Summer brought us vaccination, better weather, and more open museums, which we explored on our own, with friends, and with my parents. My parents drove cross-country and stayed for two months nearby, spending some time with Chase during the week and with us on the weekends.
1. The beach. I know this is repetitive from the winter/spring but Chase just loves the beach. Other than our beach in Fairfield, Chase had fun exploring
Silver Sands State Park (in Milford) and
Sherman Island State Park (in Westport), mostly with my parents. He collected seashells, watched hermit crabs, and even saw some crabs. On one weekend, with my parents, we took the
ferry from Bridgeport to Port Jefferson, Long Island, and then drove to Fire Island. It was very cool and a completely different type of beach than what we're used to here at the Long Island Sound.
2. Mystic, CT. Olga and I went to Mystic at the beginning of summer after a hike in Groton at
Bluff Point State Park to check out the downtown, get some pastries at
Sift, and have dinner. A few months later, we went back with my parents and Chase to see the
Mystic Aquarium and the
Mystic Seaport Museum. CT was having this great program this summer where
each child and one accompanying adult would get in free to many museums all summer long. We definitely used that program quite a bit this summer, being able to visit lots of places including those in Mystic. The Aquarium was great, but the Seaport Museum was much bigger and more interesting than we imagined, so we didn't leave enough time for our visit. Mystic is definitely a place we could have spent a longer time!
4. NYC. Olga and I ventured into NYC this summer: walking lots of miles to/from Central Park, seeing the new skyscrapers and Hudson Yard area, going to the
MoMA, eating yummy food, and enjoying the city. We even passed by Nate's building, which at that point he had not been to yet. The train was super convenient from Fairfield so we made it an easy day trip.
5. Lighthouse boat tour. On July 4th itself, we took a lighthouse tour to/from Norwalk to check out the lighthouses out on the Long Island Sound. We enjoyed the nice weather and cool islands and lighthouses. Unfortunately, the lighthouse on Sherman Island is still closed due to COVID so this was a nice way to see what we could from the boat itself.
6. Walks and minigolfing. We had a few visitors in the area over the summer. First, Nate's parents visited us for a weekend at the beginning of summer. We explored Fairfield and went to
Norwalk for mini-golf and walking around the pier/beach. I am not sure why I have absolutely no pictures of their visit but we enjoyed having them here and showing them around our new town. Later in the summer, Katya visited us from New York and pretty much ended up having the same itinerary (beach in Fairfield, golfing in Norwalk) plus adding in the
MoCA in Westport. Finally, Megan was visiting her parents nearby, so I got to meet her for a walk/hike in Branford Supply Pond Park. Glad to see and hang out with all these visitors!
6.
Connecticut Beardsley's Zoo in Bridgeport. Still taking advantage of the program that let each kid and one parent in free to many attractions in CT, we went to the Zoo in Bridgeport with Chase and my mom. While not as big as the San Diego or Omaha zoos, it was quite nice and had a good variety of animals.
7.
Dinosaur State Park and
Wadsworth Falls State Park. Towards Hartford, there is a cool museum that has tracks from real dinosaurs and explains how dinosaurs roamed around CT. After that museum and a short walk there, we went for a longer hike at Wadsworth Falls and saw both the small and large waterfalls. It was a bit mosquito-y but Chase had a lot of fun categorising and taking a picture of every single mushroom he encountered on the way.
8. Providence, Rhode Island. For Labor Day weekend, I took the train to Providence to hang out with Olga and see Katie & family. Olga and I kayaked in Wickford to Cornelius Island and walked around it. Then, we went to Narragansett and had amazing Lobster Rolls. Finally, we drove to Massachusetts for some ice cream. We also walked around downtown Providence and checked out the cute town.
9.
Fairfield Museum,
Yale Museum of Art,
Dudley Farm Museum, a trip to the Poconos in Pennsylvania, and probably more! As I mentioned earlier, we really took advantage of the free museum ticket offer and visited quite a bit of places, especially with my parents. We also took a weekend and went to the Poconos, stopping by a
resort and water park. It was great to have them here this summer to explore CT to the fullest! We also got to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary with them at the start of the summer... something we did 5 years ago for the 30th in Switzerland!
