We returned on Tuesday from our trip to New York and Connecticut. While we stayed in Greenwich, CT, it was definitely a multi-state trip. We crossed the border without even realizing it multiple times a day.

You may be wondering why this post is subtitled, “The Parental Perspective.” Next week, I will be uploading a post consisting entirely of photos Abigail took, mostly of the big reunion/birthday party we had on Saturday. This post is from my perspective.

And the first thing I would like to do is to talk about the horse. I refer, of course, to the demon horse that is attempting to drag itself up from the underworld several houses down from The Huberts (which is how everyone in the family refers to the house where Aline, Missy and Rosamund live, named after the late Hubert McDonnell, my grandfather’s brother). You can’t pass a horse like this and not take it’s picture:

At least, I can’t. What amazes me about this horse is that someone not only decided that decorating their driveway with this was a good idea, but once it was installed and could be viewed in the real world, decided that it was fit to remain in place.

Moving on, we stayed in a very nice hotel. I had been trying to distract Abigail on the drive and pointed out the building up ahead that looked like a castle. Which it turned out, was our hotel. Here was the view from our room. Keep in mind, this was the view of the interior of the hotel.

Since we were all sharing one room, and Gabe was prone to waking up earlier than everyone else, he and I would get up and wander the halls every morning.

I’ll tell you Gabe is more comfortable running around in a hotel in his PJs than I am barefoot in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

The purpose of these jaunts was to allow Abigail, and let’s face it, her mother, continue to do this:

While we did do a lot of family things, the story of those photos is best told from Abigail’s perspective. You’ll get that next week. We did do things like go to New York City, run around for a while, take a cab, ride the subway and then go home. Well, that’s what Gabe and I did, since Gabe had napping responsibilities to attend to. Everyone else went to see The Lion King on Broadway. Here are the ladies of my household dressed up for their day on the town.

Again, this is the inside of our hotel.

We got to ride on the train.

And later we got to ride on the subway. The city was kind enough to provide us with a good subway sampler. It was crowded and bumpy and there was a nonsensical preacher in a pink suit who ranted at us the whole time.

And we got to go to Grand Central Station, where we could take this picture:

The end of our subway ride offered us a view of the Statue of Liberty. Abigail was appropriately respectful of Lady Liberty.

And this is what Abigail’s feet looked like after a day of walking through New York City in sandals:

Although there was some suspicion that the blackness could have been caused when I insisted she stand on this light out in front of our hotel so that I could get a cool, green picture.

Here’s Jessica and Abigail standing a little to the side, noting the steam rising from the extremely hot light.

We also went to an aquarium/animal/science place, where these things happened:

The observant will note that Abigail’s face can be seen amid the swarm of jellyfish in the previous picture.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back next week to explore more about the grand fiesta at the Hubies, the place where this wall resides:

It measures the heights at different dates of all the kids in the family dating back decades. I’m on there somewhere. In fact, there are so many names, they’ve had to move to a new wall. Here’s Jessica, just after she got her measurement done.

Now, get back to work!