A Lazy New Year's Morning

We have all been sitting around the coffee table in the sunroom, relaxing, having our coffee and watching, sort of, the news on TV.  The girls, though they did not get to sleep until almost midnight, were all up by 8:00 and have been upstairs playing, once again, in Marisa's room.  Only Tyler continues to sleep, and even Jill has been up since 7:30.  They have decided to head back home today, around noon, to avoid the rush on Sunday and get back in time to get organized for the week.  I think they made the right decision as the roads tomorrow are going to be a nightmare, especially on 95 south.  We had a mild celebration last night, as everyone faded out early, so only the boys were up to greet the New Years...too much good food and alcohol, I think.  Hayden and Halle are not too happy about leaving early but I think they will be fine once they get on the road.

It's a sunny day here, so unlike Chautauqua, which seems to be cloudy most of the time.  The girls were able to play outside a bit before breakfast of eggs and bacon.  Drew basically got things packed up as the girls played, they had breakfast, and were off by about 11:30, a car full of stuff, kids, pillows, books, and of course, Coco.  It looks as though they will have good weather all the way to Bristow; I just hope the short cuts a short cut.

Rami fixed my computer as it was telling me I had little if any memory left; he found that I had 45 gigabytes of emails somehow, erased them, and now I have another 45 gigabytes of memory, which is great. I also got Apple TV from the Albarrans, which once it's set up, will allow me to download and watch anything from Itunes on our TV, from TV programs to movies that Netflix does not have.  Both Tommy and Rami have it and tend to use it quite a bit.

Right now we are trying to figure out what to do with our day, stay home and relax, or head off and see a movie or do some shopping. At the moment, I just feel like sitting home and veggian out in front of the boob tube.  We'll see, as Beth wants to take Mom out shopping as a Christmas present.

Beth and Evie went off to find some clothes, so Rami took me off the Fairway, an amazing grocery store in a new development in Stamford, what was once a rough area, now being rehabilitated, with the financing done by Ramiro's group.  The store is huge, with every imaginable kind of food, from cheese to olive oil to coffee, to spices and goodies from any country.  The fruits and vegetable sections were huge, with four foot bins of brussel sprouts or arugula.  A section for olive oils from all over the world, with at least 50-100 varieties, many of which you could taste.  I did get a special coffee, peaberry coffee from El Salvador, and I found some kaskavale cheese from Bulgaria.  Both Rami and I tasted it and it was really good, salty but not to the extreme.  We also ate lunch their, had sushi and french fries; we loved the french fries.  He then drove me around and showed me the development, especially the renovation of the old Yale Lock company, now neat apartments with the industrial kind of  windows, and also commercial developments. It's a huge area, with some large companies having their headquarters there as well as condos on the waterfront.  We happened to run in to the developer as we were driving by, and Rami stopped to talk with him briefly.  We got home about 3:30 and the girls didn't get home from their shop a thon till about 4:15.

We are off for burgers in Norwalk for dinner; Evie and I will come home with Marisa and Mitch, while Beth, Rami, and Tyler will go to True Grit.

Just returned from BJ Ryans, had great burgers and fries, and some chicken wings for a healthy kick.  Then, Beth and Rami and Tyler went off to the movies, and I drove Mitch and Marisa home as they were really tired.  Marisa got a bad boy story and fell asleep almost immediately, as Mitch played his game on TV before heading off to bed.

Drew just wrote to say they made the trip in six hours, going the back route and avoiding the headaches and tolls on Interstate 95, a good route for the future because you can be a bit more certain of modest traffic problems, unlike 95