New England Trip 2008

Last Christmas I asked for a trip to New England with our entire family. My Dad is from Pittsfield, MA. Each year until I was 20 we went there once a year to visit. I really wanted to bring my family there to meet all of our wonderful friends, and see the beautiful fall folliage. Mom, Dad, Aunnie, Uncle John, Glenn, me, Ayden and Mason all went on the 7 day trip. We decided to also go visit family as well, and we visited four states on our trip.



We flew into Boston and drove to Hartford, CT to see Uncle Tommy (my dad's college buddy), Trish, Nina and Thomas. It was a four hour plane ride early in the morning and everyone did great! It was a wonderful leg of our trip, and I loved seeing Nina and Thomas all grown up. Glenn did not feel well this part of the trip, but we still had a fantastic time. We also stayed in a beautiful suite!



Then we drove about three hours in our 12 passenger van to Pittsfield. We had a cute house on the lake right down from the River's house. We ate hot dogs from the Hot Dog ranch, visited the golf club, put flowers at my grandpa's grave and enjoyed the sights. We also went to Balance Rock, a huge rock that sits in an amazing position, defying gravity. We visited the falls, and Aunnie, Glenn and John had fun climbing to the top. Too cold to jump! My mom and John took a beautiful hike up the mountain. While they were hiking the rest of us went to a fun museum!



Then we drove 6 hours in our van to Maine. We had a unique "cottage" in a seasonal beach community. It was a challenge staying in our "cottage" without a heater. My dad's friends Mike and Maura own the "cottage:. Very nice of them to let us stay! It was 20 minutes from Portsmouth, NH, where my uncle and cousins live. My cousins Chrissy and Bevin have two beautiful sons, Cohan and Grayson. It was so much fun to visit with them and for all the boys to play. I am so bummed I forgot to take a boy picture of the four of them together. We went downtown, a beautiful park, ate fantasic food (including a lobster boil prepared by Bevin's hubby Eric). It was the best way to end the trip! The beach and light house were beautiful!!!



The trip was so special! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family. We all enjoyed every minute of it. It was a termendous amount of work to pack and repack every few days with 8 people (two of them being little guys) but it was a once in a lifetime experience. And a big WOW to everyone that took the time to look at all the pics and read about our trip!