It’s been a great week here so far, although there’s a lot more humidity than what we’re used to. Here’s a little update on the goings-on…

The beach day was cold! We were able to keep warm with a great bonfire, and we feasted on the infamous Tony’s meatball grinders. Simonne made us all s’mores for dessert.

The next day we went to Rough Point, Doris Duke’s mansion in Newport. It was quite extravagant, with huge portraits and tapestries hanging everywhere! Her two camels (and 12 dogs) even roamed the premises.

When the tour was finished, we met up with Aunt Alice in her new place and had a great time reminiscing and chatting for a while. Then, Uncle Ron and Aunt Denise picked up us and we drove over to Narragansett for dinner at Captain Jack’s with Aimée. Talk about some good stuffed shrimp and scallops (and clam chowder, to boot)! Basically, we’ve made it a point to eat seafood everyday. We’re gonna have a lot of exercising to do back in Albuquerque.

Friday’s plan was to go for a boat ride on Uncle Charlie’s boat, but unfortunately after the rains from the hurricane, the bilge pump never came on and so he had a lot of rotting seaweed and other stuff in the hull of the boat, canceling the trip. So instead, we went Dunkin Donuts to satisfy Renée’s cravings and met up with Aimée in Narragansett. We walked along the beach before meeting her boyfriend, Chad, and headed to dinner at Skipper’s Dock in Stonington, Connecticut. Stonington is the pad of Aimée and Chad. (That rhymes, by the way). There are several neighborhoods of 18th-century houses that we walked around through after dinner which Renée fell in love with–she felt like she was really back in colonial days. An urge for ice cream drove us to Mystic, Connecticut (where Mystic Pizza was filmed), so we walked around the shops while eating Mystic Mud and Coffee-Kahlua-Rum-Fudge (not quite as easy to say as Mystic Mud). Suffering from food-coma and the desire to simply relax, we went back to the apartment and talked for a while before heading to bed.

Today has been a lazy day. Tonight we’re dining with Uncle Normand and Aunt Betty and tomorrow we’re hanging out in Rehoboth, Mass. Sadly we have to go back in just a few days, so we have to get in as much seafood as possible!