Christmas 2007

Posted by Andrew

'Scuse me while I pour myself a little of the bubbly.  It's time to blog you like a hurricane.

Yes that's right. I'm sitting alone on New Year's Eve, impairing my typing with a glass of sparkling wine.  Posting on the ol' website has been long overdue.

It's the perfect excuse to stay off the dangerous roads and memorialize my recent trip to Connecticut for Christmas.  The last time Laura and I made the voyage to New England was two years ago.

This year we tried to maximize time together and unplug from our computers (which are all Macs now aside from the one your author is typing on currently). 

This meant lots of walks out doors and building fires in the family room.  My younger brother Peter likes to keep fires constantly going -- which can dry out your skin and eyes since it takes all of the moisture out of the air.  Here is a picture of one of our trips to Westport, a local town known for its shops and excellent people watching.

I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but the two ladies in the back Katie and Laura are pregnant and due next April.  Katie, Peter's wife will be having a boy and Laura and I will be having a girl.  I'm excited by the idea of having cousins close in age who live near each other.

This will be the second child for Peter and Katie, their first son Will is pictured below.  My favorite excursion with Will this past week was to the Norwalk Maritime Aquarium where we saw mudskippers, flounders, stingrays and sea lions.

Many friends came to the house during the week that we were home.  This was a great chance to catch up with family friends or church friends who have since moved away and we only see them in holiday cards.  One such family is the Lipscombs, who have moved away but now live close to Laura and me in neighboring South Carolina (Nate on far left, Susie in the middle).

Also important while I was visiting the north east was going into New York City to see where my older brother Bill lives and works.  I have to say he has an amazing life, and I am enjoying it vicariously through him!

After taking the metro into NYC and visiting Bill's office we met up with our good friends Adam and Tim at a local pub for beers, oysters and burgers.  I feel lucky to have such good friends, and I endeavor to improve the lines of communication so we can continue to capture opportunities to meet.

Finally I took the train home alone from the city and by then it was just me and Laura with my parents.  Bill stayed in the city and Peter, Katie and Will had flown home to North Carolina.  We enjoyed a nice dinner out on the town with mom and dad and one more walk around the harbor with my parents' dog Duke. 

When everything was packed and we were hugged into the airport terminal it was time to fly back to rain soaked Pineville, North Carolina.  Not so fast...  first we had to repair a flat tire.  This took a little over an hour because our jack broke (after it was fully extended and the car came crashing down on the brake pad), but we met a kind traveler in the parking lot named Olga who leant us her jack and we escaped on our temporary wheel.

And that's our vacation, happy New Year! 

For all of you interested folks, here is a bump shot of Laura -- she is 26 weeks or 6.5 months along!

December 31, 2007