A family hike

Larry was home for a week. It was so nice to have him home! We went on a hike to one of our most favorite places. We call it "the View." Its in the reservoir behind our house.

Two Milestones

Milestone 1 - Renee graduated - Hurray!!

Graduation was awesome. My friend Tracy and her daughter, Julia took Dani, Elle and me to the main campus of UCONN in Storrs for the graduation ceremony. It was about 2 hours. Afterwards we bought a few things at the bookstore. It was nice to see the campus. I had not been there before as all of my classes were at the downtown Hartford MBA campus.

Milestone 2 - Renee resigned from her 20 year job - scary. :(

Bittersweet to leave a job that I've loved for so long... I'm sad to leave but also excited about the future. I will miss so many people. I've spent pretty much my entire adult life as part of T³. I started this job in late September, 1987 and my last day will be May 30, 2008. But life goes on and I will be fine. I already have an interview with a company for some contract work - and I wasn't even looking!

Info on Dubai

Interesting in knowing more abuot Dubai? Check out the videos from 60 Minutes.

And more!

The World (from You Tube)

Bur Dubai (from You Tube)

Burj Al Arab (from You Tube)

Ski Dubai (from You Tube)

Palm Jumeriah (from You Tube)

TeeTee's Big Adventure

Before Larry left Elle gave him a little bird that she bought at the Children's Museum. She named the bird TeeTee after the name of one of her imaginary friends from when she was 3 years old. Larry has taken TeeTee on a few adventures in Dubai. Look for more of TeeTee's adventures in the future. 

TeeTee by the Pool TeeTee by the pool at night TeeTee where she sleeps

Day 9 in Paris - coming home :(

We left for home on Friday, April 18. We had an amazing visit! The beer was expensive, the wine was cheap, the cheese and bread were wonderful and the company was truly amazing. In hind sight I hope that every vacation that we take could be like this one. Having friends living there, they know how things work, plus in the evenings you get to hang out with them. The kids have more fun the way and so do the adults. Plus we got to see Larry. Its been very hard being apart. 

Saying goodbye at the airport was extremely hard. I don't think that we realized how hard it would be to be apart for a couple of months. And to think that our first plan was for Larry to go to Dubai for 6 months alone, the girls and I would join him for a year, and then he would be alone again for 6 months. I am very glad that we will now be together for 2 years. 

Day 8 in Paris - Catacombs, D'orsay and Rodin

Hurray, the catacombs opened up before we had to leave! They have been closed for several months for renovation. Its kinda creepy I suppose, but I love that kind of stuff. You get to experience the energy of all of the people burried there - 7 million of them. 

Next we went to the Museum D'Orsay. Unfortunately a museum guard strike was going on so only the first floor was open. I was bummed, but hey, these things happen. We will go back some day. I came home and bought the book from Amazon. Sure the book isn't the same as seeing the real thing, but its better than nothing. At least we did get to see many great works of art on the first floor. 

Near the end of the day we met up with Karen, Bret and the girls at the Rodin museum. It was a challenge to get in. There was a special exhibit going on for Camille Claudel - amazing sculptor with a very interesting life. 

Interesting Links (You Tube)

Getting lost in Paris catacombs Part 1 Part 2

Camille Claudel

Rodin

Day 7 in Paris - Disney

After so many museums we wanted to do something fun for the girls. We decided to go to Euro Disney for the day. It was typical disney, much like Magic Kingdom in Florida. Except that they were only running at about half capacity. The lines could have been much shorter. All in all it was a great time. The parade at the end was our favorite part.