Our first week in Stonington

 The smell of a one hundred year old home in 90% humidity is enough to knock you over. So, here we are scrubbing away in the kitchen when we first arrive (this is before we knew that the smell cannot be scrubbed away - it is part of the home and can only be masked with candles, essential oils, and other smelly products).

 As Aaron and I and the big girls got to work unloading the car and cleaning, this is what Aubree did.

About an hour after getting there the girls discovered that our next door neighbors have a swingset - so we went over to introduce ourselves. And lo and behold they do have kids - a 5 year old girl and a baby boy. The mom, Melissa, was so friendly and kind and said that her husband, Mark, would be home from work soon so we could meet him. We asked what he did and she said he was a landscape architect (not very many of those around). Aaron said, me too, and we were all amazed at the coincidence. Then we find out that Mark used to work for Cummin Assoc. and Aaron is filling Mark's old position! Crazy, right? (By the way, Mark really liked working for Cummin Assoc., but he was offered a job at a firm he used to work for with a substantial pay raise. But they said they loved Cummin Assoc. and that Aaron would really enjoy it there.) The girls have already become such wonderful friends with the little neighbor girl and Melissa has helped me to not feel so lonely and homesick. It also helped to be in their home since it is the exact same as our home. It made me feel like our house could become a cozy home.

 Our neighbors took us to Watch Hill in Westerly, RI where the girls rode on the only surviving flying horse carousel in the country!

I think we're going to love it here!