New London

September 20 – October 1, 2016 – Days 32- 43

The New London Family Visit!

Nice to be settled in one place for a few days. 12 Days in one camp sight is a record for us. Great to be only about 15 minutes away from Kris, Laura & Eliza’s house. We can run over there and spend time and get back to the BOYS for their breaks too.  We actually almost figured out the roads from here to there and a few other places we frequent (Home Depot, down town Mystic….) Don’t quite know what is so mind bending about the roads in this area, but if there is a wrong turn we probably have found it. Thanks goodness for the GPS – although Mike really hates depending on it!

9/20-21/16

 We spent the next couple of days getting the rig cleaned inside and out. We found a very good exterior detailer who cam out and washed and waxed the rig for us. It looks so nice shiny again. Karen was able to get most of the dog fur up from the inside, then a trip to the Laundromat sort of finished up the process. We took dinner over to the Girls – Mike and Kris removed the old glass from the front door and windows. We then held our breaths as we unwrapped the precious stained glass that had ridden east in the bay of the MoHo. They had been swaddled in bubble wrap, but there was some concern with the many miles of bumpy roads that we might have sustained some damage. PHEW! They all arrived unscathed. We took them out one by one and held them up to their respective new locations. The good news was that they had plenty of room in each of their openings. The question was HOW – to fill some of the space up? Kris and Laura have a carpenter friend; Jessie that agreed to come over and help Mike brainstorm the work and even volunteered to cut the trim pieces.

9/22-24/16

We enjoyed meeting up with Cristina and Amby Burfoot for a great seafood dinner at a very nice restaurant Red 36 in Mystic. The location was right on the water, food was delicious and company fun to be with. Mike and I got started installing some of the windows – the two sidelights went in with a bit of wood, foam insulation, caulking and swearing! Waiting until Kris has some free time to help with the upper window installation.

A great treat for us was going to see Eliza swim in her high school’s swim meet. She swam in 2 events – 200-meter relay and the 50-meter free style. For a person who never has had any formal swimming lessons she has made amazing progress in about 6 weeks time on the team. Besides learning the specific swim strokes, she has learned how to do her kick turns and dives. She was so excited that she had improved her time by 10 seconds. The family celebrated after the meet with dinner and cheers around.

Saturday morning saw us back at 137 Ocean Ave. Mike and Kris worked on getting the top window in. The three windows look so beautiful, letting in a very colorful glow. Just some trim will finish those 3 off nicely. Karen worked on a journal for family and friends to sign for Eliza’s Family Celebration tomorrow. In the evening we were treated to a wonderful surprise. The Girls took us out on the Mystic Whaler 2 masted schooner for a lobster and sunset cruise.  What a wonderful time we had with the girls. The sunset was spectacular (captain said it was one of the best of the season, and this was their last cruise on the Thames River for this year); the dinner (chowder, slaw, lobster, and cheesecake) was marvelous, the champagne and our favorite Sheriff Red from the Buena Vista Winery in CA accompanied the meal well. We shared so many laughs; this was such a wonderful treat for the 4 of us!

9/25-27/16

Sunday was Eliza’s Official Welcome to the Wurfoot Family and Friends Celebration – There 30+ family and friends who showed up to witness the girls’ extraordinary demonstration of commitment to our One and Only Eliza Brown. It was a very emotional tribute by the new Moms, family and friends that we all acknowledged our support, love and pride for Eliza, Kris and Laura. The ceremony ended with Mike playing Can You Feel the love Tonight on his horn. The party continued with a great potluck!

Monday Mike and I played tourists; we went to the Mystic Aquarium for the day. Perfect day the weather was sunny and attendance was low. We strolled around the grounds enjoying their interesting FROG display, watching a California Sea Lion Show, seeing some HUGE Stellar Sea Lions (over 2,000 lbs. and 15+ feet long), Penguins and our favorite was the Beluga Whale tank. 2 beautiful white whales swam around and right up to the window to check us out. It was great – so often we go to see animals and they are hiding in their dens, or around the corner from where we are standing. We finished our visit by feeding the cow nosed sting-rays (barbs removed from their tales J). You hold the sardine like fish in your hand like an ice cream cone – hold it down in the water and the rays swim over it and sort of suck it up. A fun, wet and great experience.

Tuesday was our grandparent day – we went and picked Eliza up at Ledyard High School, taking her and friend Erin to their swim meet. Felt great to be helping her and the Girls out. We enjoyed watching the swimming and seeing more of Eliza. We returned to New London and had a great dinner and some visiting time with the family.

 9/28-10/1/16

Wednesday saw us driving the MoHo northwest of New London to Glastonbury where we were to get the driver’s side windshield replaced. We had seen it crack about 18 inches early in the trip. It was a relatively easy drive, found the glass shop with the help of the GPS. The glass workers were able to pop the old window out sending the crack all the way a crossed the windshield. No worries we were getting it replaced. They prepped the opening and unpacked the new glass. The next few moments were NOT Good. As they held up the windshield it became apparent the wrong one had been sent. Mike had measured it at least 3 times, but the company in Indiana, that sent it – blew it. What to do? After a couple of hours of discussion with the glass guys and our insurance guy it was decided to put the cracked windshield in, it would be perfectly safe even if we needed to wait until we got back home to try and replace it. With a bit of trepidation we returned to the camp waiting to hear if they would be able to get a replacement in by Friday (we are scheduled to start west on Sunday 10216)

Thursday morning we were on stained glass installation duty again. The door window was the last to go in. Mike was still a bit unsure how to make it work, but with some brainstorming and dumb luck we got it in and secured! Some trim around the other 3 windows is left to be done, hopefully we can finish that up – and then the girls can clean and paint when they have time.

We enjoyed a great dinner with Kris, Laura and Kris’ retired boss Ann and her husband Bill. Ann has been wonderful with the girls, she loves Kris like a daughter, and so nice to know she would be there in a second if Kris or Laura needed her. I don’t know what the Girls have done, but they have a tremendous group of friends who are very supportive and close to them.

Friday – windshield installation #2, Mel our insurance guy called to say that the new window should be at the glass shop on Friday. We are keeping our fingers crossed. Great News the new windshield arrived by midday and we were able to get installed. Mike has a nice clean windshield to look through the rest of the trip west. We got back to camp in time to get to Eliza’s swim meet – she swam well again. Ortega’s was our after swim dinner – the margaritas hit the spot!

Saturday – Mike and Kris were able to get most of the trim completed on the windows and door. Kris will follow up with Jessie to get some more wood to finish the door, and then the painting can take place.  Karen Laura and Suz did a bit of re-potting of Laura’s plants – getting them ready for their indoor season. It is certainly started feeling a bit more like fall this week. Frost could be coming anytime soon.

Saturday night was an early birthday celebration for Kris (10/22) – we had salmon (us carnivores J), baby potatoes, and salad and birthday cake. What a wonderful end to our 2-week stay in southeastern Connecticut. On our way back to camp we stopped by the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London – where Eliza’s picture is displayed out front. She is part of Joe Standart’s photographic exhibit, Portrait of a City, the New London Project.  The display features 25 images of individuals/families from (from every culture and race whose lives are intertwined with the city) New London that were taken in 2006 and again last year. Eliza was a three year old in her father’s arms the first time and in the current exhibit she is featured as a beautiful 14-year-old young woman. The 20ft tall portrait hanging by the entrance of the museum is pretty amazing.  

That evening we took a salmon (yes Kris and Laura enjoyed it) dinner back to 137 Ocean Ave. a last little celebration with the family before we headed WEST. As we were leaving the RV park we had a flat tire on the Prius – jeeze do we know how to have fun! Mike was able to get the tire changed into the donut spare and we made it to New London and back.