Back From CT . . .

Uncle Anthony and Callum (nice shirt Twonny boy . . .I love how it combines the flag with actual text from the Declaration of Independence)
Here's the big boy with one of his Fourth of July outfits!
Papa Goldsmith (and his "I'm-here-to-party" shirt) and Callum
Nannie and Callum. Oh look, Nannie's shirt says "coffee" on the sleeve
Favry Homebrew. See the description in the actual body of the blog, and click on this picture of blow it up . . .

What a great trip!

Last Wednesday night I ABSOLUTELY did not sleep at all for I was so nervous to drive (what ended up being 5 hours and 46 minutes) down to Ledyard for the fourth with Amanda, Callum, and Thomas. But, I have to say, the kids were fantastic travellers, and Callum only had to stop once to be fed and changed--he slept the rest of the time. And Thomas slept the whole time anyway. . . he travels well.

When we did arrive in Ledyard, I kissed Callum goodbye and told him I would see him (possibly) once a day for his bath, but most likely Sunday afternoon, when we left to go back to Maine. It was just that so many people were so happy to see him--his Nannie and his Papa, and PB and GG. The ironic part of the whole trip was that our camera was not working properly, and we tried to take photos with our video camera . . .but the video one had no flash on it. We did, however, take lots of videos . . .so if anyone ever decides to come visit, we can watch them then.

We really did have a great time, and we just did so many things--too many to mention. I can make a short list:

1. Ate Twon's special dish of "Brie Pesto Bowties," which is one of my favorite pasta dishes



2. Ate beer bread Twon made, which was awesome!



3. At the lemon and white chocolate ice cream Twon made



4. (are you starting to see a pattern here? Its like its Anthony Ray or something . . .



5. Ate tons of food on the Fourth of July, like steak tits (oops, did I spell that wrong??) and Orzo salad that Ortiz made, calzones that Cha Cha brought, stuffed mushrooms, PICKLE DIP MICHELLE!!, Buffalo Yicken dip (MEL), Onion Blossom Dip, and Cardiac Defribulation dip.



6. We had a wonderful fireworks display in the Favry driveway--Anthony bought two huge boxes of fireworks. Amanda watched the silhouettes of the fireworks while she nursed Callum in the upstairs room.



7. Twon and I wore cute little matching tops, and Kristin and Amanda did too--all in the spirit of the Fourth. Basically, we tried to find the tackiest USA flag shirty thingy . . .and then we bought it to match for the BBQ



8. We went into Mystic to visit Mystic Cycle (and awesome bike store), Chick-She consignment shop, and Sea Swirl, which is a "clam hut" in Mystic touted by Rachel Gay, Paula Dean, and the Food Network in general. It was the first time Callum ever saw the ocean



9. Callum wore his special patriotic outfit (he was born on flag day, after all)



10. Kristin, Anthony, Amanda, and I all ascended, and battled darklings.

One thing I have to write "special" about is Anthony's homebrew--made for the occasion of Callum's visit. He made a blueberry Hefeweisen, which was outstanding--although I have to apologize to him because I really wasnt feeling good all weekend (still not really) and didnt drink as many as I would have liked. Maybe he can bring some up . . .hmmm . . .

But one thing we all like to do when we get together (or even when we dont get together) is make as much fun of as we can of our Dad, a.k.a. DH, Ortiz, or Friendly-Henry. So, naturally, the beers had to have labels of Ortiz doing funny stuff, and then we named the beers accordingly: "Henry's Blue-Balls Hefe-wise-ass-en," "Friendly Henry's Botched Birthday Brown," and "OH SHIT I.P.A." The bottles, as you can see from the picture, are wonderful, and sit center stage in my beer bottle collection in the basement.

Its good to be home. Went for a bike ride today and a walk with Callum and Amanda. Hopefully we have Andrea coming up later in the week, and hopefully we'll get out to Camp Greenlaw, since its unbearably hot. I hate the summer.

More meanderings tomorrow . . . .