Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St Patrick's day!

We spent a low-key night together and enjoyed corned beef and cabbage, carrots, potatoes and onions along with Irish soda bread.... and Greg had some Guinness, of course!

Happy 6th anniversary, Finn!
enjoying the beautiful day outside (it got to 60 today)

guess we need some green crocs!

unfortunately we can't take the Italian out of Greg -- he even drinks his Irish Car Bomb with his hands!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

counting down...

... to one of our favorite holidays!

Cora and I prepared today by baking Irish soda bread AND some shamrock sugar cookies. She quickly got distracted, but seemed to like shaking sugar "around" the cookies. She also cut a few shamrocks out :) Mostly, she enjoyed the finished product. We can't wait to share them with daddy! Am eager to see if she joins in eating corned beef and cabbage tomorrow!?!





(pre-bath pose!)

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

a visit from Aunt Becky!

We had a fabulous visit from Aunt Becky this weekend, complete with exploring some more of CT. Until now, our weekends have been spent settling the house... we even did some outlet shopping for spring clothes as spring seems "in the air" -- or so we hope :)



Cora LOVED playing at the seaside park in Mystic

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Announcing...



Amongst the excitement of moving, we failed to officially announce the pending arrival of Lil'r M, due to arrive early June 2011! We're feeling good and are excited for the addition :)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

a visit from friends...

We hosted the Dube' family for a couple of days and had a blast! George and Greg were roommates at KingsPoint and this was the first we reunited and introduced Cora to them. They live in Virginia and have family here in CT, so we were lucky to have them for 2 nights!

group shot in our living room (Lindsay, Will, Kaitlyn, George, Karen, Greg, Cora, Meg)

best buddies

Cora's first attempt at "bowling"

She made a better cheerleader!

Greg was the superstar of the day, bowling 5 strikes in a row!

An improptu horse ride at our local dairy farm (about 1 mile from home) -- we enjoyed fresh ice cream and chocolate milk (and got their delivery schedule as they do home deliveries!)

NOT thrilled with the calfs!

Lindsay and Kaitlyn trekking through our snowy backyard (still covered in snow despite a couple of 60 degree days)

Cora wishing she could join them...

a concert in the playroom

Greg caught up in a doll party with the girls

Monday, February 7, 2011

LONGGGG overdue!

Just in case anyone checks our blog anymore (and big apologies to those of you), we have been overwhelmed with the moving in process here. We just got internet service and cable (in time for the Superbowl yesterday), so we are eager to share what's up with the Madea's.....

We moved into our house on Meg's birthday (January 30th) just in time for a whopping snowstorm. As you can see in the pictures, we chose to rent out in the country for the land alone... after living on a tropical island, then a very congested Newport, followed by an even more congested Japan, we craved privacy and SPACE! The house we chose to rent was the first one we saw and we just fell in love with the layout and and location and thought the dogs would thrive here as well. Our home is in Lisbon, which is about 20 miles north of Groton (where Greg works) and is a pretty charming little town. We are surrounded by farms and vineyards and are close to the highway and access to the stores and work.

Meg's folks arrived just before the winter storm to deliver Finn and Bonny and have been here helping unpack and settle (it's QUITE a chore). Each day more boxes get emptied and places are found for the many treasures we accrued overseas.

Here's a few pictures of our place (promise to post more of the interior once we clear those boxes!) and our surroundings......
264 Ross Hill Road
Lisbon, CT 06351

Cora poses in Sofu's "stormy kromer" hat
Cora's job was putting the magnets on the fridge

Bonny walking on snow in backyard (once it iced...)

our first fire (we have 2 working fireplaces!)
Cora and Greg shoveling front walkway

Cora and Sofu playing Legos (he's a great babysitter!)
Some perspective on the depth of the snow here...


Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Big Red and a Snowstorm!

We've got Big Red back in our possession after 2 lonely years of it being in storage. Greg's so happy to have her back and she's running great. Cora seems to LOVE sitting up so high and keeps saying "wow" when we ask how she likes it!



Otherwise, this is our official "house hunting" week, which has hit a bit of a roadblock with the big snow we received. So far, we've seen 6 houses inside and out and we have 2 more to view. We're happy with our options and are eager to get our household goods and "set up home."




The snow is beautiful and we're trapped in the Navy Lodge today as the city is basically shut down. In fact, Cora's still in her PJ's and loving it! Greg went out to shovel around Red once the snow seemed to stop and he took some pictures to show the accumulation. It's blistery cold and very windy here, supposedly a Nor'easter, though it doesn't seem nearly as bad as the ones I remember when I lived in Boston. Regardless, we're staying in today to prevent losing the space Greg worked so hard at digging out AND to avoid the crazy drivers on the road, though we're confident Big Red would handle just fine :)