The Last Days of Summer

                                                       

                                                            Dear Family and Friends,

Fun in the sun!

Summer is winding down. The last of the summer people will head home after this holiday weekend, and we will have our quiet little borough back. It's been a good summer, and we have enjoyed a lot of time in the sand and by the water. We have also been enjoying our new housing. It's really feeling like home now that we have been here for a couple of months. I was afraid I might not make my August post. Clara came down with a bad cold on Tuesday and now all three of us are sick. But, I am having a surge of energy so I will take advantage of it to do a quick August review before we head into the month of September.

Our cat Lucy has made herself right at home!

We said goodbye to my parents at the beginning of August after Joey returned home from his work in England. Having my parents here while he was gone was a huge help and Clara enjoyed her time with them. A couple of days after my parents returned home Joey's parents arrived for a two week visit. It was also a great visit. Clara is lucky to have two sets of grandparents who love her so much.

Clara loves to swing!

Joey and I stayed busy during the month of August playing weddings and teaching summer students. I was able to work with several students whose parents own summer homes in Stonington as well as continue with some of my year round students. Calvary Music School began its fall semester this past Monday, so Joey and I are back into full teaching mode with our students. I am happy to say that I am up to 9 students now. I have recently recruited several advanced high school students and am looking forward to working with them along with my beginning students and adult students. Joey also has some new students this year and is enjoying teaching both piano and organ. We are happy that our studios are growing and are looking forward to a rewarding fall semester. Joey's work as Director of Music at Calvary Church will pick up during the next several weeks as the adult and children's choirs and handbell choir begin their weekly rehearsals.    

Clara is doing really well other than suffering with her current nasty cold. She is extremely active and loves to be outside. We have an infant swing that we hook to the playground in our backyard that she really enjoys. In the morning she will run to the screen door and point to the swing asking to go out. She has a really healthy appetite and, to our amazement, loves vegetables. (Her favorite is broccoli!) We have to watch her like crazy because she wants to climb up on all of our chairs and stand on them. She has a light-up stuffed glow worm which plays music that she is crazy about and insists on sleeping with. She still takes a nice afternoon nap most days and we hope that will continue for a while. I have posted some pictures of Clara's room at the bottom of this blog. Her room is my favorite in the house and we spend a lot of time in it reading books and playing with toys. I still need to take some pictures of the rest of the inside of the house but for now pictures of Clara's room will have to suffice.

A close friend recently called to tell us to enter Clara in a competition the Gerber Baby company is doing on Facebook. Apparently you can win a college scholarship for your child if he or she gets the most votes. There is also a grand prize scholarship winner selected by judges based on your child's photo. Anyway, after contemplating the cost of college these days, we decided to enter Clara. We are not holding our breath, but if you are interested in voting for her you can look her up at the following link. Voting begins September 4th. I think you have to have a Facebook account in order to vote.

https://www.facebook.com/Gerber?sk=app_309623475794647&app_data=

We hope you have enjoyed a fun summer. Now begins our favorite time of the year. I always seem to get "Fall Fever" when the weather starts to cool and the leaves begin to change. We already have some fun and exciting things planned this fall. Till next month...

Erin, Joey and Clara

Summer in Stonington

Our feisty 15 month old!

Dear Family and Friends,
We hope you are having a wonderful summer so far. I find it hard to believe that August is just around the corner, but I guess time flies when you are happy and having fun.


Joey celebrated his 30th birthday on July 2nd. I don't think he was too excited about turning 30, but many people say their best years were in their 30's, so let's hope that turns out to be true. I cooked Joey a special birthday dinner...Yes, it's true... I cooked HIM a dinner! For those of you who know me well, I do not have much talent in the kitchen. Normally Joey takes care of meals. However, I persevered, and the dinner actually turned out pretty well. We finished it off with a delicious birthday cake baked for Joey by a friend from church. 

We had a fun and eventful 4th of July this year. Clara and I walked in the annual Stonington Borough parade behind bagpipers and war heroes. Actually, I walked and Clara rode in her stroller which was decorated very patriotically in red, white and blue. Clara wore her adorable patriotic dress. The parade ended at the town green with a reading of the Declaration of Independence. This year Joey decided to add something new to the borough festivities by offering a free, 30 minute program of patriotic music on the organ at Calvary Church. Joey played some Sousa marches among other things, and the church was nicely decorated. We weren't sure what the turn out would be like since the concert immediately followed the parade, but surprisingly we had a full house. There were so many people that the upstairs balcony was completely full and some people were forced to stand at the back of the church. The event turned out to be a huge success, and many people from the community attended. Joey's "Organ Fireworks" may turn out to be an annual 4th of July borough tradition!  

Clara turned 15 months old on July 20th. She is now in the 80th percentile for height, and the 60th percentile for weight for her age. She is incredibly active now. She is walking and running and absolutely loves to dance. Joey and I were recently at a mall walking past stores with Clara holding each of our hands. As we passed a store with loud rock music blaring out of the entrance, Clara dropped our hands and began to shake her little behind to the music. It was so cute and she caught the attention of several people around us. The most interesting thing about Clara's dancing, I think, is the fact that she changes her motions based on the type of music she hears. She can go from smooth, ballet type moves to stomping her feet, clapping and shaking her behind. I am so happy that she loves to dance. It's good for her body and good for her musical development. Clara also loves the beach. She can sit and play with sand for hours, and she really likes the water and waves as well. 

Shopping in the house for toys! (My way of teaching Clara to clean up! Haha!)

This past Friday Joey flew to England to accompany the Anglican Singers on their tour of the U.K. They are mostly staying in Bristol and are performing services at several churches in the area. Joey will also accompany a choir from the Hartford Cathedral at the end of the tour for several of their services. We were sorry to see him go, but he will only be gone until August 6th. It was so hard when he had to be in Europe for 5 weeks last summer for his concert tour. I'm thankful that this is a relatively short trip. Meanwhile, my parents are here visiting and helping me take care of Clara. Last week my aunt and uncle from Virginia came up to visit. Along with some close friends, we all celebrated my parents' 34th wedding anniversary. It's always great to have family here, and we appreciate their willingness to come see us.

People gathering in front of the church and our house after Joey's July 4th concert. 

We are finally settled into our new home "Calvary House". We really love the house. We are using most of our own furniture and have been able to decorate and personalize the house they way we want to. As you can see in the picture below, we are living steps away from church. People ask us sometimes if we feel a lack of privacy living right on church grounds. I have to say we really haven't had a problem with that at all. People know we are living in the house and are very respectful of our privacy. Also, the windows in the house are very well insulated. Sometimes there will be groups outside the front of the house or using the back yard, and we don't even realize they are out there because we can't hear them. And, during down times the house and its surroundings are so quiet and peaceful. We love to sit out on our back deck and look at the stars or watch sailboats go by on their way to Watch Hill. Clara loves her room. it's a darling room at the back of the house with views of the garden and the ocean. She also loves the backyard because she has her own private playground. Well, it actually belongs to the nursery school, but during the summer it feels as though it is all hers. We feel so lucky to be able to live in Calvary House and we so appreciate the people who helped to prepare and update the house for us. The amount of family time we have because Joey doesn't have to commute to work is priceless. I will have to post some interior pictures, but for now I have included some pictures of the back yard as well as a view of the front of the house seen above. 

View from the window of our eat-in kitchen

"Clara's" playground

Our tomato plants are doing well so far!

Well, that's the news for now. Have a wonderful summer and watch for another post in August! (My goal is to write one post per month. We'll see how I do.)

Be well!

Erin, Joey and Clara 

Welcome Summer!

Welcome Summer!

Dear Family and Friends,


June 20th marked both Clara's 14-month birthday and the official start of summer. I feel as though I just finished writing my last blog post yesterday, and now another month has gone by. Overall this has been a good month. We have been busy this week preparing for our big move into Calvary house. We can begin moving boxes into the attic on Saturday, but will not be able to move our furniture until this coming Tuesday, since the wood floors have just been re-done in the house and need time to dry. Moving is never fun, and is certainly more challenging now that we have a 14 month old running all over the place, but we find comfort in the fact that this move will be much more permanent than any of our previous moves. In fact, Joey and I have moved every summer since we were married in 2007. That's a lot of boxes! Fortunately we have managed to squeeze in some fun family time this month. Here are some of the things we have been up to:


Trip to Cleveland


As I mentioned in my last blog, Joey was invited by his former church, St. Paul's UCC in Parma, Ohio, to give a dedication recital for their new organ. We drove to Cleveland from Connecticut, breaking it into two days of about 5-6 hours of driving. Clara handled the drive very well and had no problem sleeping in the various hotels we stayed in. We were so excited and happy to see many of our friends at St. Pauls. It made us realize how much we have missed them since moving to CT. There was a pot-luck dinner held on Monday so that we could catch up with everyone and introduce them to Clara, and the recital occurred the following Wednesday June 6th. The turnout for the recital was wonderful, and the event was a big success.


On our way home from Cleveland we decided to stay near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, an Amish community. We had fun touring Amish shops and an Amish village. Clara was most excited about following around a cute, fluffy, chicken on an Amish farm we toured. 

Post-Recital Photo, Parma, Ohio

Enjoying an Amish buggy!

Clara's new friend!

Time for school!

Fun in the sun!


Although we are suffering with a heat and humidity wave right now, June has been full of beautiful mild summer weather. Joey and I were able to experience sailing for the first time thanks to some very generous friends who own an incredible sailboat. We couldn't have asked for better weather and getting to see Stonington Borough from the water was impressive. Our Rector was also kind enough to take us out on his Whaler, and we were able to bring little Clara aboard. I was a little concerned about how she was going to react to high speeds and bumps on the water but, as it turns out, we have a little dare devil on our hands. She LOVED the bumps and got more and more excited as the waves got bigger.


Not only did Clara experience riding on a boat for the first time, she also made her first real trip to the beach. We enjoyed a picnic lunch one afternoon at Napatree Point in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. She really liked playing in the sand and watching the big waves crashing. I have a feeling there are going to be many more days spent at the beach this summer.  

Happy Anniversary!

Joey and I celebrated 5 years of marriage on June 9th. We actually ended up going out the following week since we were busy teaching and running dress rehearsals for our Calvary Music School students who gave beautiful performances on the student recital on June 10th. We enjoyed one of the best dining experiences we have had in a long time at "Seasons" restaurant at the Ocean House in Watch Hill, RI. Ocean House is a stunning Inn right on the water, and we had a beautiful view of the ocean from our table. The service was great and the food was excellent. It was a wonderful evening and a good time to reflect on the last 5 years of our marriage. We are especially proud of this past year. Having a child brings such joy and so many blessings to your life, but it can also take away from the time you once had as a couple. We feel like we have done well in finding a balance between parenting and our relationship as a couple. It's something we will continue to work on. We are lucky to have each other to rely on, and we think we make an excellent team!    

Family!

My parents were here visiting for almost two weeks and returned home yesterday. It was great seeing them, and they were amazed at how much Clara had grown and changed since their last visit. I got to celebrate father's day with my dad. He cooked his famous burgers on the grill, and he enjoyed playing with Clara all morning during church since she was home sick with a cold. I've been lucky to have such a supportive, loving dad all of my life, and I love knowing that Clara will grow up feeling the same way about her dad.   

While we enjoyed many new and fun experiences this month, we also experienced heartbreak when we were forced to put down our dog Cinnamon of 17 years. Cinnamon was really Joey's dog; he got her as a puppy when he was 12 years old. She was a feisty little dog, sometimes bossy, crabby and set in her ways, but also very loving and extremely loyal to Joey. She wasn't too happy when I entered the picture, (haha), but she eventually came around. She added a lot of joy to our lives and even though it was her time to go we will miss her very much. Rest in peace little Cinni. We love you!    

We miss you and love you Cinni!



Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. 

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from you life but never absent from you heart.

The you cross Rainbow Bridge together...
   

 

We wish you all a wonderful summer. May you spend it with the ones you love and never take for granted the many blessings in your life. 

Until next post!

Joey, Erin and Clara