Having a thrilling time in my hometown of Windsor, CT. Yesterday we went to a MacLaren Nature Preserve in Granby, where we ate pretzels and walked in the freezing cold brook with our shoes off, We also did some fun hiking up over the brook, and heard a story from my parents that they had hiked here once when I was a kid and got lost for 4 hours! So comparatively we did pretty good!

Last night we took Maddy to see AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, which was really good and a lot of fun. It’s had fighting, jokes, pretty girls, and exotic locations. What more could you ask for?

Today’s it’s off to Misquamicut Beach on the Atlanticx Ocean and eating whole clam bellys and watching teenagers get their tans. It’s a tough life, but somebody has to do it. More news (and pics) on Thursday!

Had a great time in Seneca Falls, NY yesterday. The highlights include:

1) A big breakfast in town
2) Visiting several beautiful wineries, though there were a lot of Biffs and Buffy’s there on a Cuyago Trail wine tasting tour
3) Visiting the Cayugha Falls, where you can walk along the bottom of the falls on the slate rock floor.

But the highlight of the trip, like most of our trips, was visiting the fully functioning goat cheese farm, where we saw the miliking facilities, the place where the cheese is formed, the aging house, and then we got to visit the goats and actually milk them ourselves. It was run by a German woman, her husband, and two sons, who did the milking. It seemed like quite a lifestyle. And the cheese, of course, was awesome.

You can pictures of all this excitement here.

Tomoroow – Seeing the family. Pray for us!

NOTE FROM MADDY:

MY FAVORITE PART WAS MILKING THE GOAT AND WHEN THE GOATS NIBBLED ON MY DRESS AT THE DAIRY FARM.

Dateline: Waterloo, NY

Well we’re on Day 1 of the East Coast Meltdown, and so far so good. The highlight by far is checking into the Holiday Inn and finding out they now have 100% free high speed internet access in all the rooms. After an hour or so of futzing with my work laptop, I finally got it working (repeat after me: ipconfig /release, ipconfig /renew), and here we are!

Other highlights include:
1) Starbuck’s at the New York rest stop (yes!)
2) Waiting an entire hour to get through the Canadian drive-through customs. My theory is they are combatting terrorism by figuring that after waiting this long, they figure the terrorists will just give up and go back home (“Ack! This is taking too long! We will smite the infidels another day…”) So we amused ourselves by listening to Weird Al songs on my iPOD.
3) Watching the pilot episode of BEWITCHED on TVLAND, which was in B&W and surprisngly funny and sophisticated. And Maddy liked all that nose-twitching.

Today in Ithaca and Seneca Falls:
1) Wineries
2) Goat farm with fresh goat cheese
3) Waterfalls
4) Cliffs hiking and dinner

Will post pictures when (and if!) we get back. Wish us luck!

Our family vacation starts on Friday. We’ll be taking a whirlwind tour of the East Coast,a nd coming back with my neice in tow, who’ll be visiting for a week. I’ll be taking pictures and posting along the way, so be sure and check back. Here’s the tour itinerary:

Friday June 25 – Drive to Seneca Falls, NY
Sat June 26 – Day in Seneca
Sun June 27 – Drive to Windsor, CT
Mon June 28 – Windsor
Tuesday June 29 – Misquamicut, RI
Wed June 30 – Miscquamicut, RI
Thursday July 1 – home to Windsor
Friday July 2 – Drive to Niagara Falls, Ontario
Saturday July 3 – Niagara – Ikea – Home – Paige comes with us
Sunday July 4 – Holiday
Monday, July 5 – Holiday
Saturday, July 10 – Paige goes come by NWest

Yes, I got an iPOD yesterday. 20 gig. Very shiny and austere. Works in the Windstar connected to the AUX inouts. Holds 10,000 songs. Too expensive but probably worth it. Greatest invention since raisin toast. No if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got 150 hours of listening to do…

It finally happened! Maddy lost her first tooth on 6/22/04. Word on the playground is the Tooth Fairy brought her two whole dollars! And there’s still 19 teeth left!

Getting up and running in the morning, taking a shower, getting ready for work, grabbing a latte at Starbuck’s, and then listening to the Too Many DJ’s CD with the windows down and the breeze blowing on the first day of Summer on the way to work.

You?

Chair Fix

Other new kid pictures here.

New city pool makes a splash