LIFE AT OUR HOUSE: Crazy Trip Part 3

During our trip up north, we decided to go up to New England to see what we could see. We ended up just getting to go up and down the coast of Connecticut. There was just to much to see! We figured we would have to go back a time or two to check out the other states in New England.

The tricky part of this trip was deciding when to leave. Traffic is a bear in the major cities and after counting up how many cities we would have to drive through - the number came to 4: DC, Baltimore, Philly, & New York. We decided to leave late around 6:30pm (hopefully this would help us miss most traffic) In the end there wasn't much traffic (except at the toll booths) It cost $30 in tolls one-way up there (and we thought we would have way more than enough with the cash we took - turns out we only had $2 left over. Needless to say, I took more cash with us on the way home - just in case there was an extra toll or two.)

First stop Milford and New Haven.

We got in very late and Maia's sleep schedule was way off. I was up with her until 4 am. We had a slow morning (Justin took the kids down to breakfast and let me sleep in - it was so nice!) Once we headed out, we went to the Yale Peabody science museum and then we toured around Old Campus of Yale - very beautiful architecture.

Kenton in front of the Peabody Science Museum

Old Campus YALE

After all of the touring - we stopped and ate lunch at Claire's Corner Copia - it was delicious food (vegetarian fare). A little plug for the desserts there - they were amazing!

On the way back to the hotel - all of the kids fell asleep. So we thought this would be a great opportunity to relax and check out the beach. Once we got there, you could see a storm rolling in. In a matter of 10 minutes, the winds were picking up fast. Then, Justin declared, "Look, it's a bird, it's a plane. . .it's a tornado!" Of course, I begin to freak out (Justin thinks the tornado is great - nothing new for him being from Oklahoma and all) Somehow I end up driving (or rather trying to drive away from the messy weather). That was a dumb idea. The hail (I swear they were the size of golf balls, but Justin promises me they were only the size of quarters) started shooting down. I was amazed that the windshield didn't break. In the midst of all of the flooded streets the water caused our serpentine belt to come off - no power steering, car starts to over heat, etc. I saw a service center out of the corner of my eye and pulled in there immediately. (At this point I knew that the service center being literally RIGHT THERE next to us meant Heavenly Father was truly looking out for us). I began to calm down quickly (Justin was relieved --- he said I was driving like a crazy woman). The service center let us pull into the garage to keep us safe and we waited out the storm in there. About an hour later we were leaving our car there over night to be fixed and getting a shuttle back to the store ( and then the shuttle took Justin up to New Haven where we ate - we seemed to have left the diaper bag up there with all of the diapers and Kenton's epipens. So here is a plug out to Napoli Nissan in Milford, CT - they were so helpful in our time of need. - especially driving Justin all the way up to New Haven and back to get the diaper bag. - Thank you Mr. Napoli).

Here is the beach where we saw the tornado

Only a day into our vacation - we were considering going home. However, after a good night's sleep we decided to stick it out. We went up to Mystic and toured the historic Mystic Seaport - a beautiful place.

We took a boat ride through the Mystic river

Kaelyn created a scene at the Art Spot for kids in the seaport

Kaelyn and Emma hanging out on a recreation of a sailboat.

After a long day at the Seaport - we were hungry. Mystic Pizza sound famailiar? Because it is - Julia Roberts filmed one of her first films here titled, Mystic Pizza. The pizza was actually really delicious - go for the Grecian if you have a chance to eat there.