Arriving at Uncle Ernie's

Sunday July 19, 2009
Today we packed the car and said a sad goodbye to our Nana. We were a bit crowded at her house but we had so much fun enjoying all the NY area has to offer and being together. After lots of hugs, we set off toward New England. We took a lovely scenic drive through Connecticut along the Merrit Parkway and there was cheering from the back seat when we finally spied the ocean. We arrived at Uncle Ernie’s right around dinner time. He is Mama’s great uncle – her PopPop’s brother. He lives in a lovely home with large grounds. The adults thought the screened in porch with the view of the bay was a great place to hang out, but the kids were all about the basement. Down under the house the boys found a ping-pong table and cool bedroom waiting for them. The most exciting part of the basement, aside from a very tiny and rustic bathroom, was a genuine, well appointed bomb shelter. We all went inside and tried to imagine living in that room. It has a hand crank air filter and a pump to supply water. Weird but very cool! We piled into the van and went to dinner at Ninety-Nine. We were a big and noisy group and Uncle Ernie enjoyed the antics of the kids at dinner. We stayed up pretty late sharing news and hearing stories of Uncle Ernie’s very interesting life. Lydia was very happy to get to sleep in an antique canopy bed. Aside from missing Nana, it was a very good day!