Westbrook yesterday, Back to Baja today

Balducci Beach- well it may as well be named that since all the cousins have summer "cottages" there and their beach is private (the public beach is just next door). This is where and how the family spends every summer weekend. What they accept casually as their "cottage" would go for a $million or more in San Diego. They think nothing of it- well, except for the high property taxes. It's about a half hours drive from their year-round homes. They don't all go down every weekend- but usually someone from each family is there. They wheel out their carts of umbrellas and beach chairs every morning and make a day of it. These people are serious sun worshipers. They slather on the sunscreen and camp out- going back and forth from the beach to home- and house to house as well- all day long. The kids swim and play in absolute safety. There is always a watchful aunt or uncle. No need to lock or even close the cottage doors. Totally safe. How lucky and cool is that? It is so nice there are still places like this in the world, it certainly isn't like this in our world.

The itsy bitsy spider... Gavin and Chase are energetic, curious two and three year olds. Their personalities are distinct and very different. No cookie cutter kids here. They watch educational children's' programs have learned words in Spanish and Chinese. They even asked great uncle Alonzo for"help" in Spanish. It's the way children learn now- and it's very cool. They don't give it a second though.

The water in Long Island sound was a little rough- so Alonzo and I bowed out of fishing with Fred and Mike to spend more time with my sisters Linda and Lou and the boys. We didn't bow out of eating the Blue they caught though. A friend had hauled in a 250 pound Mako shark the night before and we enjoyed a grilled piece of that as well. Lou made our visit very special by having more lobsters than anyone could eat- along with some dessert "leftovers" from the wedding and "crazy corn" (corn on the cob slathered in mayonnaise and then rolled in Parmesan cheese).

(Great aunt Linda celebrating her 29th birthday with Nolan on the deck. You're welcome Lin!)

The boys are curious about lobster- but wouldn't try it. There's plenty of years left for that. Hot dogs, fresh fruit and Dunkin Donuts were the major food groups for the boys. They didn't miss the opportunity to play with the lobsters though- boys will be boys...

We made our way back to the NYLO and slept in late today. Yeah! With the three hour time change we have been sleep-deprived. It'll still take me a few days to recover. We got a late check-out from the NYLO and have one more lunch reservation before catching our plane back to San Diego late this afternoon. Yes, it has been seafood every single meal for five days and we won't miss this last opportunity.


It is so hard to leave the safety and love here. So hard that this "ice man" is weepy and melting.