Tuesday, July 15, 2008

























OK...so my Mother- in- law passed away Tuesday of last week.
It was a blessing that she died so quickly...she was in alot of uncontrolled pain. From the time she found out she had cancer to her death was 2 weeks. Henri and I took Carlie and Rufus to Ct. this past weekend to see his Dad and meet up with Henri's Aunt Leila and cousin Lorena. Lou and Liz (Henri's brother and our sister-in-law) were supposed to show up, but didn't make it.
We got there late Saturday afternoon( our 5th wedding anniversary too by the way:)), Lorena who is my age and Leila who is Lorena's mother were there already from Boston. We hung out on the deck with everyone, had a couple cocktails and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the area. It's definatly BOONIES Connecticut.
Carlie was having a great time running up and down the deck...unfortunately it was pretty high up and not exactly "kid friendly" so we all took turns saving her life.
Rufus stayed right around the yard which I was surprised at, but Lorena brought her dog Sebastian with her and the "cousins" had a good romp together, that was what kept Rufus from going somewhere else for entertainment. It was good for him to be able to blow off some steam and run a while. Me,Henri, Carlie,Rufus and Lorena all slept in the camper in the driveway. It was kind of like a slumber party. We ended the night by
Lorena giving me a belly dance lesson....good visual? or what?
Sunday,Lorena and Leila left for home, so we took Dad with us to the butterfly gardens in Deerfield. http://www.magicwings.com/ I have been wanting to bring Carlie there since I was first pregnant. The place is amazing, and beautiful. Henri took me there while we were dating. As a matter of fact, We almost got married there.
Anyway.... Carlie had a BLAST . The butterflies are all over the place, there's so many that all you can feel is wings brushing past you... It's absolutely enchanting.
Henri and I were going to go to our favorite restaurant in Springfield Saturday night to celebrate our anniversary just the two of us, but we decided to invite Henri's Dad to go and I decided I wanted Carlie to go too. (Lou and Liz were going to babysit) I would tell you the name of the place, but it's German and I would absolutely BUTCHER the name....so if you want to know that bad, call me, I'll say it to you. ANYWAAAAY......... We had some time before our dinner reservations after the butterfly garden, so we took a ride up to Mt. Sugarloaf http://www.mtsugarloaf.com/ and walked up to the observation tower. What a beautiful day it was up there! We even got to see 3 juvenile parogren falcons!! After that we made our way thru Springfield and we all had an FABULOUS dinner, and for dessert, Bananas Foster ...The waitress made it at the table and Carlie was AMAZED with the whole prep...and then they set it on FIRE!, You should have seen her eye's bug out when flames came up!!!
It was a good day and a good end. We got back to Ct. and all went to bed early. I was EXHAUSTED!
Monday morning we left for home. It was 2 days that felt like a week. I don't think I appreciated my A/C enough before this trip...I do now!!! I think Dad is bringing his camper to my friend Andy's boat yard and leaving it there for the summer so he'll have his own space and can visit whenever he wants. That's good, I think Henri's a little worried about his dad. He seems a little lost. I imagine I would be a little lost too after 43 years your other half is suddenly missing...I don't even want to imagine what that's like. I just hope he comes around often and visits Carlie. She ADORES him and he adores her. It's really something to see.