Annual CT Vacation 2015

We spent six days recently in the beautiful land of Connecticut and I am still, like every year, dreaming of the picture perfect weather, colorful leaves, and lack of humidity. If you've been reading for a while, you know we do this vacation once per year, always in the fall. It is the highlight of my year. My aunt, uncle, and cousins live there and it is such a joy to be with them. My respite from the day to day crazy. I savor the moments, just sitting and being and enjoying and taking a break from most social media and mindless distractions and worries. It is not fancy but it is my ideal. So thankful we have kept this tradition up since welcoming little children into our lives.

(Ok. Let's be real. In full disclosure, I am not so thankful for the plane ride that must be taken in order to arrive at said destination. I won't name names but my darling, youngest child temporarily lost her sweet mind. It is as if we loaded the plane and all sense of rational was left at the gate. I can't even. We were those people. I was that mom that had a screaming (not whining or crying loudly, actual screaming) child for 2.5 hours of a 3.5 hours flight. Think "I WAAANT DOOOWN," over and over and over. This was so special. I had every trick in the book and not one of them was working. Except for the trick where I thought I packed two small containers of play dough, yet when I opened them mid air, after building it up to toddler as "PLAY DOUGH IS SO FUN! WANT TO PLAY WITH PLAY DOUGH???" I opened and realized I did not in fact pack play dough, but grabbed the finger paint instead. Which I promptly closed and put back in the backpack. You can imagine how that went down. I am sure the flight attendants, and the people sitting in rows 10-15 are still having nightmares.)

But we made it!!

We took over 600 photos from our time away and there are so many that I treasure. I will pair them down for sake of time and limited blogger space. Here are some of my favorites. . .

We took lots of wagon rides. . .

We enjoyed lots of trips to the park. . . 

The girls loved sitting and watching the pellet stove my aunt and uncle keep in their sun room. . . 

More time at the park. . .

On Sunday of our trip we took the girls to visit Bushnell Park, located in downtown Hartford. The park has an indoor carousel, which of course was just begging for the girls to ride. Since it is inclosed, the sound was a bit much for Clara, but after a few minutes she warmed up and was enjoying the ride. Camille kept saying "More please! More please!" after each ride. . .

The girls warmed up to the pets in no time. . .

And Camille was so kind to share her drink with Lily, the dog. . .

My aunt's drive way is suuuuper steep. Once or twice Clara started down without us noticing and man, she was flying! I have no idea how she didn't fall and tumble all the way down.

We attempted some family pictures at a local pumpkin patch. Yeah. . . that one didn't go over so well with Camille. We got a few cute shots, but soon after the meltdowns began and we decided to call it a day and try for more pictures at home after nap time, lest mommy have her own meltdown.

Back at home, crunching on apples . . .

Post nap time picture attempt #2 . . . We went for the more candid approach this time. . .

We love you, CT, and will see you next year!

Oh, and fellow airlines passengers, let's all join hands and start praying for a better experience in 2016.

CT vacation from years past:
2012
2013
2014 part one
2014 part two