A&Me in Connecticut Part 1: Travel and Chocolate

My sister Christine is graduating from Yale with her PhD in Biomedical Engineering where her research focuses on neuro-imaging.  Bet you don’t hear people saying that too often!  That’s right –  she’s a genius!  Her graduation ceremony is this upcoming Monday and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.  I was going to fly solo, but my parents requested that I bring Arielle along for the trip.

We got real fancy and took a super duper stretch limo to the airport!  Not on purpose, I just called for a ride to the airport and this is what showed up at our house.

Our flight went well.  I bought Arielle some gum to help out with the ear popping and we practiced chewing it without swallowing it.  She’s 1 for 2 so far!  My parents met us up at the airport, then we headed over to my sister’s cozy apartment.  Arielle was just thrilled to be reunited with her favorite person and best friend, Tita Christine:

 Then, Christine, Arielle, and I took a walk around Yale’s campus.  I love the Gothic architecture and how everything looks like a castle.  The shops were closed, but we were able to get a sweet fix at a small dessert café called Chocopologie.  I ordered the house specialty drink called the “chocopologie” which is made of espresso, hot chocolate, froth, and sprinkled with lavender.  Sounds good, right?  Eh, not so much.  The lavender sounded just lovely, but it really just tasted like I was drinking soap.  Lavender is certainly lovely on soaps, lotions, and perfumes, but NOT my coffee.  So they were nice enough to swap it out for a simple hot chocolate which was delicious!  We also ordered the molten chocolate cake with vanilla bean gelato.  Mmmmm….Let’s just close our eyes for a few moments to imagine how yummy that was (2nd photo from the top on the left):

So day 1 was pretty uneventful, yet sweet.  My mind was drained from traveling and from terribly missing my Zavie baby.  Of all his 26 months, this was the first time I was ever away from him.  I thought I would enjoy a few tantrum and poopie diaper free days, but nope – I really miss my little guy.