Easter in Connecticut

We drove up to Darien Ct. for a quick visit to Lesley, Marc, Kincaid and now Cormac, over the easter weekend. This was our first introduction to Cormac.

It was a horrible drive on a Friday afternoon with several lengthy delays and heavy traffic all the way. Kincaid was in bed but Cormac was up to greet us when we arrived. What follows are some photos from the weekend.

Saturday it rained all day and Easter Sunday it was cold so our excursions included only a quick run to the park and some grocery shopping. Nonetheless it was a great visit and we just loved being around these two great kids! (...and their parents, of course).

The Ryan Family has grown!

After years of wondering if we would have to buy a dog to keep us company in our old age Noelle & Stuart and Lesley & Marc have stepped up to the challenge and given us grandchildren numbers 2 and 3. Liam was born in Toronto on March 1st while Cormac, brother to Kincaid, waited a little longer and was born in Connecticut March 19th. Of all the players, Donna and David were the most exhausted!

Donna visited Liam shortly after birth while David waited a week before going up to take a look. We are off to meet Cormac over Easter weekend. While it is hard to say in the first weeks, Liam definitely looks more like a Nodell than a Ryan, while Cormac may finally have some of the Ryan genes. Whomever they look like, we are thrilled and will start fielding enquiries from NHL scouts in a couple of years.

Colemans Visit

Good friends from Ottawa, John & Marg Coleman, visited us in Charleston in late January providing us an opportunity to be tourists in our own town. The weather was cool for most of the time that they were here, however, to visitors from Ottawa it was just fine! The first photo shows John and Marg getting ready to tuck into dinner in our kitchen.

The following photos include shots of downtown Charleston in the historic district including some of the grand old houses along the Battery. One dinner at one of the grand old restaurants downtown turned out to be a disappointment, but a final dinner at the beach on Superbowl sunday was a very pleasant surprise.

One of our visits included the aquarium which was very well done. In addition to all the displays inside of the building, we were lucky to have been visited by a pod of dolphins in the harbor out front that put on a show for us almost as if they had been part of the exhibit!

The Ryans had to go back to Washington during the week but the Colemans used our place as a base and visited every plantation and historic site within reach. I believe that a good time was had by all!

New Year's Day

It has been a while since we have posted anything on this site, so I took my new camera (a Christmas present) and went out for a walk on New Year's morning to see who else was out and about in the neighborhood. This little Fox Squirrel was only mildly interested in me.

It was cold (for Charleston anyway), so the alligators were nowhere to be seen, but these birdies were hungry and looking for a meal.

The scenery was also very nice as the shot below along the golf course demonstrates. Most of the grasses are dormant now except for the fairways and greens on the golf course. The other shot is along the creek that fronts the house.

Kincaid pays us a visit

Marc, Lesley and Kincaid came down for a week spanning the 4th of July weekend and Great Grandma came up from Florida to meet Kincaid for the first time. A good time was had by all, especially the great showman who thoroughly enjoyed all the attention!

There were a number of firsts for Kincaid who arrived to find a walker, something that there is not much room for in the NY apartment. As the picture shows, I believe that he liked it.

Then there was the swimming pool with nice warm water and a number of big clowns to entertain us. Here he is with Daddy.

The pool was cool, but not as cool as the beach. Hot sand does not bother you when people carry you around and Grampa keeps watch over me as I experience my first waves!

Finally, here is Great Gramma with me as I eat one of my toys.

Now that we're in...

Some of you think that all I do down here is laze about. That isn't so!

The work dosen't stop once you move in! There are pictures to hang, curtains to order and all kinds of other stuff that Donna does well. Nonetheless, our typicall weekend begins with a Friday night arrival, early golf on Saturday(see pic - lucky there was no sound; this one found the sand), a quick dip in the pool to cool off, then rushing around to Lowe's for plants, hardware or similar. Often it has been dinner out on Saturday evening and early to bed. Sundays involve a bike ride or rollerblading, a swim followed by a lazy breakfast then more running around.

Mondays begin with a dawn trip to the airport and back to DC.

We have broken in the house in with visitors as David's Mom came up over the May long weekend and Noelle and Stuart spent a week here over the same period.

The pictures to accompany this include some little friends we have seen in the neighborhood including a fox squirrel. We also get deer and have seen a wild turkey but did not have a camera at hand.

We crossed the Finish Line!

The week of April 14th was a busy one. We moved condos in Washington within the same building and packed for our move the Charleston arriving here and taking possesion of 54 Watroo Point, Charleston S.C. 29492 on the afternoon of Thursday april 17th! The house looks fabulous and we are delighted with every little detail!

The movers arrived with our stuff from Washington and storage early on the 18th. It was a pleasure working with an efficient mover for a change and the process went quickly - almost too quickly at times, as packers unpacked before we could decide where to put stuff. Suffice it to say that everything arrived in good shape and we busied ourselves with the organizing all weekend long. When we got tired or hot, we jumped in the pool for a quick dip. Falling asleep this past week has not been a problem! The first couple of nights we were guests of Bob and Catherine Lee, our builders, who graciously provided their guest cottage so that we could escape the mess.

Now that we are in the house, we realize that this place is much larger than it appeared during the building process and larger than our previous house. On earlier trips we had ordered new furniture that arrived on Tuesday and was quickly absorbed. We need more! We have enjoyed sleeping in our new master bedroom and waking up with the sunrise (no curtains yet) and sneaking in some exercise either roller blading or biking before the day gets going.

The landscaping was done just before we arrived so it was new to us and once again, they did a nice job. I guess it is my job to add annuals for color, but the palm trees, oak trees and evergreens they planted are large and very nice.

The views from the deck off the master BR are spectacular and most mornings there has been a low mist hanging over the golf couse behind the house - very pretty. (Photo below shows the house from the golf course early in the AM. It blends in nicely with its surroundings.)

Despite being slaves to the inside of the house, we have met our neighbors who are very nice and welcoming. Everyone is from somewhere else. Donna attended a ladies dinner at the Daniel Island Club together with 176 other ladies and we participated in a couples golf tournament on friday night. Both occasions have led to lots of introductions. While on the golf course we met a couple of aligators natives to the area - but they were not as friendly!

Tomorrow, we head back to Washington leaving the builder some time to finish some of the tasks that did not quite make the deadline, such as put the finish on the deck, seal and coat the garage floor etc.

Only a few shots of the interior this time (including one of the guest suite sitting area) but we promise to add more later.