Family Fun

The last two weeks have been filled with fun and family! I loaded the pictures backwards, so that's how we'll explain them. Yesterday we took my younger brother, Davy, to the airport after a short little visit we set up in lieu of our family traveling out to Utah to say goodbye to him before his mission. This is the same brother I took to Sadies when I was a Junior and 15 years old. If only our dance picture had turned out this cute.


Davy promises this super cool 'do he's sporting won't make it to the MTC.
A red-eye flight to the Eastern time-zone compounded by small children's early rise left Davy not too well-rested, but he held up pretty well. Here are the girls offering him their services to help him get a nap--a bedtime story and a snuggly lamb.
At the wishing well in Old Mistick Village. Davy was astounded by the cost of living out here, especially at this tourist trap.

We toured the U.S.S. Nautilus, the first nuclear powered U.S. Submarine now on display in Groton, CT. I was AMAZED to learn that this little baby was powered by two pounds of Uranium the size of a golfball, an equivalent amount of fuel to 457,000 gallons of gasoline. The Nautilus traveled over 25,000 miles its first year in the water and never had to fill up. Are oil spills really that much preferable to Chernobyl and Japan? Gas our way is approaching $4.50....I think I'm ready to move on to smaller, more powerful fuel....

We tried to go to Fort Trumbull, across the river from Fort Griswold where Benedict Arnold conducted his infamous act of treason during the Revolutionary War and where there are interactive displays informing visitors about the history of America's military involvement from the Revolutionary to the Cold War. But, true to form, it was closed. I didn't see anything about a Memorial Day season-open date on their website.
So we walked along the ocean front and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Here's Julia with her Nauta man.




Friday morning Justin was greeted at the gym by a burly man with chops who informed him, "You're just in time for the wedding!" "Pardon?" Justin asked, bewildered. The man slung a sausage-sized thumb over his shoulder toward the line of screens in front of the treadmills, all tuned in to The Royal Wedding. Returned home, Justin tuned our laptops to this real-life fairy-tale. Julia was the most mesmerized, though I admit I heartily approved of Ms. Middleton's lacy wonder of a dress. How many thousand mormon brides will be trying to copy that white dream?
(I must also admit that but for the Darowskis' daughter Kate devoting her entire section of their family Christmas newsletter to the royal wedding preparations, I probably wouldn't have known there was a wedding happening at all!)
Other than fifty bagillion tours of Yale in foggy, rainy weather, Davy wiled away his time by locking heads in strategy games. I think this Chess game ended in a deadlock because they had to run off to do splits with the missionaries, but Davy's greatest triumph this trip was whipping both me and Justin in Pente. How dare he!
The real clencher for winning the girls' undying affections was playing Dora's Candyland and watching Tangled and The Princess and the Frog on his laptop.
Thanks so much for the visit, Davy! We'll definitely keep in touch! :)

As late birthday presents, Eli received her finished princess gown (mostly) and a pizza box of groovy candy from Nin and Opa. Thanks, guys!

For Spring Break Justin was recruited to chaperone our stake's Youth Conference in Palmyra, NY. Since Palmyra is only two hours from my grandparents' home in Buffalo, we decided to spend the week alone with them rather than in our apartment. My grandpa has been going through chemotherapy, but that hardly slowed him down!
Here we are eating ice cream with my aunt Debbie who lives around the corner from Great-grandma and Great-grandpa in a cute little house. It was fun to get to see her a lot!
Grandpa had GREAT fun irritating Katharine. Here she's taking a break from coloring her Tangled coloring book to try to silence his annoyances.
Grandma and Grandpa prepared HUGE Easter baskets for the girls to make for themselves. The crowning addition was an 18" Alathea's chocolate bunny from my new aunt Christal who recently married my uncle Kevin. Talk about spoiled! :)
Grandma spent lots of time making delicious breakfasts--muffin tops, oatmeal, eggs in a basket, Borscht, sugar cookies--and helping Julia with an I Spy mystery computer game.
We went to the Niagara Aquarium right by the Falls. The weather was too cold and wet to venture the long walk to the actual Falls. A sure-fire way to keep a second visit open!
Debbie had a bunch of never-before-seen Disney videos. The girls, like me, experienced their first viewing of Pocohontas at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Grandma is in charge of the raffle every year for her chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism. I hope no one goes looking for children's books this year, because I think we got the best of them!
The girls at Niagara Candy picking out the big bunny for their Easter baskets. Grandpa didn't know what Christal had up her sleeve.
The real bunny next door.

Coloring Easter eggs with Grandpa.
It was a great trip and a marvelous two weeks! Now we'll have to start planning for the big trip in earnest. Thanks guys!