Our Memorial Day Weekend

 Memorial Day Weekend we were planning on going to Hersey, PA. I checked the weather and it was suppose to be 80 degrees (perfect!) but 90% chance of thunderstorms ALL weekend. So last minute we decided to go to Connecticut.

Friday - Brad's day off. After Brad finished securing the new support beam for the house.(Another story for another day.) We were off to Hartford. Since the decision to go to Connecticut was last minute we didn't do any of the regular planning or research we would normally do before going to explore a new place.

We happened upon the Science Museum in Hartford. AWESOME. The girls love it. They had a great waterworks area where the kids could  just experiment (aka play) with the water. That was probably our favorite part but the rest of the museum was great too.

 

Nattie was in HEAVEN.

 

Preparing to build a dam.

Science is fun!

We discovered there was a free bus that would take you around downtown.

Downtown Hartford

When we told Camille we were going to take a bus she asked if we were going to school. We had it drop us near the Capitol Building.

Capitol Building

Saturday -  We went to Lake Compounce- New England's Family Theme park. Camille and Natalie's first experience with rides and roller coasters (other then a Carousel) They love it. Camille even put her hands in the air as she rode the little kiddie coaster. I can't wait until they're taller so we can get them to go on some real rides!

Our favorite ride "Drop Zone"

Sunday- In the morning we went to church then it was off to explore. We found Castle Craig. A great lookout tower that gave a good view of Connecticut.
Then we drove toward New Haven and realized that it was the home of Yale University so we had to stop.
Future Students
We walked around the campus and looked at the gorgeous buildings. Camille informed us that this was  where she'd like to go to college. Brad's answer, "If this is where you want to go, you can!" My answer, "Start saving your pennies!"  















Who needs a double stroller?

We weren't that far from the coast so we thought we'd show the kids the ocean. We stumbled upon Rocky Neck Beach.   
 
We let the girls wade. A. We weren't planning on stopping at a beach so we weren't prepared. B. We generally don't go swimming on Sundays. It was an excellent beach and the girls wanted to go back in the morning to "really" swim. (I doubt they would have actually done any more getting wet then we did but I guess having a swimming suit on makes the difference.) So we got a hotel in a nearby town with plans for the beach in the morning.





Hotels are FUN!
Rapunzel Hair                                                         





















Em enjoying the hotel

Monday- We awoke to some rain showers, (scratch the beach!) so we spent the morning in the hotel swimming pool.(Just as big of a hit.)  We went to a Submarine museum. Brad works with all things nuclear so he wanted to show the girls real subs. Plus, it seemed like we needed to something in honor of the military for Memorial Day.



 
On our way home we took a detour to go see the William Gillette Castle. He played Sherlock Holmes in the movies and was quite wealthy. He build a castle to live in in the early 1900s now it's part of a state park .

During the drive back home we happened upon a turtle on the side of the road.

What a great weekend. We sure are enjoying getting familiar with the North East.