We went to my parents' house this weekend as a make-up for a busted plan during Hurricane Irene two weeks prior. My brother and sister-in-law and their two kids, Grace and Isaiah, flew up Friday. We arrived Saturday at lunchtime, not long after my sister. We'd been scheduled to gather the last weekend of August in Old Saybrook, CT, but my brother and his family had to cancel, because they figured their flight home on Sunday -- the day the hurricane hit New England -- would be canceled. We went down to Old Saybrook for one night (instead of the planned two) and stayed with my sister and my parents at the house we'd rented.
It was good to have a chance to hang out with everybody, and to celebrate Beth's birthday to boot.
After lunch on Saturday, we took the kids, along with Grace (Isaiah stayed behind with his parents to try and take a nap), to a park in Windsor, the town where my parents moved four years ago. My sister and my mom joined us at Northwest Park. After checking out and feeding a bunch of farm animals (sheep, cow, horse, donkey, turkey, goats) and cruising through the nature center, we hung out at the playground for quite a while. It was great to see Owen and Amelia just goofing around with Grace, who they only see a few times a year.
I also checked out part of the on-site tobacco museum, with Grace, my sister and my mom. Like many towns in the Connecticut River Valley, Windsor was a tobacco town. I'm pretty sure the land on which the park sits was donated to the town by owners of a former tobacco operation. My hometown, Simsbury, was also a tobacco town. When I was a kid, there were tobacco barns on the edge of my neighborhood, right next to the train tracks.
The museum proper, which houses all sorts of equipment and samples of tobacco, was closed. So we walked around the archive building. There, we saw lots of cool old photos and glass cases of cigars, cutters and other small equipment. What I found most interesting was the display of small banners that in the early days of the industry were included inside the cigar boxes. Very cool collectibles.
Later, we all went out to dinner, before going back to my parents' house for cake, ice cream and presents. That night, Beth, the kids and I slept at my sister's house.
The next morning we went back up to my parents' house and ate breakfast while my brother and his family packed for their flight back to Maryland. It was a quick visit, but it was good to see everybody and catch up.
My sister and I are flying down to MD on September 23 to catch a Nationals game with my brother.
I'm looking forward to that, but I'm also anxious for the holidays, when all of us will be together again, for scenes like this.
And to talk about sports and trucks with my little buddy, Isaiah.
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