here 3 months ago. It has been a blessing and a great transition for the kids. Making the move out here is much easier when family follows you for a short stint!

ALL PHOTOS FROM THIS PAST 3 WEEKS

Holly and Kristen took Eliza and Olivia on a mommy/daughter weekend "Girl's Trip" to Boston a few weeks ago.

We had wonderful girl-time bonding! We drove up the coast stopping at Yale and then at the Capital Building in Providence, RI (a surprisingly cool place). Then we parked outside of Boston and rode the metro into town. We spent hours walking along the Freedom Trail (a literal red line that has been painted through the city, following most of the historic places in Boston). We road on "swan boats", visited the bar where "Cheers" was filmed, and saw many historic sights. At the end of the day we made it back to our hotel with enough time to squeeze in a quick swim, and a girl party, complete with jumping on the bed, decadent cupcakes and treats, and a late movie. It was fabulous! The next day we did a bit more sightseeing before making the 3.5 hour drive home. Yea for history! But mostly (according to the girls), yea for girl time, swimming, and staying up late!



Around this time, we also got the call that our 5 baby chicks had arrived. I went and picked them up from our friend's home (They bought chicks in mass ... so we took a few off their hands). They're quite adorable little things.

Last weekend I took what scrap wood we had in our garage and built them a mini-coop to house them until I could find the time to build a real one out back. It's a bit ghetto, but they don't know the difference!

Olivia is earning the karaoke machine she has been yearning for by feeding, watering and maintaining the chicks and their coop. Twice daily she restocks their food and water supply. By Halloween they should be laying eggs - then we'll turn this into a proper business where the girls will sell the eggs to friends and neighbors to earn their keep 'round here!

Last Friday Olivia's school had a 1st grade presentation to the parents out on the school grounds. It was a "Rainbow Show" where they sang as many rainbow-related songs as the world has produced and held up colored paper in a rainbow spectrum. Pretty astounding (bit-o-sarcasm here).  Cute nevertheless.

Last Saturday Marshall and I took Eliza and Olivia on a daddy/daughter date into the city to Broadway to see Mary Poppins. They had magic, high-wire stunts and lots and lots of singing ... you'd think it was a musical! Turns out, it was. The girls loved it. And Holly and Kristen came along to take the other kids to the top of the Empire State Building. Quiiiiiiite the view!

And this past weekend it was finally (and unfortunately) time for Kristen, Eliza and Peter to go back to Utah. The kids had a blast while they were together for that month-long fiesta of family, but all good things must come to an end. It was great to have them, and sad to see them go.

But to keep with tradition and recent trending in the Carriage House Inn, Holly's sister, Mandy, and her husband, Bryan, arrived with their little Sadie just in time to stay up late and chat with Kristen before she caught her early morning plane home.

Mandy, Bryan and Sadie were on their way through as they return to Ireland to continue their writing / story editoring for HBO's Game of Thrones. What superstars.

It was great to see them and spend a few days together. We relaxed here at the Carriage House most of the time, but we did manage to hit the mall and ride on the two-story carousel. It was so fun to see Sadie and get to know her. She has such a strong personality - her parents are in trouble! :) The girls truly enjoyed playing her and helping take care of her. 


And just when we thought the family visit bonanza was over, we hear that my brother's wife, Nga, is here in NYC (from Bangkok) for a conference. Once she realized how close we were, she bumped her flight a few days and come up to the Inn ... and the vacancy sign is flipped off once again as we had the awesome chance to catch up and talk about Bangkok days and Stan (my brother) and their kids Anise and Sebastian.

We did a bit of shopping, dining out at an awesome Lebanese restaurant, and then played in the yard, did a bit of yardwork (NOT something Nga is used to in Bangkok!) and then we went on a hike in the woods down the lane. And on the way back we stopped by our next door neighbors for a quick tour of their oh-so-amazing gardens of babylon! Such an amazing place -- flowers everywhere. Everything manicured to a T.

Then a request to make one of my long lost recipe's from Italy days, Olio, Aglio, Pepperoncino, created a very vivid flashback as I recalled cooking that dish in a small, hot kitchen in a dated apartment just behind the noisy train station in Arezzo -- 50 km south of Florence. What amazing things an aroma can do to the mind and soul.

The last bit of news that you're all dying to know the details on: Sonoma's potty training. Yep, it's an exciting tale of urine, poop, and puddles!

She's doing fairly well, except for one deadly side effect -- now she cries quite a bit in her sleep, I believe due to the fact that she needs to go and can't find a toilet in her dream! We're working on that little issue, otherwise it seems to be going fairly smoothly. As smoothly as human waste management scenarios can go!

It's finally summer here and Connecticut is one amazingly beautiful place. And yes, this figurative vacancy sign is finally lit, but we love visitors, so book your tix now before it's too late! :)