A Wedding, A Baby and a Bonfire Part I

Where to even start?  I have been off on the East Coast for the past two weeks.  I returned on Monday evening with a slight cold and extreme exhaustion.  My travels were freaking awesome.  I don't know if I have the energy to write about it all today.  Let's get it started.
Day 1, fly out and sleep on the plane.

Aunt Nancy and Mamasita Sullivan

A White Dog

Rows of Trees Fallen Together

Day 2, land in Newark Airport, New Jersey.  My aunt Nancy picked me up from the airport at 11am Eastern Time and we started driving North where I would meet my mom.  The plan was for mi madre to take me the rest of the way after some lunch.  The drive up was good, Aunt Nancy was excited to hang out and we did some deep spiritual talking.  I was surprised how open minded she was.  It was a great start to the trip.  We met my Mom at some rest stop and Aunt Nancy pulled out the baked chicken, tomatoes, celery and baby carrots for lunch.  She had even looked up Paleo and did her best to make something I could eat.  So cute!  We had that and a banana cream pie to celebrate my mother's birthday that day.  A really mellow celebration.  We said farewell to Aunt Nancy and headed North again.  The drive with Mom was good, we listened to some Phantom of the Opera and talked all the way to the house.  We walked around our property and she showed me the damage from Hurricane Irene.  Lots of trees were down, in really creepy patterns all across the woods.

Your Roots are Showing!

Hurricane Irene did some crazy damage.  Even the Hammock tree went down.  Luckily nothing hit my parent's house.  That would have been awful.  On the positive side, Hurricane Irene gave us plenty of wood to build a new bonfire area, complete with bench seating.  We also had plenty of hot dog roasting sticks and logs to throw on the fire.

Day 3, I took a walk while Mom and Dad were at work.  I got up early to  tool around the neighborhood since I haven't been there in so long.  Last time I was in the area I had no time to myself, so I relished the alone time.  I walked to the field next to our property, then walked down Mrs Franks road to check out the area that I spent most of my time in the mornings waiting for the school bus.  It was great to be there.  I also had an AHA moment when I realized that the small stream that travels under Franks Road is the one that appears in my dreams sometimes.  Interesting.  I continued walking left on Phillips towards the Cow Lady.  I was a little worried that she might still have goats and that I would have to run to avoid their nasty bites.  (Not that I ever got bit, but they were gross and I'm sure they would tear out my flesh if they got their teeth on me.)  No goats or cows at the Cow Lady's place.  In fact, I think the Cow Lady is no longer at the Cow Lady's.  A moment later Anna and Alec arrived in Anna's car and I jumped in the back for a ride home.  There we packed, tried on dresses and waited for Dad to arrive.  When he did we stuffed the car and headed for Philly.  I texted my Mom to let her know our locale and mentally moved on to my next activity: Project Wedding.

Anna in the Window Sleeper at the Microtel

We got to our hotel, which sadly I have no pictures of.  It was a Microtel.  It had two huge beds and mirrors all over the place.  A bit creepy, but all we needed was a place to rest our domes after the drinking and dancing that was about to ensue.  So we checked in, put on our rehearsal dinner gear and headed off again, this time to Arin's neighbor's, the Foley's home. This is where the rehearsal dinner party was happening, apparently there was also some actual rehearsing happening at the venue.  Arin and Andrea came later.  I have to say that Arin's friends are pretty awesome.  She has built quite the family.  I'm glad that she has surrounded herself with a group of people that cares so much about her.  

We quit that party around 11pm and headed back to the Microtel for our beauty sleep.

Day 4, Wedding.  I'm gonna save this post for later, cause there's way too much to write at this present moment.  Maybe later tonight.  So far, 4 days in and sooo much fun was had!

Finally Crawled out of Bed

Wish I had one of these!

So Tuesday evening I flew out of warm Honolulu and headed to the East Coast.  My flight was so not comfortable.  Like an idiot, I forgot my pillow so my neck was all cramped up all night.  The guy next to me was very nice, but almost silent, and in his sleep he kept stretching out, getting all up in my space.  Then he'd wake up, look embarrassed and pull himself together until he fell asleep again.  I could not find a comfortable spot and had a painful stomach ache from the diet pepsi I drank that afternoon.  So, I guess it could have been better.  I did see Harry Potter the second part of the last one.  Good stuff.
I landed in Newark at about 10:30 Eastern time and began the journey up to NY state.  My Aunt Nancy picked me up, we met Mom for lunch and we had a picnic lunch complete with baked chicken and a banana cream pie to celebrate Mom's birthday.  Then Mom and I finished the trip north.  Not too much traffic, that was good, and the weather was really warm.  Got to keep the windows down for most of the trip.
When I got to my parents' house we did a hike through the woods of my childhood and surveyed the hurricane damage.  Pretty intense.  It's been enough time that it doesn't look as brutal as I'm sure it did, but there are trees down everywhere.  The really weird part is looking out and all the trees are leaning the same way.  Normally the trees just lean wherever the ground is taking them, but there is an crazy pattern to the leaning now.
It started to get cold around 4pm, and I wrapped up in a blanket on the couch and watched NCIS while Mom graded papers.  I love NCIS.  She left halfway through it the first time, cause her best friend from High School called her for her birthday.  So we watched it again.  I fell asleep for the second run through.  We had a fabulous baked chicken dinner with a veggie salad, asparagus and sweet potato.  Totally paleo and not on purpose.  My parents certainly aren't paleo, they just like real food.  Mom and I perused some of the stuff in one of the dressers in my old room.  I had really great fashion sense in high school, let me tell you.  There was quite a bit of belly laughing as each item came out of the dresser.
Dad came home late and I hung out with him for a while, we discussed Quantum Physics, the Web Theory and the String Theory as they relate to mental health.  Seriously.  Then I put an extra blanket on the bed upstairs so I could curl up.  Did I mention that I felt so cold I never actually changed out of my clothes?  I totally curled up in all my clothing and shivered until the bed warmed up.  I forget how totally quiet it is out here.  There was no sound last night.  I slept very well.
Woke up and hung out with Mom and Dad before they headed to work and made myself a leftovers omelette.  Salad, asparagus and baked chicken.  Yum!!

Just a picture of Opus 40.  Always reminds me of home.

I'm contemplating what to do with my morning.  I think I'm going to don my workout gear and head into the woods.  It's been a while.  I'm usually in such a rush when I'm here, but I have absolutely nothing to do for a few hours.  I'm not going to waste it with TV (which was definitely my first thought).
Anna should be here around 11am and we'll try on some shoes and clothes and get ready to go, so when Dad gets home from his meeting we can take off right away.  Tonight and this weekend are going to be so much fun!  I can't wait!

Titus and Gizmo- best dogs in the world.

Did I mention I really, really, really miss my husband and my doggies?