Home Again, Home Again...

After a week and 2 days of vacation, we are finally home! Dont' get me wrong...vacation was great, but it's good to be relaxing on my couch at the moment :)

We departed for the great state of Pennsylvania last Friday at approximately 7:45 am. Dane, Pop, Reed and myself rode in Pop's car and my dad and Pat followed. The first day we drove about 6 hrs and ended in Dayton, OH at my Great Uncle George and Aunt Tish's house. They fed us and George shared stories of his and my Pop's childhood on the Island (Fisher's Island, NY...the whole reason for this epic trip up North). Day 2 involved about 8 hrs of travel and brought us to our destination for the next 2 days, Uncle John and Aunt Jeanne's house in PA. We spent a couple of days relaxing there (the girls going shopping, the boys visiting a Civil War POW camp in DE) and then headed to CT Wednesday morning. This was a 6 hr trip that landed us in Groton, CT. From here we explored the cemetery where my great grandparents are buried, visited my Pop's cousin George (there are a lot of George's in his family...), saw his G-pa's house in Mystic, CT, saw Mystic Pizza (didn't eat there though, George says the pizza's no good), toured the Submarine Museum, and then headed out to the Island. The Island is a 45 minute ferry ride that departs from New London, CT, however, Fisher's Island is part of New York.

I have heard stories of the Island growing up and really wanted to see it with my Pop as a guide so he could show me his old stomping grounds and tell me stories about what happened here and what happened there. His dad (my great g-pa) ran the grocery store on the Island. My Pop was 1 of 8 students who graduated in his high school class. The Island is 9 miles long and during my Pop's childhood also housed a military base (WWII). There is an East Side of the Island (summer houses for the rich and famous) and the West Side (regular folks). There are 2 golf courses (1 being in the top 10 best golf courses in the US) and a town triangle (Pop likes to say it's not big enough for a town square). I got to see the house he grew up in and the store my great g-pa had (no longer a grocery store, but still operating as a gift shop of sorts). We saw the golf course he worked on as a teenager and gained access to the private East Side of the Island to view the beautiful golf course and the ridiculous houses (people like the Simmons of Simmon's Mattress, DuPont's of DuPont paint and others own houses on this part of the Island). Pop's childhood friend, Mary Jean, met us on the Island and gave us our own private tour. She had a ton of pictures and even showed us one of Nancy Dow, Jennifer Aniston's mom, who was a grade younger than her in school on the Island. Pretty cool. I'm so glad we were able to go.

Reed was such a trooper during all of that traveling. He had a lot of "firsts" too. He ate cheerios, peaches, green beans, corn on the cob (don't worry, the corn was off, it was just the bare cob) and watermelon. Oh, and Papa spoiled him and shared his ice cream. He created a monster.

We had only 1 scary moment...and boy was it scary. Reed choked on a Cheerio while we were driving around Groton. I mean really choked...no coughing, no breathing, eyes wide in panic choked. I won't go into all the gory details (more for myself than for you), but Dane acted fast and squeezed his stomach (not proper protocol but you can't give back blows when a baby is in a car seat!) and dislodged the offending cheerio. Suffice it to say Reed will not be eating hard solid food until he is at least 10.

Now for pictures!


Reed and Papa at Fort Deleware




Reed and Daddy at Ft. Deleware



Reed Loves Watermelon!!!





He's mastered crawling and moved on to standing !!!





Just chillin' on the Ferry



Fourth of July Baby



4 Generations of Lamb's on Fisher's Island.



Waiting for the Ferry back to the mainland











Tired travelers.

All in all a great trip...too bad Reed won't remember any of it. Guess that just means we'll have to go back!