Dryer Fire ---

On February 12th our dryer caught fire and threatened to burn the house down.

Jonathan was scheduled to work a third shift that night.  When he checked the dryer he noticed that his clothes had not quite finished drying, so he put them back in and pressed the button to start the dryer.  Immediately he heard and arc of electricity from the back of the dryer and the motor stopped.  He could see a whiff of white smoke from the back, so he looked around the back but could not see anything.  He checked the inside of the dryer but still did not see anything.  He felt the back of the dryer but felt no heat.  He let Jannai know what had happened, though she was already half asleep.

Jonathan went upstairs to put his shoes on and then came back downstairs to get his tablet from Eliza before leaving.  When he came downstairs he noticed about an inch of black smoke covering the entire ceiling.  Looking over at the dryer, he saw that it was engulfed in flames.  He ran closer for a moment to see how bad it was.  The flames consumed the tumbler and all the clothes within, as well as many of the clothes that were on top of the dryer.  The flames where already coming about two feet off of the dryer.  Jonathan ran to the bedroom to tell Jannai and Eliza to get out of the house.  At first they didn't know what he meant, as they were sleeping, and Jannai told Jonathan that she didn't know what was wrong with the dryer (remembering what Jonathan had previously said).  Jonathan started yelling, "I don't care, there's a fire!  Get out of the house!"

Now Jannai and Eliza noticed the smell of the smoke and got out of bed.  Jonathan asked if we had a fire extinguisher, but we did not.  Jannai started drawing water for Jonathan as Eliza went to wake Ella Grace.  Being upstairs, Ella could not yet smell the smoke.  When Eliza told her there was a fire, Ella said, "That's nice," and rolled over to go back to sleep.  Eliza then told Ella if she didn't get out of bed immediately she would punch her in the face.  At this point Ella evacuated with her sister.

With Jannai's assistance, Jonathan made four trips up and down the stairs with pitchers of water in each hand to put on the fire.  The first couple didn't seem to make much difference, and even though Jannai had already called the fire department, Jonathan felt that the fire would quickly consume the entire house if he could not get the fire down some.  The smoke was the biggest problem, and although he ran close to the ground and held his breath as much as possible, it was quickly becoming a lost cause.  On the final trip downstairs, out of breath, Jonathan gasped a few times involuntarily, but did not feel any oxygen coming in to his lungs.  As he exited the basement for the last time he ran straight into the computer table because he could no longer see through the smoke.  Running up the stairs he began yelling at Jannai to get out of the house immediately.  He tipped on the upper part of the stairs, but forced himself to continue up and out of the house.

Once outside, Jonathan looked inside the windows to see if the fire was spreading, but could not see any flicker of flames.  He wasn't sure if the smoke was just to thick to see it, but hoped that he had gotten the fire down enough to momentarily stop it's spread.  He knocked on the landladies door to inform her what was going on in case she needed to evacuate too.  She offered for the children to come over so that they wouldn't have to be outside in the cold.

When the fire department arrived there was so much smoke even on the first floor that they needed respirators to go inside.  They were able to extinguish what was left of the fire without needing their hoses.  This was a good thing because the layout of the house would not have lent itself to using hoses as the stairs are half way through the house, and the bulk head from outside to the basement is on the backside of the house (away from the street) and on the the clear opposite side of the dryer.  The firefighters hooked up large fans to the doors and began blowing the smoke out of the house, checking the oxygen levels with their instruments.  They were even good enough to remove the dryer from the house and put it in the backyard for us to dispose of later.


The EMT's took Jonathan's vitals and found his BP was 160/110 and pulse was 111.  Though his oxygen saturation was a normal 100%, as a precaution they gave him an oxygen tank and took him to L&M Hospital for smoke inhalation.  He already had a slight case of bronchitis so it was difficult to tell how much the smoke was causing him to cough or how much was the bronchitis.  He was checked out and showed no signs of carbon monoxide poisoning so he was released after an hour or so.

We were allowed to return to the house that night and despite the residue smell of smoke there was surprisingly little damage to the house, only a small burn mark on the sheet rock next to the dryer remained.  Even better was some friends who heard of the fire had a used dryer they were looking to get rid of and offered to give it to us, so we had a new dryer not two days after the fire.

The grey on his head is natural, the grey on his back is not.

We had let the fire fighters know that we didn't know where the cats where and they assured us that cats are very good at getting themselves out of harms way and that they would turn up eventually.  That night we found three of them, Fiesty, Georgia, and Cuddles, and the next morning Ciara showed up.  It appeared that none of them had left the house, and Fiesty was even found in our bedroom downstairs.  Apparently the smoke never got bad enough that he felt the need to move from where he was, though he was covered in soot, adding fire to the already long list of things that he is not afraid of.

After a few days, Jannai realized that four feet from where the dryer caught fire is our store of emergency water, about 20 gallons worth, that we'd been saving for our Disaster Preparedness Plan.  In the panic of the moment, it never occurred to anyone that we hadn't needed to run up and down the stairs to get water, all the water we could have possibly needed was sitting right there!

All in all we were quite happy with how everything turned out, as we quite possibly could have lost everything.  We also appreciated how well the family worked together in crisis and how resilient everyone proved to be in the following days.  Not that we needed any reminders on how important life and family are, but it was good to know that we were all here for each other.

Jonathan's Patriots jersey that was in the dryer at the time the fire started.

The fuse box right above the dryer.  You can see the burnt cobwebs.

Jannai celebrated Jonathan's Spidey-sense with a balloon.

The only damage done to the house.

Jonathan with raccoon eyes after unwittingly rubbing them with soot covered fingers.

Blizzard of 2013 ---

We were treated to our first blizzard in ten years, though this one was much more significant than the one of 2003.  Jannai is the only one who remembers the Blizzard of '78, which she remembers as being worse, but for everyone else this is the most snow they've seen dropped by a single storm.

The severity of the storm was particularly noticed when the power went out around 6:30 on Friday evening, as the storm began to intensify.  For us, no power means no heat as well.  The outage took out our entire block and the one next to us.  Groton Utilities was not initially sure when the power would be back up as we were the first ones to report it to them.  With the power out, we began to notice what we thought to be lightening in the distance, a rare, but not unheard of, weather phenomenon.

Jonathan took a walk around to see if it would be better to stay put or evacuate while we still could. While walking around the block, a power line shorted out overhead about ten feet ahead of him. At that point he decided it was probably best to head back indoors.  On the way, another power line shorted out in the distance, giving off a beautiful blue, green, and yellow color, followed shortly after by a shockwave that sounded like gun blast that ricocheted around the city.

Jonathan driving home from work Friday afternoon.

The family decided to stay put as the roads were still drivable, and the power was back on within two hours.  Thanks to the insulation of the house, the temperature inside and not yet dropped by a single degree.  The family was asleep while the worst of the storm hit.

Jonathan got up at 5AM to get ready for work.  It took two hours to shovel the driveway to the point that the car could be driven over the snow as there was simply too much snow to remove it all. Even this took two hours of work, and twice snow plows came by and blocked the entrance off again. There was an ice boulder that could not be broken up, about three feet wide.  Jonathan had to shovel around it and roll it out of the way. Even after all of this, Jonathan still had to rock the car back and forth several times to clear the car of the driveway.

This is still before the worst of the storm hit.

It wasn't until Jonathan got on the highway and saw the digital display on the Gold Star Bridge that read "All CT Roads Closed" that he realized there was a driving ban.  To keep from getting stuck in the snow, he reached speeds of 40mph until the car began hydroplaning on the back end of the bridge.  Route 32 was fairly drivable, although he did come across a snow plow that was stuck in a snow bank while another snow plow attempted to tow it out.

The back roads were a different matter, however, and Jonathan was thankful for the anti lock brakes. There was really only enough room for one car at a time, which became problematic when a truck with a plow came the other way and forced Jonathan to pull one side of the car into a snow bank to make room for it to pass. Thankfully the car was easily freed and he could continue, however the very next hill was the toughest of the road and it took three attempts to cope with it, twice sliding back down the way he had come. On the third attempt, the tire and skid marks left from the previous two attempts were helpful in maintaining some kind of traction, though it still took the cars full power to will it up the hill and navigate around a turn at the top.  Elated by the small victory, Jonathan was disappointed to find that the road he works on wasn't even plowed, making it physically impossible to drive.  The car was abandoned, parked on the side of the road, out of the way.  Jonathan hiked the remaining mile on foot, which was difficult as the snow came up to his knees.

Once at work, Jonathan would be there for the next 25 hours (sleeping when he could get the chance) until the roads were clear enough for relief to arrive. He was finally able to get home Sunday morning.

Eliza spent most of Saturday outside, having snow ball fights, building snow fitters, sledding, shoveling, and sleeping over at a friend's house where she watched Mary Poppins for the first time. She had a great time.

Ella Grace, and Jonathan, battled a head cold and mostly started inside, although she did get out to do some shoveling. She and Jannai enjoyed a day of doing their nails and relaxing.

On Monday, a little stir craziness began to set in, so the family went out to The Shack for breakfast and then did some shopping in New London and the Crystal Mall.  The roads were fairly drivable, and a rainfall all day helped to start washing some of the snow away, but there was a lot of compacted snow so dense that the plows could not get under it with their plows.

The corner store, we found, had run out of gas and we purchased their last gallon of available milk.  Other staples, like bread, were also noticeably absent. We're still not sure when school will resume, as it has already been canceled for tomorrow. Also, there is more snow predicted for this week.

What we here in New England call a "dusting".

Talking With Tori ---

Just realized we never posted this to the family site. A little old, but here it is. We're also collecting video for the second episode of the groundbreaking variety show.

[Pennsylvania Vacation Special Series, Part I] Red Sox v Pirates: Kids First MLB Game ---

***The family has been vacationing in Pennsylvania since Wednesday. It's hard to make updates on the road, but we're taking plenty of pictures and video and will posting as we go in our Pennsylvania Vacation Special Series. Enjoy Part I! ***

The family enjoyed their first Major League Baseball game on Sunday after morning after meeting. We've been to several AA games back when the CT Defenders where known as the Norwich Navigators, and Daddy's been to a game at Fenway, but this was the first Major League game the whole family attended.

As a Pennsylvania native, Mommy had a hard time deciding which team to root for. Her adoptive Boston Red Sox, or her hometown Pittsburgh Pirates. She split the vote and rooted for both, even buying a Pirates shirt on the way out.

During the game Eliza took a tour of the park and picked out Jonathan Papelbon in the bullpen. She was very excited to come back and tell Daddy about this, who went down and got pictures of Papelbon, Jason Varitek, and Daniel Bard. While browsing the gift a little boy, obviously a Pirates fan, came up and saw Eliza's David Ortiz jersey and said, "Oh, I can't look!" Eliza then wanted to leave the store because she felt awkward wearing her Sox jersey. Daddy clearly has some teaching to do regarding Red Sox pride. Eliza said of the game afterwards, "Awesome!"

Daddy enjoyed chanting "Let's go Red Sox!" with many of the other Red Sox fans at the game, until we got out-cheered by the Pirates fans. Also, he was wearing his black and gold Boston Bruins Championship shirt, whose colors are similar to the Pirates, so some of the Pirates fans were confused to see someone wearing what looked like a Pirates shirt and a Red Sox hat, until they stopped to get a closer look. Daddy also enjoyed being able to see Heinz Field where the Steelers play.

Ella Grace opted to read her book about half way through the game.

We had been hoping to get there early enough for batting practice and a chance at some autographs, but with the meeting in the morning and a long commute to the game we weren't able to do so. The family found PNC Park to be a very nice venue and the fans where enthused. Daddy was surprised to find the park so full, even if a quarter of the fans were Red Sox fans, given the low attendance they've had in the past. If the Pirates can continue putting together a winning season like they are presently, it should be a good time for baseball in Pittsburgh as there is clearly a devoted fan base to build on.

The weather was nearly perfect. It did slightly sprinkle around inning four, but otherwise it was picture perfect weather for baseball.

"We Are No Part of the World" Circuit Assembly ---

The family enjoyed a weekend together last week up in Natick, MA. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed some time together sans kids, as the children have grown up enough to have their own circle of friends and are old enough to go off on their own for awhile during lunch and after session.

Bunches of Pictures ---

Been far too long since our last post, so here's a bunch of pictures to fill in the gap a little.

Getting Ready for Summertime ---

The family has taken up bowling as a pass-time. Eliza started last June in a local league and Mommy and Daddy followed suit this winter. Currently Mommy and Ella Grace are in a league and Eliza will be joining her second one this summer.

Now that the weather is warming the family has been having cook-outs again at Lala's and Fubbie's. Yard work has begun again. Eliza and Mommy have started seedlings and they've done their own flower arrangements this year. For the first time Eliza has gotten her hands dirty, planting her seeds this year without gloves.

Happy passed away the first week of September. Shortly after we adopted Greyhound, who's turned out to be a monster of a cat, over 20lbs at this point. We also adopted two more kittens, Cuddles and Cierra. They are very active and full of life and have brought a lot of joy to the house.

We are currently making preparation for Ella Grace's graduation from the Magnet School. She will next be going to the Dual Language Arts Academy in New London where she will be taught in Spanish every other week to help her learn the language. She continues to study Chinese as well.

Eliza is reading very well and even reads some of her books all by herself. She'll be switching to a bilingual class at the start of the next school year.

Preparing for School Changes ---

While the end of the school year is still a long way off, Ella Grace has had some decisions to make since this is her last year at RMMS. Ella, Mom, and Dad went to an open house at the Isaac School, but it seemed to be the Bilingual Academy for the Arts that caught Ella's attention. At the open house Ella handed her application in without any prompting from Mom or Dad. Next Eliza will also no longer have big sister around. She seems to be okay with this and both children remain social creatures.

At the Bilingual Academy they alternate each week between teaching in English and Spanish. They also put on performance art shows to show the other students what they've been learning. By turning their studies into works of art the students are better able to retain the things that they have learned. It's a small school in New London, only about 70 students, which means the students all know each other and all of the teachers.

The family has been entertaining Emily and Dillon on the weekends and have been going out for activities as weather has permitted. We've spent time at the Mystic Aquarium as well as Chucky Cheese's. The kids have also enjoyed playing the Wii.

Working Together ---

Ella Grace has found a new interest in cooking. She's been making us deserts which we've been enjoying. Today she made a chocolate mousse cake and later some grits for lunch. Eliza helps as long as it holds her attention.


On 11/15 the whole family enjoyed a Family Game Night (hopefully the first of many) with our Bookstudy Group. Mommy and Daddy got to introduce more of our friends to the Apples to Apples game. It wasn't too popular the first round, but after people got into it everyone enjoyed it greatly. Ella Grace had a great time playing with the adults and Eliza spent time taking orders and serving drinks, something she likes doing.

Ella Grace and Eliza had their first parent/teacher conferences and both are doing very well at school. Eliza is taking to reading with ease and enthusiasm and is already sounding words out as she sees them in day to day life. Ella Grace will soon need to decide where she would like to go for Middle School. Teachers have already invited her to come back to the Magnet School in her spare time to teach, particularly some Chinese words.

We have been over-run by cats! Each family member now has their own cat. Eliza adopted Greyhound, who has grown from kitten to Goliath-cat in about a month and a half... and he's not done growing! Ella Grace adopted Cuddles, who looks like Greyhound's kid brother, and Daddy adopted Cierra, Cuddles sister. It's all worked out as the cats have plenty of company to play with and Cuddles and Cierra engage in epic day-long kitten battles all over the house.

Daddy took a short trip to Florida this week to see Grandpa Erik and Grandma Liz and had a wonderful time. It was raining the first half of the day he was down, but he didn't mind as just being able to relax and have no worries for a day was better than any good weather. Grandpa
Erik says that Daddy looks a lot like Grandpa Karl which made Daddy happy. Daddy also saw a picture of Grandpa with a look on his face that Eliza has all the time. Very cute.

The tough economic times are, of course, having an effect on the family, however it's teaching all of us reliance on Jehovah, as we know times will get much worse before they get better. He has well trained his servants and in many ways the difficult times are only serving to draw us closer to one another.

Many Changes ---

Since last posting Eliza has joined Ella Grace at the Regional Multi-Cultural Magnet School and has been loving it. It's Eliza's first year there and Ella Grace's last. Ella is enjoying being in the senior class and has taken Eliza under her wing so that Eliza has quickly befriended many of the teachers that Ella has come to know.

Ella spent a week at Nature's Classroom which she enjoyed. She camped out for a week in Iverton, CT, learning about nature and conservation.

Daddy has started a new job, he got a promotion within the company. It has been a long and stressful first comfortable months there but things are coming along slowly but surely.

Mommy has been auxiliary pioneering for the last two months and has been greatly enjoying it. She has had great participation in the current campaign and has been putting in more hours per month than is required.

The family has been spending a lot of time with cousins Emily and Dillon and invited them to come along to the Special Assembly Day last weekend. Though it was only a one day assembly, we left Friday day to enjoy Saturday and Sunday up in Natick, MA, using the swimming pool and relaxing in general.

Vacation at Poland Spring Resort ---

We spent a week at the beginning of the month relaxing and doing as little as possible aside from having fun, thanks to Daddy Poppie and Naughny. Poland Spring of Maine was the perfect place to do so. The Resort was built by the founder of the Poland Spring bottling company, Hiram Riccar, as people used to travel far and wide to come to Poland Spring to buy the water there. There's a lot of history at the Resort, which we enjoyed learning about.

There was a lot of overcast weather while we were there but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. The girls got at least one day of sun in the pool which they enjoyed. Even when it rained, however, it was still nice to just be able to sit back and not worry about anything. There were game rooms, arts and crafts, and a variety of entertainment to be enjoyed. The all-you-can-eat buffets for breakfast and dinner were also wonderful.

Ella Grace and Eliza took to the place and we received a lot of complements on what good children they are! Daddy enjoyed teaching Ella how to play pool, she picked it up quickly. In the "cottage" we stayed in (it was more like a house, to be honest) we found a small library of old books, including a couple printed by the Society back in the 50's and 60's. We also found an older version of the Gideon Bible that still retained Jehovah's name in it's proper place.

The congregation in Poland Spring is very nice and friendly, and Daddy Poppie enjoyed telling the family how much they had seen the congregation grow in the last 13 years they've been visiting. In that time they watched the Kingdom Hall need to be replaced by a larger one that still looks brand new after almost 10 years. We received several invitations to visit with our brothers and sisters the next time we visit, as well as a couple of jars of preserves prepared by one of the local brothers.

Eliza found a giant mushroom she enjoyed looking at every day until it was mowed down close to the end of our visit. Ella Grace enjoyed being able to play board games with the family every night. Daddy bought a book on the history of Poland Spring and enjoyed not have to think about work for a whole week, but was ready to get back to it by the end of the week, a vacation of perfect length.

On the way home we stopped at a local amusement park right on the coast. Ella Grace spent almost all day on the log flume ride, Eliza loved the kiddie rides (the log ride not so much), and Mommy and Daddy had a lot of fun being able to act like kids for a day!

Pictures are here.

A Month of History ---

Ella Grace, Eliza, and Daddy got to dress up for a gathering for the children at the Johnson's. Mommy spent a lot of time putting together their costumes which was greatly appreciated. Ella Grace represented King Solomon, Eliza played Pharaoh's daughter (the one who saved baby Moses), and Daddy was young Timothy. A great time was had by all.

Pictures here.





Ella Grace and Daddy got to spend a day together at Plimoth Plantation where they learned a lot. There are no real exhibits at the museum, the characters simply go about their lives as though it were the 16th Century and will answer questions if asked.

Daddy chaperoned for five students, including Ella Grace, all of whom enjoyed learning about the time and feeding the goats. Daddy and Ella found Bible's in all of the homes among the settlers and where even able to find Jehovah's name in one, spelled Iehouah, at Psalms 83: 18. We also learned that among the Wampanoug people there was no specific age when a child became and adult, nor did they specifically give their children chores to do. The children chose which chores to take on so as to enjoy the rewards of their work. When a boy had taken on enough responsibilities he was then considered to be a man, regardless of how young or old he was.

Pictures here.

This last weekend we enjoyed Uncle Bob and Aunt Delorma's 50th Wedding Anniversary. We took a weekend trip to Brattleboro, VT and Richmond, NH. In Brattleboro we stayed at a motel where the kids enjoyed playing in the pool and went to the Kingdom Hall where our friends Maureen and Kyle attend, though we saw neither as they were out of town that day. We had a great time with the friends anyways, and Ella Grace made a new friend.

After the meeting we headed over to Richmond for the anniversary and had a great time with the family. It was nice to catch up with family we had not seen in awhile, and to get some of our family history. We particularly liked one gift given, a copy of the New York Times that was printed the day of Uncle Bob and Aunt Delorma's wedding.

Pictures here.

Difficult Times Hard to Deal With ---

Sorry, no new pictures this time. Affairs have been too numerous to stop and document them. First of all Mommy was in yet another car accident last Friday and is still recovering from it to some degree. She was back to work the next Monday, but not without pain. There were no broken bones resulted from the incident, just broken cars. Both were totalled. Mommy had procured a ride to work from a co-worker and long-time friend and as they were headed to their destination they were cut off by a car that illegally attempted to cross through the intersection. Their car struck the offending car, a caravan, in it's right-side sliding door. The front of the car Mommy was traveling in was badly damaged, her side taking the brunt of the impact. Air-bags were deployed.

Daddy spent most of the day running between taking care of Mommy and providing for the kids, though help was received from Naughny-Na who took the kids for some time in the evening. Mommy spent most of that day and Saturday resting under the doctors orders. Saturday Daddy, Ella Grace, Eliza, and Naughny-Na spent at the carnival which was in town and had a great time despite the grey and damp weather. The entire family pulled together and got through the crises, each handling it in their own way.

Last week Mommy, Naughny-Na, and Daddy helped Ella Grace pull through a project she had fallen behind in at school. It took some time but in the end it was completed on time and Ella Grace was happy with the results. We still await a grade from the teacher, but regardless of what it ends up being we are proud of Ella Grace for sticking through a difficult assignment and for getting it done on time despite all the difficulties we experienced.

Through all of this Mommy's van was in the Grasso Tech automotive shop receiving much needed repairs. It took about a week and a half during which the family did well using and sharing our one remaining car, the Civic. The van is back with us now but will require some further work.

We also adopted a baby bird for about a day. It had fallen from it's nest and we suspect it may have hatched premature. We had it for about a day and were preparing to take it to someone who would know how to care for it, but sadly it died before we had the chance. From what little we learned it's an enormous amount of work to care for a baby bird, it's a full time job and very complicated. It's a credit to Jehovah's design that birds are able to do easily what is difficult for us acting only on the instinct he gave them.

A Happy Family ---

The family has been growing closer throughout the winter and have been spending a lot of time together. We recently enjoyed observing the Memorial of Christ's Death, we spent our nights leading up to the day Jesus died reading scriptures about what Jesus was doing on that particular day.

Ella Grace, Eliza, and Daddy put a snowman together after our last good snow fall. We also had a wonderful day of sledding that ended up in a snowball fight, particularly between Mommy and Daddy.

Ella Grace is continuing to excel in learning Chinese, most of the family are now answering to their Chinese family title, Gi Gi for big sister, Mae Mae for little sister, etc. Eliza is picking up what she can from her big sister. Ella Grace also decided out in service that she is less nervous giving her presentation to a householder when she doesn't have anyone looking over her shoulder, so she's started going to the door alone with Mommy and Daddy usually watching from the car. What courage for her age!

Both girls are doing well at school and are growing at home as well, learning to help with chores. They continue to spend most of their time at home playing together and do not like to be apart from each other for long.

Snowman pictures here

Other winter pictures here

The Changing Seasons ---

There's been lots of fun of late as we get into the winter. Our first snowfall was good for sledding and making snowballs, Ella Grace and Daddy got to do both on a pleasant Friday afternoon after a doctor's appointment. The snowball fight was lots of fun as they could throw the snowballs about as fast as they could pick up the snow, due to the snow being so wet.

The family talent night was also good fun. Ella Grace and Eliza helped out by being background clouds in a poem recital. Ella Grace also continued her fine work as a camera person.

Great-Grandpa came home from the rehab center on Friday, Daddy and Ella Grace had the privilege of helping with that. Great-Grandpa is doing much better now that he is at home according to all reports and has even been able to stand up out of his wheelchair with assistance, which he wasn't able to do before. Daddy and Ella Grace enjoyed running around the woods behind Great-Grandpa's house and making fake footprints in the snow for fun.

This last Saturday the whole family did some house cleaning, throwing a lot out and finding things we'd been looking for in some cases. Ella Grace is planning to help Daddy work on video editing for the family, and Mommy has been doing a spectacular job putting up family photos around the house.

The family also purchased a 2003 Honda Civic with only 27,000 miles on it to replace Daddy's deteriorating Volkswagon. Daddy was sad to part with the VW but is enjoying the Civic greatly. The dealership, Cardinal Honda, was immensely helpful in helping the family secure our transportation needs for what will hopefully be a long time.

Pictures scattered here until Daddy can organize them.

John, Lisa, and Layla visit Groton! ---

Wednesday through Sunday we had a lot of fun with the Yarmosh's; John, Lisa, and newest member Layla. Layla takes after both parents and we couldn't help but notice that she has John's smile.

They arrived Wednesday afternoon, Daddy and John stayed up that night playing around with Civilization just like old times. Later on they got Daddy's computer and John's computer playing Civ together (one upstairs one downstairs) to complete the reminiscence of times gone by.

Thursday was kind of a lazy day as everyone caught up on rest and got situated. The meeting was a lot of fun as the friends got to meet Lisa and Layla and we could introduce some of our newer friends in the congregation to our long time friend.

Friday we enjoyed breakfast at Oh Boy's! and took our first trip to the mall, which Lisa enjoyed. Later on in the day we enjoyed Smokey Bones for dinner. The women got great deals shopping at The Christmas Tree Store as the men window shopped Best Buy and Border's Books.

Saturday John and Daddy got haircuts while Lisa and Mommy enjoyed a morning out in service. Daddy was beginning to feel fatigued at this point, which would culminate in him getting sick that night. Mommy, Eliza, and Layla would all come down with something before long. We shopped some more at the mall as Uncle Micah joined us, catching up with his long time buddy. That night we hosted a gathering of friends including the Bliven's, Champlain's, Bailey's, and Benson's, as well as Sister Martin. Uncle Pepsi brought Scene It, a DVD board game, and everyone had a great time, even John who suffered an accidental black eye during the night!

Sunday there was one last breakfast with friends before the Yarmosh's headed back to Pennsylvania. Thanks to the Internet John and Daddy can still play Civilization together. Everyone had a great time and we are making plans for another visit sometime this summer.

Pictures here!

Roller Skating ---

After a nice day out in service we got to cleaning the house and getting ready for the Yarmosh's visit this coming week.

After that and our family study was done we got to go to the roller skating rink as some of the friends had rented it for the congregation for a couple of hours. There was a good turn out and all had a good time.

Sadly Mommy will have to buy a new pair of skates as one of her wheels broke. She's had the pair for over twenty years and only paid $15 for them! Unfortunately they don't make 'em like the used to.

More pictures here.

The Family Pulls Together ---

The last few weeks have been difficult for everybody, but as a family we've been getting through our various trials and have enjoyed each others love, company, and support.

First there was Grandpa's heart attack. Everyone was supportive and understanding as Daddy spent many a day at Yale New Haven Hospital with Grandpa, Grammie, Auntie Rissa, and Uncle Map.

Grandpa was brought to the Pequot Walk-In by Grammie and Uncle Map were he received medication in an effort to open his blocked artery. That having failed, Grandpa was then flown to Yale via the Lifestar helicopter and received a stent to open the artery. It was determined that a triple by-pass would be necessary to prevent another attack from happening in the near future. These proved to be trying days for the family as Grandpa was in a lot of pain but everyone held up and held together through it. It was impressed upon Daddy and Uncle Map that they needed to look at their own health condition more seriously.

The family enjoyed a visit by Brother Brainard, our substitute Circuit Overseer while Brother Crispen was away. Daddy had a great day out in service with Brother Brainard and felt the love and support of the congregation through the difficult times. The whole family, including Naughny, enjoyed a morning out in service with Sister Brainard as well.

Ella Grace received new glasses for reading and watching TV and has been enjoying them. She did not get them in time for her first talk but she didn't seem to need them as she did a wonderful job with it. She was relaxed and natural while giving it with Mommy and seemed as though she had been giving talks her whole life. Most importantly she was herself, fluid and natural.

Ella Grace did get her glasses before the Special Day Assembly however and enjoyed showing them to everybody. The family did well and we were able to get to the hall early as we were planning. Even though the Assembly Hall was renovated only about ten years earlier it had already become difficult to schedule everyone for Assemblies as the Organization grows quickly. While there we enjoyed association and meeting old friends. One Sister whom we did not know personally stopped us at the hotel the night before the Assembly and said that she always looked forwards to seeing what we would be wearing the next day as Mommy always does a wonderful job arranging our clothing around a particular theme. Mommy and Daddy had the privilege of helping to keep the bathrooms clean during and the session. Ella Grace and Eliza had fun running around and taking pictures in the wooded park behind the small lake on the property.

Great Grandpa fell and broke a couple of bones, so the family visited him as much as possible at the Windham Hospital were he was recovering before being moved to the Mansfield Rehabilitation Center. Ella Grace made a card for him selecting Winnie the Pooh stickers to help cheer Great Grandpa up and invited the rest of the family to join in. Eliza is writing her name now and enjoyed adding it to the card.

We also got news that Uncle Map was in the worst pain of his life regarding one of his teeth. We were glad to hear that he was doing better but it was hard to hear that he was going through so much pain.

Recently Daddy and Daddy Poppy were able to get the web-cams working between Daddy Poppy's computer and Ella Grace's. The whole family enjoyed being able to see each other live on the computer.

Through it all the family has been enjoying each others company and the time we get to spend with one another.

Pictures of the Assembly are here.

Groton Day 07 ---

The family enjoyed an afternoon at Washington Park for Groton Day. Naughny-Na, Daddy-Poppie, and Auntie Ann were also there for hamburgers, hot dogs, and moon bounces. We collected a lot of freebies from the various kiosks of local companies. The free sno-cones were much appreciated on the hot day! We left as the mosquitoes came out in force but Ella, Eliza, and Daddy snuck in a ride on a horse drawn wagon first.

SailFest 07 ---

Saturday was our first SailFest at the new house and we were happy to entertain family and friends for the day. Grammie, Grandpa, Aunt Fran, David, Alex and Erica attended, as well as the Glovers who were able to make it in time and cousins Dillon and Emily along with mother Sarah. We got the grill running for the first time this year and Grandpa helped out getting things ready for a BBQ. The kids played in the lopsided pool (the terrain isn't flat enough, a problem we'll be working out later) but the kids got lots of fun out of it before it collapsed later in the evening.

Grammie and Grandpa also got us an anniversary cake, a chocolate one, that was delicious. Thank you! The burgers were good and so was the wine. We started a fire for roasting marsh mellows but the kids weren't interested, probably shouldn't have given them smores just the day before. :)


It was nice to not have to fight with traffic, before or after the fireworks. Everyone enjoyed a game of Apples to Apples and some Walmart fireworks before heading down for the real show about 20 minutes before it began. We got a real good view, probably the best I can remember, of the show and everyone enjoyed it from beginning to end. Afterwards we all sat out in the front swapping stories while we watched the traffic slowly clear out. The kids enjoyed sparklers.

Pictures here!