Tag: Gillette Castle

Goodwin Park Holiday Light Fantasia!

December 16, 2015

On Saturday of our weekend of holiday festivities, we slept in and had a leisurely morning.  The kids were so excited that it was warm out they dug out their shorts and tank tops and had a picnic lunch in the side yard!

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Later in the afternoon I wanted to take everyone for a bike ride since it was so warm.  My husband was even able to join us, which was a real treat!  But we knew it would probably be painful for him later.  It was a beautiful morning and then some ominous clouds came out as we started on our bike ride.

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We rode up to the Gouveia Vineyards near our house and drove through the vineyard and to the lake.  It was a lot of fun for us to have him join us and to all get outside during the spring-like winter weather.

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After the ride, we had dinner and my parents and brother met us at our house to follow us to Goodwin Park in Hartford for the Holiday Light Fantasia!  Heidi told me she was volunteering there that night so we wanted to make sure we could see her!  We were lucky she was manning the ticket booth we went to!

We were so impressed with the lights at this park!  We had been to Fantasy of Lights in East Haven once or twice, but these lights blew them away.  I also appreciate that the donations from the lights is going to the Channel 3 Kids Camp.  If you are looking for festive things to do for the holidays, check out the three things we did this past weekend.  Some are free and some only require a small donation towards charity.  We went to Hubbard Park in Meriden, Goodwin Park Holiday Light Fantasia in Hartford and Gillette Castle in East Haddam.

Enjoy the slide show of the lights at Goodwin Park!

The night wouldn’t be complete without a little shenanigans.  As soon as we got off the highway to head to our house I took a very quick detour to Beaumont Farms to get some photos of the new holiday decorations that farm owner put up for this year’s display.

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Gillette Castle Christmas 2015

December 14, 2015

As part of our strategy to keep the Christmas Spirit alive this weekend one of our destinations on our must-do list was Gillette Castle.  Before we went on our road trip to the Castle, I went for a run.  When we were on our bike ride Saturday it rained on us briefly. I told my son that I love running in the rain. I told him it was so peaceful.  He then told me that he wanted to go for a run with me in the rain.  In the morning when I told him I was going to run he said he wanted to join me.  So I made plans to do my route and then stop by the house to pick him up and we would do a mile or so and see how he felt.  Surprisingly, by the time I got back to the house he had his shoes laced up and he was still interested in going!

I really enjoyed running with him.  We ran from our house to the new development down the street from us. We ran together for a total of around 1.75 miles and he didn’t really complain!  Running with him also made the time go by faster.  My daughter is having trouble with her asthma right now, otherwise she would have been out there with us, too.  When we were on our bike ride Saturday, Adrienne kicked butt and rode up the entire hill towards the vineyard without getting off her bike!  She’s a badass!  So I can’t wait until she can also run with us.

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After our run we packed up lunches, and my parents met us at the house and we made the journey to Gillette Castle.  It was 60 degrees outside, on December 13th!  I won’t complain, it was perfect!  We listened to Christmas music on the way there and had lunch in the car.  It was perfect.

When we arrived we made a family vote to decide to skip the tour and go out onto the hiking trails instead.  Last year we went to the castle and did the tour inside.  This year it was unbelievably warm so we decided to skip the indoors tour and tour the grounds instead.  Not much will change between last year and this year and we didn’t want to pass up the chance to enjoy the beautiful weather outdoors.  The park has so many hiking trails and the last time my kids were there with my parents, my son found a “secret staircase” that lead down to a beach onto the Connecticut River.  So I couldn’t wait for him to show me this “secret staircase”.

We hiked the trails, explored the beach and I checked out the Chester/Hadlyme Ferry docks and then rejoined the family on the trail to head back to our cars.  The park was going to close at 4:30 and the sun was setting.  On our way back to the castle I noticed someone special leaving!  It was Sherlock Holmes!  I’m not quite sure who his female companion is so if you happen to know, please share that information with me!  I couldn’t pass up the chance to get a picture with these characters!

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After the park, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts with my family to discuss our dinner plans.  We decided to go to the market across the street from the coffee shop and grab some items to make a potluck spaghetti and meatball with salad dinner back at our house.  The kids wanted to wrap some gifts for Kevin and I in secret and we still needed to put the train under the tree; which was a perfect task for my dad to help out with!

After dinner we all watched American’s Funniest Home Videos and called it a night.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect holiday festivity filled weekend!

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