This visit was from the end of October, during his reading week. Brendan flew in late on Saturday the 20th and left on Sunday the 28th. When we booked the flights, we planned the times around his access to public transportation. Plans changed, as they often do, and he ended up getting a ride to Toronto with some friends, spending some time with them, and then staying at one of their houses that night. She was nice enough to also drive him to the airport in the morning since she lived so close. Unfortunately, that also meant he had to bum around her house until mid-afternoon, and they got to the point where they were bored enough that he asked her to just take him to the airport early. We were kicking ourselves for booking him such a late flight!
Anyway, arrival was brief. I elected to take public transportation down to the airport for a few reasons:
- First, so that I didn't have to drive.
- Second, so that I could show him how to take the bus properly so that he would be able to do it comfortably on his own in the future.
- Third, I wanted to surprise him in the airport!
Well, I totally failed on number three! It seems in the time since I was last in the airport, they've started reconstruction on the terminal and totally changed the way passengers come out. I had such a difficult time finding where I was supposed to meet him that I ended up spoiling the whole surprise so that I could find him. I had even made a cute little sign with his name on it to hold up when he came out, and I never got to use it.
When I did finally find him, we were really happy to see each other, but he was a little bummed that I hadn't driven because he was so tired. I understood, but we had to take public transport back regardless, so I explained my other reasons for the mode of travel. Although he was tired, he understood, and took careful note of my instructions on the way.
The other nice thing was that we got to spend all that time together, talking, instead of in the car. I'm a bit of a nervous driver (very safe, but traffic gives me anxiety), and New York is never without its perils, so although the cost of public transportation for the two of us exceeds the cost of tolls, gas, and car, it lets me relax for a bit and not worry about getting us safely home. We got home and both pretty much immediately got in bed and went to sleep.
SUNDAY
Oh yeah, did I mention it was my birthday week?
Sunday was the only day that we could get my whole family out with Brendan, so we met up at a Cheesecake Factory between us for lunch. Another perk: the Cheesecake Factory was right next to the LL Bean store. Brendan and I were like YES LET'S GO, but he made me swear not to let him buy anything. I agreed, but then I had to break the news to him gently: I had a $10 LL Bean voucher that expired in like two days, so, woe is he, I'd have to buy something for him while there. He made a big adorable fuss over it and quickly conceded. This boy loves being spoiled.So we went, I got some nice wool socks for him, and then we met up with my parents and sister for lunch. Brendan really enjoyed the Cheesecake Factory and asked if we could go back again another time.
After that I took him to Trader Joe's so he could experience the uniqueness, not realizing that Sunday afternoon is apparently the day of gathering for every single bad parker in the greater area. Honest to god, I have never seen so many BAD PARKING JOBS in my entire life, and the parking lot was PACKED! The ENTIRE back lot was full of cars that were diagonal, taking up more than one space, over the lines, etc... and LITTERED WITH CARTS! Seriously! What the heck? There were several cart collection sites and not one of them seems to have been utilized. Here I was expecting it to be this cool, trendy experience for Brendan, and instead he gets a lot full of entitled old white people who can't park their damn cars properly. Ugh!
The store was pretty packed so we didn't spend a lot of time inside. I tried to point out some of the more unique things they carry, and we picked up some spiced apple cider ('tis the season) and cookie butter, along with some fancy organic pop tarts because he really wanted to try them. The pop tarts ended up coming in handy later in the week as a travel snack when I packed them in his carry on bag. We ate the cookie butter for breakfast all week and enjoyed the spiced apple cider with dinner. It was pretty good, despite the weird experience.
Afterwards we went back home and stopped at the grocery store so we could stock up on some food for the week. This was a much more normal grocery experience.
MONDAY:
I had work, RIP. A typical work day. Brendan was an adorable cook and made this delicious marinaded steak for dinner with green beans.
TUESDAY:
Work again. Pretty standard. I actually loved the marinade from the steak so much that I asked him to use it on the chicken for that night. Again, effing delicious.
WEDNESDAY:
Off! I took Wednesday-Friday off because I had some vacation time that wasn't already booked for Christmas/New Years. We spent pretty much the entire day watching Lore on Amazon and doing cuddly cute things in our pajamas.
Brendan wanted to take me out to an early birthday dinner since we'd be occupied on my actual birthday, so we went to the town diner and had a lovely, delectable meal, complete with mozzarella sticks, as requested.
THURSDAY:
Yaaaay my birthday! For my birthday, I wanted to spend the day doing something nice with Brendan. I had asked my aunts if Brendan and I could have dinner with them, since the last time he was down we hadn't really gotten to spend much one-on-one time with them. They were so happy to take us to dinner and recommended some nice hiking trails nearby for us to spend the day at.
Brendan made me pancakes and bacon for breakfast upon request. Unfortunately, I only had whole wheat flour, and he made them extra thick, so they ended up kind of dry and stiff, and in dire need of some salt. We laughed it off and I still ate my pancakes, just with a little extra butter and salt.
We got dressed and headed out to a little park in CT, with trails only a couple miles long. My aunts had recommended one particular one that took you across the "Thoreau bridge," which was recently constructed. When we got there, we found out there were two parking lots, and we weren't sure which one to park in, so we just picked the first one. There was a map available at the entrance to the trails, and we could only see one bridge on the map, so we figured that must be it and we mapped out a route that crossed the bridge. We got maybe 50 feet down the trail and lo and behold, there was the Thoreau bridge! Turns out the maps just hadn't been updated. The bridge was really nice and included inscriptions on the bench and guard rails citing Thoreau's poems.
The trail we chose took us over both bridges in the end, a path of a little over 2 miles, winding up and down the hill as well as down by the river. We snuck off the trail and onto some rocks near the river to get some gorgeous shots on the water, both of the scenery and of ourselves.
Afterwards we went to my aunt's house and relaxed for a bit. They had just gotten a new kitten, and although Brendan is like super deathly allergic to cats, we were able to spend some time playing with him before my aunts got home. The cat's name is Winston and he really liked climbing all over Brendan.
Then my aunts came home and picked us up. Initially we were supposed to just go to dinner, but they persuaded us to accompany them to some... land trust meeting in town. We pull up and it's this enormous, high-end party barn with beer on tap from a silo and a luxury corvette parked inside. Of course my aunts know these people... they know everyone in town, haha. It turned out to be really great for Brendan, though-- lots of people there were in the same field as he was and were eager to talk to him about his interests and their careers and soforth. We ended up having a pretty good time before we had to head out to make our reservation.
sorry I look like hot garbage in this one
Finally, we went to a place called the White Horse that has this interesting, rustic but cultured vibe to it. Apparently the owner had lived in all sorts of places and had brought in a bunch of antiques from his travels. My aunts were able to snag us the table right in front of the fireplace, which was actually a 16th century tavern table that had been in use for over 400 years. It was really cool to see and they had a really eclectic variety of foods to choose from on their menu.
We had a really good conversation between the four of us and were all happy to be there. This being my birthday dinner, of course we had to get dessert, and of course they had to bring it to me with a candle! We really did have a great time, though, and I'd definitely go there again.
FRIDAY:
We stayed over my parents' house on Thursday night since we got back late and it would be a long drive to go all the way back to my apartment. We had also scheduled to go over to a friend's place in CT that evening, so we spent the day in the area, first at a car appointment and next checking out some cars at the car dealerships in the area. Brendan got kind of stressed about it and wouldn't ask the sales people anything, and I got a bit frustrated with him because he wouldn't even sit in the cars. It came out that he was really stressed about not being able to find work after school. I wish he had been more upfront with me about it-- we wouldn't have spent all that time out at the dealerships with me trying to get him to look at things if I'd known he was stressed about it.
Since we were in the area, I took him to Stew Leonard's to see all the creepy animatronic things and get free samples and stuff as we walked around the store. I think we picked up some bagels and something else while we were there. I was actually disappointed because we were there at an odd time, so all the free samples weren't out.
After Stew Leonard's we went back to town and I took my boy out for ice cream, because we both LOVE ice cream and the ice cream at the farm is THE BEST! We took a cute picture out by the field since and pointed out all the cows.
Friday night we went to our friends' place and had a lot of fun. They were the couple that got married in September, and they wanted to see us before Brendan left to go back home. We went out to dinner with them that night to a bar in the area that they liked. The food was pretty good, but they had live music and it was much too loud for my tastes, so we didn't really get to talk all that much. The drinks were also kind of meh. I was happy to be there with Brendan, but I don't think I'd go back there on a night with live music again.
Afterwards we hung out at their house and played some games with them. We settled on Survive the Internet and both promptly kicked complete ass at the game. Every round ended with either me or Brendan at the top. We are terrible people and, according to the game, we're both going to hell.
It was late by the time we left and I was very tired, so Brendan drove us all the way home to my apartment. It was a long drive and kind of rainy, and I slept through half of it. I'm really grateful that he's willing to do stuff like that.
SATURDAY:
We just slept in and cuddled for the day. There wasn't much to do and it was our last day together before he went back home. We watched Letterkenny and ate ice cream.
And that's it, really. Sunday morning we were out of the house at 6am to get him to the airport in time. I don't like driving into the city much, as I've made obvious, but at this time on a Sunday morning, the traffic isn't bad, and I actually had one of the easiest times getting back on the highway to go home afterwards. Construction is ever ongoing, but at least the signs and the GPS agree a little now.
Our next visit is scheduled from December 19 (YES THAT'S TOMORROW!) to January 5. It will be the longest time we've ever spent together in one go. I'm also off for most of the time, so I'm REALLY looking forward to the break!
Hope you guys have a lovely holiday!
I hope you have the best holiday!